This arrived through the post the other day, which was a very welcome surprise: My patch from Rapha for completing their Festive 500 challenge on Strava.
On the reverse of the card that comes with it, the text reads:
"The fifth annual Rapha Festive 500 was a snowflake-studded journey of self-sufficiency, immovable optimism, thousands of heavy legs and an all-conquering Yuletide spirit.
Almost 50,000 brave souls took up the challenge but you were one of the 8,398 who managed to complete it. Congratulations and thank you from everyone at Rapha for making it such a memorable edition. We hope 2015 brings even more victorious kilometres to you and your legs and we’re pleased to include your commemorative badge marking your completion of the 500."
When you extrapolate the numbers, it equates to a mere 1 in 6 success-rate for the challenge, which hit-home that it really is pretty tricky to come-out the other side of it successfully. There are so many things that can prevent you from finishing, from mechanical (which I know too well of from the previous year), injury, running out of time and adverse winter weather.
Now I've managed to complete the challenge, it has ceased to become one as it holds mystery no longer... If you have managed it the once then you know you can achieve it a second time or more.
And LSS still insists that if I go for it another time and end-up disappearing off for large chunks of the day over the Christmas week, then the bike will be dismantled by her and left in its constituent parts at the bottom of the Basingstoke Canal at various points along its length... So here ends my involvement with the Festive 500!
Eat pies.
Drink beer.
Cycle far.
After last year’s failure in this (mechanical issues not ‘me’ issues) I managed to achieve what I wanted and completed the challenge set by Strava and Rapha to cycle 500km (320 miles) between Christmas Eve and New Years Eve.
Last year my plan had been worked out as a daily average where I was to go out and ride between 40 and 50 miles a day, but this fell apart when my bike did likewise, and having this daily set distance did not allow for much (if any) flexibility, plus trying to motivate myself to go out on 2 rides which were essentially on the same route on the same day was difficult and felt more like a chore than anything enjoyable.
This time round I decided to hit the ground hard (or hit the road hard in this case) and try to get as much done as soon as possible, especially with the weather being favourable. I also planned on not cycling the same route twice, although some stretches of road would be covered twice or in opposite directions; the whole point was not to let the cycling become a chore.
As documented on the blog previously, I went out on Christmas Eve and chalked-off 100 of those miles in the first day, so come Christmas Day the pressure was off with regards to getting out and putting down some big miles, so I went out for around 20 (with an arse that felt like concrete from the previous day’s exertion). Boxing Day saw an increase to 32 - both of these routes keeping me close to home on well-cycled routes of mine.
After the 2 day break over the weekend for the ostrich running I needed to get back into the longer rides to complete the challenge successfully, so a trio of 38, 80 and 42 miles brought me to my target with much relief to be had for my very sore backside.
Forcing myself to cycle routes I had not done so before gave me a greater idea as to where I can take myself in the future and I certainly enjoyed being out on the road with my iPod on listening to my podcasts, savouring the sights of the countryside. It also has helped me to keep very active over Christmas and minimise the potential for any weight gain as I was going to be damned if I was to cut-down on any of the good food and drink that was to be around this week.
Whilst clocking-up this mileage is impressive, and I am pretty chuffed with myself for achieving this at the second attempt, LSS was not impressed with me for doing so: She has informed me in no uncertain terms that if I am to repeat this in the future and essentially disappear for Christmas week on my bike - one of the few times when you can guarantee to be off from work at the same time as each other, then my bike will be dismantled and disposed of in various places along the canal.
The boss has spoken!
Eat pies.
Drink beer.
Cycle far.
Today was the first day of the Strava Rapha Festive 500 Challenge. The nature of this is to cycle 500km between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. You can have as many or as few rides as you desire, you just need to get those 500k’s under your belt.
I failed at this challenge last Christmas, so I was determined to make a good go of it, so having finished work yesterday I had a clear day to go for a ride so I could hit the ground running so as to speak and chalk-off a few miles.
The route I had chosen was to cycle to the centre of London and back again, with my turning point being Waterloo Bridge, crossing the Thames before returning home. I have cycled into central London in the past, but on that occasion I hopped on a train back - and the fact that a single home from Waterloo is £30 I decided that there was another good incentive to return under my own steam!
It has been a few years since I have been in the centre of London, having lived there when I studied at uni and working there from graduation until my early 30’s, so it was interesting to see the changes - and there have been plenty of them, to the west end.
My route in was to follow the A30 in from Hook, past Heathrow at the bottom of the runway with the planes landing over your head, through Kensington, along Hyde Park, Piccadilly, Trafalgar Square, the Embankment, Waterloo, Westminster, Victoria, Chelsea and where half of my family hails from: Parson’s Green, before heading further out via Putney, Mortlake, Sunbury, Ashford and back on to the A30 once more at Staines for the final leg home.
Whilst lovely to traverse some familiar London streets of my past and to see the changes to the skyline, the cycling itself was a bit of a pain in the arse because as soon as you hit central London it really is stop-start with traffic lights every 50 metres, so you have no chance of getting a rhythm going!
On the way back along the A30 I realised as night fell that I was closing-in on a potential milestone and the chance to do something I had not managed before. Whilst my initial route was planned to be 85 miles, I figured, why not make it a round 100! so as I approached Winchfield, I went off and cycled the route I normally cover with Kelv on our weekly evening ride… And returned home with 102 miles under my belt and pretty much 1/3 of the miles chalked-off in a oner.
Eat pies. Drink beer. Cycle far!
