You mean something like this? 
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Haha! #relatable
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Dangerous E-Bike. They go up in flames whenever a Sufferlandrian of good standing attempts to ride one. We tend to charge the battery too fast with our forceful energetic efforts!
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You are much stronger than I. Today I couldn’t touch my bike after the 100km ride yesterday. Arms, back and legs are all talking to me. So I took them to a coffee shop for a discussion. They aren’t yelling, but I’m very happy I decided NOT to try a full Century. I will be back tomorrow with a recovery level, but longer ride.
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I actually tried to relax and rest on Saturday, but we had too much laundry and house cleaning to do.
Today I did some relaxing, but still ended up riding next to my son on my wife’s beach cruiser around the neighborhood. He’s been begging to ride his bike around and my wife did two laps. I did the third.
Tomorrow maybe I’ll do Recharger and a yoga session. I’ll probably have time for a recap summary some time tomorrow. 
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Looking forward to hearing this!
Always love to check out my fitness and fatigue levels after a big day.
I guess you can say I went deep into the red on Friday. 
From intervals.icu
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Alright, alright, alright. It’s recap time.
Being that this Knighthood Quest was my third, I feel that a recap would be incomplete without first some history to set the stage. Because frankly, I wouldn’t be in this moment without a little backstory (tho I’m probably retelling you something you already know). So please indulge me a couple paragraphs of setup.
When I did my first knighthood in Nov 2020… In between videos 2 and 3 I had a problem with my HRM not reconnecting. I end up taking between 1-3 minutes too long to start up video 3. I was so concerned this would invalidate my attempt that I decided to tack on 2 bonus videos to the end to ensure I did 10 in a row with the correct rest intervals in between. Ultimately, this failed because in the middle of video 10 (Do As You’re Told) when the video disconnected and then the app crashed on my PC and my PC froze and rebooted and began to install a Windows update. 35 minutes and one Windows update later my KOS was attempt was over. I’d ridden 10.5 videos. I submitted the KOS form and crossed my fingers… GvA ultimately approved and I was knighted as Sir Evan!
In 2021 a number of new knights were completing their first quests and I had a sever case of FOMO. So as an homage to my first quest I did a second one that ended up being just a week off of a year after my first quest, and I rode a full 11 videos. All of which I had not done during my first quest.
So, of course, I immediately started planning a third. As luck would have it there were exactly 12 KOS qualified workouts left that I hadn’t done. And what would be better to top doing 11 than doing 12!
2022 started off poorly, however. After my successful 2nd KOS quest in Nov 2021 quest I tweaked my back trying to use our rowing machine. I had no problems with rowing in Apr - Jul. But I went into that quest a bit undertrained and either I was tight after my KOS effort or something else was off and my back went out. It took months for me to work out my back issues. And I was falling way behind on my 2022 fitness and goal mileage. Every attempt at increased intensity only set me back. I spent most of January to June with too little exercise or intensity and too much time off recovering.
After a long-planned family RV trip to see my parents and a month of recovery and low motivation I managed to find a groove with the onset of our company’s annual fitness challenge.
By the end of June beginning of July I had given up on most of the intensity. I started doing mostly long Zone 1 and Zone 2 rides to keep my lower back happy and build up my endurance, and put off the hard HIIT sessions as those MAP and hard FTP efforts seemed to be the biggest cause of my back problems. That seemed to be the magic bullet and I never missed a beat since July began. I reintroduced 1 or 2 HIIT workouts per week the end of August and yoga and strength work in October.
Despite the lower amount of intensity I’ve built up a ton of endurance and been feeling stronger than ever. And based on the HM I did in mid-Oct and the FF two weeks ago, I entered KOS 3 in the best form of my life.
The day after my FF I rode 5 test videos all at 80%. They were all doable, but by number 5 I was fatigued and decided I should not start off this KOS attempt at 80%. (But maybe that was just because I did FF the day before? 
) There’s a much longer backstory to this, but I’ll leave it at that for now.
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No, you should start it off at 100%, like you did, 
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Yeah. I’m getting to that. 
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Okay, okay. Here’s my KOS debrief. And by brief I mean really really long.
