Author: garry.c.stewart

Nope, not a road trip, didn’t leave home, in fact I stayed in the basement for most of this. Trainerroad has an 8 day training challenge that coincides with the Tour of California. 8 stages in 8 days. I did the Tour of Sufferlandria back in February, so this time I knew how hard it is to do training sessions back to back with no “rest days”.

Well, this was no different. By Stage 3 I had to lower my FTP to survive and take a few unscheduled stops to boot! Things really started to fall apart on Stage 6. It’s Friday of the May long weekend and we’re going to the lake. My plan is to do Stage 6 and then pack up and drive to the lake for a relaxing evening. Well, by mistake, I do the 2013 Stage 6! Now it’s pack up, including the trainer, bike & gear (which was coming anyway because Stage 7 & 8 are on Saturday & Sunday) but instead of a relaxing evening, after unloading the car which was packed to the hilt, it’s hit the trainer again for the real 2014 Stage 6. Total crash and burn on that one as I just limp through the 1 hr 28 minute stage.

By Stage 6 I’ve had to switch the Wahoo Kickr from ERG mode, which forces you to follow the power curve, to Standard mode, where I can slack off a bit during the tough sprints and climbs. Not pretty, but I got ‘er  done.

After a full day on Saturday of getting the water on at the cottage, going up and down to the dock countless times, I didn’t have a brilliant Stage 7 either. Last stage this afternoon is looking to be tough as well. Tired from the previous 7 stages, plus the all day efforts of opening the cottage. Must be fun though or I wouldn’t be torturing myself like this.

This year I rode the Tour of Sufferlandria, and indoor training event featuring 9 days of riding between 1 and 2 hours each day. It didn’t sound too bad but man it was hard!

Last year was the 1st ever Tour, and we were in Maui so I didn’t participate. Touring Maui was way easier and way more enjoyable. Going into the Tour may FTP was 288. The 1st ride, Rubber Glove, is and FTP test and the results came in at 311. I was pretty excited about the improvement and cranked up Trainerroad to 311 for the next ride. That turned out to be quite a mistake. The next few rides were humbling as keeping the power on the ride proved to be impossible and I was forced to dial it down in order to complete the daily rides.

I was surprised at the difficulty of the cumulative stress of riding day after day. I’d never done so many back to back sessions. After Stage 5 I was really starting to wonder what I’d got myself into, and if I could finish. By Stage 7, I just wanted it to be over and was not looking forward to coming home after work because that meant another ride. Not only that but I’d mentally told myself that Stage 7 was just 1 hour, but in fact it was two videos for two hours, followed by Stage 8 for 1:44! While Stage 9 consisted of 64 sprints, which I thought would be incredibly difficult, it was a great way to finish the Tour and not as hard as I had anticipated. An overview of my Tour is on the Trainerroad site and a full description of the Tour is on The Sufferfest site. Did I mention the prizes? There are lots, and with only about 1,500 riders completing all nine rides, there is a possibility.

The Tour of Sufferlandria has begun and I’ve just completed Stage 1, Rubber Glove. This 1hr Sufferfest video incorporates a 20 minute FTP test. I first did this video/test back in November 23, 2013 and was a little disappointed that my FTP remained the same as it had been for all of 2013 at 288. I really struggled in the last 10 minutes and couldn’t hold the power output and had to slow down a fair bit just to finish. Yesterday was a different story. The test was still very hard, but at 10 minutes in I knew it was going better and I knew I’d make it all the way at or above the required power. I even managed a 1 minute sprint right at the end. The reward for training? An 8% FTP increase from 288 to 311!

The down side of this is that Trainerroad scales all the workouts against your current FTP, so the next 8 stages of the Tour are going to be even harder. Big stage today, 2 hours of “fun” with It Seemed Like a Good Idea At the Time.

I’ve been looking at the Wahoo Kickr since it was first announces, and finally pulled the trigger and replaced original mag trainer we purchased back in 2000 over the Christmas holidays. It’s been a lot of fun so far, and I’m using it primarily in conjunction with Trainerroad. Trainerroad workouts set the resistance on the Kickr via Bluetooth/ANT+  so that as you move into different power intervals, no mater what cadence you are pedaling, it forces you to produce the prescribed power output. This works great for longer intervals as it sets the Kickr in ERG mode to accomplish this. Not so good for quick short sprint intervals and so for this workouts I switch it to “Standard” mode and it behave like a fluid trainer with variable resistance settings and non-linear, exponential power curves, the faster you pedal, the more resistance is applied.

I’ve tried the Wahoo Segments app on the iPad which allows you to ride Strava segments on the trainer and compete against anyone on the leaderboard. The surprising thing is how quickly the app changes the Kickr resistance to correspond to the Strava data. The app displays the elevation profile, but this is no replacement for visually seeing where you’re riding. I found my self shifting like a mad man to manage the power demands on my 1st attempt. Turned out to be a very draining 25 minute workout, actually more like a race that a workout.