The Sufferfest: The Rookie

     In The Sufferfest’s latest download, The Rookie, you ride for glory, honour and victory….just not necessarily your own. In The Rookie you’re suffering for the greater good--the glory of your team. You take on the role of the eponymous rookie, an amateur who shook the Ministry of Suffering to its very foundations by winning the Tour of Sufferlandria 2014. So you’re the first Sufferlandrian to win a place on a world tour team (Giant-Shimano) and it’s your job to ensure a win.

Length: 55 minutes

Format:  after a 9-minute warm-up, the race in The Rookie is divided into 3 x 10-minute stages., with about 3 minutes of  recovery between each stage. The emphasis in The Rookie is on speed and surges, with only a few climbs. You’re also challenged with “tasks” as you help out your team, such as dropping a competing rider or getting your leader back out front.

Music: with the exception of a lone polka track, I loved the music in The Rookie. It’s a mix of pop, rock and electronica and it’s fun and upbeat. (I think I especially enjoyed the music since I’ve been underwhelmed with the music in the new Virtual Actives).

Footage: there’s some brief footage of Barcelona near the start, but the majority of The Rookie features footage from the Tour de Suisse. More than in any other Sufferfest, The Rookie really made me feel like I was weaving in and out of the peloton. Unfortunately, this comes at a cost (and I apologize that there’s really no elegant way to state this): there’s a lot of butts in your face in most of the shots. I think I really noticed this in The Rookie since I’ve mostly been spinning to Virtual Active workouts lately, in which the footage is thankfully butt-free.

Difficulty: The Rookie hits my difficulty “sweet spot”. It challenges you without destroying you.  You push hard during the 10-minute race stages but the 3-minute recoveries keep it do-able. This is how I prefer to work out on most days—on those days when I want to really challenge myself, I have lots of other Sufferfests  to turn to. The Rookie made me realize that as much as I adore Virtual Active rides, I do work harder spinning with the Sufferfest. I think it’s a combination of the music, the insults and the threats from the minions. 7.5/10 for difficulty.

Other Random Thoughts:  The Rookie has all my favourite elements of a Sufferfest ride: a great storyline, awesome music and laugh-out-loud moments. It plays like a documentary, full of interviews with people singing your praises (and the competition quivering in fear) and it held my attention and focus for the full 55 minutes. I really got a feel and appreciation for all the team strategy that goes into winning a race (or stage) and I loved being able to hear some of the riders shout out directions or instructions from time to time (which is a Sufferfest first, I believe).  Since I’ve been doing so many Virtual Active rides lately I couldn’t help but compare the two brands during The Rookie. I love them both but The Rookie really made me appreciate what The Sufferfest brings to the table (the music, the challenge, the humour) and also what I miss about Virtual Active when I do a Sufferfest (the trainers, the beautiful butt-free scenery). 8.5/10.  

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      In a few days I'll post my wrap-up of Virtual Active's Bike Series 2. Then I think I'm going to re-visit Bike Series 1 so I'll post reviews of all those rides over the coming weeks. 

Virtual Active: Argentine Patagonia

   Argentine Patagonia was the final ride for me in Virtual Active’s Bike Series 2. It was a great one for me to finish with as it’s a highlight of the series.  It’s led by another new trainer, Barry Druschel. Barry has a bit of a nasally voice and at first I was worried that it was going to bother me and be an issue. But I didn’t even notice it after the initial few minutes and I think Barry might be my favourite of the new trainers in this series as he’s designed an absolutely fantastic ride.

Length: 55 minutes

Format: Argentine Patagonia is a “peak performance, maximum effort cycling workout” that Barry says will “test your endurance, strength and power as a cyclist”. He’s not kidding—this is definitely the toughest ride in the series. The 11 x 5-minute stages contain a variety of drills—you’ll do tempo training, Tabata training, off-road riding with high resistance, power intervals, standing accelerations, etc. As you can see from the profile below, there’s a lot uphill terrain and the final stage consists of three hill sprints (more on that under “Difficulty”):

Music: I haven’t been overly impressed with most of the music in this series but I did really enjoy the music in Argentine Patagonia. It was motivating and mostly upbeat, except for two tracks near the end which were almost trance-like (in a good way). Barry makes good use of the music, often telling you to pedal to the beat (or even faster than the beat).

Footage: one of my complaints about this series has been that a lot of the footage is very similar. (And this isn’t the fault of Virtual Active—a lot of the terrain in one part of South America just happens to look awfully similar to other parts of South America).  But this didn’t bother me with Argentine Patagonia for some reason—I think because the production team did a great job finding as much variety with the terrain as they could. Or maybe because Barry makes each stage seem so different with the various drills he chose. Yes, there’s still a lot of riding alongside a lake with mountains in the distance, but there’s also gorgeous shots like this:

And this:

     Glaciar Perito Moreno is one of only three glaciers in Patagonia that are growing. The history/geography/trivia dork in me loves these little tidbits of knowledge (which is one reason I prefer doing the guided rides to the unguided).

