Strava - Castelli's Battaglia in Montagna

BianchiBiker

Hey guys, is anyone from the forum doing this?
I am coming back from an illness over the winter but definitely on the mend and feeling way better than I was. Took up cycling and went from 10k to 40k in a couple weeks and did a 70k~ ride the other day with no bad effects.

Anyway I have seen this challenge on Strava and really am motivated to give it a go, I am only working 5 of the 14 days so have a lot of spare days. and obviously evenings after work. The jersey that is available to finishers is lovely and I am a sucker for exclusivity. Plus a mate is giving it a go and with his schedule I am confident he wont make it, all the more reason for me to have a proper go at it.

My question is this, is it wise for a novice. who has only ever ridden 3-400k over the last month, to try and do 800km is just 2 weeks?!
I have gotten to know my body quite well over the last year or so through being ill, (stop smirking) so obviously if I felt it was too much I would abandon the challenge with no questions asked.

Anyone else giving this ago? Any tips for someone who is rubbish with directions to plan routes? Any stomach safe foods other than banana's to eat on the road?

I know it's a lot of questions but I really wanna give this a go, thanks for reading.
Good luck in advance to other competitors!!

Strith

That distance isn't really that hard in that timescale, the problem is finding time for most people.

If you have the time just do it. As for food just eat whatever you want, it's not a race so ginsters pasties will be just fine.

BianchiBiker

Strith wrote:

If you have the time just do it. As for food just eat whatever you want, it's not a race so ginsters pasties will be just fine.

I have the time to do it, I'm just wondering if it is wise for such a relative novice to take it on.
Imagine the look on people's faces when I stop and unload a few Ginsters or sausage roll from my back pocket scoff them down and shoot off. Classic!

TakeTurns

I love how every strava challenge someone makes a thread about it without fail.

I'd say it is doable. As long as you've done distances exceeding the rides which you plan on doing daily, you should be fine. You've got the experiece, so just re-apply it. Granted that your bike fits you well and all that. Most bike fit issues will prevail over long distance riding.

The way I'd do it if I were you would be:

100k
100k
rest
100k
100k
rest
rest

Try dates, if you want to add variation to having bananas.

VTech

TakeTurns wrote:

I love how every strava challenge someone makes a thread about it without fail.

This one is brilliant though, the effort to do so much distance in such a little time is amazing. Way off the scale for me but to know of someone taking it on is good enough. Im no purist in cycling but this is a challenge and a half imo.

bernithebiker

Firstly, isn't the jersey something like 80 Euros? It's a shame that after all that effort they couldn't make it a bit more affordable.

Secondly, if you are a relative novice looking to improve, I would suggest that your time would be far better spent doing some structured training rather than simply trying to do as many km as possible, and possibly exhausting yourself.

But hey, if it floats your boat, then you go for it!

VTech

bernithebiker wrote:

Firstly, isn't the jersey something like 80 Euros? It's a shame that after all that effort they couldn't make it a bit more affordable.

Secondly, if you are a relative novice looking to improve, I would suggest that your time would be far better spent doing some structured training rather than simply trying to do as many km as possible, and possibly exhausting yourself.

But hey, if it floats your boat, then you go for it!

Jeasus !!!
I take it back :oops:

80 euro is a lot, I would have thought that for the effort it would be a non profit item so maybe a few euro :?:
Anyway, good luck and let us know how you get on.

ednino

Just go for it. Unless your an old man or have poor health, just do it. When I started I threw myself in at the deep end and never looked back.

Also, the jersey looks sex & I want one too lol

mrbrightside

I think the jerseys $90 which is £50, but hey, you pays your money and all that.

I'm going to give it a go as i'm in a similar position to yourself. Not quite sure where the 'structured training' comment is going, training for what? i thought the idea was to keep fit (check), loose a bit of weight (check, long slow rides are ideal for this) and get out enjoy riding your bike (check).