I did FF exactly 2 weeks before KOS day. This was actually my first FF in almost a year and a half (I did HM plenty of times, but I had bike gearing issues for a long time so add was out. I actually did my 2nd KOS - including Violator - all in the small ring. But I digress…). Despite doing FF on a Friday and 5 videos at 80% the next day I actually felt pretty good the next week. And then the week after I actually did a bit of a Taper and was feeling great going into KOS day.
As per my usual, I did a ton of pre-planning. My workout list had been solidified months ago. I had all my snacks and food pre-planned. I had all my videos downloaded. This time (like the second quest) I had them also downloaded on my phone in case my PC crashed. I had my trusty notebook next to me with my video playlist spreadsheet to write down times and intensities, and a second sheet to write down everything I ate hour-by-hour.
The biggest difference with this quest was fueling. Previously I had planned for at least 60g carbs per hour. This time I planned for 80g carbs per hour. I also made a switch from all solid fuel and gels to a reliance on mostly using Maurten 160 and 320 drink mix which I had been experimenting with for the past couple months.
I had 3 bottles dedicated to Maurten. I used painter’s tape and a sharpie and wrote 160 on one of them and 320 on the other two. In the fridge I had 8 larger water bottles and a 12-pack of Gatorade. Next to me on the bike I had a bucket with all my packets of drink mix. My plan was after every video to go refill my used Maurten bottle with water from one of the 7 cold water bottles already in the fridge and add a packet of drink mix. Then grab one of the previously mixed bottles. I was going to use 1 bottle per hour. And on the hours I used my 160 bottle I would supplement with solid food and Gatorade. And if at any time I felt I needed extra electrolytes I would either drink a 12oz bottle of Gatorade or mix two Maurten 160 packets in a single bottle to give me the same carbs as a 320 bottle but with extra sodium. (400mg in a 160 packet, 500mg in a 320 packet, so two 160 packets would be 800mg). In additional, I kept a water bottle of plain water on hand by my bike in case I either needed more to fluids to drink or if I wanted something to drink other than Maurten or Gatorade.
For solid foods I had a stack of Honey Stinger Waffles. A box of Honey Stinger gels. 10 Pre-measured snack bags of Peanut Butter M&M’s. 2 Maurten 100cal hydrogels. and 2 Maurten 100cal 100caf hydrogels (these 2 gels were the only items I had with caffeine in them). My wife also agreed to bring in a couple PB&J sandwiches around lunchtime.
My plan for the day was:
- Ride a video
- Hit save
- Jump off my bike
- Take off my shoes
- Grab a Maurten packet
- Run to the spare fridge (10 feet away from my pain cave in the garage)
- Fill up my empty bottle and add the packet of drink mix and put it in the fridge
- Grab a full bottle
- Grab a Gatorade and/or extra bottle of water if needed
- Bring my bottles back and set them by my bike
- Use the bathroom (neatly located between the garage and my pain cave)
- Apply extra chamois cream if needed
- Put my shoes back on
- Start the next video as I climbed back on the bike while the video loaded and sensors re-connected.
My 12 video Sufferfest Playlist consisted of:
- The Best Thing in The World
- Team Scream
- The Rookie
- Local Hero
- Do As You’re Told
- 14 Vise Grips
- The Shovel
- Power Station
- A Very Dark Place
- The Model
- G.O.A.T.
- Revolver
The biggest question running through my head for the week had been: What intensity could I ride Team Scream at without ruining the rest of my attempt. Could I actually ride it at 80%? Should I ride at 75%? 70%? I didn’t want to make it too easy. That would ruin the whole point of doing a KOS quest. By the night before I still hadn’t made up my mind about what my starting intensity would be or what my intensity would be for Team Scream. I started the first 3 videos of my first KOS attempt at 80%. But I also hurt my knee during video #6
I went to bed the night before shortly after 10pm. A little later than I had hoped. But I had a busy day at work and had to get all my bottles and final pain cave setup after the kids went to bed. So, I was in bed around 10:15 and asleep by 10:30.
My alarm went off very early at 2:05am. I was up quickly and downstairs to get ready. I had a Honey Stinger waffle and a granola bar and some water. I put Maurten drink mix in my 3 bottles and put them in the garage fridge and then went to get dressed.
My plan was to start by 3:00am. With a full 10 minutes in between rides I would finish at almost exactly 4:00pm. I’d never taken the full 10 minutes in between rides before. I was hoping this would help keep me fresher longer than running back to start the next ride after only 5 or 8 minutes.
