Anyone going to try the Rapha Festive 500 this year?

[yellowjack]

PGM said:

I also did the Full fat Audax, completing the challenge in one ride, was fantastic.

I find it difficult to even consider the idea that it can be done in one sitting, let alone actually setting out to do it. That is just awesome. Chapeau!

[PGM]

Haha, cheers!

My thinking, having had a couple of previous attempts that didn't complete that this was the way to do it.

I am experienced long distance/audaxer and the idea of doing it in one hit really intrigued me.

Problem was with a bit of an enforced cycling break due to some family issues and Christmas I was not up to my usual fitness level so wondered whether I'd actually be able to see it through.

The last leg down the A38 from Gloucester to Bristol into the wind was difficult when tired but luckily the light had arrived after 16 hours of cylcing through darkness! I waved a few going the opposite direction with a tinge of jealosy of their tailwind!!

[mooseracer]

PGM said:

Haha, cheers!
The last leg down the A38 from Gloucester to Bristol into the wind was difficult when tired but luckily the light had arrived after 16 hours of cylcing through darkness! I waved a few going the opposite direction with a tinge of jealosy of their tailwind!!

One of whom could well have been me I passed a load of riders who I thought looked like they were on big rides - Strava flybys confirmed it.The 30 or so miles down the a38 into the wind must have been horrible at the end of such a big one!

[PGM]

It was but also you know you're getting there by then and barring a serious mechanical you're going to finish. Also, the light having arrived does lift the spirits. It's always nice to get a wave from passing riders, that certainly lifts you so thank you.

Amusingly, I stopped in McDonalds on the way out of Gloucester for coffee and breakfast and left in the same direction I'd come from, it took a mile of cycling happily along with a tailwind to realise this and turn around, that's what sleep deprivation does for you!

[Solocle]

PGM said:

Solocle said:

Yeah, the route was 500 km.

I'm completely dead, and hoping I might be able to pull 2x 100km out of the bag tomorrow and NYE.

Edited by Solocle on Sunday 29th December 12:41

Did you manage to complete the Audax route in the end? I saw your messages in the whatsapp group but can't find them any more. Don't think I saw you en route anywhere though, I was in Bicester BMCC kit.

I took your alternative route, ended up in strife at the road closure so just routed to the published alternative from there and was fine. This was around 6pm on the Saturday.

Good effort there, takes a special kind of person just to enter this one!

Yeah, I didn't manage to complete the distance, let alone the route! I think I noticed your Bicester kit at the start, but left 10 minutes late.

I hit the closure at about 8pm, with 2 others. If I'd have been alone, I'd probably have hopped on the A14 between those two junctions, which seems to be the official route.


As it was, given that it was my route, turning around would be embarrassing! So we ignored the closure sign, after doing a loop around the roundabout at Bar Hill (and I had a peer down the closed road).

It was smooth tarmac for some distance, but then I nearly ran into the side of a gravel heap about my height... the surface deteriorated rapidly afterwards, to clingy mud. But there was a bit of tarmac as part of the new roadway, so we hopped onto that, and continued on our way. That took us to the piece de resistance, at Swavesey.

The tarmac we were on was behind a line of cones, and tapered out, into the Eastbound on slip road. We turned around and pontificated, but eventually returned to the taper point. Then, sight lines up to the roundabout were excellent, so we cycled the wrong way up the slip road for about 50m, until there were cones on the other side. We were then on private tarmac all the way to the roundabout, and from there, it was plain sailing onto the old A14.

Definitely cost any time savings, but it was a bit of an adventure!

[PGM]

Unlucky, there's always next year though!

Here's the diversion I took from your route to the organiser's published alternative

[lauda]

Picked my badge up from the Soho store today. Not sure why really since it’s just going to end up in a drawer somewhere.

However, I had it in my mind that the email they sent out about the badges early in the new year said you could either have it posted or collect from the store and get a free coffee.

When I asked about the coffee today I got a very blank look. I can’t find the original email about badge collection/delivery and am wondering if I’m going mad or whether they’ve just quietly cancelled the coffee?

