Anyone going to try the Rapha Festive 500 this year?
Discussion
I have done almost 11k km this year as opposed to 5k last year, dropped over 10kg so December has been pretty laid back compared to the rest of the year.
Got to within 23s of a PB on Alp Zwift today, so maintaining form. Will try and get in two hrs a day from Boxing Day which should be 80km (we all know it isn’t the same as outside by any margin).
I see some of the kiwis have smashed it already!
Got to within 23s of a PB on Alp Zwift today, so maintaining form. Will try and get in two hrs a day from Boxing Day which should be 80km (we all know it isn’t the same as outside by any margin).
I see some of the kiwis have smashed it already!
I made a start today. I'd wanted to get out earlier, but didn't manage to fit in the full 62.5 km needed to keep on track. I fitted 32.7 km (20.3 miles) into my day in the end. A lot of it in the rain. All the miles were new miles though, according to Wandrer Earth, with 14 new VeloViewer tiles. So even if I don't finish the full 500 km I'll have boosted my VV stats, hopefully by quite a bit by the end of this. I want to try to cover as much new ground as possible while chasing the 500, even though it's not the most efficient way of doing it. I spend a fair chunk of each ride map reading, and tweaking my route while it's in progress. 19 "wasted" minutes today out of 112 minutes ride duration. Scale that up and it's a lot of "dead" time in the saddle but not actually moving. I'd be better served doing loops in the New Forest to be honest, but where would be the fun in that?
probably the most fun of any kms though - done on the DH runs at the local bike park!
MC Bodge said:
The Rapha Festive 500.
The annual celebration of the single, childless or unhappily-coupled cyclist.
Christmas Day was a bust at home this year. My wife is a nurse and it was her turn to be on call. She didn't want to do Christmas Lunch as she might well have to get up in the middle of it. So we'll do the whole Christmas Day shenanigans tomorrow, turkey, pressies, etc. As it happened she got called in around midday for several cases back-to-back so I went for a ride to give me something to occupy myself while she was at work rather than festering on the sofa drinking port and stuffing mince pies into my cakehole. So my Festive500 is just about on track at 24% complete. I'll fall behind tomorrow because I doubt she'll be keen on me riding then, but if the weather plays anything like nice a couple of long rides after she returns to work next week will see it done. Last year I lost interest so didn't complete it. Previous years I'd been a bit obsessive about completing it. This year? I'd like to get it done, but if it doesn't work out for me it's no great shakes. The annual celebration of the single, childless or unhappily-coupled cyclist.
Oh, and I'm happily married, with two grown-up sons who don't see each other often. So me spending a couple of days on the bike gives them space at home to relax and catch up with each other.
king live cyxling and not your life / family Nowt in the way of cycling for me since Christmas Day. After that soaking I'm not keen to get out in rancid weather again soon. Managed to dry out my goretex boots (wet inside from wick effect of water soaking down my tights and socks) and run my jacket through the washing machine with some re-proofing liquid but with only three days left and 380 km or so to do? That'd need three big rides and I've lost half of today already. Weirdly (or because I'm a saddo?) I felt more motivated to complete this when there was a freebie patch in it for me. It's hard to tell if it was the lack of a patch or the inclusion of turbo-trainer rides that dented my motivation the most, though, as I think both things changed the same year.
Seeing the leaderboard on Strava was comedy gold after Day 1 mind. Over 500 km in one ride at an average speed of 35 kph? The inclusion of trainer rides wouldn't irritate so much if the trainers actually simulated the sort of effort needed in the outdoors. I'm not going to argue that one is easier than the other, especially since I couldn't imagine how utterly mind-numbing that would be staring at the same four walls (or even bingeing on box-sets). But they are different and shouldn't be lumped together in the same challenge in my opinion. Not that Rapha will care if I don't sign up for this next year - I've never bought anything from them, and own nothing of theirs save a slack handful of freebie Festive500 patches from previous years...
Seeing the leaderboard on Strava was comedy gold after Day 1 mind. Over 500 km in one ride at an average speed of 35 kph? The inclusion of trainer rides wouldn't irritate so much if the trainers actually simulated the sort of effort needed in the outdoors. I'm not going to argue that one is easier than the other, especially since I couldn't imagine how utterly mind-numbing that would be staring at the same four walls (or even bingeing on box-sets). But they are different and shouldn't be lumped together in the same challenge in my opinion. Not that Rapha will care if I don't sign up for this next year - I've never bought anything from them, and own nothing of theirs save a slack handful of freebie Festive500 patches from previous years...
Another ride in absolutely filthy conditions today. Managed to break the nose off my saddle to which meant the remaining bit wasn’t properly attached so kept falling off, requiring me to stop and retrieve it from the gutter.
Then, to add insult to injury, I picked up a puncture so had to change the tube on a wet and filthy rear wheel.
