Occasionally we read the term "sufferfest" here and other forums. It seems to be an experience where the ride is too long and one is just about finished whether they are done or not. Typically we plan our rides knowing we can finish and finish where we plan. Then come those times where conditions or circumstances take their toll and we enter into the sufferfest. When you experience, you never forget it. You can feel it coming on and maybe you have 25 miles left in the ride.

Here are 3 major factors I look at when planning a ride, I call them the "3 H's".

Heat
Headwind
Hills

Any two of those three make a ride feel longer than the actual distance. I train hard and discipline myself to deal with Headwind and Hills. No probs. However, toss in the insidious and inescapable Mr. Heat and you wonder where the fun went.

Yesterday, I took Mr Heat and Mr Headwind along for the 80mi ride and called it quits at 60. Sometimes the weather folk get it wrong. Yesterday the forecast called for a high of 82F which is in my range. Wind was forecast 7mph with gusts at 15. At the 50mi mark it was 91F and howling winds up near 30mph. By then I was into a sufferfest. I did ride 10 miles further and had my wife meet me at a local park and beach. I gently leaned Black Lightning against the guardrail with people next to me...the place was packed...kicked off my shoes and headed for the water. A swim never felt so good.

Ever have a sufferfest??

The first 90f day of the year always provides suffering. Usually a sufferfest is the result of riding with a fast group as they go all-out for speed. Ever had to provide the pull at 25+ mph when your legs feel like rubber? That's a sufferfest.

No, I'd like to try though.

Probably not as common but the last 15 miles of Day 1 on Ride the Rockies this year would qualify as suffer fest in my book. While those miles were downhill the temps were in the low 30s, there was snow sleet and rain, I was doing lots of braking to keep from going too fast on the curves and it was as cold as I've ever been on a bike. I was shivering uncontrollably and was absolutely miserable.

As I think about it most of my other suffer fests have either involved wind that you have on your list, or riding with a fast group that continuously has me on the edge of my limits.

I guess Time Trials might just qualify as suffer fests as well. When you feel like you need to throw up after you've ridden that is probably one of the defining qualities.

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.

The temps were 97F here in atlanta today. Rode 109 miles with one other guy at 19mph average and 8k ft of climb. No room for headwinds. Solid cramps at mile 92 and 108.

5500 ft of climbing in less than 13 miles might count as a sufferfest: Amantea to Monte Cocuzzo in Amantea, 03, Italy | MapMyRide

IMO suffering is for fools. Thats why I ride bents.

Bents-------------all gain and no pain.

Those East Texas centuries with the humidity, heat, ragweed that inflames my sinuses and occasional nasty headwinds used to do it for me. Always proud of hanging in when guys on much nicer rides than me took the sags in though.



^^^
If heat is a problem try this.

I propose these definitions:

Hammerfest : riding hard and feeling strong

Sufferfest : riding hard and feeling bad

Survival time : too tired to ride hard, struggling to get home

Usually they follow each other in that order.

I usually proceed from hammerfest to survival time, with very little time in sufferfest. Sufferfest requires strength of will that I lack.

I live in a hilly area known for the best ski resorts in the midwest but will probably not ever know what it is like to experience the thousands of feet of climbing that many others post here. We have some hills that are 2mi in distance and most in the 1-1.5mi range. How you guys ride places like the Blue Ridge or Rockies boggles my mind. And I like hills.

Ok, where you were on the suffer index on the second ride....your going at a 15mph pace....that's where I was at mile 50 on Saturday. Ridiculous wind and heat, Mad Max stuff.

I know my body is shutting down the ride for me when heart rate is a bit elevated, breathing is up and I get whoozy in the head. At that point it is a struggle to keep pedals spinning at 12mph.

Lowrider friend, it is foolish of you to not realize that we upright/drop bar guys LOVE THIS.

Stringing together ten, or more, short-but-steep climbs can be very punishing if the climbs are truly steep. I've done the Dairyland Dare in southwestern Wisconsin several times. The climbs in Wisconsin must be similar to your area in northern Michigan. Doing 10,000 ft of climbing divided in multiple 2 mile intervals is just as hard as doing the same amount of climbing in fewer but longer intervals, IMO.

A sufferfest is when you are bombing downhill 30mph and get stung through your clothes into your inner upper thigh, such as happened to me yesterday. From the size and type of the sore that developed and from experience I'd guess it to be a yellow jacket.

We were on the tandem. As my sweetie said, I get to be the windshield and when the roads are wet she gets to be the fender.

Probably very similar to Wisconsin. Strava calls some of our hills Cat4 climbs but not far from my house is "The Wall". I've seen semi-pro caliber riders blast out of town on the 2mi approach thinking that's all there is and when the see The Wall they hop off and walk it without trying. Road doubles can be challenging here even with a 12-28 granny.

Sufferfesting is an art ... the canvas is time, and the paint? Well ... your choice:

Hot.
Cold.
Rainy.
Windy.
Buggy.
Crappy pavement.

Take your pick, and put together your masterpiece. When you're all done, at least you'll have good stories.

Have you ever done the thing where you brake and pedal at the same time on descents? I hit upon this idea descending down into Durango at the end of the RAW. It actually helped!

listening to my wife berate me for not taking out the trash.

No but I have gone up some hills where I could swear someone was squeezing my brake lever.

There is different kinds of suffering and I'm speaking of mental anguish now. On a club ride recently, I was climbing a hill near the end of a ride. It was neither extraordinarily steep or long, say 7 to 8% and about one mile long. I usually get sucked into going a bit faster than is sustainable on these rides and was feeling a bit beat up but holding decent speed on the grade. Suddenly, this wizened old woman easily passes me and disappears ahead, pedaling smoothly and steadily into the distance. When I say old woman, she was at least as old as I am. There are two such women in our club. The other one has dragged me around the course before. It may be a coincidence that they are both English. I think of it as being blitzed.

Good idea! I'm wondering if I was coherent enough to do two things at once!!

Wait a minute. We're leaving out the term, EPIC. I think an epic ride is when you survive a sufferfest, hate it, and swear never to do it again. Then, like the next day, you realize how awesome you are for surviving the sufferfest, pat yourself on the back and redefine the ride as EPIC. Just sayin'.

It turns a negative into a positive.

Most definately!

Massively DEMORALIZING!