[Closed] The 2016 Festive 500 thread

Up to 215km. Every day has been a battle with either the wind, some kind of virus making me feel kitten weak, mechanicals (double puncture, cable stops breaking) or all of the above.

Until today when I did an almost perfect 80km in calm, cold sunshine with a mate... then got taken out on a roundabout coming back into town. Tomorrow's early ride is going to be a little sore I think, and without my favourite tights which now feature side access (and might still appear at the puffer as spares!).

Whole family brought down with this bloody virus; gone to my chest, so have got sod all chance of completing it this year. Best use the time to catch up on my workshop tasks, bike builds, etc.

I'm up to about 30km last night, I fear I might not make the 500 😐

Just over halfway now. Compared to the previous 3 days slogging into 40mph headwinds today felt like a pootle. Would love to finish it in one massive ride but it's going to be cold and even with overshoes I doubt my toes would last a 10 hour ride. 2 more road rides and a long awaited MTB ride on Friday will do it I reckon. As long as I haven't caught the cold that all my relatives brought with them for xmas.

Been interesting and motivating to follow this. Never occurred to me to consider trying it before, as I don't get much time to ride in December due to other commitments, but now I'm seriously tempted for next year.

Keep going guys!

I wasn't going to do it and then ended up going out on early morning rides on Christmas Day and Boxing Day into London. Tough evening ride this eve over the Blackdowns hills with a rear light that stopped working 25km before the end.

That brings me to 241km. I'd like to get to 400 odd with some shorter rides by the weekend and then try to do a bit more over the 500 to finish with a longer ride on Saturday

296km to go, problem is I like riding the mountain bike, chuck in a bit of work and I reckon I need to get 45km today mix up 40 on the mtb then 60 on the road tomorrow leaving me 150 to do in the last 2 days.
It's not helping looking put at the pissing rain at the moment.

Over halfway. The hard part isn't so much the riding but the timing - I don't like riding in the dark on the road and I tend to wait for it to warm up a bit in the morning (though cold toes are still a problem). Gojng to mix it up with a bit of MTB this afternoon.

388km done. I was hoping this morning's commute would break the 400km barrier but it was around minus 2 degrees so I took it very steady and rode directly into work. I didn't want to risk a fall and ruin the year right at the end of it.

FFS! The weather's gone from crazy headwinds to freezing fog. Today is going to be a cold, boring, depressing day.

CX race boxing day so managed 15 miles including warm-up/recce.

65 mile group-run out to a caff yesterday, lots off faffing and waiting around but enjoyable if blummin' cold.

Basically bang on target to hit 500 as currently averaging the ~40 miles a day needed.

Commuted this morning and had 2 similar firsts thanks to the thick fog instantly freezing on anything it hit- frozen eye lashes and a frosted front disc 😯 Good job there was no traffic or hard braking required (though the fact I was able to ride for a half hour or more without having to brake was probably a factor), took about a minute to get it to work!

Ill and not even thought about the bike for 10days.

I've got 215km on the clock but no riding today. 42 mile each way commute planned for tomorrow (into that there London), although the freezing fog is going to make that treacherous

Another 90km knocked off. that was the hardest yet. Think I need a nice flat ride for the last 150km.

Did my 2nd ride of the challenge today (an endurance training ride on the TT bike) 329km down with 171 to go. Probably do it on New Year's Eve, was hoping to do it on Friday but I got "the look" off the good lady so I thought I'd best not push it. Although its forecast it to be quite windy I'm hoping it shouldn't be to bad because unlike the last two I'll be doing this with carbs inside me so I like to think I'll finish the challenge with a flourish.

Just 59 Kms to do now.

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Fair play to Richpips' nipper. Though the scenery is making me think that it's an easier prospect than slogging into a freezing northerly.

Fair play to Richpips' nipper. Though the scenery is making me think that it's an easier prospect than slogging into a freezing northerly.

Agreed, he's earned it though. This is the 5th we've started.

He did his first one in 2012.

