Rapha Festive 500. Anyone doing it?

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Andrew Br

Still part of the team !
My first (and last ?) attempt at it this year.
Since I don't own a turbo it's all going to be outdoors.
300+km so far after today's ride (162km/51km/89km) so I'm well ahead of schedule.
I can't say it's fun, hence the "and last" comment. The weather in Manchester has been OK but it looks like it's going to be very wet tomorrow afternoon so I'll aim to get out early and knock off another 50+km with a view to doing the same on Wednesday (also forecast to be wet).
Thursday looks like it'll be dry(ish) so I'll aim for a long one then and hope to complete Friday with Saturday in reserve.
One annoying puncture; difficult to fix and I couldn't get the tyre to seat properly with the new tube so I ended up doing small loops within walking distance of home to make it a 100 mile/162km day. This was Xmas Eve.
If I try it again, it'll be with a group; riding solo into the wind (as I've been doing) is incredibly demoralising especially as I know I need to keep something in reserve for the next day and the day after that. My average speeds are decreasing but the wind seems to be gaining in strength.
I managed to have a lovely Xmas day with friends yesterday and still get 50km in before going round to theirs then I had a bit of a lie-in today before a long-ish ride.
I've struggled to decide where to go; I've had plans every day but I've ended up riding in loops near home just to get some extra km on the clock. I stopped for a "celebratory" beer today because I'd done more than 250km and a quick calculation showed that I was about 10km short of 300km so I took the long way home......
I've also been very grateful to have 2 bikes to ride; I still haven't sorted the tyre issue from the 1st day but that's something I can do tomorrow pm when it's bucketing down.
Good luck to anyone else doing this :hello::bicycle:.
 
I'm accidentally doing it - only cos I needed to get 150 miles in to hit a random target for the year, so it seems rude not to do this.
It's all going to be on the trainer though for ease of time and its definitely much easier inside than out.
Kudos to you outdoor people. I'll save that til Sunday.
 

albal

Guru
Location
Dorset
Woke up this a.m with a cold.
The timing could not of been worse.
Managed to reach halfway to the 500 before the heavens opened, just before 3pm today. Tomorrow looks awful , rain all day until 3pm, . So not a lot of riding tomorrow.
 

Milzy

Guru
I’m 90 miles off with 2 days to go. I didn’t really plan to do it. I’ve got a lot of family trips & getting tired so it’s going to be hard. I may do 45 tomorrow and 45 the day after.
 

Tribansman

Veteran
63 miles to go. Although 112 needed to reach my 2023 target.

Would have been less but my planned really long ride today was scuppered by a recurrent puncture and lack of spare tubes/patches to fix on the 3rd flat. Must be something in my tyre but for the life of me I couldn't find it. Bloody infuriating. Abandoned at 120 miles and rescued by Mrs T. Thankfully, I was only from home as had planned a bit of a circuitous finish to get to 160+.

Tomorrow evening looks ok weather wise so will try and get out for a few hours then and hopefully only have a handful left to do on Saturday. Been tough this year, had rain, hail, snow and chilly winds. Today was very windy but dry and pretty mild, apart from when I stopped and then struggled in to get warm.
 
When I Rapha initiated the 500, years ago. I thought it was an error in dates as it fell into prime extended family time, holiday season, travel trips, booze and letting yourself go. Plus winter. To my surprise thousands took part in it.
 

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
I got back from my annual Christmas motorway misery yesterday. God I hate driving, especially in the dark, give me a bike in the cold drizzle any day.

Maybe next year...
 
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