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

[FrothNinja]

Week 15: 6 rides over 30 mins, including one HMCAM ride; distance cycled 148.06km

Week 1(2025) to week 15: total distance cycled 3153.66km

It’s only Friday but I don’t feel like writing anything else.

I suppose that @ColinJ may eventually get round to reading everyone else’s Week 14 posts – or perhaps he just won’t bother.

Perhaps @FrothNinja will eventually get round to reading my Week 12 post – or perhaps he just won’t bother.

Far more likely explanation given the now rather lengthy history of posting in this type of thread would be that we either haven't seen or missed posts.
I enjoy posting on here but it is very much done when my work and domestic duties allow.
I may feel somewhat patronised but I am not angry - used that up on a dickhead driver about an hour ago. I actually caught up with them and gave vent....
I kind of sympathise with BNB's feelings, though not the post. I do get irritated by the people who post lots of stuff in threads but never like other peoples posts. Mind you, I suppose there are self-important, self-absorbed pricks in every community. I do try not to be one myself and I think the same applies to both @ColinJ and @bluenotebob

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

I set myself the challenge of 30mins+ everyday for a year after I got over the worst of three weeks flu in October '21, indoors or outdoors.

Some days it was such an effort to just get started, some days the power output was very low, but all except three days were over 30mins iirc and the others were at least 27mins.

Good luck to those taking part in this challenge!

 

[ColinJ]

Ok, I have calmed down a bit now!

The matter that cut short last week's riding was a family funeral and there are currently 3 other lots of devastating illness running their course in my family and friends. My time since the funeral has been spent trying to enjoy riding my bike in the sunshine to take my mind off these depressing events. I haven't rigidly organised my online time to read and respond to posts in some predefined time frame. I usually get there in the end, and apologies if I don't!

I am not angry - used that up on a dickhead driver about an hour ago. I actually caught up with them and gave vent....

I encountered a dickhead driver yesterday. Much of my riding here in Devon is on narrow lanes and requires give and take with passing places etc. I pull over for many drivers and they thank me. Drivers pull over for me and I thank them. I was riding along thinking about recent sad events when a van in front slowed down to squeeze past some parked cars, so I slowed down too. The van accelerated, so I then did. Next thing I hear a driver from one of the 'parked' cars abusing me for not thanking her for pulling over. I hadn't even seen her...!

Funnily enough, 20 minutes later I stopped on a climb on a narrow lane to allow 2 cars past and both drivers shot past without even glancing at me, let alone thanking me.

Anyway, no more time to spend on this post - I have earlier posts to scan and 'Like'!

 

[FrothNinja]

Ok, I have calmed down a bit now!

The matter that cut short last week's riding was a family funeral and there are currently 3 other lots of devastating illness running their course in my family and friends. My time since the funeral has been spent trying to enjoy riding my bike in the sunshine to take my mind off these depressing events. I haven't rigidly organised my online time to read and respond to posts in some predefined time frame. I usually get there in the end, and apologies if I don't!



I encountered a dickhead driver yesterday. Much of my riding here in Devon is on narrow lanes and requires give and take with passing places etc. I pull over for many drivers and they thank me. Drivers pull over for me and I thank them. I was riding along thinking about recent sad events when a van in front slowed down to squeeze past some parked cars, so I slowed down too. The van accelerated, so I then did. Next thing I hear a driver from one of the 'parked' cars abusing me for not thanking her for pulling over. I hadn't even seen her...!

Funnily enough, 20 minutes later I stopped on a climb on a narrow lane to allow 2 cars past and both drivers shot past without even glancing at me, let alone thanking me.

Anyway, no more time to spend on this post - I have earlier posts to scan and 'Like'!

Sorry to hear about your recent travails.
I've been on hols so been doing more on the bike to forget the horrors I will have to deal with over the next few months

 

[ColinJ]

These things don't generally bother me that much, but ironically in the circumstances, several of my posts in the 50-a-month challenge chat thread this week have been ignored...

 

[FrothNinja]

These things don't generally bother me that much, but ironically in the circumstances, several of my posts in the 50-a-month challenge chat thread this week have been ignored...

I am very hit and miss with doling out likes in the chat threads - partly because I often forget to look at them....
...not likely to change either....

 

[bluenotebob]

I'm sorry to hear about the bereavement and illnesses, @ColinJ . But that's as far as my sympathy goes.

I see that you "liked" my Week 14 post but did you actually take the time to read it? ... or did you just scroll down my post, spend two seconds looking at the photo then click "like"?

The reason I ask is that I don't believe you've ever read any of my weekly reports. Let's go back to the start of last year - since then I will have posted about 67 weekly reports and you have never commented on anything that I've written. Nothing - ever.

That's what seriously pxsses me off. It's dismissive behaviour - and it has nothing to do with whatever problems/traumas you might be currently going through. You (famously) shouted in the Lunacy Distance chatzone a couple of years or so back that you "didn't care what anyone else was doing". How true that is.

