Three 30-minute rides each week of the year Challenge 2025 [NB Starts 30/12/24!]

[FrothNinja]

W12R1 - 3 hour 31 mins - Burnley to Preston return. (total 47.7 miles / 76.7 km, plus 800 m / 2,625 ft ascent)
W12R2 - 1 hour 7 mins - local lumpy miles
W12R3 - 35 mins - local head down bum up miles on the Centurion

It's Fritillary time!! @annedonnelly it's that time again

 

[Elswick Cotterpin]

Five qualifying rides, four on the Mustang and one on the Scorpio, although before I'd gone very far I wish I'd taken the Mustang again. Never mind. Weather was good, cold to start, but no rain, which is always a bonus.

Meh, that's all I have..

 

[bluenotebob]

W12R1 - 3 hour 31 mins - Burnley to Preston return. (total 47.7 miles / 76.7 km,

@FrothNinja .. I see this is becoming a regular ride for you - excellent!

As you're now doing longer (daily) distances more frequently, I wondered if you'd given any thought as to your Eddington position?

In order to calculate this, you'll need to have a record of your rides over a certain distance (say 35 miles) and ideally the use of Excel (as you don't use Strava).

If you're interested, let me know and I can help you set it up

 

[FrothNinja]

@FrothNinja .. I see this is becoming a regular ride for you - excellent!

As you're now doing longer (daily) distances more frequently, I wondered if you'd given any thought as to your Eddington position?

In order to calculate this, you'll need to have a record of your rides over a certain distance (say 35 miles) and ideally the use of Excel (as you don't use Strava).

If you're interested, let me know and I can help you set it up

Thanks for the offer.
I'm afraid, having looked at what was involved, I think I will pass. I confess I was briefly tempted.
Only rode one way today - gave the bike a ride on the train back because I was in a hurry

 

[ColinJ]

I had a quick look back and found that I was on about 77 (imperial Eddington) in summer 2019, but stopped keeping track after that. I'm probably on 80-85 now but don't do many rides over 100 km (62 miles) these days so further progress would be slow unless I get back into doing longer rides. That probably won't happen though because I would rather do faster metric centuries than slower imperial centuries.

At one point I had a lifetime target of 100, which I may just still reach unless ill health stops me.

Okay... Last week's update:

Week 12: 5 qualifying rides... All the ones, 111.1 km, in 5.95 h.

Total qualifying rides: 41. Distance to date: 915.0 km (vs 1,320 km; 12 x weekly target of 110 km). Time to date: 47.90 h (vs 84 h; 12 x weekly target of 7 h).

Ride 1 (Mon): 15.3 km. ELLL to Wn & back. 0.80 h.

Ride 2 (Tue): 28.5 km. Tod to HB (cafe with pal) back to HP, Ms, Ls, Wn, Tod + local bonus. 1.55 h.

Ride 3 (Thu): 17.7 km. ELLL to Wn & back + local bonus climb. 0.90 h.

Ride 4 (Fri): 24.9 km. To Lh for cafe chat with Littgull, & back via Cr, Ck, Wn, + local bonus. 1.55 h.

Ride 5 (Sun): 24.7 km. Tod, SBm, Tod then Wn & back. 1.15 h.

All rides on my CAAD5.

Abbreviated local place names (now sorted alphabetically):

• BE = Blackstone Edge, BH = Blackshaw Head, Bp = Bacup, By = Burnley
• Ce = Cornholme, Cgr = Cliviger, Ck = Calderbrook, Cn = Colden, CP = Crown Point, Cr = Caldermoor, CV = Cragg Vale
• HB = Hebden Bridge, HC = Holme Chapel, HG = Hubberton Green, Hl = Heptonstall, HP = Harvellin Park
• JB = Jack Bridge
• Lh = Littleborough, Ls = Lumbutts
• MR = Manchester, Ms = Mankinholes
• Re = Rochdale, Royd = Mytholmroyd
• SB = Sowerby Bridge, SBm = Southward Bottom, Sd = Sharneyford, St = Summit
• Tod = Todmorden
• WM = Walk Mill, Wn = Walsden

 

[bluenotebob]

I had a quick look back and found that I was on about 77 (imperial Eddington) in summer 2019,

77 rides over 77 miles is a huge achievement.

Can I ask when you did these rides? – are they documented in the forum? Or do the majority pre-date your CC days?