Luckily a nearby bike shop was open so only had to do about ride about 10km on the dodgy saddle.
Total is up to 350km now with a planned 100km tomorrow and a 50km ride over to friends for NYE so I should have it in the bag. Can’t say I’ve enjoyed it much this year though and the ride on Friday will be horrible as I’ll be into a headwind the whole way and some of the route across the New Forest is pretty exposed.
I’ve been wet on every ride and completely soaked on two of them. So much for that long range forecast at the start of the month.
Then, to add insult to injury, I picked up a puncture so had to change the tube on a wet and filthy rear wheel.
Luckily a nearby bike shop was open so only had to do about ride about 10km on the dodgy saddle.
Total is up to 350km now with a planned 100km tomorrow and a 50km ride over to friends for NYE so I should have it in the bag. Can’t say I’ve enjoyed it much this year though and the ride on Friday will be horrible as I’ll be into a headwind the whole way and some of the route across the New Forest is pretty exposed.
I’ve been wet on every ride and completely soaked on two of them. So much for that long range forecast at the start of the month.
I have stuck to cheating in the garage, up to 434km now. Have been following various people via Instagram doing it IRL. Looks grim with the weather and a few are likely to get ill.
I already took off the first 2-3 weeks in December and don’t want to loose any more riding time.
Would have mixed a few outdoor rides into the equation had the weather been better.
Some crazy rides on the leaderboard, some of which have disappeared! Currently there is someone on 15,000 km.
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I already took off the first 2-3 weeks in December and don’t want to loose any more riding time.
Would have mixed a few outdoor rides into the equation had the weather been better.
Some crazy rides on the leaderboard, some of which have disappeared! Currently there is someone on 15,000 km.
. ALawson said:
I have stuck to cheating in the garage, up to 434km now. Have been following various people via Instagram doing it IRL. Looks grim with the weather and a few are likely to get ill.
I already took off the first 2-3 weeks in December and don’t want to loose any more riding time.
Would have mixed a few outdoor rides into the equation had the weather been better.
Some crazy rides on the leaderboard, some of which have disappeared! Currently there is someone on 15,000 km..
"Cheating in the garage"..? I won't ride a trainer, I don't own one. But it isn't "cheating", just a different way of "doing" cycling. If it's how you get through the winter without losing fitness, or how you keep to a training plan when the benefits of training outdoors are dubious at best, then that's just one way of "doing" cycling. I don't train for anything. I just ride my bike. I don't know anything about "power" or "watts", but I do know about reading a traditional paper map and exploring places I've never been before, let alone ridden. But there certainly does seem to be an element of cheating on a cultural scale with certain nationalities, mainly in SE Asia from what I've seen. I can't remember the particular challenge, but a few years ago I remember spotting one chap who had ridden for more than 24 hours less than 24 hours after the challenge started. Seems he went on an 8+ hour ride, recorded that ride with three devices, and claimed the cumulative data for all three devices, netting him something like 28 hours of riding in one 24 hour period. I already took off the first 2-3 weeks in December and don’t want to loose any more riding time.
Would have mixed a few outdoor rides into the equation had the weather been better.
Some crazy rides on the leaderboard, some of which have disappeared! Currently there is someone on 15,000 km.
. I don't join the Strava challenges to compete with other riders. I do it to challenge myself, (and because I've got a child-like compulsion to collect digital badges in my "trophy case"). But I'm starting to get fed up with it all now. I acknowledge that joining multiple challenges all at once somewhat "spams" my feed, and irritates some of those that follow me. I've dropped from over 1,000 Strava followers down to 986 at the moment, no idea which ones left because I don't pay much attention to them and I get no notifications of departing followers, unlike new ones. But I realise that I need to wean myself off Strava (and PH too, if Im honest) because it takes up too much time and deflects attention away from where it actually matters, which is the riding. Although I need Strava to work with VeloViewer for my exploring/tiling.
This year's Festive500 has been disappointing for me. Mainly, I think, because the long-range weather forecast suggested it'd be decent cycling weather but it's not turned out to be the case. I had the idea that I'd be able to combine the Festive500 with VeloViewer tiling, and get my stats up on the VV/RideEveryTile sites with the Festive500 as a desirable side effect of that. But the weather has been bad enough in low lying coastal areas and at least if I ride from home I can get straight into a bath when I stop riding. But getting to places to claim VV tiles these days means at least an hour's drive to make it worthwhile, and that's mostly in hillier areas, remote from any hope of support and with an hour's drive home the prospect at the end of a ride in soggy kit. None of which really appeals to me in my 50s. If that means I'm becoming a big soft fairweather cycling softy, then so be it. I ride for the pure enjoyment of being out on the bike in glorious countryside with nature all around me, and that is definitely most enjoyable when the weather is at least bearable, but preferably when it's nice...
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