If you’ve read my ramblings for any length of time you’ll know I like a damn good flogging on the turbo trainer from time to time and 2013 is set to be no different.  This month we see the creation of the newest early season tour  - the Tour of Sufferlandria

Straight from the evil mind that brought you such monumentally difficult indoor training videos such as ‘The Hunted’ and ‘The Long Scream’ comes an early season race to rival the humdrum routine of the Tour of Qatar and the Tour Down Under. “Slotting in nicely to the UCI calender of early season races, the Tour of Sufferlandria was created to bring back the drama, agony and misery that the early season peloton deserves. Starting on January 26th, the 9 day event promises to turn even the softest rider into a true Sufferlandrian by the end, on Feb 3rd.”

The Tour of Sufferlandria has been designed by race director Grunter von Agony to be a serious test for those riders who have already been putting in the hard work over the winter and are looking to flourish in the first few months of the new year.

“The course is carefully balanced between agony, misery and despair. So, yes, the Tour of Sufferlandria is a worthwhile target for anybody looking for an early season goal. You really ought to have some solid training behind you before you start it, and you’ll surely go through a roasting in hell during the race. When you come out the other side? With a solid 9 days of effort behind you, you will be able to take an ox, tie him to your bike, drag him up and over Mt. Sufferlandria while he tries to run the other way, and drink a flagon of ale made from the bikes of all those you crushed on your way to a glorious victory. Or the Minions will eat you for lunch. But, whatever.”

- Grunter von Agony

Comprising of 9 stages, starting on January 26th, competitors will take on a different Sufferfest training video each day. And for those thinking that this sounds like a recovery week in the world of The Sufferfest, three of the days cover such a large amount of terrain that you will be required to complete 2 videos! 

Full Schedule:

• Saturday, Jan 26th: Hell Hath No Fury
• Sunday, Jan 27th: The Hunted
• Monday, Jan 28th: Extra Shot + Fight Club
• Tuesday, Jan 29th: A Very Dark Place
• Wednesday, Jan 30th: Angels
• Thursday, Jan 31st: The Wretched + The Long Scream
• Friday, Feb 1st: The Downward Spiral
• Saturday, Feb 2nd: There is No Try + Revolver
• Sunday, Feb 3rd: Local Hero

If you head over to The Sufferfest blog you will find a run down of each individual stage before you slog your way through it, some advice from athletes who have completed previous editions of the race and also some FAQ’s.

As an added incentive, if you sign up to TrainerRoad.com and log your stage numbers via their site you enter yourself into a competition with an absolutely outstanding prize pack…

For those who finish each day: we have three sets of Sufferfest decals to give away every day, as well as a free month of TrainerRoad.

For those who finish the entire Tour on TrainerRoad.com: we will put you into a pool and draw names to win the following prizes…

• The choice of a 32GB iPod Touch or 16 GB iPad mini (provided by the kind gents at TrainerRoad)
• 1 PowerBar Sufferlandrian PowerPack
• 2 sets of Sufferlandrian National Kit (Jersey + Bibs)
• 1 Sufferlandrian National Jersey
• 1 year of free TrainerRoad
• 1 Sufferlandrian Windvest
• 3 flags
• 3 Tour of Sufferlandria posters
• 1 full refund of all 12 videos
• 1 free entry into the TransRockies Challenge Mountain Bike Race in BC, Canada
• 1 x Cyclepassion Calendar 2013
• 1 x Cyclefilm’s “The Italian Job – Gran Fondo Recon” – 6 DVD Set
• 1 x Cyclefilm’s “Roads to Glory – Alpine Training” – Free download
• 1 x Cyclefilm’s “Roads to Glory – Pyrenean Training” – Free download
• 5x Athlete Audio’s App (Mental Training)

If you can’t sign up on TrainerRoad (I won’t be as my rollers do not plug into my ‘puter) you can join the Facebook group and we can revel in joint misery! Hopefully I’ll make it to the other side and I’ll see you at the finish line!