Difficulty: as stated above, this is a “maximum effort” ride and probably the toughest in the series. The tempo and tabata training are difficult but I think the final stage is the toughest, especially as it comes at the end of an already-tough ride. The final stage has three hill sprints that have you in a high gear doing a standing run for 15 seconds, keeping the same gear and sitting for 15 seconds and then recovering. If you’re in a high enough gear, this is extremely challenging. Although this is a challenging ride, Barry does a fantastic job of pacing the ride so that you feel challenged rather than defeated. 8.5/10 for difficulty.

Other Random Thoughts: I honestly can’t think of any negatives with Argentine Patagonia. It has a variety of drills and skills, fun music, a great level of challenge, gorgeous footage and an awesome trainer. It’s as close to perfect as a spin workout can get. I was going to give it a 9.5 but I really can’t think of a valid reasonnot to give it a perfect score. So 10/10 it is!  

Virtual Active: Tierra Del Fuego

    Today I tried the Tierra Del Fuego ride from Virtual Active’s Bike Series 2. It’s led by Katie Jaime, who’s a new Virtual Active trainer. I thought she was just OK leading this one—she wasn’t bad but something about her seemed a bit robotic at times. Tierro del Fuego is at the southernmost tip of Argentina and Katie describes it as “The End of the Earth” several times.

Length: 55 minutes

Format: Katie calls the Tierra del Fuego ride a “strength ride” that will “build your mental and physical muscles.” I agree that the focus is on strength as there’s a good deal of seated climbs in this one. There’s also some one-pedal drills and a few (short) sprints. But the emphasis is on strength as you’re often in a moderate to heavy gear. It’s pretty much all uphill. Here’s the profile:

           

Music: with the exception of the Panama ride I‘ve thought that most of the music in Bike Series 2 is kind of “meh” and Tierra del Fuego did nothing to change my mind. The music is all instrumental with a rather bland and generic dancey beat.

Footage: Tierra del Fuego has a desolate but stunning beauty. But, as with the Chilean Patagonia ride, the footage seems repetitive at times. Be prepared for lots of riding towards distant mountains with a lake or river off to one side. A lot of the ride centers around the Beagle Channel and the town of Ushuaia. I loved the scenery but feel like seeing the same type of terrain throughout the entire ride made it drag slightly. But it is absolutely breathtaking:

Difficulty: most of the Tierra del Fuego ride was moderately challenging, with most of the challenge coming from the seated climbs. The most difficult stages were the final three (not including the cooldown). Katie describes these stages as a 15-minute climb, but that’s a bit misleading. I’d say it’s more like 15 minutes of climbing intervals, since you’re not continuously climbing for those 15 minutes. You get a few easier intervals and a few rests in there. 8/10 for difficulty.

Other Random Thoughts: my own personal preferences probably mean I won’t be reaching for the Tierra del Fuego ride too often. Seated climbs aren’t a favourite of mine (which probably means I should do them more often, not less), It isn’t a bad workout by any stretch but I have so many other VA workouts that I enjoy so much more. 7/10.

     I leave you with one of my favourite views from the ride. You can see the town of Ushuaia in the foreground, with the Beagle Channel behind it and Chile far in the distance: 

Virtual Active: Panama Ride

     Panama Bike is one of the new releases in Virtual Active’s Bike Series 2 and it may easily become one of my favourite VA rides :) It’s led by Elliott Bringman, who’s new to VA.  I really enjoyed him as a trainer and this ride seemed to fly by.

Length: 55 minutes

Format:  Elliott calls this a “foundation ride that’s great for beginners and experienced cyclists alike”.  He never really explains exactly why it’s a foundation ride but I think it’s because it covers all the “basics” (cadence changes, seated climbs,  standing climbs, pedal drills, etc) while not being super challenging. Like all VA workouts, it’s divided into 5-minute stages. I like that there’s a bit of everything in this workout, including a good deal of standing work, which is my favourite. Even though there are some cadence changes, I would have liked some real sprints. Here’s the profile:

Music: I liked the music in the Panama ride much more than in Chilean Patagonia and Costa Rica. It’s a good mix of instrumental and vocals—some pop, some hip hop, some rap. It’s very fun and upbeat.

Footage: the footage is varied and stunning.  Each stage features different terrain, which is something I love about VA workouts. Some of the locales visited are Panama City, the famous Canal and locks, a rainforest and an island beach. I really liked that this ride had two urban stages, which is something that’s been lacking in Bike Series 2 so far. 

Difficulty: as Elliott points out, the Panama ride is great for beginners since it isn’t too difficult but it’s also great for more experienced riders who don’t want to go all-out. The most challenging parts for me were the seated climbs. 7/10 for difficulty.

Other Random Thoughts:  there really isn’t anything about the Panama ride that I didn’t like. Elliott is great, the scenery is gorgeous and varied, the music is fun and the ride itself has a lot of variety. The only little things that I would change would be to add in some sprints and maybe up the challenge a bit. But overall, I loved this ride. 9/10.