Last night I completed the Strava Rapha Festive 500 challenge (ride 500km between start of Christmas Eve and end of New Years Eve).
Very pleased I finished (and with 20 minutes to go). Finishing this 500km challenge also meant I met my 2012 mileage goal of 5,500 miles.
Feels great, then you look at the numbers (which will change a bit as people can upload their rides until 3rd Jan).
Total entered 15,295 and out of these I am ranked 2712th.
In smaller categories I achieved the following:
UK: 1,992 entered. I came 341st
Age 45 to 54: 2,164 entered. I came 576th
My Weight Category: 1,557 entered. I came 252nd
It makes me realise that a few more categories are needed:
Festive 500: Kickstand
Open to anyone who completed the challenge only riding bikes with Kickstands (I did)
Festive 500: Really British
Rather than just living in the UK this should be stricter. I suggest
- Rider needs to be a British Citizen
- All rides need to be completely within Great Britain
- The Bike frame and at least 2 components need to be made in Great Britain
Festive 500: Practical Bikes
The bikes need to be properly equipped with:
mudguards/fenders, rack, lights, bell or horn
Also the rides need to include:
Going to the shops to by groceries, going to work or riding for work, a city centre, rural lanes
Festive 500: Reliable low Maintenance
The rider should have experienced no punctures and no equipment breakages
The bike should not have needed any maintenance, servicing, tweaking or cleaning
I failed this one as I needed to do the following to my bike:
- tighten loose bolts holding front rack on
- tighten loose bolt holding rear mudguard on
- replace the batteries in the flashing rear light with freshly charged ones
- adjust the angle of my brooks saddle
- wipe the lens of my front light clean
But I did not need to do any oiling or cleaning
Festive 500: Bad loser
Award this to the person who moans about not winning anything and so invents extra categories until they find one that they win.
That is enough, surely I win at least one of these 
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Well done! Both for this challenge and for 2012. Was just a bit worried about the “really British” category until I saw the final category. Good one!
Off now for the first ride of 2013!
Happy New Year!
Ian,
Only 4 miles today, out for a meal with friends
Well done Dave and a happy new year! As sports trackers go I have to say I prefer Endomondo as it has a category and challenges for “cycle transport”, which would seem ideally suited to the type of riding you do?
Chris,
I have tried many of them. So far I stick to Garmin Connect despite many frustrations for planning routes and because it can read the health data my Garmin collects from the bathroom scales.
Among other things I like Strava for hiding my home address when displaying routes.
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