The Annual Lunacy (aka "I Don't Do Winter") Challenge Chatzone

[Sea of vapours]

Congratulations :-) And the weather was certainly pretty grim later on yesterday, so I sympathise with your riding the last bit in that.

 

[lazybloke]

There have been some outstanding rides posted in the Challenge this year – including @lazybloke's 411km plus a couple more over 200km, and @Sea of vapours 's three 200+km rides. There’s an appropriate line in a Rosanne Cash song somewhere … “it’s a hard road but it fits your shoes” … spectacular achievements. Well done to both of you.

Thank you; I have very fond memories of that 411km ride (London Wales London), apart from some muscle pain around my scapulae.
Hoping I've found the right exercises to prevent that pain in future, then I can find a similar long ride for 2026.


But before that i need to do 2 more lunacy rides of circa 65 k to finish my 2025 challenge. Maybe one of them this weekend.
Not sure where; I'll probably look at my veloviewer map....

 

[Alex321]

Ride number 10 today. Felt colder than the temperature aid, probably because the wind was from the NE, ratter than the usual SW. But still quite a pleasant ride. Not much else to say about it really.

 

[bluenotebob]

Late call to @Alex321 and @lazybloke ... only 8.5 cycling days left to complete this year's challenge.

Good luck - and take care on the frosty roads!

 

[Alex321]

Late call to @Alex321 and @lazybloke ... only 8.5 cycling days left to complete this year's challenge.

Good luck - and take care on the frosty roads!

I'm not going to make it this year. First the bike was off the road for a fortnight needing new headset bearings (wrong ones sent initially), and then have been down with the lurgy since Saturday, still not fit to ride and going to my daughter's in Scotland tomorrow until 27th. Which leaves 3 theoretical days to get three rides in. Not happening.

 

[bluenotebob]

I'm not going to make it this year.

Shame.

Better luck next year!

 

[Alex321]

Shame.

Better luck next year!

Indeed. It was looking good this year about 6 weeks ago, then it all fell apart.

 

[bluenotebob]

Lunacy Distance challenge summary of 2019 to 2025

The following relates to the 7 years of this challenge and is complete with the exception of not knowing whether @lazybloke will complete this year’s challenge (I certainly wouldn’t rule him out based on his previous exploits between Xmas and New Year). I will update this year’s number of finishers when we know.

Over the past 7 years, a total of 22 have signed-up for the challenge (13 of these were in 2019 – the inaugural year – so we haven’t done a very good job since then of attracting new entrants).

2019 was also the best year for the number of finishers – with 10/13 starters getting over the line.

2020 and 2021 were heavily impacted by COVID lockdowns (15 started the 2020 challenge but only 5 managed to complete it).

Only one “completist” – @Sea of vapours who has finished each of the seven years of this challenge. Congratulations!

I’ve completed 5 years.

Four more have now completed 4 editions: @steverob, @FrothNinja, @lazybloke and @aferris2 .

@Rickshaw Phil and @Alex321 finished two editions (as did @Fiona R but I think she left the forum a few years ago).

@Bazzer, @Supersuperleeds and @cyberknight completed one year (as did various others who haven’t been seen anywhere on the forum for a long time so I’m not going to list them here).

A total of 65 entries over the 7 years of the challenge with 41 successes – a 63% success rate which seems a bit low.

It took quite a long time to put this spread together and I wouldn’t want to do it again. It’s backed-up locally (and will soon be on the ‘cloud’) but I’d like to PM it to one or two of you to maintain it for future years, should I disappear from the forum. It would be great if I could store it in a ‘shareable’ folder in Media – that’s something I’ll look into.

 

[lazybloke]

Four more have now completed 4 editions: @steverob, @FrothNinja, @lazybloke and @aferris2 .

Alas I'm still on 3 editions, but might get to 4 if I do two more rides this year.
I was in the same position last year and managed it; I swore I'd never leave so late again!

The best laid plans... didn't foresee that an in-law would suddenly have an avalanche of additional care needs, falls, infections, A&E visits, hospitalisation, and a whole lot more. Cycling has taken the back-burner since summer. Will see if I squeeze two rides in, but it seems unlikely.

 

[bluenotebob]

Alas I'm still on 3 editions

Yes, you are - just spotted an error in my spreadsheet (now corrected).

Sorry to read that you've not done much cycling recently (for obvious reasons).

