Rapha 500 plans........ anyone ?

whats 500miles equivalent off-road?

500k in/out doors is my goal (but mostly in to be fair).

whats 500miles equivalent off-road?

Its 500km, not miles

But as you point out - this is the issue. There is a big difference between 500km on flat warmer road in Norfolk and lumpier road further north - and an hour of more less light a day. And that's before you think off road. But then I think it's now ok to do it on zwift so the playing field is far from level.

I came to the conclusion a while back it's not for me - whilst I like the challenge concept, I couldn't do it without being unreasonably selfish. The xmas break is also a good time to do some active stuff with Mrs C and ticking that box is more important to me than getting some slightly miserable miles in to meet a self inflicted challenge.

i found a nice 4:1 ratio in another thread, so only 125km, or c.70miles... <br /><br />personally i will be having a few days off following the 100 days to christmas bit - but 10miles  a day through the hell midwinter mud shouldnt be that hard..

if you roadie zwift it, must work out to 2.5hrs/day?

i found a nice 4:1 ratio in another thread, so only 125km, or c.70miles…

Well, that's patently bobbins! If I ride at the same intensity off and on road I don't travel 4 times faster on the road. And all off road is not born equal either. I guess there is some super gnarly off road that would get my average speed down to barely walking pace, but not that much of it.

So seven days (but let's be honest, unless you genuinely hate all of your relatives you're more likely going to have 5 at best) to do 310 miles, or 62 a day...

It's certainly doable, but TBH, I'm currently full of cold, I'm generally knackered, and dedicating 20ish hours of my seasonal holiday to clocking up miles on the bike won't actually benefit me much...

I see it's now allowed that it can be virtual rides as well as real. I suppose you can do it how you like but doing it indoors removes the single biggest challenge and in so doing defeats the purpose.

I did it last year, all before 08:00 in the morning - it was bloody miserable.  I'm not doing it again until I can do just 2*250kers in daylight or the Full Fat Festive 500. 

Nah. A few of the reasons have already been listed but my main issue is that I like to mix up riding with running, walking, swimming etc. That just leaves me with less riding time. 

I plan on sewing my multiple older badges on my original blue Festive 500 jersey (bought in the sale after I finished it one year), and mulling the negative effects of venture capital on badge supply.

I may ride my bike too, now I’ve recovered from a miserable cold over the past 10 days.

I've signed up on strava, but unless I smash out 400km of it on the 24th (v.v. unlikely) I won't have time.

I probably will do the Restrap Solstice Century this weekend though (on road).

Broken wrist means it'll be an indoor virtual one for me this year

To try and resist!

I always get a rush of blood to the head at the last minute and think it's possible to fit around family + Christmas, usually manage one or two (usually enjoyable) rides and then it all falls apart.

Think I might just focus on 5 activities this year, and start the clock on my only legitimate day to myself on the 20th 😂

I've done it a few times, all on my local Peak District roads and trails, but whether I can be bothered this year depends on the weather. I tend to default to the first principle, which is that the thing exists to encourage people to get out on a bike, and embrace the spirit of the thing by sneaking out every day for a ride of some sort.

If the weather's dry, I might do it, but it's more about the riding than the challenge. Tbh, indoor riding feels to me like its not really in the original spirit of the thing, but I appreciate not everyone has the luxury of accessible decent riding. YMMV etc.

Tbh, indoor riding feels to me like its not really in the original spirit of the thing, but I appreciate not everyone has the luxury of accessible decent riding. YMMV etc.

I used to agree, and know my buddy (family free of course) thought that even dropping from 500miles to 500km was a cop out.

BUT

I like that it encourages an actual achievement of any sort rather than the usual struggle to do ANYthing over the holiday, they're probably just lowering the bar to make it more accessible.

500km indoors over the festive period is still a pretty decent achievement compared to what I'll probably manage 🙄

Message from my OH last week… 

I agree 😂

I’ve setup a more pleasing version with some friends we did last year too. The Rougher Festive 100. 100 miles including at least a dirty dozen (off road miles). For us enough of a challenge without being anti-social.

I used to agree, and know my buddy (family free of course) thought that even dropping from 500miles to 500km was a cop out.

BUT

I like that it encourages an actual achievement of any sort rather than the usual struggle to do ANYthing over the holiday, they’re probably just lowering the bar to make it more accessible.

500km indoors over the festive period is still a pretty decent achievement compared to what I’ll probably manage 🙄

Nah - don't buy that.

500km indoors is just a big old training block (or dead miles - opinions vary). But the achievement and the challenge is getting people outside in the festive period. Personally 8 outdoor activities in 8 days in the festive period is a worthwhile objective, even if the activities are modest in time/length. Encouraging people to lurk in their pain dungeon, not so much.

On the back of this thread I'm going to make my own pledge - 8 days, 8 outdoors activities in 8 locations that need to include road bike, gravel bike, mountain/fat bike, hill walk, sea paddle, river/loch paddle, outdoor swim and hopefully ski.

And it was never 500 miles - it was always km. Rapha were always very euro centric in language and km has always been their thing.

Yes I’m doing it.

