THE BIG RIDE
Our stoical correspondent braves the bitter cold for the Rapha Festive 500
122 Rapha’s Festive 500, where cyclists ride 500km over Christmas, turned 10 this year. We were too busy stuffing ourselves with turkey, but Trevor Ward proved a willing and able correspondent
I can’t risk catching any germs on the eve of the Rapha Festive 500
It’s a week before the start of the Rapha Festive 500 and my bike needs a new freewheel. I take it down to my local bike shop and find that owner Steve and mechanic Paul are both full of a cold. I keep my distance and hold my handkerchief over my mouth and nose. Like a scene from a cold war spy swap movie, I leave my bike halfway between them and me and back away to the door, shouting instructions over the heads of several Christmas shoppers.
“The freewheel’s buggered,” I say, “and I need a new one before Christmas Eve.” Paul gives my rear wheel a spin: “16-tooth? We can get that in for you tomorrow.” All I have to do now is negotiate my way back home without coming into contact with anyone coughing, sneezing or exhibiting the merest hint of the common cold. I am in voluntary quarantine, inhaling regular shots of Vicks First Defence nasal spray.
I can’t risk catching any germs on the eve of a challenge that will require me to ride 500km between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
Bike widow
“So you expect me to do ALL the Christmas shopping?” asks my wife. “Just so you can go out and ride your bike over Christmas?”
My wife, bless her, is used to the role of cycling widow and she’s even agreed to be my emergency call-out service. I have decided that in the case of punctures or mechanicals, it will be easier to phone her and be rescued. There is nothing ‘quick release’ about my £600 Genesis Flyer single speed, so I’d rather do any repairs in the warmth of our hallway and make up the miles later, than be stuck on a freezing roadside struggling with a spanner and a seized axle nut.
There are eight days to complete the 500 kilometres, but I have incorporated two rest days into my schedule, partly to appease my wife and partly to give my body a chance to recuperate from demands it is not used to. My typical week’s riding is around 200 kilometres and I choose my days depending on whether it’s raining or not. The Festive 500 will be much more punishing. The last time I rode that distance in a week was more than two years ago in the sunshine and warmth of Portugal.
So my schedule will see me ride 100km on Christmas Eve followed by five rides of 80km. The night before my first ride, I make sure my two Garmins are fully charged – I’m carrying a spare as the old adage, ‘If it’s not on Strava it didn’t happen,’ is literally true in the case of the Festive 500. I also charge up my lights just in case
as it starts getting dark at 3.30pm here in Angus. I turn to social media in search of inspiration. The Festive 500 hashtag is trending globally. This is the tenth year of the challenge and a record 119,775 riders have signed up.
Someone from Poland is asking if miles on an indoor trainer will count as there is heavy rain forecast for his region, while a rider in Holland wants to know what the official start time is. Some Australians have already completed their first rides and posted photos. They are wearing shorts and summer jerseys so I log off before I’m dissuaded altogether.
My wife lightens the mood by presenting me with an early Christmas present – a beautiful Café du Cycliste winter jacket with matching bib tights. They will remain in this pristine state until only halfway through my second ride.
I’m unaccountably nervous and I have a restless night’s sleep. Those 500 kilometres are already weighing heavily on me.
On your marks
I set off just before 10am, taking the hilly route to Dundee where my wife is buying the turkey from Marks and Spencer. I’ve said I’ll meet her and treat her to lunch. As I gain altitude on the back roads to Glamis, there is ice in the gutters and I can see billows of mist below and it’s not too long before I’m plunged into a real pea-souper and have to stop to switch on my lights. By the time I reach the foot of the climb to Lumley Den the mist has lifted, but lunch with my wife will have to be reduced to a quick coffee if I am to make it back home along the coast before it gets dark.
When I upload my 101 kilometres to Strava I see that dozens of riders have already completed the challenge, with a guy from Germany at the top of the leaderboard with 512km that he accomplished in one go.
On my own Strava feed I see that two local riders set out just after midnight. One of them rode around his local park for six hours, accumulating 167km and 87 metres in elevation. My own 711 metres of climbing suddenly looks pretty heroic. What, I wonder, drives someone to go out on a freezing December night at midnight to spend six hours riding around in circles? And what makes 50 other riders give them ‘Kudos’ for doing so?
I sleep much better knowing that my Festive 500 is now officially up and running. Christmas Day dawns with blue skies, light winds – and a warning of ice on untreated roads.
A late start today would allow time for a thaw, but I’ve promised my wife I’ll be back in time for Christmas lunch and the opening of our presents, so I’m on the road by 10am again, but I soon realise I will have to recalibrate my route. There is dangerous-looking ice in the
I set off taking the hilly route to Dundee where my wife is buying the turkey