As a beginner, it is often stated to get base miles in. However, i'm sure someone will be a long in a minute to tell us how to ride our bikes.

The Strava feed is the same, whys the jersey not cheaper/free, why is it a distance challenge not climbing.

TakeTurns

I think it's reasonably priced, considering it's Castelli and custom made. I think it looks good, but I'd never wear white on the bike.

Saw someone in full white kit today. White leg warmers or tights he had on, looked awful! :P

BianchiBiker

Woah, lots of replies and information since I was last logged in this morning!

I agree the cost of the jersey is quite high, but I suppose it is exclusive and "custom" and at the end of the day the rest of Castelli's range is just as pricey. The main reason for wanting to do this challenge though is to challenge myself and my own willpower. Obviously it is extremely doable and I really am going to give it my best shot and report back here with my findings/results.

A lot of people saying "just go for it" and "just do it" really makes me want to do it more, I understand there are downsides for a novice doing this kinda thing but I think I'll go ahead and try anyway, can't live life saying what if

Thanks!

ednino

TakeTurns wrote:

I think it's reasonably priced, considering it's Castelli and custom made. I think it looks good, but I'd never wear white on the bike.

Saw someone in full white kit today. White leg warmers or tights he had on, looked awful! :P

My summer kit is white

black & yellow in winter

SeeFarr

So did you finish it then?

rolf_f

I did this challenge - it wasn't a huge increase on my normal mileage but it has nicely got me into the habit of an extended commute home (ontop of the extended commute in) which will hopefully become the norm over summer and autumn.

Trouble is, as a newcomer to Strava, I'm already getting disappointed with the repetitiveness of the challenges. The June ones are pretty much identical to Mays. Instead of 1000 km, June is 'as far as you can go with badges for 250,500,750,1000 km - so that'll be the same as Mays then. The other challenge is to ride 30 hours in two weeks. If you live in a reasonably averagely not pancake flat part of the country, 30 hours is pretty much likely to get you 800km again - a little easier perhaps but still a similar target. Obviously there are only so many variations of this sort of challenge but there are variations. And these aren't variations!

Omar Little

Rolf F wrote:

Trouble is, as a newcomer to Strava, I'm already getting disappointed with the repetitiveness of the challenges. The June ones are pretty much identical to Mays. Instead of 1000 km, June is 'as far as you can go with badges for 250,500,750,1000 km - so that'll be the same as Mays then. The other challenge is to ride 30 hours in two weeks. If you live in a reasonably averagely not pancake flat part of the country, 30 hours is pretty much likely to get you 800km again - a little easier perhaps but still a similar target. Obviously there are only so many variations of this sort of challenge but there are variations. And these aren't variations!

Yeah needs another climbing challenge, they tend to be a bit more difficult to complete so you have a good sense of achievement at the end. There was one last year during the tour so hopefully same again this year

marcusjb

Climbing challenge for June would have been nice. Bit boring these 'ride 1000km' in a month things (only the snow and a cold have stopped me riding that back in January).

Climbing one this coming month would have been cracking with the rides I have coming up. As it is, if they do one over the tour period, it co-incides almost perfectly with my tapering for London-Edinburgh-London - not going to be many hills done in that time sadly.

I do quite like the challenges though - they encourage people to ride their bike more, and that's a good thing!

rolf_f

Omar Little wrote:

Yeah needs another climbing challenge, they tend to be a bit more difficult to complete so you have a good sense of achievement at the end. There was one last year during the tour so hopefully same again this year

I suspect that depends on where you are. The amount you climb is always tiny compared to how far you ride in the horizontal plane. That means that your total climb is really likely to just be directly proportional to your distance ridden unless you just spend the whole month doing hill repeats. On that basis, a climb challenge is really no different to a distance challenge with one proviso - the difficulty of the challenge depends on the terrain you ride over. Any climb challenge that is likely to be tough for me in Yorkshire is likely to be all but impossible for a Londoner - anything tough for a Londoner is probably going to be covered by my normal commute!