Will you have a go at the #Festive500? You can do it on your own or with you buddies. And you have eight days to get the 500km completed over Christmas.
You still have time to take on the Christmas #Festive500
More than 60,000 cyclists have signed up on Strava for the Festive 500 challenge which starts on Christmas Eve.
The idea was the brainchild of a staffer at Rapha and it's a pretty simple one. Riders aim to complete 500km on their bikes between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.
It has grown from humble, one-man, beginnings and has become more organised in recent years.
Many cyclists who take the challenge at this time of year sign up to the Festive 500 on Strava.
That makes it something of a shared experience. However, you can also not sign up and just plough away on your own.
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But on Strava you can upload your rides and compare how you’re doing to everyone else as well as checking out their comments on their progress.
If you complete the challenge of riding at least 500km in the eight days you also receive a digital roundel for your Strava Trophy Case.
Those cyclists who complete the challenge can also claim a commemorative woven badge from Rapha as a keepsake.
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At the time of writing, just over 61,000 cyclists had signed up for it, which you can do by following this link.
It will definitely keep you moving over the Christmas period and with eight days to get 500km under your belt there should be no need to ride on Christmas Day.
Rapha designer Graeme Raeburn came up with the idea, though he initially tried to do 1,000km during the eight-day period back in 2009.
It was a freezing period in England but having set the challenge for himself he went through with it.
However, he was shattered at the end and also realised that not even the riders on the Rapha Continental team were doing that kind of mileage during Christmas.
So the following year he pulled in his horns and settled on 500km. And since then the challenge has grown legs.
It was promoted by Rapha the following year, 2010, as a group experience and 94 riders signed up.
Last year 82,376 riders signed up but only 17,373 completed the full distance.
“For me it’s not a mile chasing, head banging, bar chewing, macho thing,” the challenge’s creator Raeburn said.
“It’s really about getting out there, enjoying being out on your bike and being with other people or visiting other people. It’s about the spirit of Christmas.
“I’ve seen some beautiful landscapes that I wouldn’t have otherwise seen, like when the sun is just coming up and there’s no one else around and you’re like wow, this is amazing."
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