Stevie

On Monday 3rd December, a very competent and competitive local cyclist , Christian Hill from Adalta Cycling Club, was hit by a taxi whilst cycling. He has suffered horrifying injuries due to the incident and is currently laying in a hospital bed looking at a long recovery period.

Christian is a very keen cyclist and has also done extremely well in duathlons, most recently finishing 1st in his category at the London Duathlon this September. But just over a week ago he was  cycling along a fairly innocuous shopping street in a coastal town of Kent when he was struck by a taxi emerging from a side road. Fortunately, Christian was wearing a helmet but very unfortunately x-rays, CT and MRI scans showed that the impact of the crash broke his back and his pelvis.

In the days that followed medical professionals were able to give Christian two routes of treatment for his injuries, one being spinal surgery which would mean he would never be able to ride or run competitively again, the other… he must lay flat on his back in a hospital bed for 6 weeks and then will need to be in a back brace for the following 3 months. Christian opted for the long haul so his body can heal naturally and he can eventually get back on the bike.

Friends of Christian from all of the local cycling clubs are joining together to raise money to make his stay in hospital just a little bit more bearable. The target of an iPad has been put forward and a donation site has been set up that we are contributing to. We all know how hard it is staying off the bike for a few days, never mind 5 months so anything we can do to help the time pass will be welcomed I’m sure.

As common as accidents like this are it’s even more terrible when it’s someone you know and can relate to the accident they had. I hope Christian makes a fast recovery and gets back to his winning ways. Competitive souls have a tendency to smash the competition when coming back from serious injury and I’m sure Christian will be no different. If you feel you want to contribute to the fund for an iPad to help Christian on his road to recovery then follow the link below (that’ll be there shortly!) and donate what ever you can. Until the link is active, if you wish to contribute to the fund, get in touch with myself or Darryl and we’ll assist. I hope this post and the Facebook appeals that have gone out from many in the local cycling community reach enough people so that just $1/£1 from everyone who reads this will get us to our goal.

Get well soon Christian from all at LovingTheBike.com

Stevie

I take a moment on our drive back to Austin to sit in front of this breathtaking backdrop and talk randomly about life on and off the bike.  I hope you like it….and the little cameo from my baby boy.

For many months now we have gathered as seething masses in the musty halls of a simple but wonderful night class known only as #bikeschool. Some people pop in to wind down after a day at work, others set their biological clocks to tingle once a week at 9PM EST… and others well, others use it as a vehicle to explain their drinking behaviour! So how has #bikeschool EVOLved since it’s conception 9 months ago and who are the social media rascals behind this dastardly brilliant idea?

In August 2010 @bikerly, @egggman and @lovingthebike (henceforth known as ‘The Rascals’) blogged about the benefits of using the #bikeschool hashtag to bring people together and share lessons learned as part of the first Secret Evol Plan (Evol = Love backwards and even more dastardly than the regular evil) Those early days of the #hashtag sparked some enlightening discussions and in the words of @bikerly:

We’ve heard about kids flying free without training wheels and what this has meant for the parent. There have been stories shared about mountain biking, volunteerism, beer biking, icebiking, biking with a
family, and we’ve even had a couple Yogi Berrisms. It’s been amazing and fun to be part of this.

The idea of an hour slot on Twitter quickly became necessary, at the very least, to harness those fantastic stories, ideas and tips that were being spread across Twitter. So Thursday, October 21st at 9p EST was chosen to be the night The Rascals did the dirty and #bikeschool 1.0 was conceived.

Les Coquins

Darryl (@lovingthebike) is the dude behind this wonderful hub… www.LovingTheBike.com.  He’s a cycling-lifestyle blogger and a bone fide social media warrior who’s proud of the tremblings he’s helped created along the way.  A native of Canada, but not made for their climate….Darryl escaped and spent a few years living in the Caribbean before returning to North America.  He now lives in Austin, Texas with his family who mean the world to him.  His life revolves around his family and cycling.

