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

[lazybloke]

Had a couple of work meetings in London today, so went in by bike to bag another lunacy ride.
60km is a tough ask when commuting, as it eats up too much of the day. The flat tyre didn't help.

 

[Fiona R]

Only the first one since June, pan flat, 6/13. The husband suddenly announced last Tuesday that if he was going to attempt 200km it had better be "this weekend" as light is fading. Although flat Somerset Levels Dutch Hills were involved. Visited the muddy seaside towns of Weston, Burnham, Bream and Highbridge and whacky Glastonbury was half way last Saturday. I really enjoyed it, I did have to coax him home the last 60km into the wind, which was the extra over his previous longest ride although that involved lots of hills, bad weather and panniers on tour. So proud of him.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Ride #8 done. I took in three of Simon Warren's top 100 climbs: Toys Hill, Yorks Hill, White Lane. Yorks is an absolute horror. Some people say the top ramp is 25%. I suspect that is a bit of an exaggeration, maybe because the nearest whole number ratio is 1 in 4. But it's steep enough. And long enough.

All the same I failed to gather 2,000m in 100km. 1,936m this time. I think that's about the maximum I can manage for rides starting and finishing at home, without resorting to daft things like hill reps.

I think Simon Warren has been a bit forgiving with some of these climbs. Yorks deserves its place not just because of its toughness but because it's home of the self-styled "world's oldest bike race" - the Catford CC hill climb which has been going since 1896 (not up Yorks for the whole time though). Toys is a big lump by local standards but I'm not even sure toughest climb of that size in the area - I'd say Vigo Hill feels harder. White Lane is steep, but there are a ton of short steep climbs in the area. It does have a hill climb (The Bec, since 1955, which was the last ride of smug doper David Millar's pro career) but it's a bit like Yorks Hill's little brother.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Got my latest done yesterday. Third time in succession going clockwise round north Shropshire with a couple of variations thrown in to keep some interest (for me at least). 106 miles at 13.8 mph average and the write up is here for anyone interested: https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/your-ride-today.173254/post-6145320

Four to go with three months left. Getting there slowly.

 

[ColinJ]

Congratulations to those of you who have completed this year's challenge, and those of you who are getting close to it now.

I'm definitely sticking to NOT finishing it this year, but I do want to try to get at least one more 100 km ride done (which would double this year's pathetic tally...)!

I won't say any more than that. If I do it, I'll post it in 'Your Ride Today' and probably link to it from this thread. I have other ideas, but first things first...

 

[Aravis]

Congratulations to your husband, @Cranky Knee Girl, a great effort.

After an excessively flat ride in the middle of September, I did ride number 10 on the 29th, just before the weather started seriously to deteriorate. I was back to gentle rise and fall, which assuming I'm in reasonable health always seems to work best. The legs once again started to feel as though they'd go on forever, so I'm reasonably confident about finishing the lunacy challenge. A ride in each month is needed anyway if I want to keep RRtY going, not to mention ICaM.

If I can do that it will mean that by the end of the year I'll have an Eddington number of 120 miles. Taking GPS verified rides only I'll be one ride short of 110. A few years ago I saw these numbers as my lifetime targets, the furthest I thought I'd ever be likely to get. Cyclechat has a lot to answer for.

 

[Fiona R]

Congratulations to your husband, @Cranky Knee Girl, a great effort.

After an excessively flat ride in the middle of September, I did ride number 10 on the 29th, just before the weather started seriously to deteriorate. I was back to gentle rise and fall, which assuming I'm in reasonable health always seems to work best. The legs once again started to feel as though they'd go on forever, so I'm reasonably confident about finishing the lunacy challenge. A ride in each month is needed anyway if I want to keep RRtY going, not to mention ICaM.

If I can do that it will mean that by the end of the year I'll have an Eddington number of 120 miles. Taking GPS verified rides only I'll be one ride short of 110. A few years ago I saw these numbers as my lifetime targets, the furthest I thought I'd ever be likely to get. Cyclechat has a lot to answer for.

CycleChat is a dangerous addiction There are worse. audax and the RRtY bandwagon are worse. I'm back on that one too, RRtY that is.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Number ten done yesterday. I ventured out to Lake Vyrnwy for the first time since March and had a ride that didn't go entirely to plan. Rain, a road closure, bad drivers, cramp, a puncture and a migraine. Despite the tribulations I still love riding up there.

The ride write up is here for those who like them: https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/your-ride-today.173254/post-6160350

 

[steverob]

Eighth ride done yesterday and with a week off work, hoping to get the ninth done midweek and the tenth done next weekend.

Had two planned routes in my back pocket (or rather, as GPX files on my Garmin) and picked between them at random. Turns out I accidentally made the right choice, because about 10 miles from home, came along a section with a sign saying "Road Closed for 3 Weeks from 12th October" - had I chosen the other route and used this one later, I'd have had to have made an extra 8 mile detour when I reached this point, which would not have been welcome! Actual ride itself was fairly uneventful, but quite happy with the average speed I was able to achieve - hit a number of PRs, many of which I wasn't actually aiming for.

