Originally Posted by BikeArkansas

Ever try a double Sufferfest? I had no idea what a double meant until yesterday. I started a century ride with my riding partner. At two miles my legs really hurt. Then a lady that should not have been there made a turn in front of me. I stayed vertical, but with the lead-out pedaling at 24 MPH I had to really run the speed up to catch back on. By the time I did that I was exhausted with my legs hurting 4 miles into the ride. I fell off and pedaled at 16 MPH for about a mile. As I went on I started to feel better and better. Soon I was at 23 to 24 MPH and riding fine. I did catch up by skipping a planned rest stop. One Sufferfest was over. I have no idea why I felt so bad to start a ride. Very unusual for me.

Later in the day, at about 44 miles, the rear derailuer on my partner's bike locked up. He crashed on the side of the road, unhurt, but out of the ride. After checking on him I went back to the ride. A little later the ride turned into a headwind for a little over 40 miles. The problem was that a storm was moving in and this headwind kept building and building. I was down to 15 MPH while working hard. With my partner out of the ride I simply lost desire to fight the wind and my body went downhill quickly. At 62 miles (metric century distance) my average speed was 20 MPH. However, my whole body was wanting to revolt. I gave in and slowed considerably. Eventually I did finish the ride, but exhausted. The last several miles was a personal Sufferfest.