I did it years ago and really enjoyed it, it was a great push to get my outside when it felt everyone else was inside eating and getting fat. It's hard work and needs some commitment, but that's part of the fun for me and I believe part of the reason the idea was conceived.
I also echo others thoughts about doing it inside on a turbo. Each to their own, but for me part of the satisfaction of doing it was dragging myself outside in ropey conditions.
For anyone taking it on for the first time, my advice would be to have a plan in place, and ideally a plan that front loads the distance. If you get a metric century in on Xmas eve and then knock out an hour or 2 Christmas morning you can break the back of it in the first 2 days. I found planning in advance the distance I had in mind, a reasonably clear idea of the route I'd take each day and when in the day I'd do it really helped remove some of the mental load from the challenge. With that all done in advance you just have to get on your bike and ride.
I've had a change of plan..... I don't fancy the Restrap Solstice either, but I am off work on the actual solstice next Friday (22nd). So I'm going to plan a ride that starts at sunrise and goes on until sunset. OK for me that's only 0856-1530, but I don't care about the distance - just that it's a nice ride/adventure. Not decided what type of bike to ride yet or the route, but I've got a week to plan that. It would nice to be standing somewhere nice at 1530 if the weather is good enough for a sunset. Clava stones maybe on top of a hill not too far from home/the van.
I’ve only ever done it/attempted it outdoors. I know it’s not a level playing field against our more meteorologically favoured cousins, but the Festive 500 started in the UK and the spirit is in the winter challenge.
My plan was a short notice escape to Gran Canaria - I've been here before at Christmas but not for a few years.
Landed on 21st in torrential rain, prompting all the passengers to joke that we weren't in GC, we'd just done a big loop and landed back at Manchester.
22nd, I did a warm up ride and got caught in more torrential rain in the last 4-5 miles on thoroughly unfamiliar roads which wasn't fun trying to navigate all that.
23rd, got half way up Pico de las Nieves and a big storm front rolled in so I sought shelter in a tiny village cafe - little more than the guy's front room basically but he kept me supplied with coffee and Google Translate filled in the blanks between my lack of Spanish and his lack of English. Super friendly though, they really saved me. I cut the ride short and dropped down a soaking wet descent, was frozen by the bottom.
And then today I woke up feeling really quite ill. Not sure if I've caught the sun, something from freezing my tits off yesterday, something I ate or even just the packed plane on the way out. Or it could just be the shock of back to back rides again, I've done so little recently.
Found the one local chemist open on Christmas Eve and they supplied me with various medications and I planned a much shorter loop. It was still hard work, just plodding up a long climb at 6mph with nothing left to give. However I do feel a bit better now.
So fingers crossed that the rest of the week pans out OK. The weather has now settled down, blue skies all round today.
Bad luck crazy-legs, fingers crossed you turn it around with a good night’s sleep.
First time I ever considered it was this year, having a nice new bike to ride, then got Covid a couple of weeks back so just aiming for a hike or bike of some sort on each day.
I think we've done it 6 times. This pic was mine andTom's first in 2012. The weather that year was disgusting on 7 of the 8 days.
I woke up this morning to hear the rain on the velux and thought sod that.
My faves were the two we did in Mallorca!
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Out at 6:30am this morning in windy, wet conditions to knock out 167km (104miles) Done the challenge for a few years now, always trying to do it in a few rides as possible. My wife is a saint during the year letting me train as much as I do so I try not to take the piss over Christmas so normally do it in three rides (although I did do it once in two ). I’ll keep an eye out for two more half decent weather windows later in the week.
Done it for the past 5 or so years. The weather this year is / and is forecast to be horrific.
Not been out today due to 50mph winds + rain, tomorrow also looking pretty grim. Rest of Christmas week is a looking like a mix of torrential rain and strong winds so will see..
Also Zwift shouldn't count!
i was out at 6am. did a nice 50mile loop which ended at my local. 4 pints of blonde and home for a belly full of tapas.
all good, and i will see how it goes.
