Yesterday’s forecast turned out to be accurate and there was a distinctly chilly feeling leaving the house at 10am and -2°C!
Once on my way though it was clear that the roads were once again dry and frost free. I headed for Ballybofey, looped around and took the main road to Clady before turning off across the border and up one of my favourite climbs into The Glebe, a small village with a view out over Strabane and across to the Sperrin Mountains.
I was nervous about this climb as it’s pretty tough and my legs were definitely feeling the accumulation of the distance over the previous 6 rides. However, head down, arse up and a steady rhythm soon got me to the top without running out of steam.
Part of the reason I like this climb so much is the long sweeping descent that brings you back to the main road. Into the picturesque Victoria Bridge and I took the back road to Strabane following the river.
A quick tea stop in Strabane and I retraced yesterday’s route home via Clady. This time I didn’t need the additional distance and turned off for home at Liscooley.
Getting to the house I had 60.9km on the Garmin and couldn’t finish like that. A few loops of the house was enough to cool me down and tip me over the 61km.
And just like that, it’s done. This is a challenge I never thought I’d ever be able to complete and I’m delighted to finally have done it. As well as a fantastic sense of achievement it’s also given me a new found respect for all of Audax riders that complete 300, 400 and 600km events as well as the huge 1200km events like London Edinburgh London, Paris Brest Paris or our very own Míle Fáilte.
Rapha Festive 500
The festive season is meant to be the moment to take a breath before life resets. But it often ends up being the most hectic part of the year. That is why we challenge ourselves every December – from the 24th to the 31st. Not just physically, but to remind ourselves that the holidays grant you permission to waste some time exactly how you want. We choose to waste ours over eight days, and 500 kilometres. Time is precious. Waste it wisely.
The overnight frost didn’t happen due to the cloud cover which was a pleasant surprise when I eventually dragged my ass out of bed shortly after 8:30am. I was still tired and my legs felt heavy but at least I was in bed at a decent time and had a good night’s sleep. The first since Xmas Day!
Today’s route took me back to Raphoe once again but coming at it from the opposite direction this time. When putting together my plan I had it in as a road I haven’t ridden in a couple of years. As a Club we’ve been avoiding the climb out of Stranorlar to the Kilross junction as it’s the main road to Letterkenny, quite narrow with no hard shoulder and can be very busy with lots of impatient drivers. However, with the very hard frost on Saturday morning we ended up riding it as a safer gritted road for our Club Twixmas Spin. Still, it was nice to get a chance at it on my own again today and the traffic wasn’t too bad this morning with most people probably still off work.
It’s a fairly stiff climb out of Stranorlar with a second climb into Raphoe from Convoy. While the first climb is one I just wanted to get over, due to traffic concerns, the second climb is very enjoyable and it was only when my power output hit 180W that my tired quads starting moaning.
The drop out of Raphoe towards Ballindrait is one of the most enjoyable around here. It’s a rolling road that starts with a big descent with a couple of punchy climbs in the middle.
After a tea break in Lifford I crossed over into Strabane and returned home via the Urney Road and Castlefinn. I’d planned for 57km today but added 3km extra in Ballybofey and 1km at the very end to get me over the 450km mark.
Something weird was going on with my chest strap today. It has been giving some low readings the last few days so I figured the battery was getting low. Swapped it out this morning and while all was well at the start it went bananas after about 20km.
I’ve removed the battery in an effort to reset it and I’ll see what the story is on tomorrow’s ride.
I’m a little bit concerned about tomorrow’s forecast. It’s giving to freeze hard from early this evening and well into the morning tomorrow. I have a good cushion of extra kilometres built up so only need 48km tomorrow to finish the challenge. However, I’d like to do the planned 60km route tomorrow and I’d really like to start and finish from home as I’ve done that with all the rides so far. I just need our road to stay dry and ice free for one final day 🤞
With yet another night out last night and a bedtime well after 1am it was hard work dragging myself out of bed this morning. As it was, my estimated start time of 9:30am soon became 10am.
I had planned to do my second 100km long ride today but part of me was screaming to do a shorter 60km. In fact, a significant part of me was advocating to simply stop and forget about the challenge altogether and that took a certain amount of effort to quieten.
