Sufferfest 2011!

The Las Vegas Sufferfest is a thrice yearly event that has been informally put on for years by a group of local riders, including Vic Miera, who is not only my team mate, but a podium finisher in the World Championships in the individual time trial.  I rode one edition of the ride last summer, but only completed 85 miles of the 135 mile ride.  Each one gets longer as the year progresses.  Sunday was 2011's first edition, so was the shortest at 93 miles with 8690' of climbing.  About fifty of us set off at a little after seven a.m. Sunday morning, riding into increasingly windy conditions.  The first leg had us climbing up the Red Rock Canyon Scenic Loop into a viscious headwind, which made the subsequent descent a little sketchy for some.  At least one rider reported being blown sideways and nearly off her bike on the second lap of the Loop.  We then headed down to Blue Diamond for the first feed stop.  We were treated to all manner of good things to eat, including egg mcmuffins, various bars, cookies, gator aide, water, and bananas, to mention a few.  This put us at nearly half way.  We headed out of Blue Diamond to the 160 and began the nearly ten mile climb up Mt. Potosi.  This climb starts out easy at 2 - 3% for several miles, and then begins to ramp up to 6% and over the last three miles averages 7% to top out at 5490' of elevation.  It's wide open until the final few miles and the wind tends to gust at will, making for occasionally unpleasant conditions: headwinds, crosswinds, strong gusts, and general mayhem.  All were in evidence on Sunday.  At the summit we met the 2nd feed station, and those who made it that far refueled and headed down the mountain to the intersection of the 159 (the Red Rock Canyon road) and began climbing back up into the park for one more trip around the Loop.  At the Loop summit we were fed once again, and then it was back to the start through a howling cross-headwind.  It was great fun.  This is the second time this year I've done rides in excess of 90 miles; this one came in for me at 96.9 miles, a major mile stone.


Here's a little background on the history of the ride, as reported by Vic:


"Jeff Jonas designed the concept to jump start his training for all the ironmans he competes in every year. The first sufferfest was 7 years ago. There were only 5 guys who started and finished. It's grown every year to 45-55 start and it's usually just a handful who finish.   I'd say 12 did the entire SF this past weekend. SFIII is the hardest of the 3 and the most that ever finished that was 5. one being a woman (stef) 2 loops -2 potisi - 2 loops."

What he's saying is that each of the three events gets longer and harder.  SFII will have, I believe, two Loops, two climbs up Potosi, and one more final Loop.  So SFIII adds in yet another Loop at 2, 2, and 2.  So, I see this as yet one more positive step towards the Everest Challenge in September.  I want that mountain goat jersey!