Was Festive 500, now it's 8 Cols in 8 Days Challenge

ugo.santalucia

Since they opened the doors to indoor cycling and removed the woven roundel, I have lost interest in the challenge...
I have signed up anyway, but I doubt I'll complete it, unless the weather is truly inspirational and being outdoors 3-4 hours a day is a pleasure, rather than a chore.

I've also signed up for a Festive hill climb on boxing day, so that makes things harder... don't think 1 km will contribute much

pblakeney

Nope.
Lockdowns have optimised my indoor setup so the idea of going out when it is 3 degrees or less, or raining is not preferable. 500kms on a trainer don't appeal either.
I'd be up for a climbing challenge option though. Just not an Everest.

wavefront

Agree - It is a shame about the roundel - as much of a token item it was, it was decent motivation to get through a nice ‘over load’ block that worked well for me. With out it I really CBA to go out in horrible weather!

thistle_

I won't be bothering this year due to lack of fitness and I can probably find better things to do than indoor riding every day (unless we have another lockdown).

I found doing it indoors last year harder than outdoors so it was a worthwhile challenge but not one I'd like to repeat.

ugo.santalucia

pblakeney said:

Nope.
Lockdowns have optimised my indoor setup so the idea of going out when it is 3 degrees or less, or raining is not preferable. 500kms on a trainer don't appeal either.
I'd be up for a climbing challenge option though. Just not an Everest.

Last year with @w12_lad we did half an Everest (well, he did, I stopped at 1/3) in December... it was a nice day though... I'd be tempted to do something similar, given a decent day... maybe up a less muddy climb

pblakeney

ugo.santalucia said:

pblakeney said:

Nope.
Lockdowns have optimised my indoor setup so the idea of going out when it is 3 degrees or less, or raining is not preferable. 500kms on a trainer don't appeal either.
I'd be up for a climbing challenge option though. Just not an Everest.

Last year with @w12_lad we did half an Everest (well, he did, I stopped at 1/3) in December... it was a nice day though... I'd be tempted to do something similar, given a decent day... maybe up a less muddy climb

Daylight is too short for outdoors, and simply too hard. (Another bugbear - The 500 was too easy in Oz etc.) I was thinking more of XXXXXm in the eight days.

edward.s

I did it outdoors last year and I intend to do the same this year. I ride a lot in the dark anyway and I have mudguards and thermals. I don't need no stinkin' roundel

carbonclem

I’ll do it again. I have time off work and it’s a nice motivator.
I really think the indoor challenge should be recognised seperately, I know it’s tough but it’s just not the same.
I do muss the badge though

itboffin

I’m in again but as said if the weather turns shite I’m out

ibr17xvii

As someone who only gets Xmas Day & Boxing Day off introducing indoor rides made it more palatable but I doubt I’ll still get it done.

i.bhamra

I'd be up for a climbing challenge, could post updates on here? Anyone got any ideas?

me-109

An Alpe a day. The 12 Alpes of Christmas.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I did my first ever last year, happened to be pretty much all on Zwift, mainly as a way to give me motivation to fight saddle soreness on daily rides on the turbo.

Unsure if I'll bother or not this Xmas, I'm still behind schedule on my goal of 365 hours for 2021, having had a disappointing health year from prolonged Covid jab side effects and a four week flu that started the day after climbing Road To Hell in early October. I need to average ~70mins a day to complete, trying to do 90mins to give me some leaway, as I have my Covid booster in a couple of weeks.

pblakeney

i.bhamra said:

I'd be up for a climbing challenge, could post updates on here? Anyone got any ideas?

The Festive 500 is quite often 5 x 100kms due to time allowance and weather.
What's a climbing effort of 100kms? 1000m? 1500m? 2000m? Five times those maybe?

itboffin

I still think this is an outdoor northern hemisphere challenge to be worthwhile sorry

pblakeney

itboffin said:

I still think this is an outdoor northern hemisphere challenge to be worthwhile sorry

I agree.

Been there, done that though. Looking for something different.

Wheelspinner

itboffin said:

I still think this is an outdoor northern hemisphere challenge to be worthwhile sorry

As the resident southern hemisphere softie, I’d still agree.

500 km in December here is a doddle.

thistle_

carbonclem said:

I really think the indoor challenge should be recognised seperately, I know it’s tough but it’s just not the same.

I think that's a good way of putting it - it's a different challenge.

i.bhamra

pblakeney said:

The Festive 500 is quite often 5 x 100kms due to time allowance and weather.
What's a climbing effort of 100kms? 1000m? 1500m? 2000m? Five times those maybe?

