Three 30-minute rides each week of the year Challenge 2024

[bluenotebob]

Week 48: 12 rides over 30 mins, including two HMCAM rides; distance cycled 294.83km

Weeks 1 to 48: total distance cycled 12462km

A much better week on the bike, despite the weather. I managed to cycle over 1000km in November for the first time and I have given myself a decent chance of breaking a couple more personal records before the end of the year.

Near Trélan yesterday. The bike is facing the remains of an allée couverte (Stone Age burial chamber). Per Wikipedia, most of the allée couverte was destroyed (vandalised!) when building a barrage for a local water mill. The chamber was originally around 18 metres long and about 1.2m high.

 

[ColinJ]

Week 48: 3 qualifying rides, 105 km in 5¾ hrs.

Ride 1 (Tue): 35 km. Tod, Hebden Bridge, Pecket Well to meet pal, Old Town, Heights Rd, Mytholmroyd cafe stop, cycleway, HB station (for a copy of the Metro), said goodbye to pal and rode back to Tod, then a bit more on the local roads incl. an extra climb. 2¼ hrs.

Ride 2 (Sat): 50 km. ELLL to Calderbrook, Caldermoor, Littleborough, Walsden, Tod, A646 as far as Bacup Rd, then u-turned and back to Tod. Short of '50' so did another local 15 minutes to get that in. 2½ hrs.

Ride 3 (Sun): 20 km. ELLL incl Lumbutts climb, Shade, Walsden, Toll House, then back to Tod. 1 hr.

All rides on my 6-er.

Success rate: 48 weeks out of 48.

176 qualifying rides so far this year. Weekly target 100 km; total to date: 5,036 km. Average progress now = 104.9%; last week = 104.9% Total ride time approximately 297¾ hrs.

PS Special characters to copy and paste for ride durations - ¼ ½ ¾ !

 

[FrothNinja]

W48R1- Centurion 37 mins - local miles
W48R2- 1 hour 24 mins - local miles
W48R3 - Centurion 37 mins - local miles
W48R4 - 44 mins - Clarion loop. Shortest possible route in the expectation of rain that didn't arrive
W48R5 - Centurion 32 mins - local miles

 

[bluenotebob]

Week 49: 7 rides over 30 mins, including one Lunacy Distance ride and one HMCAM ride; distance cycled 222.02km

Weeks 1 to 49: total distance cycled 12684km

Two decent rides this week have pushed me a bit closer to reaching some new annual distance records. They’ve also advanced my coverage of the GR347 footpath and the VAB pilgrimage trail. I wrote up accounts of these two rides in the ‘Your Ride Today’ thread (if you’re interested in reading about them).

Particularly pleased with Wednesday’s ride – a new record daily distance on Katie-Mae (my gravel bike) of just under 91.5km .. we could have gone further and reached 100km but I had to stop as night was falling. That ride also helped to make my Eddington targets for 2025 slightly more attainable.

I don’t expect I’ll get out on the bike this weekend – unless Darragh abates sooner than expected – so I’m posting this now.

 

[ColinJ]

I don’t expect I’ll get out on the bike this weekend – unless Darragh abates sooner than expected – so I’m posting this now.

It could scupper me. I still need one more ride this week and the forecast is pretty grim!! Even if I do go out my total for the week will not be much more than 60-65 km.

 

[bluenotebob]

It could scupper me. I still need one more ride this week and the forecast is pretty grim!! Even if I do go out my total for the week will not be much more than 60-65 km.

There's a lot to be said for getting out Monday and Tuesday every week - I try and get at least three rides over 30 mins done before Tuesday evening each week of the year... to avoid the predicament you now find yourself in.

I don't know about the West Riding but over here it looks like late afternoon tomorrow it would be possible to get a ride in (but I probably won't as I'm way ahead of all my targets so I simply don't need to).

60-65km this week is OK - you're still on target to get to 5200km this year.

I've just spent the last 30 mins devising another 90km ride for December ... but there are so many unknowns/variables at this time of year - weather, available daylight ... and holidays (they start on the evening of the 20th and run through until early January, and can pose lots of problems and frustrations on some of my preferred routes - I find that I'm constantly slowing down to get round groups of walkers or very slow cyclists).

Just get out on your bike tomorrow, Colin - and do a 30-minute ride !

 

[ColinJ]

There's a lot to be said for getting out Monday and Tuesday every week - I try and get at least three rides over 30 mins done before Tuesday evening each week of the year... to avoid the predicament you now find yourself in.

True. Next week is looking good for that.

Just get out on your bike tomorrow, Colin - and do a 30-minute ride !

I spotted a window of opportunity today and took it! I rushed out on the bike after the rain had stopped and the wind had eased slightly. I only got 5 minutes into the ride though before the wind started picking up again, joined soon after that by light rain. Fortunately, I avoided the heavy rain which had been forecast!

