Saturday 21 February 2015

Sufferlandria: A Tour and a Knighthood!

Sorry, it's been a while since I've had time to update the blog.

Far too busy cycling round the best mythical country in the world and being accepted as one of its knights... :-)

The Tour consisted of 9 days of Sufferfest videos, making sure each one was completed within the correct timezone to allow me to 'qualify' for the next stage. The sense of community online (both on Facebook and Trainerroad.com) was remarkable. Over $100k was raised by fellow Sufferlandrians for the Davis-Phinney foundation which is battling against Parkinson's disease - so a really worthwhile cause. 


On Sunday 8th February (despite still being somewhat full of a snotty headlock I'd picked up on the last 2 days of the tour) I settled down in the saddle for a    L O N G    day!

Got all my kit ready in advance...


Lorna made me some tasty sticky rice cakes to help fuel the journey...




Number 1: ISLAGIATT


Number 2: Fight Club - I can't talk about it...

Number 3: Angels (2015)

Number 4: A Very Dark Place

Number 5: There Is No Try

Number 6: The Hunted (just after power cut midway through video - not happy!)

7 and a half hours into the quest...

Number 7: The Downward Spiral

Number 8: The Wretched

Number 9: Nine Hammers - hanging on in there... just

Number 10: The Rookie... almost there!!!

Done and dusted!

Garmin trace of workout: 11 hours and 50 minutes of suffering! 6,652 kCalories burned, average heart rate of 143 b.p.m., max heart rate of 170 b.p.m. and 56,500 pedal revolutions!!!

Arise Sir Gavin...
the 69th Sir in the UK....


Have to say that this was one of the hardest physical challenges I have ever undertaken - especially when we had two power cuts in the house during the 6th video - I was NOT starting that over again.

Many thanks to all those who provided encouragement on the day; to Wendy and John Fenemore who popped round during video 5 and to all those online who gave words of encouragement - it really made a big difference.

Together, we raised £1000 for Cancer Research UK!  So the truly epic suffering should help to kick cancer's butt in the future!

Gav's donation page for Cancer Research


The hallowed decals have now been applied to my trusty steeds...




















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