Darryl is no newcomer to the realm of social media.  His cycling blog,  is quickly becoming a favorite digital media home for bike lovers around the world.  When not hard at work developing valuable strategies to launch his clients into social media stardom, this devoted husband, father of three, and avid cyclist can be found riding the back roads of the Texas Hill Country or conversing with clients and fans on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and so many other funky cool places.

Jim (@bikerly) grew up on a farm in Iowa, just on the outside of town with plenty of quiet streets to bike up and down on the way to the football games, school, the grocery store for baseball cards, Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone etc. He is a regular ‘beer running guy’ (Jim has been voted one of the Top 12 Beer Runners To Watch in 2011!), father of two boys, husband, runner and bike rider and manages to find enough love in his life for all of these things. Never taking things too seriously, you won’t find him on the turbo or doing hill repeats, Jim likes to take his riding slowly and often takes a camera with him, biking for fun and to get out of the house. That does not mean he’s any less of a bad ass though! He’s no stranger to winter riding and last year started ice-biking:

It was an arctic February day (-10 F) when I decided to get off the couch and go for a bike ride. It had been months since my last, but I was determined to kick Old Man Winter where the sun wasn’t shining.

Layers, face mask, goggles and gloves, I pedaled. My wife thought I was crazy. So did the neighbors. I loved it, and spent the rest of the weekend researching winter cycling gear. That weekend marked my addiction to icebiking. I continued biking through the Winter, taking pictures and facebooking the heck out of my adventures.

Jim’s ethos on biking and life is a beautifully simple one and he dishes out regular doses of it on his personal blog, over at Groucho Sports (more on them later!) and also at dailymile.

Mike (@egggman) is a true winter-riding warrior who regularly posts his gnarly rides to work through the snow covered suburbs of his home town on his blog, The Old Singlespeed. If you ride your bike for for no other reason than because you love it his videos will speak to you… they might make you want to head off on an Hawaiian vacation… but they speak volumes about the man himself. No further words are necessary… marvel in his awesomeness!!!!

Rise of the pedaltarian

So a time and date had been set, all that was needed other than the baying masses to fill the halls was someone to control the chaos. The Rascals took it in turns to run #bikeschool as ‘Professors’, asking questions every 15 minutes to give the hour a structure and to try and tempt tweeps to the front of the class rather than lurking, the idea being if you contribute to the session you will  get more from it. As the weeks went on and people came back each time, connections and friendships were beginning to form and the 1 hour slot became a much more fluid affair. Gone was the feeling of waiting for that week’s professor to ask a question so you could answer. It now really felt like a room full of like minded people chatting about 1 subject and the ‘Prof’ questions molded and stimulated these conversations; some class-wide, some more personal (#YouKnowWho).

Possibly the most influential part of the EVOLution so far has been the introduction of guest professors into the proceedings. By doing this The Rascals ensured that sessions remained fresh and current and showed an understanding that their creation was now bigger than the sum of its parts and was an offering to the biking community. Although ‘guesting’ provides it’s own nervousness and trepidation, within the #bikeschool community it is a privileged, sought after position and enables people to inject their personality into the session.

As we turned our backs on the decade that was and pressed on into 2011 the attendance numbers rocketed and #bikeschool quickly became much bigger than it’s conceived 1 hour slot with the hashtag pinging Twitter clients 7 days a week. A class regular and #bikeschool stalwart, Groucho Sports, were quick to help when the masses demanded a #bikeschool jersey. A collaboration between The Rascals, the designer Bob Avery (@BobRidesABike) and Groucho Sports soon followed and the #bikeschool jersey is now available and can be seen around the globe.