After that I messed around a little too much with my food and bottles and started getting dressed a little later than I had planned. I ended up putting my shoes on at 3:00am while the first video pulled up. My actual start time ended up by 3:03am which, as it turned out, was actually pretty cool. Starting my 3rd attempt at 3:03am? Sweet! That was a happy accident. 
However, that also meant that if I wanted to stay on schedule I was going to need to cut a minute out of the first 3 rest breaks to still finish at 4:00pm. Not a big deal really. More just an annoyance.
1. TBTITW
So, that was that and I started the warm up section of The Best Thing in The World. My trainer connected pretty quickly and none of my sensors refused to connect. And even better, the servers stayed up! Unlike last year… 
Anyway… 2 weeks ago I had decided starting at 80% probably wasn’t a good idea. But at the same time I felt pretty strong and had gone through 5 workouts at 80% so I know I could at least get through 2 or 3 at 80%. While I was posting my first notes in this thread and on Facebook and in my fundraiser page, and getting my first bits of food and drink in, I noticed that I was getting more resistance from my trainer than I expected. I quickly realized I hadn’t changed the intensity and I was still in erg on 100%. Oops!! So somewhere in between 3 and 5 minutes I quickly used my wireless keyboard to quickly drop the intensity down to 80%. That felt about right. Much better than 100% at any rate!
I might not have mattered, tho. Because as Adam Blythe would say, I had diamonds in my legs. 
At least I did for TBTITW! My legs were humming and spinning for the first half of the workout. I was right around or over 90rpms every time I looked at the screen. Even with a low cadence in the first 10 minutes that slowly ramped up to the main efforts I still averaged 87rpms for the entire workout. When I did the same workout 2 weeks prior during my 5 video test day I averaged 83rpms for the same workout at the same intensity. Somewhere into the second half of the workout my legs started to settle down. But man, that was a great feeling.
2. Team Scream
And tho it settled down during TBTITW, that feeling didn’t immediately disappear. Remembering my knee issues from my first KOS, I tried to be wise and not blow myself up too soon and decided to start Team Scream at 75%. The warm up was pretty tame, and then the main workout hit. I waited for the pain and the suffering to start. But after 15 minutes I still felt great and 75% felt too low. So somewhere around 15-18 minutes I punched it back up to 80%. And that felt right. So I left it there and rode on. Waiting to see if I was doing too much or not.
But it wasn’t too much. It felt perfect. My legs kept humming along and left it at 80% and again I averaged 87rpms.
3. The Rookie
Well, all good things must come to an end. I wasn’t any more tired. I still started and ended at 80%. But I was a little less engaged with The Rookie. I averaged 77rpms. There wasn’t much to say about this video. It’s more or less a blur of posting updates. I guess you could say while it’s a good video it’s not one of my favorites.
4. Local Hero
It’s at this point that I started wondering when I should drop down off of 80%. I doubt I can stay the whole way at 80%. I don’t want to end up at 55% with no legs left. I still felt good. But I knew Local Hero can be a real beast with recovery sections that aren’t always that much recovery. But I left it with the idea that I could drop down the 75% at any time if I needed to. Some time in the middle of this video my son woke up and came in. I was dual recording on Zw**t so I could complete Four Horsemen which was my only remaining unfinished Watopia route. Last year I was just able to get the Uber Pretzel route. So having that up on a laptop across the room kept his attention for a good 30 minutes until he left to go make his breakfast. By that time I had already outsprinted LeMonde and Cipollini and was headed for a break.
5. Do As You’re Told
I started DAYT also at 80%. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how I was still at 80% at this point or how long I could stay at 80%. With these legs, maybe I could go the whole way at 80%!! But I was pretty sure I would need to drop to 75% soon. I did DAYT still in erg mode. Maybe not the best idea. But it felt right. All those sprints were leg-sapping. I always enjoy this video. And it’s the one my PC crashed on as video 10.5 at the end of my first KOS attempt. It always kills me when you’re going hard up a cobbled climb and then riders in front of your come unstuck and you have to get off your bike. But at the same time the effort in the workout doesn’t end even tho it feels like it should since the rider in the video has dismounted and it running up the hill with the others. By the time DAYT finished I was still at 80% intensity, but was 95% sure I was dialing down video 6 to 75%.
