Report - Sufferflandria National Day Of Suffering Spin-a-thon and Food Drive
The day dawned cold and drizzly, with the forecast for snow showers. I was hoping that some of the outdoor riders might be persuaded to come inside for our 4-hour sufferfest marathon. It was a perfect start to our big day March 31st!
About a month prior, when David from Sufferfest decided to hold the first annual Sufferlandria National Day Of Suffering, I was drawn to it right away. I have loved the sufferfest videos since being introduced to them last year by Ray Insalaco, have bought the group editions of all of them, used them in our Spring Training indoor cycling class to rave reviews, and wanted to share them with anyone who wanted to participate in this fun event. At some point it occurred to me that perhaps we could combine this with a fundraiser for the local food pantry. After discussing with Chris Ryan from Fitness factory in Dayville, CT, eventually the plan became to have a 4-hour sufferthon, play non-stop sufferfest videos, and encourage riders to bring food and/or cash donations for the Friends Of Assisi Food Pantry in Danielson, CT.
After enlisting the support of Don Dauphinais of Danielson Adventure Sports and Ben Stone of Putnam’s Bicycling Concepts to contribute some raffle prizes for participants, I started to get the word out via email and facebook to the local cycling community.
Right away, the support was really encouraging! Quinebaug Valley Velo donated $200, and Big Y Supermarket donated a $75 gift card.
Now Saturday is a day when everyone has plans, but as the big day approached, many people who could not attend made a point to give me a cash or check donation.
My wife Laura talked up the concept with her workout friends, and she and 3 of them committed to coming. Several of the regular Spring Training group promised to come. Ray eventually bought in after seeing the weather forecast, and a few more people decided at the last minute to attend for the same reason. The plan was coming together!
I got to the Fitness Factory at 7:45 and Barbara Fell was already there. She and Chris Ryan helped me lug all the stuff in, including the computer, projector, cooler with drinks, fruit and energy bars for food, and other stuff we would need. I quickly set up the screen and finally was ready to start the first video around 8:15.
We started with Revolver, which features 16 – 1 minute intervals. I picked this to start because Chris Gazzola was coming then and said he needed to work on his “snap”. For this first hour, Chris and Barbara were joined by Ray and Dr. John Day.
As my wife and her friends were coming for 9AM, I wanted to run Hell Hath No Fury, the only video that features women’s racing footage. Her friends showed up, but Laura took a wrong turn on the highway after getting directions from our daughter Hope and was late. She called all stressed out, thought about turning around and going home, but eventually made it. When she arrived, I refrained from reminding her that she shouldn’t take directions from an 8 year old. Patty Maher also came at 9AM, making 9 riders, as all those from the 8AM group continued their suffering ways.
Riders during Hell Hath No Fury
At 9:45, Sara Sumner arrived with food, including a donation from Mindy Hudon, and at 10AM Jane Toomey and Betsy Cracco came.
For the next video we ran A Very Dark Place. Ray, John and Barbara eventually stopped, but Chris kept going. He was clearly enjoying his first taste of the sufferfest experience!
At 10:30 Rich Schad arrived and set up his bike and trainer. When ADVP concluded, everyone except Rich and Betsy decided they had had enough suffering for one day and packed up.
For the last video we ran Angels. Rich, Betsy and I continued our suffering to the end at about 12:15PM, then they helped me clean and pack up, including a barrel mostly full of food donations!
For raffles, we had 4 - $25 gift certificates and 4 – Spinerval DVD’s donated by Danielson Adventure Sports, 2 – bike tune-ups donated by Bicycle Concepts, and 2 – Hell Hath No Fury sufferfest videos provided by David, a total of 12 drawings. Everyone who donated, including those that couldn’t come on Saturday, received 4 raffle tickets to use in any drawing they preferred. I wouldn’t be able to hold the drawings until Tuesday, as some people who gave donations were unavailable until the Spring Training class.
I went home a starting totaling up all the donations. Including the contributions from QVV and Big Y, the total came to $835, plus a barrel of food. I was astounded by everyone’s generosity!
Here is the list of everyone who donated (I hope I didn’t forget anyone):
· Heather Allard
· Doug Barrette
· Bicycle Concepts
· Big Y World Class Market
· The Bove family
· Jennifer Ceccarelli
· Betsy Cracco
· Danielson Adventure Sports
· John Day
· Barbara Fell
· Fitness Factory
· The Gazzola family
· Tracy Gustafson
· Mindy Hudon
· The Insalaco family
· Patty Maher
· Earl Manz
· Gretchen McVicker
· Jill O’Hagen
· The O’Lari family
· Steve Poudrette
· Quinebaug Valley Velo
· Janet Richman
· Rich Schad
· Sara Sumner
· Lynn Suprenant
· Jane Toomey
· John Young
There weren’t too many people in the Spring Training class the next Tuesday, so it took me a few weeks to get everyone’s preferences for the raffle. I finally had my daughter Hope draw the winners on Tuesday, April 17th, as follows:
Hell Hath No Fury Sufferfest video, donated by Sufferfest:
1. Barbara Fell
2. Patty Maher
Danielson Adventure Sports $25 Gift Certificate:
1. John Day
2. The Gazzola family
3. Tracy Gustafson
4. Earl Manz
Bicycle Concepts Bike Tune Up Gift Certificate:
1. Jill O’Hagen
2. Sara Sumner
Spinervals Training DVD, donated by DAS:
1. Mindy Hudon
2. The O’Lari family
3. Lynn Suprenant
4. John Young
I brought the donations to the Friends Of Assisi Food Pantry on April 17th, and they were very appreciative.
Words cannot adequately describe my gratitude to everyone who was so generous to make this event such a huge success, and way beyond my wildest expectations!
THANK YOU ALL!
Chip