Over the last 67 weeks, I'll have posted at least 60 photos in the last two challenge years - to try and give the posts an extra level of interest. How many have you posted? Less than two?

I could go on .. but I'd probably break some forum rules .. so I won't.

The solution is simple .. I'll take a leaf out of your book as far as this challenge is concerned. No photos and absolutely minimal information about the week. And I'll concentrate my efforts elsewhere on the forum.

Don't bother to reply to this because I'm done with this conversation.

 

[FrothNinja]

W15R1 - 2 hour 6 mins - minimal ascent 40km ride with a non-cycling friend who was on one of my old bikes, Shrewsbury, canal, Uffington, various lanes through Atcham, Upton Magna, Withington etc to another friends for lunch then returned on same route (more or less)
W15R2 - 34 mins - local miles around Meole Brace, Belle Vue etc
W15R3 - 36 mins - local miles
W15R4 - 54 mins - learner riding with FN jr on quiet roads above Stainforth
W15R5 - 1 hour 18 mins - local gravel miles
Probably not going to do a ride today as knee is being a gitoid, but will edit if I do.

 

[ColinJ]

I am now back from Devon/The Black Country, apparently with a virtual Easter egg list reduced by one...

Week 15: 4 qualifying rides... 256.2 km, in 16.10 h. Without even looking for hills (and with a lot of flat riding on the metric century) I still managed to clock up over 3,600 m of ascent. The climbs were shorter than most of the ones that I do in Yorkshire, but there were lots of them.

Total qualifying rides: 53. Distance to date: 1,404.8 km (vs 1,650 km; 15 x weekly target of 110 km). Time to date: 77.20 h (vs 105 h; 15 x weekly target of 7 h).

Ride 1 (Mon): 51.0 km. Lumpy lanes near Crediton, Barnstaple Cross, Fordton, Nadderwater, Exwick, those lumpy lanes again. 3.05 h.

Ride 2 (Wed): 50.3 km. Lumpy lanes plus 2 bonus hills. 3.05 h.

Ride 3 (Thu): 101.4 km. Lumpy lanes near Crediton, Exwick, Exeter, Exe Estuary Trail, Exmouth, Otterton, then back by an almost identical route in reverse. 6.40 h.

Ride 4 (Sun): 53.5 km. Lumpy lanes near Crediton plus 1 bonus hill. 3.60 h.

All rides on my 1x11 Devon bike.

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
• Ph = Portsmouth
• Re = Rochdale, Royd = Mytholmroyd
• SB = Sowerby Bridge, SBm = Southward Bottom, Sd = Sharneyford, Sl = Sourhall, St = Summit
• Tod = Todmorden
• WM = Walk Mill, Wn = Walsden

 

[bluenotebob]

Week 15 (revised): 11 rides over 30 mins, including two HMCAM rides; distance cycled 285.82km

Week 16: 12 rides over 30 mins, including one MCAM ride; distance cycled 290.01km

Week 1(2025) to week 16: total distance cycled 3581.43km

 

[FrothNinja]

W16R1 - 4 hour 54 mins - Pendle to Preston and back (total 53.1 miles / 85.4 km, plus 907 m / 2975 ft ascent)
W16R2 - 58 mins - ride on the salt flats around Rampside. The ground was quite firm but the top layer was very slippery. Not a high speed ride but quite pleasant.
W16R3 - 38 mins - quick Clarion run

 

[ColinJ]

Week 16: 3 qualifying rides... 95.4 km, in 5.65 h.

Total qualifying rides: 56. Distance to date: 1,500.2 km (vs 1,760 km; 16 x weekly target of 110 km). Time to date: 82.85 h (vs 112 h; 16 x weekly target of 7 h).

Ride 1 (Fri): 26.0 km. ELLL incl. HP, Ms, Ls, Wn. 1.5 h.

Ride 2 (Sat): 16.9 km. ELLL incl Ls, Wn. 1.0 h.

Ride 3 (Sun): 52.5 km. ELLL plus HP, Ms, Ls, Wn, Tod, SBm, LC, BH, GR, up to Kebs Rd then u-turn, GR, Cross Stone Rd, Tod. 3.15 h.

Rides #1 and #2 on my 6-er; Ride #3 on 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
• GR = Great Rock
• HB = Hebden Bridge, HC = Holme Chapel, HG = Hubberton Green, Hl = Heptonstall, HP = Harvellin Park
• JB = Jack Bridge
• LC = Long Causeway, Lh = Littleborough, Ls = Lumbutts
• MR = Manchester, Ms = Mankinholes
• Ph = Portsmouth
• Re = Rochdale, Royd = Mytholmroyd
• SB = Sowerby Bridge, SBm = Southward Bottom, Sd = Sharneyford, Sl = Sourhall, St = Summit
• Tod = Todmorden
• WM = Walk Mill, Wn = Walsden