The Rapha Festive 500

Rear tyre decided to blow off the rim after a hard (but flat? maybe I'm tired) 88kms today, evacuating all air and most of the sealant while riding, on a straight line. It had 808 kms on it (not Zipps) when this happened, so it looks like 85psi (which I put in last night and made about 50k with in Central btw...) was a bit too much for 28mm. When I got the wheel off to put a tube in, the lockring fell off??? Turns out the cassette lockring spacer is broken and the lockring won't screw back in. So I probably didn't torque it enough back when I got this cassette (some 4000km ago), it got loose and let the cassette out, which in turn broke the (outboard) spacer and damaged the freehub body, so it wouldn't go back in. Back at the scene I put the wheel back on without the 11T cog and called a car. £13 and a bunch of degreaser/brushing later I'm still weirded out by the possibility of all this.

F500-wise I'm halfway there with 248km left, I might DNF this year as it's getting colder and windier, and I'm SO tired from 3 days of riding. Maybe it's the flu jab talking, had it on Xmas Eve, don't know.

#csb

A fairly joyless (am I doing it right?) 168km today after not riding yesterday. A grey old blustery day but not too cold. Quite atmospheric riding back into town in the dark just as Bella seemed to be getting going.

Up to 270km so far. Easy day/zwift for me tomorrow, I think.

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I’ve loved each day of my cycling, doomed to failure as it is.

Half way done with 4000+m of climbing. Feel very spoilt.

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168 for me too today. Brings me up to 243. Wasn’t going to bother tbh because I hate being cold but couldn’t resist getting out on the only mild day. Might do the rest on zwift

I'm currently on 256 as i did 160 on Christmas eve. Done most of it on zwift due to the local flooding but went out yesterday and the bodged mudguards broke and had to bodge them more to keep the stays in place. Going to do the rest on zwift now, feels a cheat but have failed over the last few years with getting ill so at least it's warmish inside.

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Did another 100km this morning in the eye of the storm. 375/500 done. I might be finished tomorrow, but the weather forecast is for sleet and snow. More likely it’ll be 2 short days.

Conditions a bit different to yesterday, 50k winds in places, rain, 19 degrees. 300 done.

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Set off at 5:30. I nearly turned back after 40 minutes. Clocked up 153km out to Windsor.
Toughest ride I’ve done in ages. Got soaked 3 times wind was horrific till about 8.

Anyone who had the wise idea of setting off after 10 needs to take a long hard look at themselves.

Oh and up to 387

@pascalo it was windy down here yesterday too. Sunny at least.

Fatigue starting to take its toll I think. Very tired this morning. Haven’t ridden four days in a row and certainly not for 12 hours in about four years 😂

In Windsor now, you must have been unlucky because traffic isn't too bad and it's sunny, there is just lots of big puddles

I hate you! ;-)
Was first in Cinnamon today I think the one good thing.

Dec 24: 154k
Dec 25: 76k
Dec 26: 43k
Dec 27: 107k

120km to go, depending on which route we do this will probably get done tomorrow.
This is a (relative) piece of piss when you're not working over xmas.

Scored a 0 today so slightly behind the rate with 285K to find in the last 4 days. Should still be there for the taking, otherwise it's 3 years of failed attempts.

Kudos to the 5.30AM starters.

Up to 250km. I have a problem with my right foot getting very cold. Not sure how to solve it, but it made today's ride a bit grim as I rode through a flooded road and feet / overshoes / two layers of sock got wet then more cold.

This is a (relative) piece of piss

'shit ultracyclists say' thread please. :))

The missus is doing it with me and the longest thing she's done is 1/4 of a team 24hr.

What I mean is that it's nice to do "proper" rides, where when I was working I'd just throw shitty extra kms on in London before and after commutes. So just more grim riding in London traffic shite.

I just wait for feet to go numb. No problems then.

#shitultracyclistssay

😁😁😁

Up to 280km, this now seems possible, yay.

Dec 24: 88
Dec 25: 76
Dec 26: 82
Dec 27: 82
Just 169 to go.

I think I should still be able to do this despite rain all day long tomorrow (meaning I probably won’t ride). Bearing in mind I want to hit 7500m...

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260k to do. Weather looks dry next few days. I think we’re on this year.