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Annual Festive 500 ...
 

[Closed] Annual Festive 500 thread

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I think you mean most of England and a few bits of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland? Bit more traffic up here than usual but. O big deal.


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 11:57 am
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8 miles. Freezing fog. Insane drivers trying to get to Asda/Morrisons.
Frost on eyelashes.
Strong start I feel.


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 11:58 am
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I got all excited about this idea the other day.

The family had other ideas.

Bah humbug...


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 2:28 pm
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115km down after a shaky start- my legs weren’t warming to the idea first thing this morning!

Should get 50km in tomorrow morning as well, so off to a decent if not stellar start.


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 4:26 pm
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108k down. Cold wet but enjoyable


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 4:28 pm
 mrmo
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only 50 km today and I suspect I won't finish this year. Surprising how much pain you can suffer from a tooth!


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 5:24 pm
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Just over 100 miles today. Legs fell off at 93 as I've barely ridden since May. Not sure I'll be able to sit down for a bit either 😣


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 5:26 pm
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A brave and novel start for me, I decided not to ride my bike and instead ran for 12 miles. Not sure this is going as thought it would.


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 6:02 pm
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40km (or 8%) in after a very slippery ride around QECP and Butser. Back on the gravel bike tomorrow to go to the beach. I like how F500 inspires rides that I wouldn't normally consider. Chilled76 has earned his turkey tomorrow!


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 6:25 pm
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105km. Also 3000m of climbing inc the famed stupidly tough one on Gran Canaria, Valley of the Tears. Managed to knock 90 seconds off my PB and get in under the hour (just!) but it was a horrible head/cross wind up there so I might be starting tomorrow slightly wrecked....


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 6:33 pm
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240km done, feeling it now though, need the practise for the Reiver, bike doesn’t pedal itself unfortunately.


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 6:42 pm
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Nice easy 140 km on the fixed. Was quite pleasant with leas traffic than usual. Probably one more 135 km ride with the club followed by m25 loop of 225 km next weekend.

Might get out at the rack of dawn tomorrow before we head off to see friends. Then little riding till the weekend.

Well done all, keep it up.


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 6:59 pm
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105km done split between normal commute to work (9km), fixed gear ride home (28km) then 67km out on the road bike.

I'm definintely not as fit as I thought I was...


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 7:24 pm
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160miles for me today in very cold conditions. Kept to the main roads so they were well salted. Well, apart from 30 miles of back roads that were dodgy to say the least. Knocked seven bells out of my average speed. Doing it on the TT bike after not slinging a leg over it for eight months wasn’t my best idea either, was on the base bars quite a lot because of not being used to the aero position. My neck is now more stiffer than a plank that’s overdosed on viagra.


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 8:07 pm
 geex
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You do this to yourself the day before Christmas because some marketing bod made up a challenge for their App to keep it's users hooked?
mental.


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 9:02 pm
 tiim
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105km here (common number) pleasently warm and misty round my way. Three hours of quiet empty roads and 30 mins of absent minded and seemingly asleep drivers to get my heart rate up test my reactions.

Stay safe all.


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 9:02 pm
 ton
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You do this to yourself the day before Christmas because some marketing bod made up a challenge for their App to keep it’s users hooked?
mental.

most sensible thing i have read on here all year.
i was all down for having a go at this, but then i thought '**** that'.
so i started with a nice easy 13 miles ride, with a stop for a pint mid way.


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 9:08 pm
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You do this to yourself the day before Christmas because some marketing bod made up a challenge for their App to keep it’s users hooked?
mental.

Not for me personally, I regularly do 100+ mile rides so seen as I’ll be doing big rides whilst I’m off I might as Well sign up for the challenge


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 9:21 pm
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Look at the flip side..some marketing bod for an app that I pay £6 a month or something for has managed to make me want to ride when the weather is grim and nasty and everywhere is full of calorie laden treats. Chapeau to them!