[yellowjack]

"Woo!", and quite literally, "Hoo!"

My embroidered patch landed on the doormat about an hour ago. Some small pleasure even in these difficult times. Shame it's pretty non-essential as mail items go though, so I'd have been happy to wait until this virus thing blows over to get my patch...

[lauda]

Time to resurrect this thread again. I see that Zwift rides are going to count for this year's Festive 500. Make sense given the possibility of lockdown or people being required to isolate but does undermine the challenge somewhat since it’s a hell of a lot easier to knock out 500km on Zwift than it is on the road.

Having said that, I did most of my mileage in previous years visiting friends and family over Christmas, which I won’t be doing this year, so I probably will do a mixture of indoor and outdoor rides, weather depending.

I don’t think I’ll feel the same sense of achievement in completing it but it will help to keep some of the Christmas kilos off and at least there’s a social element to Zwift to pass the time.

So who else is in?

[okgo]

Trade off isn't it, easy to ride around at 25mph in zwift, not easy to sit on it for hours on end.

[z4RRSchris]

i did 160km on zwift once and was so fking boring. 200w for 2 movies.

[SomersetWestie]

Mucky roads for me, that's what makes the challenge more fun and get's me off my fat 'arris ! Done 4 of the last 6 years so hopeful the weather is kind again........ !

[yellowjack]

lauda said:

Time to resurrect this thread again. I see that Zwift rides are going to count for this year's Festive 500. Make sense given the possibility of lockdown or people being required to isolate but does undermine the challenge somewhat since it’s a hell of a lot easier to knock out 500km on Zwift than it is on the road.

Having said that, I did most of my mileage in previous years visiting friends and family over Christmas, which I won’t be doing this year, so I probably will do a mixture of indoor and outdoor rides, weather depending.

I don’t think I’ll feel the same sense of achievement in completing it but it will help to keep some of the Christmas kilos off and at least there’s a social element to Zwift to pass the time.

So who else is in?

Will Zwift rides count to the challenge though?

Cyclist magazine article dated 23 October 2020 said:

The Rapha Festive 500's return for an 11th year has been confirmed as Rapha teams up with Zwift to help riders train for the challenge in advance of its start on Christmas Eve...

the same article also said:

Rapha + Zwift
'For many of us, motivating ourselves during the colder months can be more of a challenge than the ride itself,' Rapha says. 'In partnership with Zwift, we’re taking the fight for form and fitness online, offering a series of group training rides to keep you riding in preparation for the Festive 500.'

Let's just hope this doesn't mean that virtual rides will count towards the challenge itself when the time comes.

The article in full here... https://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/3737/rapha-festive-...

Strava sign up isn't open yet, so I'd imagine that when it does, the full rules will make everything clear. The tone of that Cyclist article does suggest that a woven patch will again be issued to succesful riders though. Which I thought Rapha had ruled out after last year. I'd happily pay for the patch, I think. From what I can see on Rapha's site, the info page for the Festive 500 is last years. So unless anyone has a link to something more recent from them, I can't find anything describing the 2020/2021 challenge in Rapha's own words.

But yes, at this moment in time, I'm very much up for having another crack at this. I think I'd do something along these lines myself if it wasn't an official challenge sponsored by Rapha. Although I'd probably make it slightly easier on myself by giving myself more time to complete it...

[lauda]

This article definitely says that virtual rides will count and that specific Zwift rides will be organised to help people complete the challenge:

https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/raphas-festiv...

[yellowjack]

lauda said:

This article definitely says that virtual rides will count and that specific Zwift rides will be organised to help people complete the challenge:

https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/raphas-festiv...

Cheers. Thanks for the link!

Can't say I'm not disappointed with that announcement though. The whole point of the Festive500 was that it was hard to complete. Or at least hard to fit in around the given dates. But it's an evolutionary thing I suppose, and a big marketing tool for Rapha as a clothing company, so it's up to them what they do with it.

And having said I'm up for it? That's now. I've no idea what the weather will be like that week, nor what family commitments will be like. So when it gets closer to the time, my enthusiasm might wane, or I won't realistically be able to fit that much riding into the time available. We'll see how it all went come January 1st, I suppose. As per usual...