6. 14 Vise Grips
14 Vise Grips was tough on 80% as only the second video during test day, so I knew that dialing it down to 75% at this point was the right thing to do. I was definitely glad I did. Those 1.5 and 2 minute efforts were still mind and leg killers. There’s something about this video that destroys me. Oh, I know. It’s those long MAP efforts. I can easily handle short MAP, AC, and NM efforts. I can handle nice long FTP efforts. But long MAP efforts are my bane. And as my sixth video at 75% they were rough. But I plowed on through. Boy was a glad to get through this one.
7. The Shovel
And yet, what did I get as a reward for making it through? Make it out of the vise and you get The Shovel. Ouch. This is one of my oldest nemesis workouts. It destroyed me on my dumb trainer. And it destroyed me when I got my smart trainer. It would send me to the breaking point and I would only be able to finish on sheer willpower alone.
I spent quite some time debating whether I would do this workout in erg or level mode. In the end I decided to leave it in erg mode until I hit an effort I couldn’t handle in erg mode. Those efforts happened to be the 4 NM efforts in each shovel. And with the shrinking recovery sections in the first shovel, each interval felt like it took forever.
In any normal 
KOS attempt this would be the mental halfway point. But not today. And every interval felt like an eternity. Especially with the really long warm up section. It feels like the workout should be over after the first shovel. But no! There was still a whole shovel to get through!!
But I got through it. And somehow I felt stronger as the the second shovel progressed. At the end of the 2nd shovel I hit the final 2 NM sprints. I managed to get just over the NM target on the first of those (at around 650w). And then the last one tells you to see if you can hit a new power record. And holy mother of SUF I saw the screen flash up 947w not at the beginning, but at the END of the effort!! (for reference, in FF I hit 1209w as my highest ever 1 sec power with my actual highest 5 sec power effort in FF being 1190w. But that was LAST year). I was stunned. And I felt strong! But… I still had 5 more workouts to go. 
I just hoped and prayed I hadn’t gone out too soon in a blaze of too early glory.
…to be continued…
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That’s one very detailed debrief Sir Evan and hats off to you for completing your anniversary quest.
I didn’t managed to follow your updates here on the quest day as I was down with Covid, but nevertheless really chapeau to you Sir!
Looking forward to reading more in your next debrief.
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…says the guy who wrote a book!
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@Glen.Coutts You should have just waited for the movie.
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Thank you in part to your inputs Sir Glen.
Honourable mentions to Sir Evan a few more too! 
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It’s somewhat like Harry Potter’s deathly hallows parts 1 and 2 
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OMG. You guys and your replies are too much.
They made my day.
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This is an awesome recap! Thanks for sharing it with us.
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…and now for the rest of the story.
A point that I had forgotten earlier. I had two 100cal/100caf Maurten hydrogels with caffeine. The only food or drink I had on hand with caffeine in them. Normally I save the caffeine until I get towards the end of when I need a pick-me-up. I used this to great effect in my one and only full marathon in March 2020 when I drank the small espresso caffeine shot I had been carrying with me at mile 20. I had slowed way down at that point. After drank it I then proceeded to slowly increase my speed and negative split the last 6 miles.
Instead, I decided to split them. As I was running on barely 4 hours sleep, I took the first one at the beginning of The Rookie my third video. I worry that starting caffeine too early will dehydrate me or make feel need to use the bathroom too often or fade too soon as the caffeine wears off. But in this case it seemed to have caused no issues and I felt great all through the morning and kept away those early morning blues.
Back to the main storyline…
8. Power Station
I had just finished The Shovel which I knew was going to be tough, and it was. Tho more mentally tough. And I had picked up some energy in the second shovel. I had now finished 7 videos and had only 5 more to go. Any poor results of my decision to stay at 80% intensity through the first 5 videos was likely going to show up now. This was also the point where I thought I was going to get a bit of a rest with the shorter efforts and numerous recoveries. It almost became the point where everything fell apart.
I took the day off of work and did my KOS on a Friday like I did last year Saturday is our family day with a family pancake breakfast. And you have to enjoy those special moments before the kids get too much older and choose to do their own thing and then move out. And also because my kids are still doing homeschool which means I wouldn’t be missed for most of the day until lunch time (around 12-1pm).