I'll probably go back to work fitter and lighter than I was 2 days ago when I finished work having barely ridden through the autumn. They've done me a favour for 2019 fitness if I manage to complete this challenge.


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 9:31 pm
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I signed up to strava to do the 500 and I’ll drop it when I’m done.
I’m doing the 500 for fun not a marketing bod.


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 9:49 pm
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I signed up to strava to do the 500 and I’ll drop it when I’m done.
I’m doing the 500 for fun not a marketing bod.

You didn't need to sign up to ride your bike ??


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 10:49 pm
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You do this to yourself the day before Christmas because some marketing bod made up a challenge for their App to keep it’s users hooked?
mental.

Not really. My training is 400 km/week. It’s an extra 25% which is accounted for by last week’s 300 km easy week. I get a nice badge to add to the jersey too.

But if. It gets people motivated, it’s not such a bad thing.


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 11:15 pm
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You're a bit behind......one of my clubmates has just completed

https://www.strava.com/activities/2033933658/overview?fbclid=IwAR0kN7OVXjeyKKRuezTAZgmRV4u_BxOQAnOtBdSNyzmg8PicWNq2majtsww


 
Posted : 24/12/2018 11:19 pm
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Impressive and part of my training loop. Bit slow on the pace though 😉 . Should have been done three hours quicker. Those roads were quiet today 😀 . I assume he’ll enter the National 12hr?


 
Posted : 25/12/2018 12:16 am
 geex
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I get a nice badge to add to the jersey too.

Trunks surely?


 
Posted : 25/12/2018 12:22 am
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Actually not this time. When I did the first I bought the jersey in the sale after I’d finished as they’d ran out of badges. It’s not a bad jersey and I wear it all n at least one of the rides.


 
Posted : 25/12/2018 2:01 am
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I signed up to strava to do the 500 and I’ll drop it when I’m done.
I’m doing the 500 for fun not a marketing bod.

You didn’t need to sign up to ride your bike ??

Riding my bike anyway so may as well record it.


 
Posted : 25/12/2018 9:36 am
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Scrapped it, OH wanted to do it too but I find that you need to ride at your pace to do these things. That wouldn't work.

She pointed out a bloke on Strava who rode 498km on day one.


 
Posted : 25/12/2018 9:49 am
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I did 50km yesterday and it appears I'm not fit. Strava says my last ride was in October, this may be the reason!!
Happy Christmas one and all.


 
Posted : 25/12/2018 9:50 am
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82 miles / 132km in the 25°C horror of a Spanish winter. 😉

Someone has to put up with it! The route was also back-loaded with 3000m of climbing but I guess the nice roads, near zero traffic and sunshine sort of compensates for that. Maybe.


 
Posted : 25/12/2018 7:11 pm
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53 miles today. Fog never lifted. It was like a Sunday teatime for 3 1/2 hours.


 
Posted : 25/12/2018 7:38 pm
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Thought I'd check in. 2 short rides today with the ton yesterday has me at 203km. 297km to go with 6 days. I'm thinking my arse is gonna be the limiting factor in this, not my legs or motivation #baboonbum


 
Posted : 25/12/2018 8:21 pm
 tiim
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Third steady 105ish in a row this morning.
Weather is deffo helping this year.
Hope everyone's riding or planning is on track, it's really peaceful and pleasant so far.


 
Posted : 26/12/2018 2:23 pm
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I've done 289km across 3 days and now have a backside like someone has taken a cricket bat to it.

Gonna have to have a day off or take the mtb tomorrow. Hopefully a different saddle size and position will make a difference.


 
Posted : 26/12/2018 4:05 pm
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366km done in 3 rides so far.
Easy(ish) day tomorrow, the idea of doing another 3000m climing isn't doing a lot for me so I'm going to ride down to a town, have coffee and ride back, no more than about 50km.