130km down today, the outward leg battering into a headwind was tiring but the homeward leg with a tail wind was great fun until I got stuck on the Dundee side of the Tay Bridge because the walk way was closed due to high winds. I got rescued by one of the bridge staff who gave me a lift back to Fife in the pick-up. I ended up with a Performance Enhanced Diesel KoM over the bridge so I hid my ride before the Stravaites sharpened their pitchforks.
Short 30km planned for tomorrow since its going to be passing it down.
2 hours on Zwift this morning around newborn nappies and feeds. Should be able to do similar most days, but not sure I’ll be able to make up the 1 or 2 days that will be missed in the middle so will only get to 400ish.
I agree virtual rides shouldn’t count (I’ve done it twice before outside) but it’s a good kick up the arse this year.
Decided in the middle of Christmas Day that seeing as our camping holiday went to shit I might give it a go… not ideal as I only did 11km of singletrack yesterday.
Set off in 34 degrees at 2pm and got 40km of 50% gravel done. About halfway round I realised that I don’t really want to spend that much time on a bike over the next few days when I could do fewer kms and have more fun, so will probably ditch it.
After losing interest without the badge and the Covid year decided to have a go again. Enjoying the good weather and just got back already more then half done. Must finish on the 28th though as I got a plane to catch and the bike is staying behind.
I must say I live in southern france and have a habit to jump to the sunnier side of the mountains for a couple of days to get it done.
Urgh, make it end already. I'm not feeling well and being on holiday with literally nothing to do but ride isn't fun when you can't really ride... 😥
Felt better this morning so started off up one of the climbs, getting slower and slower. Stopped for a Coke and a bottle of water, went on to a quiet layby to drink it and after half the Coke, it all came back up again.
I did actually feel a lot better after that so eventually tried to carry on with the climb but there was nothing in the legs at all. So I turned and descended the same road back to the apartment where I've been asleep since 2pm.
I do need to try and eat something this evening, not had a proper meal since 23rd.
Weather is nice though!
OK, I am now feeling better although I'm still slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through treacle - had a basic meal last night but it'll take a day or so to get my energy back.
But today I did just under 100km (and about 2500m climbing 😳 ) just taking it steady.
200km done.
Decided to do it for the first time this year. But.......I am at my least fit I've been for a long time and I only have mtbs (including one on the trainer). So instead of 4.5 -5 hours a day on the mtb in mid-Wales, I'm aiming at 45 miles a day on the trainer through a ride in the morning and one in the afternoon, and then with 20-30 mile left for the final day I have the YstwythCC MTB end of year ride at Nant-yr-arian where I'll do two or more loops of the Summit Trail to complete.
I'd love to do it completely off-road, but I don't want divorce papers delivered in the new year! So I'm using the Festive 500 to give my fitness a major boost (3 x usual mileage) and take it from there
100 mile done so far. all good.
I'm more than half way through after today's ride, which is handy as tomorrow's forecast is a yellow warning for wind, snow & rain. So I think a day off is in order.
Good luck to those who do it, but it's never appealed to me. I get the idea of encouraging people to get out over the Festive period - however I often feel many people do it to impress others at how good/great they are.
I did think about doing it 5-6 years ago, but decided against it; I'd have to be out almost everyday......in the end I did about 280km, including an aborted 40km ride when I had a mechanical, and had a short walk home.
In the last few years I haven't even done 500km in a month, so it's something I no longer consider.
done it a couple of times (in doors as I aint that hard) but a rather pathetic foot fracture has put a stop to this year, managed 50 on the 24th but the next morning I could hardly walk, been hobbling around since then.
sucks to be me
128km today and just under 3000m climbing.
That's 329km done. 90km tomorrow and same again on 29th then fly home on 30th. Then wake up sometime in the first week of New Year.
196km all done in 3 sessions on the turbo so far.