The reason I ask is that Eddington is ‘lifetime’ and so many people haven’t registered, recorded or stored their long rides – and when they get to a certain age are utterly clueless as to what they’ve achieved Eddington-wise over decades of cycling.

As to whether you’ve actually advanced from 77 in the last six years, it’s hard to say. I have some large gaps – maybe another 10 rides to go from one number to the next – and in other places only 2 or 3 more rides are necessary to advance one more number.

If you don’t have a complete record of your rides, then you’ll never know.

 

[steverob]

I'm lucky in a way in that despite only starting to log my ride distances in 2013 (been cycling since the mid-90's) I did know that my longest ever single day's distance was 58 miles to that point and the second longest was quite a way short of that (probably mid-40's). Therefore when I started looking in to Eddington numbers and I calculated that I was already into the 50's, I knew all I had to do was to add on one more. Then once I eventually passed 58, I was golden.

 

[FrothNinja]

Don't think I have done many, if any, 100 mile days since I was at Uni in the 90s. Then I used to regularly ride them as it was cheaper than the train - and sometimes almost as quick.

 

[ColinJ]

77 rides over 77 miles is a huge achievement.

Can I ask when you did these rides? – are they documented in the forum? Or do the majority pre-date your CC days?

If I had kept proper records, it would definitely be significantly higher than that, but I didn’t so I don't know what the actual number is.

I did this search and read through my old posts there to come up with the 77.

The Covid lockdowns definitely affected my cycling. I got into the habit of nipping out and doing very short local rides and never readjusted fully once the lockdowns finished.

These days I dither about doing my monthly '50' whereas in the past I thought nothing of doing 3 or 4 in a week!

I would like to get back into doing many more 50s, plus some longer rides, but I doubt that I will do many of 150+ km unless I get significantly faster. 150-200 km at 20 km/h average speed would be ok but I don't fancy doing that kind of distance at an average below 15 km/hr!

 

[bluenotebob]

I did this search and read through my old posts there to come up with the 77.

I'm a recent addition to the Eddington Chat thread (the damn thing's buried in General Chat and I always have to use 'search' to find it). I didn't know that you were a previous contributor.

What is (or rather, what was) MCL? If you used it to record and store rides, did you manage to retrieve the info before it died?

About speed and distance ... I haven't managed a single ride this year over 17kph. It doesn't worry me and I've accepted that I just get a bit slower every year.

I would like to do a really long (time-wise) ride this year before it gets too hot. Perhaps an 8- or 9-hour ride. I'm not worried about the overall distance but I'd expect it would be around 120-130km. I've got an order in for a much bigger sacoche (saddle-bag) than the one currently mounted on my gravel bike .. hopefully it'll carry enough food for several meals (I'm always running out of food on longish rides) and perhaps I can take a book - have a rest and a read mid-ride ... all I need is an earlyish start .. 10:30am would be fine and I'd be happy to cycle until 7:30pm (with lots of food + photo breaks).

 

[ColinJ]

What is (or rather, what was) MCL? If you used it to record and store rides, did you manage to retrieve the info before it died?

My Cycling Log. It was an online database for ride logging which the developer eventually closed down.

I think that I might have downloaded my data, but that was nowhere near complete. I started cycling again in 1989 and didn't even have a bike computer or GPS for most of the first 10 years.

I forgot that Shaun cloned MCL - see this post.

 

[bluenotebob]

Week 13: 6 rides over 30 mins, including one Lunacy Distance ride; distance cycled 189.87km

Week 1(2025) to week 13: total distance cycled 2802.47km

Another week when I seem to have done most of my riding by Wednesday evening. I was shattered after Wednesday’s ride and needed a day to recover. I’m pleased I did the ride on Wednesday though as it enabled me to complete a couple of objectives (8 rides done over 91km before 31st March this year – and finishing the south/north section of EV1 between Pontivy and le Stumo).

The Princess now has new mudguards, a new chain and sundry other bits and pieces – I took her for a 90-minute ride on Friday afternoon and all was good.

Since then I’ve been trapped indoors – I thought I’d got a cold or some sort of virus but now I’m pretty sure it’s hay-fever. Round the corner from here is a sea of yellow colza (rapeseed) flowers – the air is full of pollen and there are also local alerts because of a very high pollen count. So this week has just fizzled out.

Photo from Wednesday – on the Blavet between le Porzo and Auquinian.

