DO THE FESTIVE 500 CHALLENGE AND GET THE COLLECTIBLE SOUGHT AFTER ROUNDEL / PATCH / BADGE / AWARD THINGY – THERE IS A £7 Entry Fee to cover the costs of the Roundel and there will be a presentation at the Coy Carp, Harefield at the end of the final ride on 31st December. You can still participate in the rides even if you don’t do the Festive 500, the entry fee is merely to cover the cost of the badges.
YOU KNOW YOU WANT ONE!
TO SIGN UP PLEASE CONTACT US
THE STRAVA FESTIVE 500 GROUP (Restricted access – see below)
HOW TO ACHIEVE THE AWARD……. £7 entry to cover the cost of Roundels Please Contact Us for payment details and we’ll add you to the Strava group.
Smash out some rides over the 8 day period from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Eve, recording your rides on Strava as usual….. but as Rapha no longer issue badges, the way to get your hands on this collectible roundel is to do the Festive 500 Challenge with WEST LONDON CYCLING
The challenge is to ride 500km over 8 days from Christmas Eve to New Years Eve. You need to record your rides on Strava and, yes, indoor rides do count!
TO SIGN UP PLEASE CONTACT US
THE STRAVA FESTIVE CLUB IS HERE (PAID INVITEES ONLY)
For the moment we’ve had to restrict access to the Strava Club as we were getting people joining who were unlikely to be participating, but we would like to open it up for viewing during the 8 days, so watch this space.
We will always acknowledge how Rapha developed this, but they stopped doing the badges and it isn’t quite the same. We understand why, commecially it is expensive and we have created our own badges too in recent years. But it needs to pay for itself so we had to, like Rapha, reassess it.
We took a fresh look at this on behalf of the West London Cycling Community (and beyond) and we think that a nominal entry fee (£7) and an awards ceremony on the final day at THe Coy Carp in Harefield where the final ride finishes, might be a way of bringing the Festive 500 back to the adventure and fun it should be at a grass routes, non-commercial, level. If you are not aware, the challenge is to ride 500km starting on Christmas Eve (24 December) and finishing by New Year’s Eve (31 December).
500 kilometres. Eight days……. yeah! You can do it.
Over the last 12 years, more than half a million participants have ridden the Rapha challenge, you can be part of the legend too. If you are up for it in 2023, why not Join us?
Started in 2010, the goal of Rapha’s original Festive 500 was to keep us riding throughout the festive period, recording our rides on Strava . Rapha are not offering a ‘Roundel’ (sew on patch thingy) any more but you could still obtain one by completing their challenge with WEST LONDON CYCLING.
The challenge is simple in theory but often tough in practice: ride your bike for a total of 500km between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve and sync your rides to Strava.
We are even offering you a bit more modern flexibility too. Whereas to complete Rapha’s original challenge all rides had to be be outdoors, we will accept virtual rides if properly recorded on Strava. We would expect you to complete the majority of rides outdoors of course, but if there is deep snow, you can still complete our part of the challenge and qualify for our commemorative Roundel..
The exclusive roundel, will be an essential addition to the collection for past participants and a wonderful and prestigious souvenir for first timers.
Here are the routes we have scheduled and all will start at 9am at the Poloish War Memorial … although the Christms Day one is a little earlier at 7.30am with Boxing Day at 8am (to enable you to squeeze in a ride before family committments if possible) and routes may change if the weather is bad and a different ride is more suitable. We may also delay start times on icy mornings but remember that you can clock up your 500km on a smart trainer too. We will monitor it on Strava, so be sure to upload your rides. You do not need to do the 500km on our rides, but to get the badge you will need to pay and sign up to a Strava group where we can see your rides.
SUNDAY 24th DECEMBER 2023 9am Polish War Memorial Route OPTION ONE: Fat Duck Fine riding 57km TBA OPTIONTWO: FESTIVE 500 Christmas Eve Ride 151km
MONDAY 25th DECEMBER 2023 7.30am Polish War Memorial Route FESTIVE 500 Xmas Morning mission 47km 7.30am START
MONDAY 25th DECEMBER 2023 7.30pm Monday Malarkey Race NON-SERIES on INDIE VELO
TUESDAY 26th DECEMBER 2023 8am Polish War Memorial Route FESTIVE 500 Boxing day morning ride 70km 8am START
WEDNESDAY 27th DECEMBER 2023 9am Polish War Memorial Route FESTIVE 500 Xmas Fat Burner 85km
THURSDAY 28th DECEMBER 2023 9am Polish War Memorial Route FESTIVE 500 Staines not so Massive 54km
FRIDAY 29th DECEMBER 2023 9am Polish War Memorial Route FESTIVE 500 Forty Miles of Fun 62km
SATURDAY 30th DECEMBER 2023 9am Polish War Memorial Route FESTIVE 500 Fleche Flashride to Box Hill 117km
SUNDAY 31st DECEMBER 2023 9am Polish War Memorial Route OPTION ONE: Coy Carp Caper 64km OPTIONTWO: Coy Carp Added Caper 67km FESTIVE 500 PRESENTATIONS AT THE CAFE/PUB STOP
Here are a few local rides if you need some inspiration (Ride them any time on any day you choose although we will be running group rides from the Polish war Memorial (A40 Ruislip / Norholt) over the period. Check our upcoming Rides / Excursion Versions for details):
THE FESTIVE 500