I wasn't enjoying the conditions so I just did my very basic 'lumpy local loop', tweaked ever so slightly to add one more climb. At only 9 km that is my shortest qualifier round here. If I avoided most of the climbing I would be doing more like 12-15 km in the 30 minutes.

I definitely will not be riding tomorrow, so that is week #49 completed.

Week 49: 3 qualifying rides, 61 km in 3¼ hrs.

Ride 1 (Wed): LLL with extensions on Halifax Road and Burnley Road (2 of 3 valley roads out of Todmorden - the weather put me off climbing up onto the hills). 1½ hrs.

Ride 2 (Fri): 22 km. ELLL to Calderbrook, Caldermoor, Summit, Walsden, Tod. 1¼ hrs.

Ride 3 (Sat): 9 km. LLL including one bonus climb. ½ hr.

All rides on my 6-er.

Success rate: 49 weeks out of 49.

179 qualifying rides so far this year. Weekly target 100 km; total to date: 5,097 km. Average progress now = 104.0%; last week = 104.9% Total ride time approximately 301 hrs.

PS Special characters to copy and paste for ride durations - ¼ ½ ¾ !

60-65km this week is OK - you're still on target to get to 5200km this year.

I have in mind an extended target now... 5,313 km would be a 50% increase over last year's (disappointing!) total. That means I will have to aim to average 72 km a week for the last 3 weeks. One of those weeks needs to include a 50+ km ride to complete this year's 50-a-month challenge. All being well, that will be in week #50!

 

[bluenotebob]

True. Next week is looking good for that.

Yes - it looks a lot calmer next week ... but definitely colder.

Well done on getting out today - that's another week ticked off.

5313km is a good target for this year - maybe you could even try for 5350km if conditions allow.

 

[bluenotebob]

End Of Year

Something I noticed the other day … the seven days of 2024’s Week 52 ends on 29th December.

So … Week 1 of 2025 starts on 1st January and is only 5 days long.

It doesn’t worry me that there’ll only be 5 days in that week – but it might squeeze you – and anyone else thinking of joining this challenge next year.

I suggest that rides undertaken on 30th and 31st December this year could count towards Week 1 of 2025.

Any thoughts?

 

[FrothNinja]

End Of Year

Something I noticed the other day … the seven days of 2024’s Week 52 ends on 29th December.

So … Week 1 of 2025 starts on 1st January and is only 5 days long.

It doesn’t worry me that there’ll only be 5 days in that week – but it might squeeze you – and anyone else thinking of joining this challenge next year.

I suggest that rides undertaken on 30th and 31st December this year could count towards Week 1 of 2025.

Any thoughts?

I'm fine with that

 

[FrothNinja]

Just changed a tyre on Mdm FJ's car so I am going to nip out now for about 30 mins or so

 

[ColinJ]

I suggest that rides undertaken on 30th and 31st December this year could count towards Week 1 of 2025.

I had already been thinking along those lines and had put a note in my diary to post the 2025 thread in the middle of 2024 week 52.

I will make an effort to recruit more people to the challenge. I reckon that many probably think it is too easy to bother doing but there must be more people like me who tend to go off the boil in the winter and could do with a push to keep riding.

 

[bluenotebob]

Just changed a tyre on Mdm FJ's car so I am going to nip out now for about 30 mins or so

Enjoy it.

I managed an 11.5km ride this morning that took me 54 mins to do. The wind was strong (but that's never stopped me before), it was raining (but that's no great hardship) ... but the cold! My God, it was c-c-c-cold.

Happy that I went out.

But even happier that I'm now by a blazing wood-burner with a pot of herbal tea, some chocolates and a book to read.

 

[FrothNinja]

W49R1- Hybrid 41 mins - north along the coast from Maryport then back again. Usually a zone 2 ride but I seem to have done nearly half in zone 3, which may have been down to wind.
W49R2- 33 mins - Slow, mostly off piste, riding round Rampside, Roa, and Foulney. The slower riding kept me in the lower zones.
W49R3 - Centurion 41 mins - local miles
W49R4 - Centurion 37 mins - local miles. That was a lot more enjoyable than I expected. I have gained a new appreciation of trees and shrubbery - in spite of some discarded arboreal limbs.

 

[FrothNinja]

Enjoy it.

I managed an 11.5km ride this morning that took me 54 mins to do. The wind was strong (but that's never stopped me before), it was raining (but that's no great hardship) ... but the cold! My God, it was c-c-c-cold.

Happy that I went out.

But even happier that I'm now by a blazing wood-burner with a pot of herbal tea, some chocolates and a book to read.

I did enjoy it.
Now I have posted this weeks rides it is time to warm up a bit.
Wind seems to have either dropped or I got lucky with wind direction vs vegetative shielding.