2020 Rapha Festive 500 - who's in?

[slambers3]

I did it in 2019 (all outside) and again in 2020 (all virtual).
If I’m being honest, completing the challenge indoors felt a lot more like checking off boxes than the previous year. ~12.5 hours in 8 days wasn’t really a jump in training volume, just switched the zwift routes I was riding. Unfortunately household circumstances forced my hand this year, finding the time to get on the bike during daylight hours has been impossible. I guess this entire year has been redefined expectations but it all still feels a bit hollow.

[prototoast]

Did 550 km, all outside. Marginally disappointed they're not mailing out the little patches this year, all I get is a virtual strava trophy.

https://www.strava.com/athletes/687438/trophy-case

[crankles]

Originally Posted by sparky33

How did everyone do?

I got to 355k, riding 7 of 8 days, mostly inside. I aimed to ride every day for a bit but not a ton, and it mostly worked out that way.

Kudos in advance to all.

I managed it...516km in 7 days...needed to finish a day early as I was booked on new years eve. Hadn't done a 300 mile week since Ulrich won the tour. oof.

Didn't set any records, but didn't die ;-)

[muz]

Originally Posted by slambers3

~12.5 hours in 8 days wasn’t really a jump in training volume, just switched the zwift routes I was riding.

500 km in 12.5 hours? 40 km/h is some average pace! It took me 24 hours.

[Likes2ridefar]

I did it on a gravel bike, maybe 30% was on trails or gravel. 650bx47mm.

This turned out to be more time consuming than expected as I planned to cherry pick on some local canals where you can hammer in a near straight line for hours. Wind crushed that idea as it was a big headwind one of the directions each day. Fly one way then a demoralizing return at nearly half the speed.

Lost six pounds!

[katematt]

Finished with a barely a KM to spare. For some reason didn't calculate the 24th as an option and the 25th was out so started on the 26th with a only 10 mile indoor ride on the books.

Had the goal of a majority of outdoor miles and ended up with only 20% indoor. Considering how may times I've thought about doing it, happy that I finally pulled it off.

Given the short window I gave myself it was touch and go there for a while.

[slambers3]

Originally Posted by muz

500 km in 12.5 hours? 40 km/h is some average pace! It took me 24 hours.

It’s not hard when using the pace groups in zwift to draft and maintain that speed. Most of my rides were 80-100 minutes in the z2 range ~260w

[cgolvin]

557km, barely up from last year and again fell short of my 500 mile ambition. The first day kind of killed it for me, did 100+ miles but the final 50+ were into a nasty headwind and I never really recovered from that effort.

Our local RCC chapter added a "Festive 500 Bingo" with 8 items to check off (one being finish Festive 500) and I managed to hit all of them, including riding every day. Though by the last day, having eclipsed 500km, all I could muster was a trip to pick up some coffee beans and a derailleur cable.

Since I still have previous roundels sitting around I'm fine with the digital version.

Congrats to all who participated, irrespective of the outcome.

[chicagorider]

Tried the challenge for the first time this year and I was determined to do it all outside. I was worried about the weather here in Chicago so ended up doing 500km in five straight days (this included an 80km ride in -7C / 19F in the wind on the first day). Had to fight through the pain in my right deep glutes for the last two days / 230km. On my 4th day, I did wonder if I was having fun doing the challenge or whether I was riding just to tick off the miles, so to speak.

Having finished it, I'm happy that I completed it; however, I do wonder if I would do it again. Maybe if I was in a group? Maybe over the entire 8 days? I did find that it took a lot of time... (I didn't really think about this before starting the challenge).

Also, here's a food for thought!

https://road.cc/content/blog/no-one-...ur-bike-279813

[jkbrwn]

Did 502km in 7 days I think, but purposefully took it easy, having done some stupid stuff in prior years. Also managed 8000m of elevation which was the challenge for me this year, rather than the distance. Had a great time.

Nice one on hitting all 8 challenges @cgolvin!

[b3pkay]

First time having the freedom to ride all 8 days so I went for it. All outdoors, upstate NY on a gravel bike (mostly roads, some gravel, a little bit of carriage trails/rail trial), 501km in 20:05:56, riding 7 out of 8 days. I rode outdoors the Monday and Tuesday before the challenge started for a total of about 380 miles through those 11 days--most I've ever ridden in that timeframe. Intentionally avoided some climby rides, but feel pretty accomplished.

[Fiertetimestwo]

My partner and I did it this year for the first time.

Being in Adelaide and in the middle of a very mild summer we had pretty benign conditions. Apart from a couple of rides with some headwinds the weather was almost perfect.

Even though we didn't have to brave snow and ice I am quietly proud of our effort. In a normal week we would be lucky to get in 75-80 km (soft I know) so to actually do 500 km in 8 rides without injury or blowing up completely was pleasing.

At one stage, battling into a headwind we were just like real cyclists - in the drops, swapping turns, using the pro elbow flick to call the other through- it was quite amusing!

[Cbh]

I did it this year. All outside. All solo. Finished on Tuesday the 29th to try and beat the rain later in the week.

[velofinds]

No travel to visit family this year = rare opportunity to do this. Mostly city miles so a bit aggravating at times, but got some sightseeing in (e.g., visited some local monuments to hip hop).