Well, I’m getting my wife to do it for me. And she’ll mostly be on zwift, it’s just not much fun round these parts in winter. Too much rain, wind, dark. Maybe a couple of outdoor rides if there’s a bright spell.

i have to be honest i dont see it has a challenge. i dont really do challenges. dont cycle for fitness.

just love riding my bike, even moreso in the winter, as it keeps me on the straight and level.

and we see our kids and grandkids the whole year, so a few days away on the bikes is welcomed for me and the mrs, who i will be riding the bulk of this with. and a ace reason the visit plenty of cafes and pubs.......... win for me.

Did it every year from 2012 (the challenge was first done in 2010 but I didn't even know about Strava then!).

Except for 2021 - got to about 340km after a very sporadic few rides leaving me 160km to do on 31st December. I was actually up for it, prepped the bike, chose a flattish loop I could do a few times locally...and then the weather was shit. Truly miserable and crap and I just thought NO!

Done it before, nothing to prove, nothing to gain from plodding round in the rain and shit traffic for 6hrs.

So 2021 was a fail.

There were some years where I scraped through on 501km but we did go to Gran Canaria for a couple of years (2017 and 18) where I did about 800km fairly easily. In spite of the hills, it's just warm, smooth & quiet roads and nothing to do except ride!

The only thing I haven;t done which I still harbour a slight ambition for is to do it in one ride.

I think it is more for the Californians and Australians to be doing in the sun, not us in the dark, damp north. And there is more to life and the festive period than riding a bike

I think it is more for the Californians and Australians to be doing in the sun, not us in the dark, damp north.

There's usually someone in Australia who's done the entire thing in one ride starting at their midnight on Christmas Eve while the rest of the world is still on December 23rd!

Nope.

It takes way too much time from other stuff and its not just the riding. Washing kit and cleaning bike time when riding every day in the winter all mount up. Plus if you are not properly fit then you may get away with 1 or 2 rides and then be perky for the family in the evenings etc but as the kms mount up you get more tired which doesn't help when you need to do other stuff,DIY, visit friends,host friends,cook,shop, be social etc

Just doesn't work in a busy family.

I'll try to do an offroad century one day inbetween Xmas and NY though.

I've completed it in the past. It was hard. I'm old and tired and it takes a lot of time. 

I probably will do the Restrap Solstice Century this weekend though (on road).

Planning to do this as a bit of compensation. Depending on the weather.

With family commitments and not being one for huge rides, I doubt I'd be able to rack up 500km in 8 days around the summer solstice nevermind the winter one.

I generally do a couple of hours on Xmas eve to mentally prep for some serious indoor sedentary time over xmas and boxing days. I too, however, have a broken wrist.

I did it a few time about 5-6 years ago - did the first ride on christmas eve of 150 miles and then poodled for the rest of it - enjoyed it tbh, one day it was mild and damp next day it was minus 5 and shaking ice off my gloves...

think about it every year but tbh Ive done it got the (original) badges - would be too easy to sit on a turbo for 12 hours in one day and someone send me an email with a picture of a badge, not really much of an achievement - feel virtual riding ha lost the spirit of the original ride.

I might have a go if I get the chance to do something substantial on Xmas eve. My usual visiting family commitments are absent this year as they're buggering off to Tenerife the lucky sods. So I could definitely justify a few hours each day.

Tried it in 2020 and was well on track until the roads turned into skating rinks. Remember calling it a day when I saw some unfortunate hitting the deck. Really didn't need a digital roundel that much.

i found a nice 4:1 ratio in another thread, so only 125km, or c.70miles…

That's way off though.

For short rides (2-3 hours, no stops) 1km off road = 1mile on road, an average cyclist is going to manage about 15-17mph on the road and about 15-17km/h off.

For longer rides it's harder to quantify. e.g. 200km/125miles on the road is easy, just set off early and keep pedaling. Even when I'm feeling unfit I find just getting out the house and doing a century is a good way to make subsequent rides ("training") feel easy as it just gets
you used to siting in the saddle for a while.

Riding of-road for 50km+ gets hard as once you're tired then technical riding goes out the window and you're just passively trying to flow down the trail with minimal energy expended rather than pumping everything for speed and popping off every lip. e.g. in the summer I like to do 2x laps of Swinley once in a while as a fun way to go flat out for a little over 3 hours. The two laps might be within a couple of minutes of each other, but it's the cumulative seconds lost on each descent that gets me, not the climbs.

I think trying to do ~310km off-road, especially this time of year would be far more of a mental challenge than a physical one. Even if physically it's about the same time/effort at 500km on road.

feel virtual riding has lost the spirit of the original ride.

Exactly. Those REAL badges were hard-earned in dark, damp and sometimes just awful conditions. I lost interest when they admitted indoor rides. Then COVID. But I need the training.

Really didn’t need a digital roundel that much

How about a photo of a real one. They were great, but not any more 🙁

F*ck that sh@t. Did it last year and it almost put me off cycling. Outside is much easier than inside, 3 hrs on Zwift is excruciating. I'll be tapering for last CX race of the season on the 30th anyway so loads of extra fatigue & time away from family has zero appeal.

