It is that time of year again for the Rapha climbing challenge on strava – this year it is to climb 7235 meters.

Piece of pish for some but if you dont live in an area with alot of big hills or mountains then it can be difficult mapping out hilly enough rides (without doing big miles) so tends to mean hill reps will feature at some point. Normally i’d hate this but with the carrot of a little woven patch i am enthusiastic about the week ahead 😀

Some guys in my road club, Alba Rosa CC in Leeds, are doing it.

Plenty of hills round here but a lack of time means I’d struggle to do it.

We worked out that it would be 44 times up the East Chevin near Otley, if you know the climb that’s not a something you’d relish.

I’d do it but like the distance ones don’t want to dedicate some of the best months of the year to climbing for the sake of it. I’ll probably see how I go but not plan anything.

Me and my boy are going to do it.

It’ll be tough for him to do as school hasn’t finished yet.

He likes patches.

Yep, just signed up to it as well, was discussing it with a mate over a beer earlier and he’s doing it so that was that gauntlet dropped! We did the Festive 500 as well.

8 days, 3000ft per day – should be doable, especially if I can get a decent start tomorrow and put in 5000ft or so. Living in the Peak District, that should be relatively easy!

Aiming to be out at crack of dawn tomorrow before it gets too busy and too hot.

I’m having a bash, it’s not the hilliest part but most 40-50 mile rides on the lincolnshire wolds should see me get enough altitude, but 8 days of that is far more than I usually do.

I have signed up but it won’t happen, wedding this weekend and Newport velodrome on Monday.

So far so good, 1621 metres climbed today, shame they don’t give bonus points for getting stung by a bee, as that now hurts more than my legs.

2200m done. Rather tired and crampy now. Still suspect I won’t be in a position to get enough other rides in even with the possibility of very silly commute variations.

Did 1750m / 5700ft today. Packed in a load of climbs early on then it was a rolling ride until the end where I added in a load more!

Saw Richpips and his son Tom out on their ride as I was heading back in.

Strava tells me I’ve done 24% so I might nip out for a quick evening blast on the CX too. 🙂

17% done for us today.

P1070922 by RichSeipp, on Flickr

Is there a strava club for the singletrack magazine people?

like this?

Just below 5000 feet today, horrible day out. Legs felt very tight all day 🙁

Thank you, Mr Mo, clicked and joined.

How are we all doing?

Me and the boy are up to 39% now.

P1070939 by RichSeipp, on Flickr

Good photo, i feel like a cheat now all my elevation so far has been on the road!

Fellow near me has just done it in one 100 mile ride. :0.

I’m not doing this one, did the festive 500 but this challenge would mean me bouncing over the Sth Downs an awful lot of times as they’re not that high. 😆

Smashed 500 feet today moohahahaha, I’m awesome me!

Omar Little

Good photo, i feel like a cheat now all my elevation so far has been on the road!

Thanks. Safety first for us, the roads round here are bonkers for fast traffic at the only times we have free to ride as I found out particularly last night.

~800 metres of up today and near all off road. 50% done now.

P1070958 by RichSeipp, on Flickr

50% but I probably will have to finish by Friday. So not sure if I will make it!

850m done but it’s been wet so not much road for me, got a couple of 3000m loops to throw at my unfit body.

I got over 2500m on the first day but haven’t ridden since. Ride for Thursday has another 2000m, maybe I’ll do 2 laps!

2 rides so far with 2700m of climbing. Will put another 1500m on top this evening.

hmm front shifter locked in big ring today so another bail/fail the week is half done and I’m not. I feel another mental 2 rides to claim it coming on

I’m in, though my Garmin doesn’t seem to be doing me any favours compared to my android riding buddies. Gave me 1000 metres less for our loop over the Col d’Izoard!

Telegraphe and Galibier to add today…

Haze if you’re worried about the Androiders having an unnatural advantage 😉 you just click ‘correct elevation’ for your ride & depending where you’ve ridden you’ll get an extra few hundred metres. The current leader seems to have done the same, if you zoom in on his elevation profiles they’re all over the place!

68% complete for me, need to finish by Friday though as I’m away without a bike at the weekend.

Finished it today, legs dont feel too bad managed to keep things pretty steady. Reckon my average speed is about 12 mph over the 180 miles or so it took to complete 😳

59% at the mo. doing it on a surly disc trucker. my legs are angry with me for putting them through such torture.

How are your riding this? Just choosing hilly loops or, like a friend of mine, finding a couple of hills and just riding up and down them multiple times. I can’t understand it myself but if he’s happy…..

A mixture – on sunday i did every local climb over about 50 metres main roads, side roads and farm tracks and didnt do the same twice (although i went down a few only to come straight back up) and that got me to about half way.

Since then have been more time pressed so been a mixture of hill repeats and a short hilly loop.

Omar Little

Finished it today.

Well done. Our average speed is obviously slower than yours, but yes, much slower than we’d normally be.

plop_pants

How are your riding this? Just choosing hilly loops or, like a friend of mine, finding a couple of hills and just riding up and down them multiple times. I can’t understand it myself but if he’s happy…..

I’ve tried to vary our rides as much as possible, we’ve also visited a good few new roads and BWs.

Reps, my life is too short. I am very grateful that i’m not going to ride up a particular hill for a couple of weeks after this one though. We’ve been up it at least once each day (leaving our valley.)

Finished today, 8500m done. Did 3500m on Sunday in Pyrenees, then ~60km local loops with about 1500-2000m each day since. It’s a doddle in the Basque Country, no big climbs but not an inch of flat either. No repeats, ugh…
Should get a few more metres in but will be on mtb from now on.

Halfway point for me. Had tonight off, was over at Colne for the crit race but will start doing some off-road loops tomorrow. All my riding so far has been on-road so it’ll be good to mix it up a bit.

Might finish off with some stupid epic ride on Sunday in the Lakes or Dales. 😉

crazy-legs

Halfway point for me. Had tonight off, was over at Colne for the crit race but will start doing some off-road loops tomorrow. All my riding so far has been on-road so it’ll be good to mix it up a bit.

Might finish off with some stupid epic ride on Sunday in the Lakes or Dales.

Wondered where you were tonight.

Tom said you were slacking. 🙂

Just joined and have done 76% after one ride 🙂

Only 668 metres to go now.

P1070979 by RichSeipp, on Flickr

well I’m off to find a towel to throw in, big winds today and a storm coming in, forecast heavy rain/snow for the weekend. Shame as I was hoping to use it as a springboard. The trainer is coming out later…