 

[Aravis]

CycleChat is a dangerous addiction There are worse. audax and the RRtY bandwagon are worse. I'm back on that one too, RRtY that is.

The worst of all, even though I believe I'm the only one doing it, is rolling lunacy. There isn't the same rhythm as with a regular monthly challenge, and I find myself repeatedly coming under pressure from the next critical date. Admittedly the circumstances of this year haven't helped.

And sure enough, the next do-or-die date is October 14th. I'm all set to go tomorrow, dealing with ICaM and RRtY at the same time. I think it should be OK.

The only downside of getting home earlier is that, when I relax in a post ride bath instead of listening to the Funk and Soul Show on radio 6 I now get some rather intellectual cool jazz. Mmmm. Nice.

Doesn't the end of your paragraph imply that the consequence of getting home earlier isn't a downside at all?

If it's of any interest, generally I find the greatest pleasure on finishing a ride is to wash my face. That, and a bit of a rub down, is usually enough until the following morning when I do like to luxuriate in a long hot bath.

 

[Sea of vapours]

The worst of all, even though I believe I'm the only one doing it, is rolling lunacy.

I am too, following your invention of it last year. Admittedly, I didn't really start until June this year since finishing the 2019 Lunacy on 23rd June and then electing to stay walking distance from home throughout March, April and May this year made it non-viable. So, having only started on June 4th this year, the next year is relatively easy :-) I'm also doing a rolling thirty day 1,000km, which is somewhat focusing.

 

[bluenotebob]

I'm also doing a rolling thirty day 1,000km, which is somewhat focusing.

That's an interesting idea ... a little more info, please?

Every day you have to calculate how many kilometres you rode in the previous 30 days?

My 'daily averages' in July, August & September were 45km, 39km and 42km respectively ... so I was up there with you for the last 3 months ... but October has been a different story .. I'm only averaging 22km this month so far (273km/12 days). I guess if I calculated how far I rode in the last 18 days of September, I'd probably still qualify .. but I have a feeling that I'd end up spending more time doing daily calculations than actually cycling ..

 

[Sea of vapours]

That's an interesting idea ... a little more info, please?
Every day you have to calculate how many kilometres you rode in the previous 30 days?
...

Yes, exactly that. Arguably, you primarily have to be aware of what you did thirty days ago in case the rolling number is about to suffer a large drop as a large ride drops out of the period. That aspect is less of an issue if your distance pattern is consistent, rather than large distances at random intervals. It's very easy to do if you're looking at your rides with software which gives a 'Last X days' number. If you're not, then plugging all your rides into a spreadsheet and making that do a 'Last 30 days' calculation is the easiest approach.

Warning though: it really is quite a demanding discipline. It's somewhat unrelenting unless the rolling target is a good bit less than that which you're typically achieving each month. I'm actually doing about 1,200km a month, so a rolling 1,000 in the last 30 days is often a given, but I have to be aware of it all the time. From the inverse perspective, however, I've only adopted dong the 1,200 in order to 'comfortably' achieve the 1,000 rolling ...

 

[lazybloke]

Departed for a lunacy ride today. Got called back so only managed 12 miles :-(
Try again at the weekend maybe. Not seeing many opportunities to complete the challenge unless I wrap up for some night rides. Fun, but brrr!!!

 

[steverob]

Ninth ride done, which crossed off a whole bunch of other achievements in one hit as well. It was my first (and quite possibly my only) 100km ride of 2020, it linked up my main VeloViewer tile cluster with my smaller London one and I got a chance to climb Swains Lane - possibly the only notable cycling hill in Central London (goes up alongside Highgate Cemetery). And my Eddington number has finally reached 62!

Ride wasn't without its trials and tribulations however. Managed to leave my drink bottle in the fridge (didn't realise until I was at least an hour in to the ride), my heart rate monitor somehow got stuck at 152bpm for a 15 mile stretch and despite the weather forecast showing as being dry all day, I got rained on at least on three separate occasions, plus each time it happened just as the road was starting to dry off from the previous shower, meaning I was back to getting wet from the spray even after the rain stopped. Also I lost the ability to shift gears from small to big ring at some point, but given that North London terrain turns out to be surprisingly lumpy, that wasn't the worst thing in the world.

But just when you start to feel sorry for yourself, life has a way of poking you and saying - oi, stop getting peeved about lots of tiny ridiculous things; everything could be a hell of a lot worse. For me, it was coming across a cyclist down at a roundabout, probably having been hit by a vehicle (no evidence to that, but given location of where they lay, seems most likely cause), that made me realise how pathetically small all my moans and groans really are. It had clearly happened a fair while previously - both police and ambulance were already both on scene and he/she was already wrapped in one of those silver blankets. Traffic was being diverted because the roundabout was blocked, but I chose to get off and walk my bike round the incident before carrying on. Certainly road safety was the predominant thought in my head for the next hour or so of the ride. Hope they make a full recovery.