So, my daughter finished her schoolwork a bit early and came in to my office/pain cave to see how I was doing. My son is younger and an early riser and often comes in when I’m finishing my workouts and watches some of the videos and enjoys a lot of the SUF humor and the scenery. He also loves watching the hamster in Cadence Builds, and pretending he’s in a side car connected to my bike going down the mountain behind Mike Cotty in Open 30. But my daughter sleeps in and rarely sees me riding. So when she came in and started asking a bunch of questions I happily took the opportunity to answer them all and more. I expected she would come in and watch for a few minutes and then leave. But she ended up staying for all of the rest of the workout. Only leaving just before it finished to go put her things away and figure out what to do for lunch.
The first efforts in Power Station weren’t a problem. But as I went along I was doing a lot of talking and no fueling. After a few of the “walls”, I found they were feeling more and more difficult. And the recoveries were becoming harder and harder.
From the very beginning I had left the check mark on “Don’t adjust recovery sections”, so my recoveries were all still at 100%. Often that was still 135-145w. Even the first recovery in Local Hero was 152w. During Power Station I really started to feel it and the fatigue really started to set in and each “wall” seemed to be harder and longer than I expected. Maybe it was because I was out of breath from talking to my daughter. Maybe it was because I wasn’t drinking or fueling for the first 20-30 minutes because I was distracted by talking to my daughter. Maybe it was because it was taking extra energy to concentrate on my daughter instead of the video - often when I my son comes in, even if he’s not interacting with me, I find the efforts much harder because my concentration is broken and I’m not fully focused on my riding.
In any case, this was probably the moment that saved the rest of my attempt. I finally got to a recovery section after about 30 minutes and it just didn’t feel like a recovery section anymore. At that point I chose to finally uncheck the “Don’t adjust recovery sections” box and let those intensities drop. And then I began eating and drinking to try to make up for what I should have taken in during the previous 30 minutes.
Thankfully, it was over 19 minutes later. The easier recovery sections and the fueling seemed to do the trick. I made it through the rest of Power Station. And then it was time for another break and…
9. A Very Dark Place
This video seemed to hit at exactly the right (worst?) time. If 14 Vise Grips hurts with the 1.5 and 2 minute MAP efforts, I wondered how these 4 minute MAP efforts were going to feel. And because I chose to stick with the intensity at 75%. I hoped that dropping the intensity of the recovery sections would be all that I needed.
This was still a very tough video, but now being alone again I was focused again. And while each interval was long, only having 5 of them seemed to help as something to focus on. And the even pacing and regular rests helped me get my fueling nice and even and dialed in again. With some help from a few followers, we had collectively decided that this was the true mental halfway point of this KOS. Looking back, video number 8 was the tipping point. But getting through number 9 was definitely the point where I could finally see the end. With number 8 being a struggle I had worried about number 9. And after pushing through number 9 I can say that it was true. And as I started to emerge from this very dark place, I began looking ahead to…
10. The Model
This is one of my new favorite videos ever since it was released for this year’s TOS. It seems to hit all the right spots. But, it’s a very difficult workout on tired legs. All those repeated hard efforts with short recoveries. And once the targets of the intervals drops, the recovery sections grow harder. I knew this was going to be a tough one, especially so far into the attempt. If this truly had been the end of my KOS I would have kept the intensity at 75%, or maybe even bumped it back up to 80% and tried to go out with a bang. But knowing I still had two more to go after this one, I decided before I started to bump it down to 70%. And with the bump down to 70% I hoped to be able to stay at 70% for the last two.
And then… came my very first technical glitch. 
I always connect my HRM and Cadence sensors with Ant+ because they will connect immediately every time. I connect my Kickr Core using Bluetooth because BT is waayyyy more responsive, and the occasional 5 second lag in the Ant+ connection is a huge killer for shorter intervals. But waaayyyy too often I have a problem where my Core will partially connect, but not fully connect - where only the elevation and read power icons appear but not of the others. Not until I turn it off and back on again, or go to the Windows system tray and turn BT off and back on again. It’s so so so so SOOOOO aggravating. And it can take anywhere from one to four minutes of extra time to get my trainer to connect.
