Defender was really tough, especially that high-cadence third interval.
I’d never done Attacker before, and it was a great way to finish this year’s Tour. Those adverts in the first couple of recoveries made the one minute go way too fast! For some reason, I found these efforts a bit easier than those in Defender - recovering at just under threshold is tough, but I’m sure it’s good for me.
Thanks to everyone here for this amazing community. It’s been great to ride the 2021 ToS with you all.
@Rearviewmirror me too. Managed Defender in Nuclear, but after almost 2sprints had to drop. I’ve never done Attacker before and to be honest i hardly saw anything of it just now! Too busy pouring Holy Water everywhere and chewing stem. Dark kit got a good rinsing in the process. Finished though and very happy with it all and ever gratefulto @David.McQuillen.KoS and the SUFteam for hosting the best Tour anywhere. Thank God that wasn’t 9days!
Boom! First ToS done. Thanks to the organisers and for everyone out there encouraging and sharing the glorious suffering. Awesome final double bill. Had to dig deep to hit my numbers. Rode Defender any way I could to keep going through those long efforts. Attacker was just push push push, keep it together, standing sprints, and suddenly a surge to the line.
Stage 8 = climbing and descending the stairs, especially tomorrow!
Thanks to everyone who arranged the Tour route, and posted on the forum throughout. The support and encouragement were great. I am very much looking forward to recovery week, but I didn’t realize until the cool down on Attacker how much I needed this right now and how greatly it affected me to accomplish it.
Kudos to and from 5 Knights of Winnipeg. It’s a Downward Spiral clockwise from top right with Sir Michael “My Face is Frozen” Whalen, Dame Betsy “Roller Beast” Troutt, Dame Ann “My Spidey Senses are Tingling” Rivera, Dame Candy “Life Behind Bars” Badger and yours truly Sir Glen “The Uncomfortable” Coutts.
Whether it’s your first ToS or your 9th. Whether you finished, didn’t finish or are yet to finish. We salute you all for the glory of the greatest mythical nation in the whole wide world.
It’s a Darkside kit, which is no longer available. But keep your eye on the store–I’m sure they’ll have something just as awesome coming out. Like the new Knight’s kit.
Did my two workouts before work. Felt tired starting off but got through Defender. But Attacker was just brilliant. I so enjoyed it. The crescendo as Alaphillipe crossed the line was awesome especially with the race commentary coming in to the sound mix. Although I’d ridden Attacker before I hadn’t appreciated it so much as I did today. One of my (many) favourite Sufferfest videos.
It has been a couple hours since completing the tour, Yay! I did it. I was really struggling on Attacker, but surprised myself that I was able to complete both Defender and Attacker at 100% to finish off a big week! I feel Glorious and Honored!!! But felt just like Julian did at the end, completely worked!!! So proud to have the badge! Hope we raised lots of money for DPF!!!
Woohoo! Congrats to all of you. What a wonderful community!
Learned that I can suffer even harder in my 2nd ToS. Learned that I can go deeper.
I hope all of you feel that well deserved pride and glory.
Thank you to SUF for putting together such a fun event for an excellent cause.
As a side note - was this tour an experiment for a block periodization plan?
Started the day shoveling 6” of snow, watched Everton beat Liverpool while fueling up, then holy moly, cooked and fried by Defender Stand up in Attacker??? Hahahaha! But I made it through my first ToS! Thanks for all the awesome and supportive posts! It’s been a fantastic experience and gratifying and humbling to support DPF.
I just finished my first tour! So glad to have got it done. I almost didn’t sign up thinking it would be too much for me. I’ve been using Sufferfest consistently for about one year now and I’m amazed at how much stronger I am. The only bad day really was #3 ( the day after a Covid vaccine. I was very low energy but got through it).
Today, day 7, was difficult but once I got through the 3rd section of attacker I knew I had it in the bag.
I found it interesting that the full frontal test assessment of my rider type, attacker, was quite accurate. The one minute rests between sections was enough recovery to allow me to go again.
Good job Sufferfest team! This did a lot to boast my confidence in myself.
Congratulations to I everyone else that finished. I’m going to go have a recovery beer now.
I thought Ok I got this! After all, I am pegged as an attacker, so the next one I have never done before can’t be that bad right?
It was a grand ending and I made sure to put out the last watt of energy I possibly had in me in the final sprints…
Hats off to all participants, organizers and so on.
P. S. I rode this with the thoughts of my late grandmother and great uncle, both who lived for decades with Alzheimer’s, and all of their caregivers and supports. I’m not sure if others think that the info the DPF provides can help those without Parkinson’s, too, but as my mother starts to show similar signs, I have applied some of the tips in Dpf emails and was very thankful for the info.
May all of you living with challenges and supporting those who do, carry on strong.
A few hours after finishing. Reading these posts. I completely agree that the “recovery” minutes in Attacker were rubbish - no recovery at all. (Thanks, just had to get that out of my system).
And also reporting that my body is toast. Despite recovery yoga, it’s as is my body got the memo that we were done and all is now achy and malfunctioning.
‘e Finito. Finished my 5th tour, first ToS since 2018 and it feels great. Saved the 7-11 hat for the final stage as usual. Tasso finally gave me some praise…
Missed 2019 as my dad was nearing the end of his battle with Lewy Body Dementia and Parkinson’s and DFed 2020, was sick in early December with something the doctor couldn’t figure out, tested negative for the flu-treated as viral pneumonia, sounds like a nasty little bug that’s going around. Anyway great tour, well thought out and today’s ride was the perfect way to end it. First time I have ridden Attacker and loved it. I originally thought that personally I would have rather rode defender @ 100% and attacker at the 95% the suf recommended, but as I said it was the only way to end it.
I probably was on better form than i thought, and should have went nuclear-finished the tour tired and legs hurt but modestly refreshed, or is that relieved.
Need to take the trainer bike apart and clean it, it’s been a while. The bar tape is 7 years old. I’m afraid to see what’s underneath.
Little PSA do not change your saddle 2 weeks ahead of the tour. I switched it to the specialized toupe because I wanted to see if I liked it before putting on the new Domane-couldn’t get comfortable-switched to the SMP glider I took off my road bike and fiddle with it all week. Watched a fitter from London say that most people ride frames that are too large and saddle to high. Lowered it the 20mm that he recommended yesterday. Felt good at first but was painful starting the cure. Think I finally got it right today, 10mm higher and put the Toupe back on.
Cheers everyone, can’t see it but it’s a ToS etched pint glass from 2014. Hint hint at some new SWAG.