The Rapha Festive 500

Is that the A32? I hope you didn’t Spend too much time on there, it’s a fucking scary road.

I crossed the A32 twice, but didn't go along it:

https://www.strava.com/activities/1327779878

I'll be out doing that again tomorrow if you're local?

I’m local ish, Fareham. But I’m afraid I’m in work. The weather looks better for you tomorrow than it was this morning, I’ve only just got the use of my hands back.

7Stanes Glentress, just south of Peebles.

Bloomin' cold this year! First time trying it in Wales though.

Hope everyone is getting it done!

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Went out for a short ride to stay above the daily average and got a visit from the p-fairy.
Followed by this total shocker; tomorrow now in some jeopardy. Due to forgetting my pump and possible wheel/ sealant issues.
Bit of a low, creeped to 245km

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Broken two tyre levers trying to get the tyre off. Going to bed broken

No fucking chance unless I was on an MTB.

Got my attempt back on track. Helps that I'm in Australia and it's flat and sunny.

Sheet ice and frozen snow which has turned into ice at the end of our drive in Warwickshire this morning. Even if the rest of the roads were OK (I don't think they are) I couldn't get out of the village without falling off. Frustrating especially as it's a beautiful sunny day...

Sitting in PJs trying to track down someone's AM/PM time conversion problem pretending that's not blue sky I see out the window... #festive5k

Kent was very very icy this morning.

Do not recommend. Did half a ride, turned back, walked a bit, came back on the A roads.

Anyone in the UK that gets their F500 has properly earned it. Chapeau.

raynaud's 3 doubleodavey 0 after this morning. I've got 161km remaining, not too sure if I'll be able to sneak them in before the new year but I'll give it a go

the temptation to sit in the nice warmth of my house and drink all the beer that I didn't drink over Christmas is pretty strong

yeah I only rode 25 miles into work this morning but there were lots of ice patches which made me think is the risk worth it, 198km to go. Heavy rain tomorrow, but the weekend looks ok.

I took what I thought was the easy approach today and tried to get the miles in around London, including some Regents Park laps - just so boring! Pinning a lot of hopes on good weather and good legs for the weekend so I can get a bit further out...

Only 60 for me today. As mentioned above, the lanes were deadly icy. Especially at the bottom of hills where the sun hasn’t reached and you happen to be going the fastest.

All that in Oxfordshire

Please, be carefull out there.

Went for a 3 men ride up North, through Epping. I fell first (ice) and bruised my hip, hand and forearm.

Didn’t want to give up as we were so pumped to do the ride and decided to continue. About 10k later, going downhill in country lane, my brother slipped and broke his collarbone.

I fell AGAIN right after him.

Lots of bruises and damaged (mainly clothing) equipment on my side.

Would not reccomend.

So bummbed, was on 250k since Monday and today was a 150k ride. Tomorrow would be last ride to finish it off.

So sad, my/our first attempt to do this...

Well I bounced back today. Last night I was pretty low thought it might be over, bike and I weren’t in a good place. My little one behaved so got a good nights sleep, a LBS sorted the bike and gave it a once over.
On the road by 10:30 ish.
Few hairy moments like others have said. One due to sand not ice. But was feeling pretty good all round.
Met another 500er and had a chat, mainly about Paris-Roubaix pictures of his hands have me thinking.
Anyway I move on to 328km. Hopefully @Pifko and I will manage to meet over the weekend as I cried off last night.

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Very icey, -4 for a while at the start of the ride which was bracing- did 80km of Temple Valley hills. My feet were agonising as blood flow returned during my post ride shower.

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The weather turned on us up north and the planned 80k ended up curtailed to 57k. Snowy, lots of ice at the edge of the roads so wasn't about to go down any lanes.

Tomorrow is getting written off as the forecast is properly grim. 377k done and will have to face down the headwind and showers on Saturday to break the back of the remaining 123k.

Skived off work this afternoon as I'm currently the only person in the office and managed to get another 75km in, taking me to 417km. Hopefully knock out the remaining 83km on Saturday

At 318k after struggling through 98km through 19mph headwinds, snow and ice, soggy clothing and a bike that was not happy after 5 hours of driving rain the day before.

Now in cornwall with a bottom bracket that appears fucked and a rear mech that looks right but doesn’t sound it!

Might try to reach 400 but I’ve used all my credits for riding so I’ll have to sneak a few short rides between now and nye...

70k today bit was meant to be 100. Got out of London to Layhams Road and hit lanes completely covered in ice in the morning so decided to turn around and get the train to Maidstone and pick up the route a bit later on and give the sun some time to melt some of the ice. Turned out to be a good decision. Roads seemed a lot clearer but for some reason when I was doing rushed route planning I had it in my head that the pilgrims way out that way was completely paved, so didn’t check the route that much. Turns out icy bog, fixed wheel, slick tyres and a lotta weight doesn’t quite work. Surprising! Spent quite a bit of time walking and no idea where my toe covers are but if anyone heads along the pilgrim’s between Maidstone and Ashford, grab em for me please? Think I’m on about 330 total. Day off tomorrow.

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404km done so far, doing my best to avoid ice I've racked up 17 laps or Richmond Park, much fun :/

Super dull but a few club mates hit the deck riding out of London today.

When the fun stops, stop.

They'll give you a roundel anyway

I'll be stealing your route for riding down in Summer next year (from Exeter, I'll probably head over Dartmoor to get to Saltash though, rather than North Cornall) - you reckon it's doable in one shot during daylight hours?

Looks like a great route though!