I know everyone followed along with me on my Tour of Sufferlandria a couple of weeks back (here’s my stats if you want to check them out). That was, without a doubt, one of the hardest things I’ve done. Since the end of the tour, I’ve been wondering what was my next big thing. Also, since I started working out to these Sufferfest videos, I’ve been hearing about Knighthood. There’s a lot of talk among the crazy people who use these training videos about Knighthood, there’s even Facebook groups dedicated to it. I wanted to know what it was, so I did a bit of looking. You can see for yourself here all the details if you’re interested, but I’ll summarize. The outcome of a successful Knighthood attempt is honour, glory, and a sticker! You also get your name added to the list – all very worthwhile prizes! To attain Knighthood is simple, do 10 videos back-to-back with no more than 10 minutes rest between them. Yes, 10 videos. It’s almost like doing the tour again, straight through, in one go. One of the folks on FB was kind of enough to crunch some numbers. Basically, it’s right around 585 minutes of riding. In that amount of time I’d probably come in right around 180 miles. So, 10 hours of HIIT with almost no rest. Insane? Absolutely.
I had considered doing this a couple of times now, but I often waffled on setting a date – to be honest, the idea scares the crap outta me. But then, the worst thing that could happen, happened. GASKET. Uh oh… that’s both a Facebook group and an acronym…. those things are my kryptonite. I like to join in on group activities as they help me to stay motivated and accountable – even better is a FB group with its own acronym. GASKET – Great April Sufferlandrian Knighthood Elevation Test. This is an attempt to gather a group of people across the globe to all do a Knighthood attempt on April 11. I was invited to the group… and then… I joined.
So that’s it. I will be doing this insanity on April 11. There’s just one more piece to this puzzle where you all can join in. It is encouraged by those who encourage such things to include charity fundraising as part of the event. The Knighthood attempt is truly an event, one that will definitely be the hardest thing I’ve done or will do for quite some time. The suffering should benefit someone. Further, this increases my accountability and drives me to succeed. When I’m about 7 rounds into this thing and I really just want to quit, knowing that I’m riding for a cause will push me to complete. So I need your help to hold me accountable. I have chosen to join in with the World Bicycle Relief fundraising efforts. Your donation to that effort will place bicycles with people in Africa, where owning a bicycle can change everything for them. One bicycle for one person can change their entire life.
The World Bicycle Relief builds the bikes, distributes them, maintains them, repairs them, etc. It’s an entire system for changing lives. I’ve joined a team with World Bicycle Relief which is put together for Knights and for those attempting this crazy feat. The link is right here (http://fundraise.worldbicyclerelief.org/team/KoS) and I would appreciate any donations you can manage (as a note, $134 will buy one bicycle).  My personal goal is set at $1340 – 10 bicycles. When you visit that page, you can scroll down to find my name among the members and donate through my page. I hope you’ll consider donating, but if you can’t, know that I will need your support and encouragement as the event draws near. No doubt this is going to freak me out until it happens, and I look forward to suffering immensely come April 11.
March 4 Update
We have established a list now for the rides we will do. I’ll post that here, even if you don’t know anything about The Sufferfest videos, you can see the fun I’m going to have simply by the names! I’ve included workout charts you can click on to see the plan for each ride by intensity and if you are really curious, you can click each stage name below for a full description.
1. Rubber Glove
2. A Very Dark Place
3. Hell Hath no Fury
4. The Wretched
5. Nine Hammers
6. The Hunted
7. Violator
8. Angels
9. Revolver
10. The Rookie
April 8 Update
Well, I have been sick for the past month. In the “If you are going to come down with something come down with something cool sounding” category, it’s labyrinthitis. Basically, I fall over and walk into stuff a lot. The medicine for it made me extremely lethargic, to the point of being nonfunctional. In the end, this really cut into training time and I didn’t get nearly the miles in I wanted to in preparation. But… I made a commitment and I plan to stick to it! So this Saturday, as much as this all freaks me out, the race goes on! Here are links to my two fitness trackers if you want to check in on me:
I think one or both of those should provide info. I use Trainer Road to track the actual individual rides. All my stats from any ride (Trainer Road, Zwift, Outdoors) are routed to Strava. I’m not sure how much info either provides so I figured I’d give both links. At the end of each stage, the data will auto upload. So, you should be able to check in on me throughout the day and see where I’m at! I may also be doing updates on Facebook depending on my ability. I only have 10 minutes between stages to queue the next video, get my shoes off, bio break, etc.
That’s all for this update and that might be the last update… I have 3 days for recovery and then the fun begins!!