The most recent change for #bikeschool has been the move of it’s supporting blog away from the original Tumblr location to nestle very nicely here at LovingTheBike.com. I’ve been involved with The Rascals for a while now and felt truly honored when asked to provide the weekly updates for the blog and be part of the LovingTheBike.com family. With no credible history of writing or blogging to my name it was a risky audible from a well honed play book but it is another example of how The Rascals are trying to move #bikeschool forward and broaden it’s demographic and appeal as well as making time for them to sink their teeth into new and even more EVOL secret plans. I hope this new home for us is going to be a fruitful one and we always welcome your comments, advice, suggestions and requests here or on twitter about what you want to see on the #bikeschool blog which has already seen 2 fantastic interviews courtesy of British Road Race Champion and Team Sky rider, Geraint Thomas and Bike Pure creator Andy Layhe.

Ladies, gentlemen and those in between, please be upstanding for a toast…. To The Rascals! And all that may follow them!

Check out the Facebook page, and the Groucho Sports shop and we’ll see you on Thursday, 9pm EST for #bikeschool

Recent years have seen the sport of cycle racing careering from pillar to post on the subject of doping which have thrown our sport into the mainstream media in all the wrong ways. We have  seen some of the most ‘original’ and ridiculous excuses ever spouted by enhanced humans, ranging from Björn Leukemans’ over-active libido to Floyd Landis’ binge drinking and my personal favourite, Tyler Hamilton claiming his unborn twin made him do it!

Thankfully there are many riders and fans out there who are not only riding clean, but also openly preaching the benefits of clean racing. One of the major contributors to this fight to protect the integrity of cycling and promote clean cyclesport is Bike Pure. Many of you will have heard about Bike Pure already and seen their wristbands on TV and being a big fan of their work, I caught up with one of the founders, Andy Layhe.

Phoenix Rising

StevieDexter: Welcome to #bikeschool, Andy. So who makes up the Bike Pure team?

Andy Layhe: Bike Pure is basically myself and best mate Myles McCorry. Myles came up with the idea and we worked hard together, [we] still do. Myles lives in Ireland and I moved over to Australia from Ireland last November with my wife and kids. We have ambassadors in many countries who help us voluntarily and we wish to thank everyone for their support towards Bike Pure.

SD: I’ve been a big fan of Bike Pure for a while now and regularly have on-the-bike conversations with people fueled by the stickers and spacers I have on my bike. What are the origins of Bike Pure?

AL: Back in 2008 and 2009 we were frustrated at the large amount of positives, especial at the Tour de France. The sports reputation was taking a battering, especially at the Tour de France and we though we would try and inject some much needed integrity into it by forming Bike Pure. We always felt that the voice of the non-dopers was drowned out by the dopers and we wanted to give not only those riders, but normal cycling fans who had been let down, a platform to say they were against it. We’ve moved on a long way from our inception and our growth is testament to the strong feelings out there. Since our inception we have pushed for longer sanctions because it’s clear the current two year ban isn’t working. There need to be deterrents in place that really make riders think twice before doping. We also wish to see the Doctors and team staff punished and banned from the sport for administering illegal substances to young riders.

We’re non-profit and sales from items on our store go back into promotion and the everyday running costs of the organisation. The wristband is fast becoming THE symbol for honesty and integrity.

SD: You mission statement says Bike Pure is ‘for the fans, riders and the trade opposed to doping’. Which of those categories do you fall in to and how does that affect the way you run the organisation?

AL: We fall into all those categories we hope. We see ourselves as part of the Bike Pure family – it is a collection of many people, fans, ambassadors, role models, companies and coaches who support us. We collectively are making change. It’s important that the industry gets behind us because they too have suffered the financial implications of sponsors dropping out of the sport due simply to the negative publicity. We are positive and a forward thinking group – at the end of the day cycle sport is a wonderful thing and we need to promote it as a healthy sport, not one where riders take transfusions and inject themselves with harmful substances.