I hope you'll have more time in the Spring to get back on your bike and make a good start to the 2026 edition.

 

[bluenotebob]

New thread created for next year's challenge. It's here:

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/2026-annual-lunacy-distance-challenge.309255/

 

[PaulSB]

With 2026 rapidly approaching I'm determined to get back to my previous cycling levels. My norm was 5 - 6000 miles in a year and perhaps 200,000 feet. The last two years family circumstances and a major RTC have limited my ride time. I hope to change this in 2026.

My 2026 mileage target is 5000, I'll probably settle on 150,000 feet of climbing.

@bluenotebob I hope this is in the spirit of the challenge? I'm targeting 80 miles. In endurance terms this isn't difficult for me but finding enough time in what has become a ridiculously busy personal life is a challenge. Does this qualify for the challenge?

 

[bluenotebob]

I hope this is in the spirit of the challenge? I'm targeting 80 miles. In endurance terms this isn't difficult for me but finding enough time in what has become a ridiculously busy personal life is a challenge

It's heartening to read of your cycling ambitions for 2026.

If I've understood correctly, you're also planning on doing the HMCAM and MCAM monthly challenges - so I would just introduce a word of caution. Per forum protocol, you shouldn't double-count these distance rides so you'll be committing to 25 metric centuries (12 of them in each month of the year plus a further 13 rides over 80 miles spread across the year) plus 12 metric half-centuries each month.

If you're comfortable with those targets, then good luck - and go for it!

As a separate comment, you can post any of your distance rides as Lunacy Climbing challenge rides if they meet your total ascent target (you don't need to do these separately).

 

[PaulSB]

It's heartening to read of your cycling ambitions for 2026.

If I've understood correctly, you're also planning on doing the HMCAM and MCAM monthly challenges - so I would just introduce a word of caution. Per forum protocol, you shouldn't double-count these distance rides so you'll be committing to 25 metric centuries (12 of them in each month of the year plus a further 13 rides over 80 miles spread across the year) plus 12 metric half-centuries each month.

If you're comfortable with those targets, then good luck - and go for it!

As a separate comment, you can post any of your distance rides as Lunacy Climbing challenge rides if they meet your total ascent target (you don't need to do these separately).

Thanks, there's a danger I would have double counted so it's good to be clear on this. I'm committing to this, some of which is easily achievable:

Monthly imperial ½ century (50 miles)**
Monthly Metric 100km (63+ mile)**
Annual Lunacy 13 rides at 80+ miles++
Lunacy Climbing 13 rides at a target ascent●●

** easily achievable as our weekday rides are always 50+ miles and by the time I add in to/from the meet point it's 60+ for me.

++ time will be the challenge but I'm trying hard to reorganise my life!!!

●● this I need to calculate. Living on the border of Lancashire's flat mosses (west) and hills (east) the climbing should work on long days.

From a forum perspective I've got this right?

 

[bluenotebob]

Thanks, there's a danger I would have double counted so it's good to be clear on this. I'm committing to this, some of which is easily achievable:

Monthly imperial ½ century (50 miles)**
Monthly Metric 100km (63+ mile)**
Annual Lunacy 13 rides at 80+ miles++
Lunacy Climbing 13 rides at a target ascent●●

** easily achievable as our weekday rides are always 50+ miles and by the time I add in to/from the meet point it's 60+ for me.

++ time will be the challenge but I'm trying hard to reorganise my life!!!

●● this I need to calculate. Living on the border of Lancashire's flat mosses (west) and hills (east) the climbing should work on long days.

From a forum perspective I've got this right?

If you're expecting to do a 50+ mile ride every week/most weeks then all the above is certainly achievable.

You don't have to do an Imperial half-century in the Monthly HMCAM challenge: 50+km would suffice - but if you think you can do 50+miles, then why not? Some people (two or three that I can think of anyway), do a 50+km, a 50+miles and a 100+km ride every month, so you'll be in impressive company.

One thing you might want to consider and that's to do your Lunacy Distance rides between late March and late October, ie in BST when there's more daylight - but of course, you can do them whenever you want.

I think you've got it spot on from a forum perspective - anyone else care to comment?

I know you've had - and still have - some recent challenges in your personal life. They'll obviously always come first in terms of priority but if you can get out on your bike once a week or so, then maybe that's the bit of balance you need to make everything else more manageable.