The 2025 Half Century (50km or 50 mile) Challenge Chatzone.

[PaulSB]

January has been a cycling disaster. Here we are on January 25th and there have been two, yes TWO, days when its been fit to consider going for a bike ride. I'm pleased to say I went on both days and logged 50+ miles on each ride.

Wednesday looking good weather wise so I hope to get one more qualifying ride under my belt in January.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Still not off the mark.

Sun, Mon & Tue - rain & sleet.

Weds, Thurs & Fri - currently dry and v.cold.

Will hopefully get out on one of those days!

NB: today was ok for getting out but I had inescapable domestic commitments!

There is no god of cycling...

 

[Domus]

Busy day today, chilly 52 Kms to Frederick's and back, watched men's Oz race, then family meal out for number one daughter's 45th birthday. Just caught up with women's Mallorca race. Smooth tarmac and warm sunshine. Very envious. Might just sneak another point on Thursday. 🤞

 

[ColinJ]

I needed to get my January '50' done, but I wanted to extend it to 69 to mark my 69th birthday earlier in the week. In my fantasies it was going to be 111 km (69 miles) but the weather put me off so I settled for 69 km on Saturday. I had to delay my departure because of wintry showers. My original plan was to get back an hour or two before sunset but I didn't set off until just gone 13:00. I am not quick at the best of times and it was cold and windy so my ride took me 4 hours. It was quite a lumpy one - 1,200+ metres of ascent. I did the last half an hour in the dark and that was very chilly. Details will appear in the 3 rides a week challenge later.

I have that 111 km route mapped out and will try to do that soon on a day with a good forecast. It is also lumpy (1,500+ m of ascent) but not quite as lumpy per km as the 69 km route.

 

[13 rider]

I needed to get my January '50' done, but I wanted to extend it to 69 to mark my 69th birthday earlier in the week. In my fantasies it was going to be 111 km (69 miles) but the weather put me off so I settled for 69 km on Saturday. I had to delay my departure because of wintry showers. My original plan was to get back an hour or two before sunset but I didn't set off until just gone 13:00. I am not quick at the best of times and it was cold and windy so my ride took me 4 hours. It was quite a lumpy one - 1,200+ metres of ascent. I did the last half an hour in the dark and that was very chilly. Details will appear in the 3 rides a week challenge later.

I have that 111 km route mapped out and will try to do that soon on a day with a good forecast. It is also lumpy (1,500+ m of ascent) but not quite as lumpy per km as the 69 km route.

A belated happy birthday 🎂, well done on getting a ride in you . You do know riding your age in distance will get harder each year 😁

 

[sevenfourate]

A belated happy birthday 🎂, well done on getting a ride in you . You do know riding your age in distance will get harder each year 😁

Happy Belated Birthday greetings Colin 🎉🥳🎂

 

[biggs682]

Looks like I have fallen at the first hurdle so I am withdrawing from this challenge.
Total mileage for 2025 is 2 miles and with more heavy winds and icy conditions forecast I don't think it will get much higher.
Good luck

 

[13 rider]

For all those looking for a challenge to motivate them but have been unable to get out in what's been an awful month for outdoor riding take a look at
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/the-annual-lunacy-aka-i-dont-do-winter-challenge-chatzone.241349/
You set your own distance and need to 13 rides but you can do them all in the summer ☀️. The 2025 thread is up and I'm sure you will be made welcome

 

[ColinJ]

A belated happy birthday 🎂, well done on getting a ride in you . You do know riding your age in distance will get harder each year 😁

I was thinking about that on the ride... I can imagine riding 75 km at 75, but 100 km at 100 might be a big ask!

There will always be the e-bike option. By the time I take up that option new battery technology may have revolutionised those bikes. 100+ km range and only a few kg of extra weight on the bike.

 

[ColinJ]

I was thinking about that on the ride... I can imagine riding 75 km at 75, but 100 km at 100 might be a big ask!

The main problems of age-in-kms rides (on top of increasing age) are:

• Living in the Pennines. The valley roads here are busy and relatively boring. The hills are a bit much...
• ... especially in Pennine January weather!

As for that 111 hilly km post-birthday ride... It could take me 8 hours, which is nearly all the hours of daylight in January. I got a puncture last week just before sunset. Fixing punctures in the dark with frozen fingers is not nice!

 

[bruce1530]

OK- I'm in again. This should be year 9.

Cold one this morning. Very calm when I left the house, headed up the coast to Portencross, then Hunterston. Out past the power station, then back homewards by the same route. Nearly home at 40k, a cafe stop and a loop round the town made it up to 50.

I'm finding it harder and harder to motivate myself for cycling - had a few health issues, and there's a bit of a vicious circle - lack of motivation leads to lack of fitness, which means that rides are harder, which leads to a lack of motivation..... I did fewer rides last year than any other hear since I got a "proper" bike 10 years ago.
But this challenge has been great, dragging me out on cold winter mornings when I'd rather stay in bed :-)
Maybe I need a new bike

 

[ColinJ]

But this challenge has been great, dragging me out on cold winter mornings when I'd rather stay in bed :-)

Great - it does that for me too!

Do you prefer solo riding? If not, then why not do what I do down here and organise some rides for fellow CycleChatters? There might be some not too far from you.

50 km and 50 miles would both be good distances to offer.

 

[slow scot]

I’m afraid that I’m out for this year with the return of old leg injuries.
Best wishes to all participants.

 

[13 rider]

I’m afraid that I’m out for this year with the return of old leg injuries.
Best wishes to all participants.

That's a shame ,hope you recovery quickly and are back out soon

 

[Domus]

Managed another point, Rossendale this time for a change but the cold wind blew and the 550 + metres of upness made for a tough one. Good coffee and a bacon toastie in Bacup were most welcome. .

After the rubbish start to the year I'm very pleased to have done 4 rides.