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7km around Haldon today. Back on the wagon tomorrow

170km to go now, out again tomorrow morning. Not been easy, Ended up spending yesterday in the dentists chair and recovering.Todays ride was cold 2c but pain free thankfully.

another 6.30am, -5C commute, this time with a hawthorn puncture so thanks Farmer Giles for hacking the hedges back and leaving all your sh1t on the road 🙄 Found a street light and got everything laid out so I had to spend as little time as possible with the gloves off!

I came downstairs this morning to find my rear tyre flat. So I changed the tube and everything was dandy. I got about 2 miles from work and the chain snapped. I had been pricing up a new chain, cassette and chainrings yesterday as I knew I had pushed this lot to the limit. So the final 41km of my 500 will be on new parts.

I wa down at my Dad's in Dorset on Tuesday (got the train down from Waterloo) so I'd decided to ride back.

All went well for the first 50-ish miles then the sodding useless Garmin (which had, for once, been behaving itself up til then) crashed completely. Needed 2 retarts to get it to find satellites again although thankfully it saved the route. However nothing would get it doing turn by turn navigations again so I was reduced to leaving it on the map page and squinting at the purple line on it to work out where to go which lead to a couple of wrong turns.

There was also a persistent head/cross wind, just enough so that when you were riding it was like going through treacle. The irony is that had I ridden the route 2 days earlier I'd have had the last bits of Storm Conor pushing me along nicely!

Anyway, I got up towards Guildford, the roads were getting busier, it was getting dark with patches of freezing fog, navigation was almost impossible on the stupid Garmin so I bailed at Godalming and got the train back to Waterloo.

The route was calculated from Strava which did a genuinely brilliant job in working out a lovely quiet ride - barely touched any main roads, the little back roads I was on were beautifully quiet and what little traffic there was always gave me a safe wide overtake. The route itself was amazing, across the New Forest and up through tiny little Hampshire villages.

Shame that the Garmin was too crap to follow it properly all the way. Useless heap of shit.

That leaves me a nice 135km to do so I'll pop out in a bit for maybe 40km or so then finish off with a big ride tomorrow which is more or less what I'd planned all along.

Great writing and effort you lot.

Hampshires been gloriously sunny over the last few days, hope you get to top it all off in your own time and pace.

Back at the villa for lunch. My garmin says we've 1/2 a km to do. A spin back to the bike shop should sort that.

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Cracking stuff, richpips. Your (superb) photos bring back memories of cycling in one of the loveliest places on the planet - looks like you've had a great time! Got about 60km to go here - hoping for less ice tomorrow to finish it all off.

If I was going to ride road bikes everyday, forever, it would be in Majorca.

I'm not so much on target for Festive 500, as Festive 15...

Nice job richpips and minipips.

My festive 500 was ballsed up by really bad ice on the roads in the times available when I was off work. Now I'm back it's pretty hard to catch up as it's -8 in the mornings before work and -5 when I leave dropping back to -8 so it's all freezing again. I spoke to a bloke on my ride home yesterday who told me he'd binned it coming down the hill I was about to ride up due to sheet ice on one corner.

I'm just doing a festive-whatever now.

Managed to finish it off today. The first 3 days were bloody hard due to the weather and i was wondering what the hell i was doing for a little cloth patch but the last 3 day have been great and couldnt really have asked for better weather for late December. Strangely my legs feel pretty good, managed a few PBs up climbs i do regularly and i dont think it is all wind assisted!

Woke up this morning with the dreaded sniffles I'd been expecting after all the relatives turned up for xmas coughing and sneezing. Went out anyway, felt like death for the 1st hour (hangover maybe 🙂 ) then felt gradually better as the ride went on. Another 90km done. Felt like I should have kept going but it was getting dark and cold. 55km left. Quite pleased also that so far every ride has been a hilly one.

126km to go for me. Aiming to get it all done tomorrow with a flat ride round Oxfordshire way. Then work in Saturday with a glow of satisfaction!

All done, we fly back tomorrow. We will be out on NYE though.

