Let me introduce you to the Suffer Face:
With the scrunched up nose, squinted eyes, and universally recognized “icky” mouth formation, it looks like I might be about to puke (or at least spit out whatever Lespy is trying to feed me). Alas, my friends, this is simply what we call a Suffer Face. This photo should give you a good idea of the hole we dig ourselves into during racing – also known as the Suffer Zone.
Some people (ahem, Evan McNeely) lose control of their tongues, letting them wag freely when in the Suffer Zone. Others, like me in this photo, look like we have just been fed the most revolting food imaginable. Though most of the time we are able to school our faces into a stoney mask, sometimes the Suffer Face escapes – a true sign of the level of hurt we are under.
So, why do we continually do this to ourselves? Why do we repeatedly go to the zone that can make our faces resemble meatloaf?
Perhaps it’s for glory – the drive to get to the finish line first is surely enough to put you in the Suffer Zone:
Or, maybe, it’s just because it’s FUN?
Some of us might simply enjoy pain…
And others need to prove to themselves that they can commit to something that deeply:
The opportunity to race internationally – and travel to cool places – could be enough to force people into that zone:
For lots of us, we are driven to go there in Pursuit of our Olympic Dream:
Voilà. On est à rio Raph! 🇧🇷 ——- We made it to #Rio @cyclingcanadaofficial @athletescan #teamcanada
A photo posted by Léandre Bouchard (@leandrebouchard) on
All of these things are true, but mostly we are just big, dumb racers that have already totally forgotten the pain of the last race by the time we wake up the next morning. We line up for the next one with no memory of how much the last one hurt, all ready to do it again. Are we insane? Maybe… But I can tell that the pain is most DEFINITELY worth it!