However, up until this point - even tho I had given myself an extra minute or two at the beginning of every video - my Core and all my sensors had connected immediately every time. And of course you know what it coming since I’m now bringing this up.
So, before this video I took those extra 2 minutes to make sure I had my 3 bottles all ready for my last 3 videos. This being the first of the last 3. And so the one time I am tight for time at the beginning of a video. When I had to put my shoes on quickly. When I had to jump on the bike quickly. Right at the beginning of my 10th video… My Kickr Core did the dreaded partial connect. 
This is similar to what happened with my HRM during my first KOS. But this time I was starting video 10. So unlike my first KOS where I decided to try to do 10 more just in case (and we already know how that ended up) there was no way I was going to do 10 more video just in case.
So, despite already pedaling and having a partially connected trainer, I did the only thing I could do and went ahead and started the video. Of course it took an extra couple minutes for me to turn my trainer off and back on twice and then go to the system tray and turn BT off and back on. But at least I had started my video on time. And finally then my trainer connected. So I paused and rewound the video the minute or two back to the beginning and un-paused it. I then caught my breath, kept pedaling, and went back to work. 
As I had expected/feared, The Model was beast. Very little recovery. And a lot of really high power targets. Even with all the great music and great clips, I was tired. And I was very glad I chose to drop the intensity down to 70%. Because this is a very intense workout. Especially at number 10. However, I would definitely encourage anyone reading to use this as their final video. It definitely feels great to go out on. Or at least it would if I hadn’t of had two more to go. lol. Regardless, it still felt great to finish workout 10 with this video.
During the break after the first interval I took my second 100cal/100caf gel. I needed all the extra energy I could get to get through this video and then the final bonus 2. This caffeine was going to get me through my real very dark place.
And as I had been getting more and more fatigued both physically and emotionally with each workout, I was growing more and more teary-eyed at the end of each video. And especially at the end of the first section where MVDP wins Amstel Gold with that unbelievable sprint after dragging everyone else with him for the last number of miles. That one always gets me.
But, of course, that was * just * the end of video 10. I had two more to go. 
I was still in the same bib shorts I put on when I started 11 long hours ago. I had also kept my Laser Goat undershirt on the entire day. I started with my USC cycling jersey (in honor of my dad) for the first 3 videos. I had changed into my Suffershire shirt in honour of Sir Dan shirt before video 4. I had changed into my SUF running shirt after video 8. But I was still on the same bibs. I have added more chamois cream after video 3 and again before video 10. But my undercarriage was becoming extremely painful and the chamois cream only helped so much. So it was finally time for a change into some new shorts. That was an * excellent * decision. I felt SOOOO much better for the last 2 videos.
11. G.O.A.T.
I don’t even want to go into everything I feel about this video. Suffice it to say that I love this video because of 1. Mike Cotty, 2. the great music and 3. the awesome climbs, and I always feel like I absolutely crush this one, but have mixed feelings about it because of its intensity and length (or lack thereof). I placed it here at number 11 for… reasons. Not number 10 (needs a great video to go out on in a blaze of glory). Not number 12 (needs another great video to go out on in a blaze of glory). But number 11. A place that will not live in infamy. But a place where I need a video that I love to do and will feel great doing and is not too long when I know I am tired and still have a job to do.
Since I had taken those extra 2 minutes getting all my bottles ready in the break before I had extra time before I started G.O.A.T. So rather than take the full 10 minutes, I started 2 minutes early to get myself back on schedule.
I started G.O.A.T. still on 70%. I wasn’t sure how my legs were going to respond and I was a little distracted with the emotions from The Model. So, for the first two intervals I kept my cadence quick and around 80-85rpms. Then I decided my legs were fine and I needed to buckle down and do the video right at the low grinding cadence. With each interval after that I dropped the cadence lower and lower and built more and more confidence until the last interval when I was actually under the target cadence and doing between 45-50rpms.
Halfway through The Model my wife came in and gave me 2 PB&J sandwiches and a couple Oreos. They were hard to eat during all the intervals, so I saved them and took advantage of the lower pace and intensity of G.O.A.T. and started on the first PB&J. I saved the Oreos which I at during the beginning of Revolver.
And then, halfway through my first PB&J, I was done with the grinding and was again happily spinning away as I descended along with Mike Cotty to the final amazing and inspiring emo music outro. With all the Maurten I had consumed I’m sure my tears were a bit sugary rather than salty. And just a few minutes later I was done with number 11! Just one more to go!