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110km on my fixed wheel after three days away. It was surprisingly cold as the sun set. Another 198 to go. Thinking cross bike with road wheels tomorrow and Head for the Surrey Hills. Then the usual club ride on Saturday to finish. I joined the Strava a day after Christmas Eve, and it seems not to have logged the first 90km. Oh well.

Averaging just over 29km/hr. I was hoping for 30.

Slid twice just on driveway and again on road just now- hard frost has melted and re frozen as sheet Ice 🙁

Currently on the bus. Night ride for me tonight instead of extended commutes (70 miles left to do).

Ouch! All this week's been on the turbo nursing a battered hip from a xmas eve slippy roundabout incident. It's all been late evening riding and I've really not fancied the freezing foggy conditions 🙁

Need to plan a richpips style trip for next xmas!

My commute home last night put me at 508km so I decided to drive to work today. Glad I did, it's pretty slippery out there. Ride safe anyone venturing out on two wheels.

Maybe we could organise a STW Festive 500 In The Sun holiday next year?

Maybe we could organise a STW Festive 500 In The Sun holiday next year?

Count me in! 8)

Waiting for the frozen fog to lift. 1 pm has a forecast of 8 degrees. Failing that, it will be a long afternoon on the trike!!!

Freezing fog froze my bottle today 😯 couple of slippy moments but leaves me with 91km to do tomorrow

I've got the back of this years broken.

Unfortunately tethered to porcelain as I have the squits this morning, probably due to water bottle contamination from clarty shit covered Irish lanes yesterday.

I will get out even if I need to do a Lemond.

Finished today with a 128km cafe ride. First time I've seriously attempted it, and I'm chuffed to finish with a day to spare. It started pretty shakily for me as xmas eve and xmas day were both short ones which has meant putting in two big back to back rides at the end of the week.

Back to work to tomorrow, then the puffer training continues...

Seriously sketchy ride today. Came off on frost at the start (costing me a new pair of lurid overshoes) and then next to no visibility in fog for 90 percent of the ride. Glad it's over! Got a very manageable distance tomorrow - just no fog, no ice please.

Had a few days off but only got 60K to do tomorrow so my 120K ride will finish it off, first couple of days were very chilly.

Quite enjoyed doing it but missed the MTB'ing, hope it freezes rock hard in the New Year for mud free MTB fun.

All done here too. 50 miler with a mate to finish it (and me) off. Pleased to have completed it again and it was definitely a bit less stressful than 2014 when the weather up here was much worse - I think that's the biggest factor to contend with, as for me; ice is the one thing not to be messed with. Best of effort for tonight and tomorrow for everyone still going for it - and heal quick to the ones that succumbed to the slippery stuff.

Finished it today, 505km in 5 rides.

This year has felt harder somehow. Partly cos none of the rides went to plan - missed the Xmas Eve ride due to a massive delay on the motorway as I drove home so had to head out on my own for that one.
Christmas Day I went for an impromptu ride having not actually planned anything, just headed out and did a couple of laps of Richmond Park as it was a nice afternoon.
Boxing Day, I planned about 130km but cut it short for family reasons
28th I was travelling down to my Dad's
29th I rode home and again that ride didn't go to plan after the Garmin crashed, the persistent headwind added a fair chunk of time and in the end I cut it short and got the train the last 35 miles.
And today I finished it off in the Lakes as I do pretty much every year but I had to wing it for some of the way after I decided on a route change (weather / light reasons) so at the end I was just tacking on random distance. Finished in the pitch dark on literally the last few minutes of lighting power I had.

I may well still go out tomorrow but at least I don't HAVE to go out!

It's taken me to just over 5000 miles actually on Strava (plus another couple of thousand commuting and track riding miles which I never record) so not a bad year. Would have been another 1000 had I managed to do LEJOG again but family issues meant that wasn't possible.

About 70km to go. Epic foggy dark ride over the Surrey Hills and back. Could barely see 20m descending Coldharbour Lane off Leith Hill. The car behind was no rush to overtake! I say about because my Garmin failed to log the first half of the ride down to the hills.

