I'm a cold weather wuss so most of my training has been of the indoor variety.

The creator of the Sufferfest training videos has once again designed a devilish workout. The newest edition to the Sufferfest library is Hell Hath No Fury (HHNF). This video’s focus is two, 20 minute efforts ridden at a perceived effort of 7 to 8 out of 10, which translates to threshold intervals. The bread to those meaty efforts is a five and a half minute warm-up and a three and a half minute time trial at the conclusion. Previous Sufferfest race footage has been of men, but this time the women get their due and are the stars of the video.

The plot of the HHNF video is a stage race and stage 1 is a short effort of 5:30 minutes. Once the blood is pumping stage 2 and 3 are the two 20 minutes efforts. Finally, stage 4 is the deciding “day” – the time trial. I don’t need to tell you that this video is hard – just reading the workout description you know the answer.

Initially when I do a review I like to ride it at an effort that just brings a light sweat so I can pay attention and make notes of the training session. But what makes these training videos my “go to” for when an indoor workout is my only option is that they are extremely motivating. Soon my head is down with my pulse rate pegged. When the message flashes on the screen to “attack” I jump! On the climbs I can almost feel the message taunting me to get out of the saddle and push harder tempered with a bit of humor. Each interval is noted either with an occasional count-down clock or a command to accelerate either your speed or cadence. If your head is down, don’t worry, you won’t miss the commands. Like the other Sufferfest videos, the cues are denoted by the sound of an engine revving (accelerating) or braking (slowing). The music is electronica with a good beat to keep the pedals ticking over and keeping you on track.

As I mentioned the HHNF uses footage of women racing – something that I have rarely seen other than in person at a bike race. In fact the only other time I’ve seen it on the screen was the past road race World Championships from a bootlegged Eurosport video feed. I’m glad to see that “Sufferlandia” has included a women’s national squad in their latest offering. At a cost of $11.99 for the individual use or $24.99 for the group use, the Sufferfest videos are a bargain. As your off season training is transitioning from time off the bike to once again throwing a leg over the top tube, incorporate a Sufferfest training session when that high energy workout needs to be part of the mix. Even after several sessions the footage or the training efforts didn’t become stale and I was motivated to push hard through each “ride.”

In the past I’ve made no secret of how much I’ve enjoyed using these videos. Now we’re happy to give away one Hell Hath No Fury training video each day during the final week of our Kickstarter campaign. These daily giveaways are an extra thank you to our supporters. To be entered in the daily giveaway, you need to be a supporter with a verified TourChats Rewards Zone Login. All Kickstarter Backers starting at the $10 level are sent an invite to the Rewards Zone.

The Sufferfest delivers on that promise

My move to an area that actually has real seasons forced me to get serious about my training alternatives. Recently when I bundled up with enough layers so I could ride outdoors, I could have been mistaken for the Michelin Man. Unfortunately, there have been times when it has reached Jens Factor HC and I have had to bring my training indoors. I have a trainer, but as every cyclist knows, doing training workouts is about as entertaining as gluing tires, but just as necessary. Luckily “The Sufferfest” has an attractive alternative to just doing mind-numbing efforts until your junk goes numb.

Read the full review on CarolinaCyclingNews.com: The Sufferfest Fight Club

You might have noticed in the sidebar an ad for Trigger Point massage products. I’ve been suffering with lower back problems for well over six months. It’s the typical scenario: sitting in a chair, dragging luggage through an airport, traveling and being bent over in a road cycling position. All of these factors add up to a potential back problem. My injury dates back to my early 20′s with a herniated disc in my spine due to an injury. Being younger, I bounced back from that, but I knew that my back was always going to be a weak spot. Then about six months ago all the travel, sitting at a desk and riding different bikes with slightly different set-ups finally caught up with me. I started to get an intense stabbing pain in my lower back. My health insurance was a HMO and they told me what I knew they would say: rest (no bike riding) and stretch. However that really didn’t work. I still had to travel, ride and sit at a desk for long hours. And as much as I like vicodin, I knew that wasn’t a long-term fix. I went to a chiropractor which helped. She was a runner and knew that I couldn’t just stop riding because that was part of my job. Massage would help as did the Contour electrostim belt. But it wasn’t till the Tour of Missouri that I finally got some sound advice.

The nice thing about the big American stage races is that the teams bring their doctors with them. While the doctors are kept busy with their respective teams, if you time your question when they have a moment, they’ll give you some sound, free medical advice. By the time the Tour of Missouri was in it’s fifth day, my back was hurting and I needed some medical advice! As I stood around the Garmin team bus waiting for interviews, Allen Lim, who until just recently was working with Garmin, was getting bottles and ice vests ready for the time trial. I have known Allen for awhile so I told him about my lower back pain. He reached into his bag of tricks, pulled out the Trigger Point massage ball and forcefully rolled it around in the area of my pain. I tried to relax into the massage as Lim pushed and rolled the palm sized ball deeper into my back muscle. The muscle relaxed and it actually felt better! However that was just temporary relief and the pain returned as I continued to travel, schlep through airports and sit at a desk.

Fast forward several months and the pain was getting worse. It radiated down my leg like a live electrical charge. Walking was painful and standing excruciating. Being on the bike was pain free, however I couldn’t be on the bike my whole life. I needed relief and was seriously considering taking whatever time I needed off the bike to fix this nagging back problem. I remembered that Allen had used the Trigger Point massage ball on my back in Missouri so I ordered the Starter Kit. I have been using the massage ball and the supplied Footballer for over a month with great results! Not only has it been helping with my back, but I’ve been using it for post-ride massage as well. After the Winter League Ride, an almost four hour ride, I use the massage ball on my lower back and roll the Footballer along my calves for muscle relief. Next I’m going to order the Quadballer.  I should have just gone for the Total Body Package in my first order.  Additionally I have been going to an acupuncturist, which is something I never thought I would do. My new riding partner is a chiropractor who has offered free adjustments, which I am going to take him up on. I feel like there is light at the end of the pain tunnel. While I do believe that all these treatments have been a factor in my on-going recovery, I know I need to be constantly aware of how I am treating my back. As I write this, I am sitting upright at my desk with the Trigger Point massage ball pushed into my lower back, working the muscle. I will continue to stretch and have placed two Specialized Varus wedges into my left shoe to give me a three millimeter lift as I feel the leg is over extended. Here’s hoping for a pain free 2010!