Stage 7 a,b,c,d, and e (The Epilogue) complete. Le Tour est fini pour moi!
I’m a stubborn goat 
. By declining to ride any non-SUF rides on the Sufferlandrian Route I have also declined/forgone the badges for The Tour. That said, I didn’t take it easy (though I did swap out the OL Italian Lakes ride for Half is Easy 
)
Taking full advantage of the 50 hour window, yesterday, I replaced Sir Ian’s Creemee ride with Stage 7a: 14 Vise Grips + Stage 7b: Joyride (man do I miss Sir Dylan 
)
Today was Stage 7c: High Time (Sir Francois’ swan song, man do I miss Sir Francois, it still hurts me to know he’s left The Company ) but I DO love his parting salvo at the end and he’s immortalized me, well, he’s immortalized my old SUF shirt and I’m honoured to have worn it also and hope it gives him some joy. But wait, there’s more! Cuz 40 minutes hardly felt sufficient to close out a Stage on a Sufferlandrian Route, I added a bonus 36 minutes for Stage 7d: No Place Like Home, while you won’t suffer too much doing this one, you’ll suffer enough doing it on the 7th day of a Tour, especially after High Time 
and I really just wanted another reminder of what makes the Sufferfest vids and Sufferlandria so GvA darn special. This one did it for me.
That could have been it. That should have been it. But nope, Tiago Branco was looking for something a little more epic. A little more, suffery, a little more Sufferlandrian.
I discovered on FaceBook that Sir Fran Hayes was planning a “break” between Stages 6 and 7 so he could complete a virtual Everesting on Alpe du Zwift, I thought the least we could do as Sufferlandrians was to offer our support by riding a single rep of the Alpe. Details on Stage 7: Epilogue here, if you’re wanting some additional suffering.
So, once I’d done 7c, and 7d, I was able to teleport to join Sir Fran on his final full lap for the last 5 (of 21) switchbacks until the banner. Then I took a break during the long descent as my avatar super tucked and reached speeds of 79 kmh, without me even being on the bike, 
when it got to the bottom, I hopped back on, did a U-turn and went back up to complete all the switchbacks I missed, plus one. Here is a memento of my short time with Sir Fran, I’m the one with the grey beard. We did not plan to wear the same kit, I’m guessing it was just the most Sufferfesty we could find.
And so, with that, my friends, I.Am.Done. See you at the tavern where everyone knows your pain.