SD: You have an extensive list of amateur and professional teams who support the cause, how much dialogue do you have between these teams in relation to new testing procedures and methods the teams themselves can use to remove the ugly head of this beast?

AL: We are in contact with the riders who form part of the organisation. The riders alignment is not only with Bike Pure, but also a commitment to their fans, coaches, family and team mates that they ride with integrity and honesty. It is difficult to engage with management of major teams as they have a job to do but we have input. It’s about education and if young riders are aware not only of the illegal implications of doping, but the ethical standards of sport then that will go a long way in the thinking of the new generation of riders coming through. Take the Australian mens team pursuit squad and even Cameron Meyer – they all form part of Bike Pure and their average age is only 19 years of age. We are looking to this generation to make change and be sincere role models in the years to come.

SD: Bike Pure also has an impressive list of professionals who show their support and act as role models including; Team Sky riders Steve Cummings and Russ Downing, Garmin-Cervelo’s Dan Martin and Australian National Road Race Champion Jack Bobridge, who regularly show their support at races all over the world. Have you had to chase and pester these riders for their support or have they approached you as the organisation has grown in size?

AL: In our early days we did contact riders whom we either knew or had heard good things about. We have since stopped approaching riders unless they come on recommendation from a third party. We receive emails from young riders and coaches who really believe in what we’re achieving and its rewarding. I even received an email from a young Australian junior rider recently. She had seen Cameron and others wearing the band and its very rewarding when we have young kids wanting to ‘say no to drugs’ and look to role models they can believe in.

A brave new world

SD: The Cycle Sport 2.0 campaign, which is at the heart of Bike Pure, is described as ‘a blueprint for a new start to cycle racing’. What kind of feedback have you had relating the Cycle Sport 2.0 proposals from the fans, and from the professional organisations which the 12 point program is targeting?

AL: We have a large volume of feedback on the proposals. It was nice to see the recent UCI comments regarding longer bans and they seem to be willing to implement many of the proposals we have been shouting about for the last few years. Of course the UCI won’t credit us but I hope that due to our large following and the structures we have in place that they can see the fans want change.

SD: Who was involved in the evolution of Cycle Sport 2.0? I’m guessing it wasn’t a random wish-list devised over a coffee break!

AL: Haha! Many of the ideas we have are born over a nice coffee! Myles was the instigator behind it and it’s a great idea. Many ideas we have evolve into larger things and it’s testament to our growth and development. We feel that education is the key though, we work with many coaches across many countries who talk to their riders about Bike Pure and if we can get this message across then all well and good. A lot of work we do isn’t always seen at the forefront though, we work with many charities and other groups, teams and organisations to spread our message and help others in any way we can.

SD: If Bike Pure could have the perfect 2011, what would the world of cycle racing look like as we enter 2012?

AL: We really think that the governing bodies need to listen to the fans more. The fans are the backbone of the sport. It’s an overused word but we need more transparency and more vocal noises from riders who are opposed to doping. Fans desire honest champions and I hope that Bike Pure are part of this new change we are seeing. Certainly many performances in the big tours are more believable than recent years but there’s still a mountain to climb. Cycling is a fantastic sport and we’ve seen a resurgence in all ages and abilities getting out on their bikes. It’s important that these people can have a sport to be proud.

SD: And finally, the question on everyone’s mind… why are YOU Loving The Bike?

AL: I’m loving the bike but not able to get out as much as I used to. I raced for 20 years and now it’s time to put something back into the sport that has given me so much. I call my bike rides ‘looking over the hedges’ as my now unfortunate lack of speed allows me to do this, taking in the wonderful Australian scenery that surrounds me! Funnily enough I’m enjoying carrying my additional body weight up steep hills and sampling good coffee.

Thanks to Andy for answering my questions with the detail and accuracy of a real pro!

Visit the Bike Pure store for a vast array of products to help support clean cyclesport and follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

Until next time, keep Loving The Bike…

Stevie