Ride your bike for at least 30 minutes at least three times a week, every week, for a year

[FrothNinja]

What a cold week – and getting colder !

Week 49 – ride 1 (Mon) – 62 mins – a loop through SBdM, le Faux, Raserais and Esquiniac on the Shaper 200 hybrid. Unplanned but I noticed afterwards that this was exactly the same ride as Week 48/ride 2 – same time and only 50 metres longer. A slight surprise to see how consistent I am (albeit consistently slow…).

Week 49 – ride 2 (Tues) – 60 mins – a very local ride on the MASSI mountain bike – stayed close to the village only venturing as far as Pontmenard. The MASSI passed 2700km on this ride – not bad considering I only got the bike in April this year. A third of my annual distance this year has been on my two MTBs – a complete contrast to earlier years. I guess that reflects a change in my riding habits and is also a reflection (particularly the heat of July and August) of this year’s weather.

Week 49 – ride 3 (Wed) – 64 mins – local lanes and some offroad tracks, trying to avoid the worst of the NE wind, on the RAID mountain bike

@FrothNinja .. do you think you’ll continue with this Challenge next year?

I’ll be 70-years old next week and I’m wondering whether to retire from all the three challenges that I’ve done this year, ie this one, HMCAM and the Lunacy challenge. I’ve no intention of slowing down though – I’ve already set my targets for 2023: monthly and annual, and all five bikes have monthly and annual minimum and stretch targets too. It’s just a case of whether my 2023 targets fit into – or conflict with – these three challenges. I’ve just had my best year ever on the bike(s) but I’m now struggling to work out how I’m going to finish this year’s HMCAM challenge. I don’t need extra stress in my life and I may well pull out of that challenge in 2023.

I can continue with this ‘3 x 30m per week’ if you’re up for it. But I think we should re-define the posting rules….and it would be better if there were more entrants. Perhaps a little ‘publicity campaign’ would be a good idea – starting in mid-December?

What are your thoughts for next year?

I only do this, the half century monthly, the lunacy and the simplified climbing lunacy. I intend to do them all again next year.
For the last couple of months I have been doing a minimum of 2km a day on a bike though this includes riding the bike I used at Uni decades ago on my dumb trainer. If I can get a cheap smart trainer I would prefer to use that as riding the friction trainer is unbelievably boring.
I like the idea of involving more people in the 3 30 53 challenge, not so keen on more rules but interested to hear what you have in mind. I wonder if more people would stick it out if there were 'official' cyclechat points on offer. I know we don't seem to need that but others may.
It's been a sh!tty year for me in many parts of my life & logic dictates the pressure of meeting this challenges requirements would add to the stress but it hasn't. Forcing myself to ride up to 3 times a week in adverse conditions has been enormously therapeutic, even if I have often been swearing out on the bikes.
Many happy salutations and congratulations for your forthcoming 3 score years and ten. All power to your knees & long may your lungs reek etc
ps My ride today was quite festive - the canal has frozen & I saw a kingfisher - a truly Halcyon ride

 

[bluenotebob]

I intend to them all again next year.

OK - that's good !

I didn't mean "more rules" for next year - I hoped that we could simplify them .. in particular, the reporting. Earlier this year, this thread looked like a sad and much less interesting version of the 'Your Ride Today' thread a lot of the time. I'll think more about it and post something soon.

I was also wondering whether it should be 60 mins x 3 times a week (rather than 30 mins) - any views on that?

Not sure about "extra points" .. you get points anyway if you've ridden more than 50km on one of the rides.

Well done on seeing a kingfisher today - once seen, never forgotten - I've only seen two in my life: the first in the Yorkshire Dales back in the 1970s and the other a few years ago in the Claie Valley south of here. A flash of bejewelled blue - and you know what it is.

Thanks for the congrats for my birthday - not there yet but the chocolate cake is on order...

 

[FrothNinja]

OK - that's good !

I didn't mean "more rules" for next year - I hoped that we could simplify them .. in particular, the reporting. Earlier this year, this thread looked like a sad and much less interesting version of the 'Your Ride Today' thread a lot of the time. I'll think more about it and post something soon.

I was also wondering whether it should be 60 mins x 3 times a week (rather than 30 mins) - any views on that?

Not sure about "extra points" .. you get points anyway if you've ridden more than 50km on one of the rides.