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And as for the bike. Took my proper cross bike running 1x10 with 38/11-23. Felt fine climbing Ranmore out of Dorking. Others might get like a 25T, but 1xN is fine for me. The close ratio corn cob block and small chainring makes for very nice shifts with no big jumps.

Congrats to all those completing! My towel got thrown a couple of days back when my legs gave in. It was coming down to having to skip mtb rides to have any chance so decided to chill out instead. Time to work on the 2017 plan

170km to go here so that's our plan for the day sorted... Elan valley and back with cafe stop there.

Just deciding between road bikes or tandem. Think the tandem and its fat tyres are winning...

Finished it yesterday with another 70km. Also very happy about the 8300m of climbing involved. Rewarding myself with a mountain bike ride today.

missing my commute yesterday meant an evening ride last night much like TiReds*, THICK fog and dark so speed was limited by visibility more than my ever-tiring legs, and the few cars that did catch me seemed more comfortable sitting behind me.

*except I went for the flattest route I could, I did not want to descend in that.

As per Crazy-Legs year end review; I hit my 6000mile goal in mid-November, had idly toyed with going for 7000 but it was a little too much too late, especially as November-December is CX season so my miles fall off rather than increase due to short race days. Will end up about 90 miles shy of 7000, which I see as crushing my original target not just missing a new one 😀 Particularly pleasing as I spent June laid up after being hit by a car.

congrats to those that have or will complete it, to those that haven't it's a silly amount of effort for a poxy fabric patch 🙂

Pestive 500 complete #chateau

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I'm just envious of anyone who feels well enough to ride a bike. Santa brought me industrial grade lurgee for Christmas and I've spent the last week coughing like a hyena and broiling in a small pond-full of seething resentment at the unfairness of it. Anyway, congrats to anyone who's got the miles in, the post Christmas weather looked ace 😐

80 miles up and around Chaddar Gorge today and I'm done - 539km

Might take a couple of days off now...

Done and dusted at 510km over five rides. Pretty pleased with the variety: one mtb loop around QECP, some road, and today I dropped in as much offroad on my Grade as I could. So, apart from yesterday's icy, foggy nightmare, it's been fun. And I've just basically inhaled a lot of cheese on toast as reward.

Finished. 505km. Another windy day, but remarkably mild - people out in shorts, but then for Scotland it was warmer than it often is in June!
Don't think I'd do it again. What am I going to do with my patch??

I sort of accidentally went out today as well. 😉

Went up to Rapha in Manchester (knowing that they'd be taking out the final days of Festive500 rides) and there were only 5 guys there so I went out with them before turning off about 2/3rds of the way through and making my own way home. 6 of us, all very experienced, all good folk so it was a great group.

Group riding like that is ace, really tight, all very similar ability.

So I did another 130km which I hadn't really intended so that gives me 640km in 6 rides. Definitely having a couple of days off now!

Out at 06:30 for 70 km before our Saturday club ride. Another 40 km to the only cafe stop I've had all week, an extra 16 km loop then home for a total of 145 km and a total of 557. The extra 50 km was not recorded yesterday, so thought I'd just ride the extra for Strava.

Yesterday's ride was the best. And worst.

Three complete days off in the middle definitely does not help.

Managed to wrap up the challenge today with another ton. Wasn't easy though, had a nice tail wind for the first 50 only to be greated with a sh*tter of a headwind on the way back.
Really happy to complete the challenge, especially in just three rides.
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Completing that in 3 rides impressive! All I know is by th time I had finished it I don't want to see my bike for a week! got to be said I found it pretty tough going towards the end of it! feels nice to have achieved it in the ice, anyone doing it in warmth and southern hemisphere is cheating!

Now I like that Festive 500 kit in the sale 😉

Completing that in 3 rides impressive
Thanks ! Looked back on strava challenge and of the 2300 who completed it on the UK only 11 of us were stupid enough to do it with 3rides or less.

I managed to get it done too despite the fog & ice. 503km I think and have been sitting on my behind ever since. First day back on the bike tomorrow. First attempt for me so happy with that.

We haven't been out on our bikes since NYE, though we have made a video of our #festive500 rides.