As with most things once I was up and about with a couple of boiled eggs, soda bread and tea in my belly, the headache began to fade and the scratchy throat was gone. Unfortunately, they weren’t a cure for the dog-tired legs!
Today’s route was basically a repeat of Xmas Eve and Day 1 using my East Donegal Audax route. However, with some extra distance in the bank from the first 4 days I decided to shorten it slightly.
The amendment was at Raphoe. Instead of doing The Broadpath climb into Stranorlar yet again, I decided to head across country via Carnowen and into Liscooley. Instead of going straight home I went as far as Killygordon village before crossing the river to give me an extra 5km and 96km in total for the day.
Today was the first day I experienced some saddle irritation. I had on my best shorts but the back to back days seem to be mounting up with some irritation today. I’m actually blaming it on Saturday’s choice of shorts. I’ve only worn them on 40km rides up to now and think 60km was just too much for them. I’ve taken all necessary precautions since I got home so hopefully it doesn’t cause me too many issues over the last two days.
Frosty conditions returning overnight tonight so I’ll wait and see what it’s like at 10am before deciding which route to do tomorrow.
Today saw a slight change in the weather with enough of a warming overnight to melt all the frost away. One of my planned routes goes over higher ground so today was the best day to get it done.
It’s not as easy a route as I probably should have been doing with 523m in 62.5km and two fairly significant climbing sections. However, it’s one I haven’t done for a while.
Our Club Xmas night out was last night in Ballybofey. A very enjoyable night but the third night in a row to be in bed between midnight and 1am. Doing this challenge at this time of year it’s difficult to get proper recovery between rides.
I was driving last night and obviously cycling this morning, so I stuck to alcohol free cider. However, four of these late at night meant I still had a broken night sleep getting up multiple times to pee!
I lay on a little after the alarm this morning and left half an hour later than planned at 10am to a chilly but not cold morning. I have a feeling though that this was all relative to the freezing conditions of the previous two days.
My route today took me West up and into Barnes Gap before turning left to head towards Castlederg via Killeter. This is a really enjoyable rolling route with small, punchy hills and descents that are just enough to challenge and then allow recovery. I really do enjoy this section of road and in the right conditions (like today) you can get down in the drops and get some decent speed up.
I could definitely feel the three back to back days and late nights in my legs this morning but it was a strange mixture of tiredness and strength. I can feel my legs getting stronger with the jump in mileage this week despite the lack of good recovery.
The forecast tomorrow is for much the same as today with Tuesday and Wednesday returning to some frosty conditions overnight into the morning. I’ve decided to bring my 100km ride forward to tomorrow to make the most of the conditions and also allow for later starts the following two days if needed. I also think it will be nice to have two shorter days to finish.
Boy that was a cold start! A hard frost overnight meant it was still -3°C at 9:30am ❄️🥶
With yesterday’s temperature not getting much above 1/2°C it left everything looking white and crisp this morning…
It looked foggy but it was just a thin blanket that I soon dropped below and it burned off quickly in the sun
I was a wee bit nervous setting off but despite white roads they were dry and the surface frost wasn’t slippery at all. Grainne cycled down the road to meet me part way and to get some extra km for the day. She made a big effort, coming decked out on a full Santa outfit and picked up the prize for most festive bike/rider 🤶
In total we had 15 members out which was really good considering the conditions. We went to Raphoe for refreshments sponsored by the club and returned the same route, making the safe decision to stick to gritted roads. We had also delayed the start from 9:30am to 10:30am to let the roads clear a bit.
Cycling up and down from home meant I got my 60km for the day without too much additional effort. Although I had to do a lap of the house to get me the last 100m, I couldn’t finish at 59.9km!
Tomorrow’s forecast shows overnight temperatures to stay just above freezing so I might change my plans slightly and do the Killeter loop that goes across the higher ground. It wouldn’t be safe after a hard frost but should be OK tomorrow. Also I’m getting kind of sick of Raphoe 🤣
Despite a hard overnight frost the roads were dry and I was out the door just after 930am as planned. Important today as Boxing Day is still very much part of Xmas here and another important family day. I really needed to be home by lunch.
Today’s route was a repeat of the start and finish of Wednesday’s just without the 40km bit in and out of Derry. A short link section from St. Johnston to Raphoe was the new section and one I haven’t ridden for ages.