[Daveyraveygravey]

yellowjack said:

Cheers. Thanks for the link!

Can't say I'm not disappointed with that announcement though. The whole point of the Festive500 was that it was hard to complete. Or at least hard to fit in around the given dates. But it's an evolutionary thing I suppose, and a big marketing tool for Rapha as a clothing company, so it's up to them what they do with it.

And having said I'm up for it? That's now. I've no idea what the weather will be like that week, nor what family commitments will be like. So when it gets closer to the time, my enthusiasm might wane, or I won't realistically be able to fit that much riding into the time available. We'll see how it all went come January 1st, I suppose. As per usual...

I totally agree. The whole point of the Festive 500 is that it is hard, not just 500k in a week, but in the darkest week of the year, with potentially some of the worst weather of the year. Most people have time off work, which helps, but that is meant to be with family and friends. Doing it on Zwift makes it massively easier; most people average 10kmh or more on Zwift than irl, you could hop on in the morning for 90 minutes, and then again in the evening, you'll be done or close to it in 5 days. There'll be none of the staring at weather forecasts trying to plan where and when to go out, and how far. None of the frantic recharging of batteries or drying of clothes or hunting out kit you haven't worn for 2 years because everything else is trashed or in the wash...they need to keep it separate. If you do it indoors, you deserve a bit of kudos for fighting off the boredom. But if you do it outdoors, that's where the challenge lies.

I've never done it, never even thought about doing it. I'm struggling with 200 km a week average, never mind more than doubling it!

[okgo]

The age old question - who gives a st? It's some wk little badge from a pompous cycling brand.

Like those prats riding certain distances for a certain amount of days, who cares.

[ukbabz]

Daveyraveygravey said:

I totally agree. The whole point of the Festive 500 is that it is hard, not just 500k in a week, but in the darkest week of the year, with potentially some of the worst weather of the year.

Not really, they don't restrict it to the northern hemisphere or above certain latitudes in previous years.

[lauda]

okgo said:

The age old question - who gives a st? It's some wk little badge from a pompous cycling brand.

Like those prats riding certain distances for a certain amount of days, who cares.

I guess it matters to the people it matter to. No one is asking you not to give a st on their behalf.

[yellowjack]

lauda said:

okgo said:

The age old question - who gives a st? It's some wk little badge from a pompous cycling brand.

Like those prats riding certain distances for a certain amount of days, who cares.

I guess it matters to the people it matter to. No one is asking you not to give a st on their behalf.

It's the same as anything else even mildly challenging. As lauda says, it matters to no-one outside the challenge really. It's no different from belittling a clubmate who just broke the lap record round Richmond park though. Who gives a fig that some bloke on a weight-weenie special went out wearing clothes from some pompous bike brand at stupid o'clock one morning to ride faster than anyone else? You don't even get "some wk little badge" for that, FFS. Or some ex-para jumping 140 feet from a helicopter into the Solent without a parachute? What's the point of life, really, if our time on earth leaves no legacy? But we still go out and live it as best we can. I mean, who really cares how fast someone can ride 100 miles when it's been made super-easy by closing the roads to everyone else, and signposting and heavily marshalling the route, right? It proves nothing.

I only got involved with the Festive 500 because "that sounds like tough going". I didn't expect to finish it, because it's far in excess of my usual weekly mileage. I was just interested to see how far short of the mark I'd fall. But I suppose I'm more determined than I thought I was, because I didn't like the idea of "failing" even if it was only me that cared whether I succeeded or didn't.

The 2018 Festive 500 badge means the most to me...

...I'd broken my leg back in May 2018. Quite badly too. Surgery, ironmongery, a 12 night stay in hospital, and I wasn't given the go-ahead to cycle again until November 8th. So it took a great deal of determination to complete it that year. And also gave me a goal to aim for the whole time I was hobbling around on crutches trying to keep all of my muscles from disappearing completely. Meaningless to anyone else, but a marker by which I could judge just how well (or not) my recovery was going.

Edited by yellowjack on Thursday 29th October 14:24