February’s Winter Trainer Love, Hate, and Glorious Suffering Blog

February can be a rather depressing and boring month when you are trying to ride outside. Unfortunately, Mother Nature has other ideas. This mostly applies to those like me who own but one bike, and it is a 100% road bike for paved roads. So, then we have the dreaded trainer to aid in our, umm, relief by connecting your bike to this beast and spinning aimlessly till the snow melts. Sound familiar friends!? 

OK, so some back history on my trainer love/hate relationship when we used to go to the Mecca of spinning dens in Golden run by a world famous bad-ass named Megan. We would show up every Saturday morning in the winter and some Wednesday evenings to be lulled into a nice warm-up and then told to spin till we bake forever. There was quite the following for many years to this den of sweat, smiles, sometimes cookies, and decent views out the windows. This definitely grew my love for riding even more. Thank you Megan.

Now, back to this month, February 2020, and what I do for cycling promotion, encouragement, commuting (not so much) and the love of riding. The highlight of this month is always the virtual tour of a mythical nation that is nine days long. Yes, nine consecutive days on your trainer with a couple thousand other friends from around the world. Why you ask would anyone want to subject themselves to this type of insanity? Well I shall tell you why as best I can. The name of this tour is The Tour of Sufferlandria (TOS) and is based in our mythical nation of Agonia (no one knows where this actually is), somewhere in the highest mountain range, so the suffering is glorious. We do this tour to raise money for the Davis Phinney Foundation. Their mission is to make the lives of those with Parkinson's disease more livable and normal. This year, we raised close to $225,000 for the foundation. The tour is very hard and requires a lot of planning. Some stages are two to three hours long. I have met so many great people virtually and in person over the years and encouraged them to improve on the bike as they have encouraged me. Every day, we post our glorious suffering results, pics only no data of the ride. Then we encourage and heckle everyone else till the next day's stage.

Throughout the year, many Sufferlandrians use the Sufferfest App to train both indoors and outdoors for races they have their sights on for months. But really, the main focus for all of us is the TOS. The tour is different every year. In the stages' videos, we are challenged to complete within a global 50 hour window for each stage. This year was probably the toughest of the seven tours I have done, having a mixture of sprint, time trial, and climbing workouts.

This tour is also a great springboard for many of us to get into shape for the upcoming outdoor season of commuting, riding, and racing. No one likes to hit spring time up 10-15 lbs. or worse. Right!? 

After the tour is complete, rest and recovery are the keys, then back on the trainer till spring arrives and Mother Nature will allow us to ride outside on our awesome road bikes. Throughout this month, and especially during the tour, positive posts of why we ride, how we ride, or equipment and attack plans are critical to all. This is how we grow our cycling community both indoors and outdoors. Always be looking for ways to encourage those who are new to riding and to those who may be a tad burned out from riding. #ridemoredriveless

This is my February on the bike as an Ambassador.

Gerry Stephenson (GJStache53)

Road Cyclist/Racer -> Bike Commuter

Last year was my first year racing bikes. I got into cycling a few years ago as a form of cross training to complement my running. I've always been very competitive, have loved working hard, and seeing results, and chasing down goals. Naturally, after riding bikes for a couple years, racing was the next step. I joined a local cycling team here in Denver for the 2019 season and although I was only able to race a handful of times, I'd call the season a success. I ended up getting some good results: 11th, 2nd, 6th, and 4th.

Toward the end of the year, I was riding with Megan and she asked me if I was planning to race again in 2020. At that point, I wasn't sure what my plans for 2020 were for bike racing, but I knew that my free time would be extremely limited due to two little ones at home.

Megan asked me to join the Bike Ambassador team of bike commuters who are passionate about getting people on bikes and out riding, specifically to/from work. In doing so, I've been forced to bike commute more (can't talk-the-talk if you don't walk-the-walk) and in doing so I've learned a couple of things:

1. Bike Commuting Can Be Just as Fun as Bike Racing - The competitive drive can still be satisfied when you aren't focused on racing. Seeing others who commute can fuel your fire. I know people who commute all-year round, in all conditions. That motivates me to get out. I know people who commute further, or have harder commutes, but they still do it, so it motivates me to get out and do it. Etc., etc.
2. You Can Still Set and Achieve Goals -  Maybe instead of doing Tuesday intervals, you bike commute both ways to and from the office. Maybe instead of increasing your threshold by 10 watts, you want to bike commute at least three days, each week for this month. And, of course, you can still chase KOMs for segments that are on your commute - although it's harder when you're carrying work cloths, shoes, etc.
3. It Is a Great Use of Time - Especially now with our second kiddo, bike commuting is an excellent use of my time. Instead of the 30-minute commute each way + trying to fit in at least an hour workout a day, I can bike commute and accomplish the commute and workout simultaneously. It is a great way to prepare for work in the morning and decompress on the way home. The mental benefits of bike commuting and not driving the car/sitting in traffic are amazing.
4. It's Okay to Not Bike Commute Every Day/Everywhere - Sure, I'd love to ride my bike everywhere, work, the grocery store, post office, bank, doctors, or dentist, etc., but it isn't always going to happen. Sometimes, it isn't practical, sometimes I have a limited amount of time and driving is faster, sometimes I need to stay at home later in the morning or be home sooner in the evening to help with the kiddos, sometimes it isn't safe due to the weather, and sometimes I just don't want to. That's okay!!! You don't have to ride every single day. You don't have to ride everywhere. You can still take the car and drive. Fact of the matter is you're still getting exercise, reducing your carbon footprint, and making the world a better place! Don't feel bad about using the car sometimes!

If you haven't tried bike commuting, you need to. It'll change your life.

-Ben