It was good to ride this road again today but it was the quietest and therefore sketchiest of the day. I kept my eyes open and only one section had me concerned. A hill near the beginning is very sheltered and has a lot of tree cover which left the road very damp and prone to black ice. The descent was particularly concerning but taking care saw me down without a tumble.
Back at the main road and into Raphoe I was finally able to get up a bit of speed and cruised into Raphoe mostly at around 30km/h.
A quick stop for my traditional tea and kitkat allowed me to defrost my toes and then it was the drag up The Broadpath, just like yesterday, into Stranorlar and home via the main road.
The main roads were a lot more enjoyable today with the reduced traffic 👌
Tomorrow will be a lot more laid back as we have our Club Twixmas Spin. Back to Raphoe again but a social spin with refreshments in Raphoe. I’ll cycle up and down to get somewhere close to 60km again. I’ll be leaving the house shortly before 9am so hopefully the roads are as good tomorrow morning 🤞
That’s the first ride done and off to a great start.
It also counts as my Audax RRTY 100 for December so a two for one deal.
Weather was just about as perfect as could be hoped for. It was cool but not cold, dry and bright after the first 30km. There was a slight breeze (about 10km/hr) coming from the East that put an edge to the day. I could feel it setting off but soon warmed up enough to counteract the chill.
I was joined by two club mates for the first 20km. They went as far as Lifford before swinging off to Raphoe. They weren’t as lucky as me to have so much available time on Xmas Eve so had to settle for 55km.
I was feeling punchy at the start and this lasted for a good 30km. I think I was a little bit excited! Coming out of St Johnston and heading for Carrigans I had about 5km of exposed roads with a strengthened breeze as it came off the river and straight into my face. This sucked the excitement out of me pretty smart.
This section is then followed by the nicest of the route as I joined the Foyle Valley Greenway and cycled traffic free into Derry with the river on my right and the sun shining over my right shoulder. The going was still harder than I expected and I was pushing harder than expected to maintain 23km/hr.
A quick break and photo op at the Quays in Derry and I took a hard left to head up the Buncrana Road. Despite the traffic I was smiling, now the breeze was on my back….
I flew across the border through Bridgend and on to Newtowncunningham for lunch at Kernans at 65km. I didn’t hang around long as I was sitting outside and getting cold quite quickly. Scoffing a sandwich and tea and filling my bottle with Energise I was away less than 30min after pulling in.
The next section was the toughest and for no good reason. I still had a tailwind but my legs were moaning something serious. A series of rolling hills out of Newtowncunningham and across the Galdonagh Road became hard work, much harder than expected.
Passing through Raphoe and down into Convoy at 85km I decided I needed a pick-me-up before tackling the long 5km drag up The Broadpath. I wasn’t really hungry so forgo my usual kit kat snack for a smaller fudge bar.
I’m not sure if it was the tea, the fudge or just the short break but I was up The Broadpath drag with no further issues and soon dropping back down into Stranorlar with the smell of home in my nose. I passed the 100km mark on the last climb of the route at 4hrs 2min so I was pretty happy with that. Another 3km closed the loop to where I started this morning and then it was just the final 1.6km soul destroying climb back to the house. I definitely didn’t set any records on that climb today!
Ride #1 done, rest and enjoy Xmas Day tomorrow and then it’s a shorter 65km route on Boxing Day. Starting time is uncertain as it will depend on the road conditions in the morning and how quickly they clear up.
The Festive 500 is the world’s longest running Strava Challenge and is run in conjunction with premium cycling clothing brand Rapha.
The challenge is to ride 500km in 8 days between Xmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. This is the blurb from Rapha’s website:
The festive season is meant to be the moment to take a breath before life resets. But it often ends up being the most hectic part of the year. That is why we challenge ourselves every December – from the 24th to the 31st. Not just physically, but to remind ourselves that the holidays grant you permission to waste some time exactly how you want. We choose to waste ours over eight days, and 500 kilometres. Time is precious. Waste it wisely.
I particularly like that last bit.
