
During November and December, I decided to train using the Active Off-Season plan in Zwift. The target was to get myself in shape rapidly to complete the Rapha Festive 500 between Christmas and New Year. Whilst successful, I found this massively draining. The 9-10 hours a week of relentless riding, with some sessions including 3 continuous hours on the indoor training was tough Not just because of the sore bum, but also the mental toughness required to be dripping in sweat for 3 hours straight. I wanted to do something different for a few weeks. I came across Sufferset Transition plan review on the GCN youtube channel and was in.

I'd tried The Sufferfest briefly before, but this was my first proper foray into the world of Sufferlandria. The Transition plan is a 6 week multisport plan that mixes cycling, yoga and strength. It aims to improve your on bike performance, full body strength and help you recover and reset in time for the new season. Off the back of the Rapha Festive 500 and leading into spring and summer riding, this sounded great.

I went with the Transition Up plan over the Transition Down. Whilst I was a bit tired out from the riding over the previous few months, I'm no pro, and the Transition Up plan looked like a big reduction in my existing weekly riding. Generally, the Transition Up is aimed at cyclists coming off a period of little to no riding, whilst the Transition Down is aimed at those coming off a period of demanding riding.

![Transition Plan](/images/suf-transition-calendar.png "Transition Plan | The Sufferfest")

My first impressions of The Sufferfest were of amusement. At first the tongue in cheek tone of the workouts felt a bit weird. (Why do you keep showing me photos of people eating donuts?) but actually it works really well. It brings a big of enjoyment to indoor riding and takes your mind off the suffering that your doing. Over the last 6 weeks, I've enjoyed my indoor sessions more than ever.

![The Cure](/images/suf-the-cure.png "The Cure | The Sufferfest")

I've gotten on really well with the scheduling in the plan compared to Zwift. Like most people, I can't always fit in a session on the presibed day, so being able to go back and tackle any workouts ahead/behind time is great. With Zwift, I found the +/- 2 or so days mean that sometimes I'd miss out on sessions and feel bad about it, especially when it can lead you to not officially "completing" the plan.

The workouts themselves range from really tough to really relaxed, but the structure and tempo feels well thought out and varied. I've really enjoy mixing in Yoga; what a difference Hip Openers make! The strength workouts are all body weight and are largely aimed at stability working on form rather than big gains. I've enjoyed some of the cycling technique lessons, and the sprint and cadence drills. I think I've really benefited from them only have cycled for the last 18 months.

![Yoga](/images/suf-yoga.png "Yoga | The Sufferfest")

Overall I've loved the plan, loved The Sufferfest, and am now embarking on a 12 week Road Cycling plan that I'll loosely follow alongside outside weekend rides now that the weather is looking up. That should set me up nicely for Summer riding. I feel refreshed and a stronger cyclist than before. Onwards and upwards.


Transitioning into 2021 with a 6 week training plan.

Starting the year with The Sufferfest Transition


It's the beginning of a new year and like most people I normally set myself some goals for the year. In the past I've been guilty of setting myself goals that were completely unrealistic. Was I really ever going to run 2000km in 2018 when I was barely running 5-10k a week in the months prior? Was 35km+ a week realistic? Not in a million years. I quickly fell behind and the feeling of chasing a goal always out of reach was not fun. Ultimatly it really took the enjoyment out of running for me. Thats not the kind of negativity I need during a global pandemic.

Last year I recognised this and set myself a more reasonable cycling goal based on my mileage over the previous 3 months. I set a target of 5000km on the bike in 2020, and even with a month off to move from one side of the world to the other, I smashed it. By the end of the Festive 500 in December 2020 I'd racked up 6,689.9km, climbed 62,750m and spent 287 hours in the saddle. I couldn't have been happier and had great fun doing it. That is what is important. It isn't the distance covered (though it's nice to see the numbers ticking up) but the memories gathered on the way, the lessons I've learned and the improvement in health and fitness.