It’s hard to express just how much I like cycling this stretch of the Nantes-to-Brest canal ... suffice it to say, I love it and I can’t wait to get back there again. There were a couple of difficult climbs on my return from the Blavet to the canal at St-Drédeno and I’ve spent some of my recovery time drafting an alternative route that avoids the worst of these climbs and I hope to trial it soon.

 

[FrothNinja]

W13R1 - 1 hour 55 mins - Burnley to Preston
W13R2 - 1 hour 16 mins - local lumpy miles
W13R3 - 5 hour 5 mins - Fence, Barrowford, Colne Edge, Laneshaw Bridge, Keighley Rd (big big mistake - bloody terrifying), Cowling, Dick Lane (specifically to take a pic which I forgot to do because of the scary ride), Buck Stone Lane, Ickornshaw, Stone Head Lane, Lothersdale, Babyhouse Lane, Carleton Lane, Skipton Old Rd, Colne Edge, Barrowford, Nelson, Fence, scary Greenhead Lane, Duke Bar, Townley, Brierfield. (total 50.1 miles / 80.6 km, plus 1,463 m / 4800 ft ascent)
W13R4 - 38 mins - local miles

 

[Elswick Cotterpin]

Four rides. Just four. But that's ok.

New-old brakes on the Mustang. I can stop again.

I am more motivated to ride than I am to write ride reports. But only just.

 

[ColinJ]

... Laneshaw Bridge, Keighley Rd (big big mistake - bloody terrifying), Cowling...

I think that I did it once on a 200 km audax ride from Halifax... (checks)... Ah yes, the infamous 2009 Red Rose Ride! I rode the full 200 km with my back brake rubbing...

I was feeling particularly tired on one little drag yesterday and I couldn't believe that it felt as hard as it did. I checked my front brake to see if it was rubbing. Nope. Goodspeed was behind me so I asked him if my back brake was rubbing. Nope. Shucks, I was just knackered then. When we went to put the bikes in the back of his car after the ride, I discovered that the back brake WAS rubbing against the rim after all! Apparently, Goodspeed could only see one side of the wheel when I asked him... The friction was so bad that it stopped the wheel rotating instantly when I gave it a spin with the back of bike lifted off the ground. That must sap the strength somewhat.

I don't remember much about that stretch of road, but it isn't one that I would normally choose. I usually opt for hillier/quieter.

As for my week...

Week 13: 4 qualifying rides... 115.1 km, in 6.50 h.

Total qualifying rides: 45. Distance to date: 1,030.1 km (vs 1,430 km; 13 x weekly target of 110 km). Time to date: 54.40 h (vs 91h; 13 x weekly target of 7 h).

Ride 1 (Mon): 28.0 km. Tod, SBm, Sl, Bp Rd, Wn, Tod. 1.55 h.

Ride 2 (Tue): 20.4 km. Tod to HB*** (meal with pal), back to Tod + local bonus. 1.10 h.

Ride 3 (Wed): 16.3 km. ELLL + Ls climb. 0.95 h.

Ride 4 (Sun): 50.4 km. Tod, Ls, Wn, Ck, Cr, Lh, BE Old Rd, BE, HG, High Stones Rd, CV, Royd, HB, Tod. 2.99 h.

Rides 1 and 4 on my CAAD5; 2 and 3 on 6-er with its newly replaced BB bearing.

Abbreviated local place names (now sorted alphabetically):

• BE = Blackstone Edge, BH = Blackshaw Head, Bp = Bacup, By = Burnley
• Ce = Cornholme, Cgr = Cliviger, Ck = Calderbrook, Cn = Colden, CP = Crown Point, Cr = Caldermoor, CV = Cragg Vale
• HB = Hebden Bridge, HC = Holme Chapel, HG = Hubberton Green, Hl = Heptonstall, HP = Harvellin Park
• JB = Jack Bridge
• Lh = Littleborough, Ls = Lumbutts
• MR = Manchester, Ms = Mankinholes
• Re = Rochdale, Royd = Mytholmroyd
• SB = Sowerby Bridge, SBm = Southward Bottom, Sd = Sharneyford, Sl = Sourhall, St = Summit
• Tod = Todmorden
• WM = Walk Mill, Wn = Walsden

** There had been a serious accident on the A646 so the police had closed the road. I took to the canal towpath to get through both ways. It turns out that a car with 2 elderly people in had crashed into the corner of a building at the side of the road. Police are investigating.