10,000m would definitely be a challenge especially on 10+kg of winter bike. I think I'd need to spend more hours on the bike to do this than if just completing the normal 500km, unless I picked a hill a day and did repeats.

The 12 Alpes idea sounds easier assuming you have 12 days to complete....

pblakeney

i.bhamra said:

pblakeney said:

The Festive 500 is quite often 5 x 100kms due to time allowance and weather.
What's a climbing effort of 100kms? 1000m? 1500m? 2000m? Five times those maybe?

10,000m would definitely be a challenge especially on 10+kg of winter bike. I think I'd need to spend more hours on the bike to do this than if just completing the normal 500km, unless I picked a hill a day and did repeats.

The 12 Alpes idea sounds easier assuming you have 12 days to complete....

10,000m was not a suggestion, it was a question.
Five times up the Alpe D'Huez over the 8 days of the Festive 500 would be over 5000m but that seems too easy. For clarity this is doing it indoors. Very few could do a significant amount of climbing outdoors without spending as much time as the Festive 500. I think indoors and outdoors should be completely separate for challenges. I do the Strava monthly climbing challenge and it is much easier to complete indoors in the winter than outdoors in the summer.

ugo.santalucia

i.bhamra said:

pblakeney said:

The Festive 500 is quite often 5 x 100kms due to time allowance and weather.
What's a climbing effort of 100kms? 1000m? 1500m? 2000m? Five times those maybe?

10,000m would definitely be a challenge especially on 10+kg of winter bike. I think I'd need to spend more hours on the bike to do this than if just completing the normal 500km, unless I picked a hill a day and did repeats.

The 12 Alpes idea sounds easier assuming you have 12 days to complete....

I'll have a think... I just signed up for a trial with Rouvy and they have a large collection of climbs with real footage with augmnented reality... you have 14 days free trial, with unlimited use, so anyone could join a challenge without spending a penny, where maybe we do 8 Alpine cols in the 8 days 24-31st... or the 8 most iconic Tour de France (or Giro) climbs... that should add up to roughly 10,000 mt of climbing... any thoughts?

i.bhamra

I don't think I can face that amount of time on the turbo, hill repeats is more appealing! Weather permitting I would aim to try to do this outdoors or at least some of it - match the elevation gain, not climb actual cols.

kingstongraham

I've never been able to understand how spending that amount of time riding outdoors at that time of year is preferable to sitting on the sofa for some of that time. So always respect to anyone who achieved it.

Going on the turbo for 90 minutes a day just isn't really the same.

ugo.santalucia

So, if I set up a challenge as described above, would anyone sign up? Don't want to waste my time...

thistle_

ugo.santalucia said:

So, if I set up a challenge as described above, would anyone sign up? Don't want to waste my time...

No but that's because I'm lazy.
Although I could be tempted if there's a roundel up for grabs

pblakeney

I'm up for it as I am unlikely to do the 500 outdoors. I was going to suggest but don't have the time to think thoroughly. Tour de France - Galibier, Iseran, D'Huez, Tourmalet, Ventoux, and 3 of the easier ones?

ugo.santalucia

pblakeney said:

I'm up for it as I am unlikely to do the 500 outdoors. I was going to suggest but don't have the time to think thoroughly. Tour de France - Galibier, Iseran, D'Huez, Tourmalet, Ventoux, and 3 of the easier ones?

I need to see what is available on Rouvy. I'd like to use the good old Puy de Dome too, as it has some interesting views.
I was thinking of fitting in a couple of short ones, for Christmas day, when people have less time and maybe for the last day.

Anyone else?

ugo.santalucia

Did the Col d'Aubisque yesterday... nice!

https://www.strava.com/activities/6351031334

i.bhamra

OK, I'll give it a go, hopefully Rouvy is less mind numbing than TrainerRoad......

ugo.santalucia

i.bhamra said:

OK, I'll give it a go, hopefully Rouvy is less mind numbing than TrainerRoad......

I don't know, I've only used Zwift a couple of times, which seems a bit of a videogame to me... the Tron bike, the graphics, the fact that you have to unlock activities by going up levels... just the same as an arcade.
Rouvy seems a remarkably simple and no fuss approach to indoor cycling. Real footage is nice, yesterday I spotted the exact place where I stopped for a wee 11 years ago...

pblakeney

I prefer Fulgaz to Rouvy or Tacx, but you have to be able to get connected first. 😉
All three are preferable to gaming on Zwift, especially with the level of electronic doping.