Another zwift tomorrow then hopefully a big ride outside Friday should see the majority ticked off.
only managed 30 miles today. boy it sure was grim.................. ace.
135 so far.
That's me done with a day spare as I only got to catch the plane friday morning.
breakfast beer in the garage
Why did I not think of this!
50% done now. starting to think i may complete this year.........fingers crossed.
434km done, 66km to go.
I've got a much flatter loop of about 75km tomorrow then back to pack the bike up.
255km done on Zwift, got a pass for a long outdoor ride tomorrow so hoping to tick off another 140 or so.
Done. 511km.
One fairly gradual climb to the cafe stop but the reward is one of the best descents on Gran Canaria - long smooth flowing with hairpins, short little punchy ramps out of the contours, views for miles down the canyons and almost zero traffic.
Actually, the first few days, in spite of being in the warmth and sunshine, it was just a slog what with being ill and trying to recover - a couple of the rides I was just going through the motions. Last couple of days has rescued it for me though.
Back to the reality of the shit weather tomorrow...
365 km done with another 104km done by the end of tomorrow, all on the trainer using XERT. Today I am mentally fatigued as I can't mentally ride more than hour and a half on the trainer so I've been doing 75 minutes in the morning and 60 minutes in the evening, but the legs are OK and it will leave me 31 km to ride round Nant-yr-arian on Sunday. So looking forward to that 🙂
Saw quite a few out and about in sub-optimal conditions around Ilkley today (I was in a car). Didn't seem like many of them were enjoying the experience.
Good luck to anyone still ploughing on with it.
2nd ride of the challenge today. Rode out in a horrible headwind to Lytham then onto Blackpool before turning round. I hoping for a huge tailwind along the Fylde, into the hills ending up at Clitheroe then turning back home to Garstang. Trouble was the wind abated quite a bit so never really got back what I lost first thing. Still, it’s another 168km ticked off. Hopefully get another ride in on NYE to complete the challenge.
371km done, back to the turbo tomorrow and maybe finish outside with some mates on Sunday.
Tough riding today- wet, breezy and chilly with the combination.
failed again............... bugger
started with a cold or something last night. feel a bit wiped out today, so having a few days off the bike.
well done all trying to complete.
Another ride yesterday to finish the challenge in three rides. Out early doors again to do another 100 + mile effort. Got back, washed the bike down and as I was putting the bike away it started raining. Bonus 😀
First year riding a road bike, up till now the biggest ride I'd done on the MTB was 55 miles in the summer.
6 Rides - 17,000ft of climbing
Will be back next year, try and get it done in fewer rides.
Will be back next year, try and get it done in fewer rides.
I still harbour an ambition to do it in one ride.
Rapha have, for the last few years, done an invite-only session at Herne Hill Velodrome. Something like 9 riders, starting about 9pm. They keep the clubhouse open, there's sometimes a BBQ and it becomes a bit of a social thing while raising a lot of money for Ambitious About Autism. I think it's 1112 laps of the Herne Hill track. Watched the start of it a couple of years ago and about 2 minutes in, it started to rain. It looked SO grim.
The Manchester Clubhouse tried to run an "in one ride" event on a 60 - 65km loop of the Cheshire Lanes this year. Ride out from the Manchester shop, do 7 laps, ride back and with the out and back it came to about 505km.
No-one completed it, the weather was atrocious although I saw on Strava that some people had done nearly 50%.
I still harbour an ambition to do it in one ride.
I'll work up to that one! I'd want a very flat, warm, dry route, with a tail wind all the way round.
So it turns out that Rapha have started doing Festive 500 roundels again. But they're not posted out, you have to go into a Clubhouse and show your proof of completion on Strava upon which you get this:
🙂
nice! Never heard of the "clubhouse" but having googled it, exactly as I'd expect 😂 Shame there isn't one near me really, this is the first time I've actually done it!
Interesting jersey you've sewn it on though 🤔