This Christmas was only the second 'home' Christmas I have had as an adult. By 'home' I mean spent where I live.
Christmas when growing up meant watching mediocre telly, being told off all the time for the slightest and silliest of things and being sent to my room, and it was the only day of the year (when not grounded) when I could not go out and play with friends as a means of escape.
Until 6 years ago, Christmas's as an adult since my student days were spent in France at the home of my ex-wife's parents, which always allowed me the chance to get up and go for a good long morning run in the French countryside, which I used to really enjoy (and all the other days over Christmas that I would be there doing the same) so being physically active over the Christmas week is not unknown for me.
This year Rapha are running their Festive 500 event, where you cycle 500km over the 8 days from Christmas Eve to Jan 1st. With me planning on cycling too and from the Brutal and the Gut Buster already I figured that I could, with a bit of application, make the challenge work by cycling 40 miles each day.
Killing 2 birds with one stone on Christmas Eve, I cycled off to my parent's and back to drop off their present and the evening ride I went out on followed, in the main part, my normal evening cycle route and allowed me to chalk off 38 miles in total from the target for this first of 8 days.
Common sense did not prevail here and I had not really eaten a great deal all day, so when out on the evening ride I soon found myself 'bonking' where my legs felt leaden and there was nothing in the tank to lift my pace.
On my return I prepped all the Christmas dinner so all that needed to be done was turn everything on so I was able to go-out guilt-free on my Christmas morning ride.
After doing the gift-giving I went out on a longer 27 mile route enjoying the country lanes and surprised with just how busy the more major roads were.
After a hearty Christmas dinner and giving it time to settle I set-out again in the night. I managed 4 miles in to the ride before I could sense something was not right with the bike. It felt like my cranks were wobbling slightly. Dismounting I gave the cranks a good examination and found they were fine; nuts all tight and secure… The wobble was coming from the bottom bracket.
As far as this goes on a bike it's pretty terminal… You can carry on riding, but you don't know for how long until everything breaks and you're stranded.
Nursing the bike around the course I made it home, immediately up-ending the bike in the garage to dismantle and inspect it. After removing the cranks and then the bottom bracket itself I could see the problem… The bearings on one side had completely collapsed, so it was only a matter of time before everything would have failed.
I had planned on cycling to Winchester and back the following morning, but with no spare bottom bracket that was out of the question. I tracked-down via the internet somewhere that would have one the next day, which would still need fitting on my return and the price was double what I would pay for it as an on-line order item, and the cost would be for 2/3rds of the day's distance which would be tricky to make-up once lost.
Reluctantly I realised that through mechanical failure I'd have to bail from the challenge 2 days in and at 137km of the 500 ridden, I was slightly ahead of plan after 1/4 of the time. As disappointing as this was and that it now meant I have to drive to my runs on the Saturday and Sunday, my body was thankful for the chance to rest and recover!
With the marathon being run on the Sunday my body had only enjoyed one day of recovery before it was being pushed again and it was not happy - it was screaming at me to go easy - I was aching in my legs all the time and with the foul weather it meant that every ride meant getting wet through either the rain or surface water, which is never fun… So I suppose my belated Christmas present to myself is a couple of days rest before the Brutal on Saturday!
Bit of a blow-out week with work and weather, so I've been looking at the Christmas break and how to keep on top of my fitness in anticipation of the Anglesey marathon in mid January.
Whilst Sunday sees the Portsmouth coastal marathon with Moose and Pini in the field alongside me - well at the start anyway as they will soon be disappearing off in to the distance ahead of me, I've decided to go for a bit of extra activity to bust any belly growth over a week or so of seasonal excess.
Strava in association with Rapha have set a challenge open to all of riding 500k in 8 days over Christmas starting on the 24th December… So naturally I've gone for that!
I figured I will be cycling 40 miles on the 29th for the journey to and from the Brutal 16k race and at least 15 miles for the Gut Buster on the 30th, so there already was a chunk of distance planned to be cycled before the challenge came along. With having to cover an average of 35 miles a day I'm sure I'll be able to get a couple of decent loops sorted for some good riding, probably doing 2 rides on most days of 25 and 15 miles or thereabouts and I hope a second riding of the Winchester and back ride from the summer. I'm not planning on doing any other running between Sunday's Portsmouth coastal marathon and the end of the challenge, so hopefully this will keep me in good stead for CV work… I'm also intrigued as to how busy the roads will or won't be on Christmas day!
I've also entered my first ultra: In June I'll be running the 40 or so miles from Cornwall's Lizard Point to Land's End in the Endurancelife Classic Quarter in my first attempt at pitting myself against a serious distance. So far the furthest I've gone is 29 miles, but with how good I've felt at the end of the Dorset and Gower runs I reckon I could be able to get through it within the cut-off times! I'm intrigued to see how I fare and if this will open the door to other longer distances as I need to step-up a level if I'm ever to conquer the South Downs 100mile and start to think of the UTMB!
For next year I've also had an idea for a nutty challenge that I've laid-down in front of Pini to see if he is up for it - which he reckons he will be. It all depends on our timings but when things are definite then I'll be posting the details up here. Suffice to say its a bit different!
Finally. I opened up this month's Outdoor Fitness and saw a picture at the bottom of p23 of my belly crossing the finishing line at Reykjavik which brought a smile to my face and the response from my eldest when I showed her of "Awesome"… Followed by "Daddy why are you in that magazine?"… What is given with one hand is swiftly taken away with the other… Kid's, you've gotta love them! (no not in a Michael Jackson/ Jimmy Saville kind of way).