Well done on seeing a kingfisher today - once seen, never forgotten - I've only seen two in my life: the first in the Yorkshire Dales back in the 1970s and the other a few years ago in the Claie Valley south of here. A flash of bejewelled blue - and you know what it is.

Thanks for the congrats for my birthday - not there yet but the chocolate cake is on order...

I'd prefer to keep it 30 minutes, easier to fit in with work during the week - I can nip out locally during lunch.
Regards points - mayhap a something for completing would be appropriate.
I think I know what you mean about the reporting. I may have contributed to that, partly because I was still quite new to the forum, partly because I felt a need to keep the thread going.

 

[bluenotebob]

I'd prefer to keep it 30 minutes, easier to fit in with work during the week - I can nip out locally during lunch.
Regards points - mayhap a something for completing would be appropriate.
I think I know what you mean about the reporting. I may have contributed to that, partly because I was still quite new to the forum, partly because I felt a need to keep the thread going.

Yes, fine .. we'll stick to the 30 mins - and it would also allow some commutes to qualify.

I'm sorry but I don't know what you have in mind regarding points. Maybe you should discuss this with someone more experienced on CC than me?

You did very well keeping the thread alive this year. I stopped reporting every week, thinking I'd catch up with a huge 'block booking' - but the longer I left it, the bigger the job - and I never got round to it.

I think reporting in 2023 could be once a week, or once every two or three weeks - I certainly don't think reporting after every ride is necessary.

I hope it's warmer in the Burnley area than it is here ... I've been here on and off for 30 years and I don't remember a December like this. I've been out every day on one of my bikes but it's been a real struggle.

 

[FrothNinja]

Yes, fine .. we'll stick to the 30 mins - and it would also allow some commutes to qualify.

I'm sorry but I don't know what you have in mind regarding points. Maybe you should discuss this with someone more experienced on CC than me?

You did very well keeping the thread alive this year. I stopped reporting every week, thinking I'd catch up with a huge 'block booking' - but the longer I left it, the bigger the job - and I never got round to it.

I think reporting in 2023 could be once a week, or once every two or three weeks - I certainly don't think reporting after every ride is necessary.

I hope it's warmer in the Burnley area than it is here ... I've been here on and off for 30 years and I don't remember a December like this. I've been out every day on one of my bikes but it's been a real struggle.

Not really sure what I mean by the points either - was thinking that there should be some sort of acknowledgement for finishing the challenge.
Will only be recording once a week in 2023.
As to temperature - been frozen here since Sunday, after an unseasonably warm few weeks - spring flowers had been blooming!!

 

[FrothNinja]

The combined joys of the lurgy and a deep freeze mean I have been using the recently resuscitated Fatty the Folda to do gentle local rides along the canal.
W49R1 - Local roads on the Folda and the Centurion (8 gears in total!)
W49R2 - Burnley miles on the Centurion
W49R3 - Cold but not hard frozen - flowers still out that hadn't remembered they should have stopped in October

W49R4 - Icey fun along the L&L on the Folda
W49R5 - More icey fun along the L&L on the Folda, shortest ride of the week & only just 30 mins - but I saw the towpath being mowed!!
W49R6 - Further icey fun along the L&L on the Folda, longest ride of the week - aided by remembering to take some water with me.
The more relaxed riding stance & speed/effort has been surprisingly fun - think I will keep this route/bike combo in mind for future icey days.

 

[bluenotebob]

That's a great photo of the frozen canal @FrothNinja !

 

[steverob]

With that picture we might need to change your name to FrostNinja!

 

[bluenotebob]

Week 50 – ride 1 (Mon) – 64 mins – stayed close to the village on the MASSI mountain bike trying to minimise my exposure to a brutally cold E wind. Managed another 45 mins on the RAID mountain bike a bit later in the afternoon … celebrated selling a lawnmower between the two rides so the thought of a bit of extra cash for Xmas helped to counter that damn cold wind.

Week 50 – ride 2 (Tues) – 59 mins – similar to Monday’s ride but on the Urban Shaper hybrid bike. Still that bone-chilling E wind, so I didn’t venture very far at all. After my ride, I shot off in the van to a local market to collect supplies (and a wonderful pre-ordered chocolate cake), back in time to start some bread then out again for 25 mins on the RAID before the cold and dark forced me home.