My passion is cycling and I want to reflect that in my goals again for 2021. It is important that they are realistic, but remind me to keep pursuing my passion when times are tough. These goals should bring positivity to my life and so here they are. Hopefully you've got some exciting plans for the year as well. Good luck with them!

### Ride 7500km

![Road cycling](/images/martin-magnemyr-pYqGx8isV0g-unsplash.jpg "Road cycling | Photo by Martin Magnemyr on Unsplash")

I know, I've just spoken about how the number isn't important, but having a target really works for me. It gets me out on the bike and cycling with others. After a year living on the other side of the world, I'm looking forward to living back with friends and family nearby that I can socialise with on rides. In the COVID era where meeting others indoors is restricted, I think this will be even more important. I want to get out and explore the riding that Scotland has to offer and chasing an achievable number as a means to get me off the couch will help me do that.

### Share my experiences

![Blogging](/images/samsung-memory-ngWKDQhM88Q-unsplash.jpg "Blogging | Photo by Samsung Memory on Unsplash")

I've been thinking about building [whereiride.com](http://whereiride.com) for many months now. I've had a bit of time off work between jobs this January giving me the time and motivation to finally get on with building the site. To begin with, I just want to share my experiences through this blog. Being a first time blogger, I'd like to produce content for the website consistently throughout the year. I also see this as a reason to get out there and explore Scotland by bike. It'll be hard work out there exploring this beautiful country to share with you, but someone has to do it!

### Go bikepacking

![Bikepacking](/images/marek-piwnicki-ceq24lPJc38-unsplash.jpg "Bikepacking | Photo by Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash")

The [North Coast 500](https://www.northcoast500.com/itinerary/cycling/) (or Route 500) has been on my bucket list for a while now. Unfortunately it looks unlikely that I'll have two weeks of holiday to spare this summer in which to tick it off. I'm getting married, hoping to buy a house, and would love to get away for a proper holiday should the world start to open back up again. Instead, I want to make sure to fit in a 2-3 day bike packing trip once the weather improved during the summer as a practice for some of the longer routes on my to ride list. This will be my first time bikepacking and will be an adventure of its own.


Downsizing my goals for 2021


Hello there and welcome to WhereIRide!

For a while now, I've wanted to put my software development skills to use in a personal project. That project needed to focus on something that I find interesting to keep me engaged and cycling is that focus. I first took up road cycling in late 2019 whilst living in Brisbane, Australia. I'd been keen to get riding before that, but when I did, I caught the bug hard and haven't looked back.

One of my favourite aspects of cycling is exploration. I love exploring new routes in my area and further afield but trying to find these routes can sometimes be a challenge. Books are a great resource. The personal stories and route insights draw me in, but they can often be outdated, out of print, or cover too wide an area for me to feasibly ride them all. At the opposite end of the scale are platforms like Komoot or Strava Route Builder. These allow a user to plot a cycle route and make it public. Aspects of these tools are really clever. Strava uses algorithms to suggest routes of a given length based on popularity heatmaps of local roads. Komoot features tour highlights such as viewpoints, local attractions as suggested by users. However, they lack insight and stories to get you excited about them.

I'd like to fill this gap. Initially I'll start off blogging with the long term aim to start publishing proper routes in a rich format. I want to grow the site into a treasure trove of cycling routes in Scotland that I have personally riden and want to share with others. I envisage something with the data and mapping of komoot, but the personal stories and tips of a blog. The development time to put something like that together will come out of my free time when I'm not working or cycling, so I plan to chip away at it throughout 2021. In the meantime, I've decided to get started with this blog, sharing stories about my cycling routes, training and equipment.

Get strapped in, this is going to be fun!


Welcome to a place for sharing my cycling life.

Where I Ride

Latest Writings

Starting the year with The Sufferfest Transition

Downsizing my goals for 2021

Hello Fellow Cyclists