The Rapha Festive 500

Ibuprofen.

Just 14 miles to go tomorrow. I'm not sure a pub crawl on a Brompton is quite what Rapha had in mind for completing this challenge but what the hell...

I have 6.4 km to go...

Strava/Phone trouble has cost me around 120 'official' km but I have other evidence - a couple of photographs and some witnesses so hopefully that will suffice.

i don't know how they plan to collect the evidence because you need to apply for the patch thingy on their site, and the form doesn't have anything in it at all that says "where is your evidence, you bunch of cheats?".

Finally got back to london yesterday. So put the mudguards back on the bike and got the shoe covers.
Todays miles were pleasant.
Not like the others I've done.

Racing tomorrow, will knock out some miles after. Then an 90 on monday should see me on 500.

Neil your CTL must be taking a steep ramp up, with this extra milage your doing.

TSS for the week is 1433, current CTL 94.

I have 6.4 km to go...

Strava/Phone trouble has cost me around 120 'official' km but I have other evidence - a couple of photographs and some witnesses so hopefully that will suffice.

Copy a GPX-file with the aprox. same length from another Strava rider and upload that shit.

Yeah, I'd download the GPX file, edit, and re-upload. You'll loose your metrics but retain the ride.

There's a couple of rides (or parts thereof) where I was by myself so it still wouldn't give me the Strava 100%. (Unless I squeeze a big ride in tomorrow which I can't really do.)

I'll apply for the patch, link to my blog and, if they decide not to give me one, then it's not the end of the world. I know I've done it.

+1

Just out of interest, what would you do with the patch, should you be rewarded this great honour?

+1

Just out of interest, what would you do with the patch, should you be rewarded this great honour?

I'd put it on the shelf next to last years and think about what to do with it...

Sounds like a plan. Now I really wish I'd signed up myself.

You don't need to submit any evidence to Rapha or fake GPS evidence. I'm not sure I've ever met one, but some cyclists apparently don't use a GPS for navigation or even record their rides with an Android app... who'd have thought it?

If you want the badge, just fill in the form on the Festive 500 page and tell them how many miles you've done. Yes, you could lie, but you'd only be cheating yourself.

If you want to share stories about your rides, fill in the other form with links, and optionally, your Strava username. But this is only if you want to share stories, if the aim was just doing miles just request the patch...

I'm going to put the patch on my messenger bag.
So bitches know I ride bikes*.

*So ladies on borris bikes can see it when overtaking me twiddling around town.

I was asked to submit "proof" of my mileage to get my badge for last year.

If you can't afford it now, you'll never be able to afford it. :)

Never fear, I can see into the future.

TSS for the week is 1433, current CTL 94.

That's great..

if you're racing in the next fortnight.

I have 6.4 km to go...
Strava/Phone trouble has cost me around 120 'official' km but I have other evidence - a couple of photographs and some witnesses so hopefully that will suffice.

Excuses. Pfft. banned

100 miles today to make the 500. I was gonna push on so I could grab a top-50 spot but I did that last time and have more important things to do so fuck it. Stupidly chose to ride straight into the prevailing wind today. It was grim until I swung around and oddly got warm when the sun went down.. wtf?

That's great..

if you're racing in the next fortnight.

The other commuters will never know what hit them.

I'm sure they will. Everything on your bike has been documented here. boom tss

My Boardman is currently so dirty you can hardly tell what kind of bike it is, let alone what make.

Love the concept of the festive 500. The principle of challenging and motivating yourself and each other to get out there is great, but 500km over the course of a week hardly qualify as an epic achievement by anyone's standard, presuming for the sake of argument that we're talking about able bodied people.

Honour and achievement is all in the heart. To me the patch is like claiming a trophy for wiping your butt; I wouldn't want one if you paid me to take it, and I certainly wouldn't lie or fabricate evidence to get it.

Fuck the patch. Just ride.

I did just ride. I just rode 500k. Yay for me.

I've had a hangover most mornings for the past 7 days, been tattooed, gone from London>Norfolk>London, had to do me chrimbo shopping and it was bloody wet.

To have got close to the 500 or done it is, totally #Epic

I've taken some pretty mean B/W photos of me looking grimly into the distance, determined.

Well done everybody. Seriously. Sorry to come across like a right cunt.