Week 50 – ride 3 (Wed) – 43 mins – +2C and raining .. made myself stay out when all I wanted to do was curl up by the stove and read a book. On the MASSI again and (again) stayed very close to home.

It’s forecast to snow here tomorrow (Thursday). If it does and if I get any good photos, I’ll post the best one in the ‘Snow & Ice’ thread.

 

[FrothNinja]

W50R1 - Local slide on the Fatty
W50R2 - Burnley miles on the Centurion
W50R3 - Burnley miles on the Centurion
W50R4 - Hybrid on ice through Burnley, Nelson, Barrowford, Fence, Burnley. Felt sketchier on ice than the Folda.
W50R5 - Burnley miles on the Centurion - rather surprising avg of 14.5mph
W50R6 - Rode Fatty along the L&L on long stretches of shot ice through Burnley, Brierfield, Nelson, to Wicked Bikez for new tyres and tubes then back again in the dark with the ice sparkling like tiny fairy lights in the bike lights. The compacted ice and black ice are real ring clenchers on descents - dismounted a couple of times after the front wheel tried to ignore me.

 

[bluenotebob]

Good to see that you've sorted out your signature @FrothNinja ... if you're still looking for the Lunacy icon, the URL is (with the standard prefix)

/attachments/437253/

I'd thought that this 3x30minsxWk challenge should be re-launched in 2023 in a new thread - but maybe that's not necessary .. we can just continue posting here. What do you think?

Can we standardise 'weeks' in 2023? So that normally a week runs from Monday to Sunday - apart from Week 1 which starts 1st Jan and runs to 8th Jan. ... Week 2 would be 9th Jan to 16th Jan etc. OK with you?

I'm still thinking about the icon for this challenge .. I thought it should be a circle (representing a clock face) with a line running vertically from the centre to the bottom (to represent the minute hand of the clock at 6, ie 30 mins) - and in blue, to distinguish it more easily from other challenge icons. But - so far, I haven't been able to find a circle shape in Paint... any thoughts or suggestions or alternative ideas?

 

[bluenotebob]

Week 51 – ride 1 (Mon) – 43 mins – the rain finally relented (it had rained continuously for close to 30 hours) and I got out for a short and very windy ride on the MASSI mountain bike. Stayed close to home and tried to avoid being buffeted too much by the gusty wind

Week 51 – ride 2 (Tues) – 51 mins – SBdM, Geffray, Faux and Suais – on the Urban Shaper hybrid. I didn’t get out until 4.30pm and the mist (after another heavy bout of rain) was already starting to form. By the end of the ride, I was cycling through large spectral wraiths which were spreading across the fields and roads – luckily, there was very little traffic about. A few local floods but nothing serious.

Week 51 – ride 3 (Wed) – 74 mins – Esquiniac, Evriguet, Kerminy and SBdM. A wet and windy ride on the Shaper 200 hybrid.

I’ll do more rides this week but, as far as this challenge is concerned, that’s Week 51 done and dusted.

 

[bluenotebob]

I'd thought that this 3x30minsxWk challenge should be re-launched in 2023 in a new thread - but maybe that's not necessary .. we can just continue posting here. What do you think?

Can we standardise 'weeks' in 2023? So that normally a week runs from Monday to Sunday - apart from Week 1 which starts 1st Jan and runs to 8th Jan. ... Week 2 would be 9th Jan to 16th Jan etc. OK with you?

I'm still thinking about the icon for this challenge .. I thought it should be a circle (representing a clock face) with a line running vertically from the centre to the bottom (to represent the minute hand of the clock at 6, ie 30 mins) - and in blue, to distinguish it more easily from other challenge icons. But - so far, I haven't been able to find a circle shape in Paint... any thoughts or suggestions or alternative ideas?

@FrothNinja ... you haven't responded to any of this - shall I just go ahead anyway ?

 

[bluenotebob]

New challenge thread for 2023 created here ...

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/three-30-minute-rides-each-week-of-the-year-challenge-2023.289400/

 

[FrothNinja]

New challenge thread for 2023 created here ...

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/three-30-minute-rides-each-week-of-the-year-challenge-2023.289400/

Sorry, bit frantic at the mo, just done my ride for the day but still have an hour or so of work to do and was busy til near midnight last night.
New thread seems sensible.
An 8 day week to start seems ok, but starting the week on Sundays would be equally logical.
If you haven't already cracked it by then, I'll have a go at a clock symbol on paint later in the week.