It was Sufferlandrian Time Warp time.
12. Revolver
I took my full break, grabbed my bottle from the garage, hit the bathroom one final time, and I was ready for my final video. Only 15 * ahem * Sufferlandrian intervals remained between me and my third successful KOS quest. I waited almost the full 10 minutes and then started it up. Everything going well I expected to finish right at or 1 minute before 4:00pm
As I started and began riding I realized I had forgotten that Revolver had been updated. This affected me in a couple of unexpected ways.
First, the new warm up is about 5 minutes longer than the old warm up. I found myself wondering a few times when the first effort was finally going to start. Before long, tho, the video started and I was off at 70% intensity into 15 * cough * intervals.
Second, my wife came in at about 10 til 4 and asked how much longer I had. I looked at the bottom of the screen and said I had about 13 minutes remaining. She said “okay” and gave me an odd look and then stepped out. I looked at my watch which said “3:51pm” and back at the video which now had almost exactly 13 minutes left. Being in the middle of all those efforts in my 12th video and in my 13th hour of riding, my brain was a bit hazy. I tried to do the Sufferlandrian math and at first thought “oh cool, I’m going finish early!” Then after another interval I did some more Sufferlandrian math and realized I wasn’t going to finish early - I was going to finish a few minutes late. Fortunately I was in the middle of a recovery interval at that point and remembered the video was updated. Which also explained the extra long warm up. And my wife’s quizzical look. She was expecting me to finish almost immediately at 4:00pm.
Needless to say, I kept going. And going. And going. And finally after those 15 * cough * intervals (I really should get a glass of water…) I was done!
And lo and behold I finished at 4:04pm. Quite the happy accident to inadvertently start at 3:03am and just as inadvertently end at 4:04pm.
I saved shed a few tears into my stem. Hit save (the most important part), and then laid down on the floor and shed a few more. My family came into congratulate me. All were more than a little hesitant to hug me (not that I blame them. I had opened my window after video 3 as I was getting quite a lot of condensation in my windows from the SUF holy water created condensation on my windows. The smell in my pain cave was quite noticeable even to me from at least video 4 or 5 and beyond.
And that was it! Quest #3 fulfilled! The castle had been stormed yet again!
Then it was time for a long hot shower and then pizza and movie night with the family. The pizza was amazing. I only remember half the movie. I was kind of hard to watch long stretches of it through the back of my eyelids. But it was well-earned and glorious.
Final Notes
All that long zone 2 training I had been doing since the end of June seemed to have really paid off. Plus the extra strength and yoga. My back was feeling good. My hips were fine. My knees had only done minimal squawking. Only my legs were sore (as they should be). And I had stunned myself by surviving the first 5 at 80%. And then 75% thru video 9. And if I had only been doing 10, I likely could’ve finished number 10 at 75% as well. And all that on new, lifetime best FTP and MAP 4DP numbers I had earned just 2 weeks prior.
My KOS playlist spreadsheet for the day
Me in A Very Dark Place near the end of video 9
My consumed food list per hour
In my previous KOS attempts I planned to consume 60g of carbs per hour. But this time I planned for 80g. And with the Maurten drink mix I had a good mix of both glucose and fructose. I don’t know if this played a significant part, or if my training was the biggest factor, but I definitely felt the strongest during this quest.
And as stupefyingly long as this report has been, I know I’m still leaving out a bunch of important details that I’ll likely remember later after I’ve already posted this. And hopefully at least some of this information will be found helpful to someone considering or attempting their own KOS quest either now or in the future.
And too important to leave out are all the posts and comments from all of you during my quest. Even tho I was riding alone in my pain cave, it felt like I had dozens of friends and family riding along and cheering me on. I could not have done it without the love and support of my family at home, or without the support and encouragement from all of you. Thanks to each and every one of you posted or commented or liked my posts or comments both here in the forum or on Facebook.
I’ve submitted my KOS paperwork and I can’t wait to receive my new decals. I have room on my top tube for many more. I’m already in the planning stages for number 4 next November. Who knows what gimmick I’ll come up with for this next one. One thing is for sure. I will definitely not be doing number 4 on a unicycle. Definitely. Not. 
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