The UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC) in Aigle, Switzerland, regularly welcomes National Federations wishing to make use of its facilities for their Elite athletes.
From June 14 to 20, the UCI WCC hosted 10 athletes and three support staff from a nation with a difference: Sufferlandria, a virtual nation of mountains, dirt, gravel and other cycling terrain featured in The Sufferfest workout training videos. This year, users of these videos (Sufferlandrians) were offered the chance to leave their virtual cycling world and take part in a training camp at the Union Cycliste Internationale’s (UCI) Swiss headquarters.
On the programme: road rides, cyclo-cross, track cycling, BMX, time trialling, skills and classroom sessions.
Sufferlandrian “national” team training camp coach Neal Henderson, who notably coached Rohan Dennis to the UCI Hour Record earlier this year, emphasised the importance of the skills sessions for these athletes who are not professional cyclists: “This is a fantastic opportunity for them to improve their skills and try different disciplines. A lot of training camps are all about long, hard rides, but cycling is not just a big engine sport. Skills can help people with an average level of fitness achieve a better performance.”
Henderson, a former professional triathlete, has written a number of The Sufferfest training videos but valued the opportunity to work with these cyclists face-to-face: “Coming from a virtual world, they have now had a chance to share their passion for cycling. The camaraderie is phenomenal and they are also having a lot of fun.”
Australian Scott Bales uses The Sufferfest training videos to simulate the hills and climbs that are sorely missing in his adopted home of Singapore. The camp has exceeded his expectations: “It has been a huge chance to learn from professional, wiser, experienced coaches."
"Until now, I thought the UCI was inaccessible but we have used its facilities and had contact with the people who run the sport. It’s amazing.”
Californian Sharon Paisner has only been riding for about a year and was on a steep learning curve in Switzerland. Lacking time to train on the road due to her heavy workload as a software engineer she appreciates having the chance to train to The Sufferfest videos and has even completed a nine-day virtual stage race. “But on the camp we have been focusing on skills which is something I have never done. When I go home I will try to spend some more time on the road to get my skills up. And I will try to find a velodrome too. The track was the highlight for me.”
The Sufferfest has been a UCI sponsor for several years, and this year introduced the SufferPrize to the UCI Women Road World Cup, acknowledging riders who demonstrate particular determination and courage to help a teammate, to animate the race or simply to get to the finish line against the odds.
UCI WCC Director Frédéric Magné said he was delighted to welcome this first such training camp.
“Our world class facilities are mainly used by professional athletes, or by local cyclists who can easily come for one or two hours. This is the first time that we have hosted a week-long training camp of this kind and we were pleased to help out by making our mechanical staff available.”
Sufferfest CEO David McQuillen added: “We set out to create one of the best cycling camps in the world and to create better bike riders, To that end, we based every day on four key pillars: fitness, skill development, insight into the sport and fun."
The Sufferlandrian national training camp came to a close on Friday with a trip to watch the 7th stage of the Tour de Suisse between Bienne and Düdingen, followed by dinner with the riders and staff of the Swiss UCI WorldTeam, IAM Cycling.