Emphasis on FTP: Fun to Play
This blog post is not rooted in the pillars of movement, physiology, training measures or metrics. What has been missing from all of these informative posts is a key element to successful training: Fun. Make no mistake, not every Tabata workout or 5 x 5 VO2 interval session is intended to be fun. Not every ride is going to be a love affair with your cycling machine. There is little chance for physiological adaptations and performance enhancement when the prescription calls only for fun.
But what if one day each year, fun was the prescription? Welcome to the 4th annual Funtathalon, where Functional Threshold Power FTP in watts is leveraged against FTP numbers in Fun To Play.
Extra fun was had by the two teams in the center: Can Am with defining socks and Brazen Ballerinas with colorful matching bibs.
Each team was tasked with picking a jersey color for easy identification on the course. That backfired, as 4 teams selected blue and 2 orange. Luckily, Online Cycling Gear has 50 shades of blue. Team name selection added to the concoction of fun: Herbie & Jim Douglas, Krusen, Trout van Aert, Are We Late?, CanAm (note the socks), Brazen Ballerinas (note the bibs), Easy Beats, Bone Crushers, Where’s The Swim Start? and Tropical Thunder Biking Wonders.
Behind each team name, there is a fun story.
A key ingredient for fun is safety. This requires a large crew of volunteers, both in transition and out on the course.
The sequence of the four riding events is MTB, road, gravel, road. Each rider must compete two of the four events. Historically, teams have elected one rider for the road and the other for off road segments. Henceforth, the riders will be referred to as “roadie or dirty” Funtathletes. Logistically, this creates a natural break between segments and also minimizes the number of bikes each team has to bring. Not to be confused with the number of bikes each Funtathlete has to own, because we all know fun = N+1 rule.
Starting position for the MTB race was determined by a game of Granny Pants. Wind sprints to collect each ball and scoring 3 balls in Granny’s Pants filled the fun meter. Lessons learned: set up Granny Pants downwind, and have a curb or plenty of kids on hand to retrieve balls.
While 10 dirty Funtathletes were shredding the MTB trails, their roadie teammates were earning points playing Corn Hole. There was a delay of game when a pair of MTBers leaving the park accidentally drove over one of the boards with their pick up truck. We made it fun! All 10 teams shared one board to complete 4 tosses.
Corn Hole resulted in zero injuries, aside from one of the boards. The Brazen Ballerinas had the most finesse. The judge, a former ballerina herself, ruled with fairness, despite marital relations with a team member of Easy Beats.
As our volunteers on course started ringing cow bells from deep within the woods, the roadies readied their trusty steeds in the corral.
Transition 1: the roadies await the arrival of their dirty MTB teammates.
No aerobars or TT bikes were allowed, but Easy Beats’ roadie pulled cobwebs off of his spokes, trying to decrease his drag. The spiders have been working on his bike since the Funtathalon in 2024. Other teams have perfected this taper technique. Here is a clip of Are We Late? road racer the week before the Funtathalon. Are We Late?, Bone Crushers and Krusen are balancing professional cycling careers with full time jobs and raising 3 small kids. There may have even been a breast pump at the Funtathalon tent. Sometimes the fun is in watching your kids learning to ride rather than training to race.
It was a tight MTB race, with Love Bug’s Jim Douglas first out of the woods, followed closely by Hammer Time.
And off they go! The 20 mile road segment is mostly downhill. WHEEEEEE. That’s fun!
The race was on to beat the roadies to Transition 2. With heavy construction and the promise of the exit ramp closing, much fun was had dodging cones. No traffic laws were broken (safety first). A second wave of volunteers had T2 heavily stocked with hydration and fuel, and games!
The dirty teammates played Kubb to earn points. Toss a stick, knock down a pin, earn a point. Knock down the king pin, game over. Tropical Thunder Biking Wonders dominated Kubb, although there is no photo evidence of their feat.
Refueled and rested, the dirty Funtathletes made their way to the T2 corral. The gravel segment is 20 miles of mixed surface, roughly half gravel and grassy double track through a State Park. Everyone bought a State Park pass, because it is fun to do the right thing.
Dirty gravel Funathletes await the arrival of their roadie teammates.
Trout van Aert was the first to arrive! Go fish.
There was more fun to be had at T2! While the dirty Funtathletes were out grinding gravel, their roadie teammates were busy with monkey business. Monkey Tail is a game of precision, balance, quad strength and healthy knee cartilage. Kudos, again, to Tropical Thunder Biking Wonders on their amazing ability to swing.
After swinging their tails, the roadies high tailed it up to the transition area to await the arrival of their dirty teammate. The gravel course produced no injuries, despite a tree down on the 2.3 mile grassy double track. This was fun for the cyclocross racer of team Herbie and Jim Douglas, who bunny hopped the obstacle.
The safe return of all 10 dirty Funtathletes concluded the off-road segments of the Funtathalon.
With the final segment of the road race was underway, so were the fun shenanigans. Funtathletes were challenged with Fish Food and a shot of whiskey (NA option available), along with Trivia. 10 questions were designed to highlight something special about each of the 10 teams. Funtathletes collaborated to learn what they didn’t know about one another: Trout van Aert is getting married, what type of band are they having? Bone Crushers just added a junior Drafter to their family, what’s his name? CanAm is the only team to have competed in all 4 Funtathalons, what was their previous team name?
The 23 mile road segment included the most fun the Driftless has to offer. Living up to the rafter motto, “When in Doubt, Climb”, this route captured 1800’ of scenic elevation. In an incredible display of sportsmanship, roadies from teams Are We Late?, Bone Crushers and Easy Beats competed for the Lantern Rouge trophy.
There were awards, but I think these photos capture the real win. Volunteers and racers, grandmother and grand daughter, sisters, husbands and wives, friends. All gathered together to have fun on bikes.
On a serious note, obesity is plaguing our country. In 1970, 5% of children and 15% of adults were obese. Today, those numbers have inflated to 20% and 40%, respectively. There are a myriad of contributing factors, one being habits in youth are driven towards organized sports versus free play. According to ChatGPT (I can’t believe I just said that):
Specialization Pressure
Early specialization (e.g., year-round single-sport training) can burn kids out physically and mentally.
Dropout rates are high: by age 13, ~70% of kids quit organized sports (often because it’s no longer fun).
Once they quit, many don’t replace sports with free play—so activity levels collapse right when adolescence and lifelong habits are forming.
Fun Matters
Kids and adults are wired for play—exploration, games, variety. When activity is joyful, they choose it.
When activity feels like work (drills, performance pressure, body image), people disengage.
Research shows enjoyment is the #1 predictor of whether kids stick with physical activity into adulthood—not performance, competition, or winning.
A culture shift may be needed: from “fitness as training” to “fitness as fun” (games, movement, social play).
Fun is a key component to maintaining compliance with exercise and building community. A special thanks to all of the volunteers who helped make the Funtathalon safe and successful. And to all 20 Funtathletes who put themselves on the starting line to have fun and support one another. FTP = fun to play.