The festive 500 i'd like to do, as I like the idea of the commitment and romantic grainy black and white images i'll have in my head of myself suffering..... but being realistic I'm not fit enough and its too committing/time hungry/selfish with family stuff going on as well.

So I shall be doing the festive five, ie 5 rides between those dates; doesn't matter what bike whether its indoor or outdoors as long as the number of kms for each ride is a multiple of 5 and you ride 5 times.

Exactly. Those REAL badges were hard-earned in dark, damp and sometimes just awful conditions.

I look back at some if the rides I did in the rain or the dark just to get a woven badge and wonder what the hell I was thinking! 😂

Personally 8 outdoor activities in 8 days in the festive period is a worthwhile objective, even if the activities are modest in time/length.

I'd give that a go 🙂

Yeah,.the indoor thing not really what it's all about is it?

Knocking it all out in Florida in shorts and suncream? Nah.

The ethos was fighting against the elements in the northern hemisphere against the odds in an effort to mimick something like the pros do mileage wise at that time of year, albeit in the Canaries.😅

Doing it in Scotland over the last few years has been a real challenge. Sometimes foolhardy but I've had the presence of mind to chuck it if I think I'm being bloody minded.

The removal of the tactile prize really grates with me though tbh. I'm a badge guy😅

I'm more interested in the Restrap Solstice now as you still get a prize, you can stick your digital roundel.up your RCC.

The playing field has changed this winter with the ton required in one ride, cynical you might say... I imagine there a few quid to save with folk not willing to nail 100 miles on the shortest day.

Anyway a photie of some real ones.
I've got more but don't wish to be gauche.😃

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I’ve decided to do a festive 250.  All outdoors, all off-road.  Only MTB and Gravel.  Smiles not miles.  

No, working everyday except Christmas day. So any free time I'll just be riding my bike outdoors.

The indoor version should be 1000km surely as there's no weather to contend with.

Anyone who does it outside in all conditions has my respect and jealousy as they have time to do it!

I did it one year back in the day and I did 30 miles on Christmas Day. That wouldn’t work now with kids. I had to do 100 miles on the last day and remember cycling round in circles close to home. It was pretty grim.

Fair play and kudos to anyone who achieves this all outdoors. I guess we all enjoy cycling in different ways but everything about it sounds completely awful to me.

My local audax organiser is putting on 500 and 1000km events for it: https://www.pedalution.co.uk/

Fair play and kudos to anyone who achieves this all outdoors. I guess we all enjoy cycling in different ways but everything about it sounds completely awful to me.

It's just a digital nudge to go ride your bike. I've had some really astonishing rides on winter days when I'd otherwise maybe have not even left the house. Cut Gate in the snow. Holme Moss at night with only an Exposure Joystick for lighting. An unintentionally epic back road ride from a friend's place in the Wye Valley taking in the Gospel Pass on Christmas Eve. And a good few, cold, crisp, Christmas Day morning rides on deserted Peak District rides. Oh, and the pre-Christmas lunch mountain bike on Ice Spikers one in, erm, 2010 I think, when the local trails were like toboggan runs.

I guess what I'm saying is that for me at least, the 'achievement' is about the riding, not the completion of what's really an essentially, meaningless mileage tally, but without the meaningless challenge, not all of the riding would happen.

Sure, it's a little dependent on weather, but that's bikes for you. And yes, obviously the fabric roundels were better 🙂

Fair play and kudos to anyone who achieves this all outdoors. I guess we all enjoy cycling in different ways but everything about it sounds completely awful to me.

I think winter cycling is just hard to get into and stay motivated for, even if like others some of my favorite rides ever have been in objectively awful conditions over Dec/Jan/Feb. Doing it ad-hock means one bad ride is hard to recover the motivation from. Doing it with more of a plan like 5x 100km rides means that even if one is miserable then you'll be back out doing the rest.

I might do it this year ........

I've got Christmas Eve off
Christmas day I don't stand a chance of getting out the house without causing offence!
My brothers family is up in Northumberland with the in-laws.
Then I'm not due at my parents until new year.

I'm sure some of it will be miserable at times, but some will also be brilliant, a bit of a kick to get out the house and find out isn't a bad thing.

After completing the last 6 years I'm out this year. 2023 F500 ruined me for some reason so I am going to take it easy and spend some time walking with the missus. In a masochistic way I will miss getting out at 05:00 Christmas morning and knocking off 50 miles before everyone else is up and it justified the breakfast beer in the garage as I cleaned up.

Fair play and kudos to anyone who achieves this all outdoors.

Always done it outdoors (I don't have a turbo trainer).

I've done significant chunks of it by cycling between family in the past. I've ridden on Christmas morning a couple of times but unless you're out at crack of dawn I've found it unpleasant as all the shit drivers hit the roads to drive to granny's house; they're lost, stressed, the car is full of hyper screaming children and they're certainly not paying attention to cyclists.

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.

In many previous years I've celebrated the (actual) solstice with a bivvy/camp and a wee dram. I might have been tempted by the Restrap version if it hadn't been this weekend (i.e. a week early).

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.