 
Posted : 26/12/2018 5:05 pm
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Had a slow start. Going to my parents place in cold Belgium to find out my spare kit was mostly missing(it was later found at my sisters place an hour away, the place i left in the morning). So went to fetch the old mongrel in the cave it seems my dad doesn't own a track pump any more....

So a walk to the petrol station made me end up wit 4 bar of tire pressure and still no cycling tops. Of for a 35k suffer stroll. Tuesday left for a nice 80k ride but the below zero temperatures made the GPS only record 53 of it.

Wednesday found a mate to do the same route the other way around so 80 k done but freezing again.

170 on the clock which should be 200. Fed up with the cold already so sitting at the airport should be reuinted with my good bike early afternoon for a little leg stretcher in southern france.

After the i will hop into the car to cheat a bit and head of to Spain.

At least I am better of then last year then I had over 300 to go on the morning of the 30th


 
Posted : 27/12/2018 9:08 am
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187 miles (300K) so far average speed 18.1mph, do 100 miles tomorrow and then one easy ride, sorted.


 
Posted : 27/12/2018 3:46 pm
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422km done and dusted. Today was a nice easy run down to a nearby town, coffee in the town square then a spin down to the coast and back up.

There was a "moment" where the route planning apps had decided that the 30 degree concrete slope was indeed a road and sent me up that - one of those insane tracks used to access houses / farms and little else but once that was out of the way it was all a steady ride.

78km left to do but I've got another 3 days out here so I'll make the most of it!


 
Posted : 27/12/2018 5:05 pm
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I sometimes wish I lived somewhere flatter. That is pretty much all, but 305km done now. It would have been more, but I went for a Christmas morning communal dog walk out of politeness and decency. There's a first time for everything.

I have fully bought into the cynical marketing ploy side of it all too and have Rapha tattooed on the knuckles of one hand and Strava on the other.


 
Posted : 27/12/2018 6:50 pm
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Had a couple of cracking rides thanks to Rapha. Rode down to the coast on Christmas Day (UK, not somewhere sunny) and explored Chichester harbour (Salterns Way) while waiting for the rest of the family to arrive by car for lunch. And today rambled around the Downs on my GT Grade, got lost, saw some vintage tractors and got mixed up with a running race. Up to 315km now. I don't think I'll do a monster ride this year, so two more 100kmers.


 
Posted : 27/12/2018 7:58 pm
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I'm up to 341km now. My legs feel like they are gonna fall off. Just looked back and I've ridden a grand total of 12 hours altogether in the last 5 weeks and had a month off before that.

I've done 13 hours in 4 days. #deconditioned

I'm hoping this is a good way to start a higher volume (than I have been doing for 6 months) training programme in the new year. That way 8 hours a week wojt feel much when I'll have done about 20 or so this week.


 
Posted : 27/12/2018 8:01 pm
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Tom and I are just over half way off the back of not much recent pedalling. It's all starting to come good now though.


 
Posted : 27/12/2018 8:39 pm
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Just read this thread with interest, as a chance conversation with MrsMC this morning as we saw lots of solitary riders in the murk of Derbyshire made her announce that it sounded "like something I could do next year".

Slight hiccup would be the club Boxing Day hill climb challenge though.


 
Posted : 27/12/2018 10:01 pm
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Finished. Had a route of 93 miles (and 4000m climbing...) planned but then decided on an alternative route back whcih upped the mileage fractionally but dropped the climbing. Or at least, that was the plan but then I was on 95 miles so I decided to take it up to 100 with the aid of a very contrived loop through the local town which promptly took the elevation back up as well.

Anyway, 162km today so 584km total and 3 days left to play with. I'm going to the beach tomorrow!


 
Posted : 28/12/2018 8:29 pm
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89km left. Considering a day off tomorrow but wandering if the legs will hurt more the following day for taking a break... DOMS. Maybe best to just go and get it done?


 
Posted : 28/12/2018 9:52 pm
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