I think I first heard of the challenge from Tempocyclist’s blog back in 2014. At the time I was working in retail and the thought of getting that much time off over Xmas and New Year seemed like a pipedream. Add to that the fact that I was only really just getting into cycling. The thought of anyone doing that kind of distance in a week was mindblowing.
Once I started cycling longer distances the Festive 500 has sat out there as the one challenge I thought I’d never be able to get the time to complete. Working retail just made it impossible and the thought of completing it indoors was totally unattractive! I even thought about doing a Summer version but it didn’t have the same appeal…
Last year I changed jobs and one piece of the puzzle was solved. With extended holidays over Xmas and New Year I now had the time. The issue now was that I had only returned to cycling in October. With less than 900km for the year and only a handful of rides over 50km I had nowhere near the fitness level required. To be honest it never even occurred to me!
This year it’s different. I still have the time off work (December 24th – January 2nd), I have almost 4,500km ridden for the year and multiple rides of 100km+ with most of that in the second half of the year.
The final piece of the puzzle is the weather. It’s hard enough at this time of year with reduced daylight so decent weather is key. For the last couple of weeks Carlow Weather has been teasing the possibility of a settled, cold, dry and bright period for Xmas and into the New Year.
It looks like he was right!
As guided by Tempocyclist I also have a plan, probably for the first time in my life! I’m going to start the challenge with a 100km cycle tomorrow. This will get me off to a great start and will also fulfill my Audax 100 ride for RRTY 100. For the sake of my marriage, I won’t be riding on Xmas Day. I aim to finish on New Year’s Eve with a second 100km so that leaves me 5 days in between for rides of 60km each. This is my plan:
Xmas Eve: East Donegal 100 Audax Permanent [RWGPS Link]
Apart from repeating the 100km route I’ve deliberately chosen different routes for each day. These are all long time favourites and some I haven’t ridden for a while. They’re challenging enough to be interesting but not hard enough to kill my legs each day.
Rapha have a nice “Brevet Card” for recording the challenge. Ties in nicely with the Audax theme.
I’m feeling excited about this challenge which I didn’t expect. Usually I get more nervous and anxious but this time I feel different. It should be a bit of fun and it feels like this could be my year 🤞
Following a theme from my last post the title of this one can’t help but remind me of this song from my misspent youth…
I wrote that post on the 15th of October and alluded to a big event that I was planning for the following weekend. I apologise to all of you that have been waiting patiently for an update ever since 🤣
It’s been such a big gap that I wasn’t going to bother but if Unironedman can write a post and publish a video in November about an event in April I wasn’t yet past my sell by date for this post…
Connemarathon by Declan Kenny. Go watch it, it’s very good 👌
Back in September I DNF’d our Club Sportive event. I made it to just under 90km in atrocious weather conditions and scratched at the main food stop. That was my first and only DNF at an event. It felt wrong to me at the time (it was still the right decision on the day) and it was bugging me ever since.
On 18th October I managed to get that monkey off my back. I was joined by Grainne, who has been a steady cycling companion throughout the Summer. She was under a bit of time pressure for the evening so started in Castlefinn and met me at the bottom of my road to save her at least 30min at the finish.
We headed off through Ballybofey, Barnes Gap and on to Ballyshannon. The going was pretty good, we had a dry day and although there was a bit of a breeze it was slightly in our favour for most of the way to Ballyshannon.
A 90° turn in Ballyshannon for Beleek brought us into the wind. The work became harder and this is a deceptively difficult stretch of road with lots of small, steep climbs that sap the energy from legs with over 50km done.
Rolling into Beleek we decided to take our main lunch stop at the roadside service station. Small, covered, outdoor pods provided a welcome relief from the wind and allowed us to keep our bikes close and relax.
This stop is what I was missing on the day of the scheduled event. Not just the food at this point but the opportunity to relax, go at my own pace and not feel under pressure. It was also an important stop as the hardest section was just ahead.
Crossing from Beleek to Kesh across the top of Lower Lough Erne and Boa Island is where everything went wrong in September. That day we had heavy rain and strong winds averaging 30km/h with gusts even stronger. The wind was coming from the SW straight across the water and there is very little shelter on that stretch of road. Today we still had the wind to contend with. At an approximate average of 25km/h it was far from easy but not having the rain or stronger gusts to deal with made it much more manageable. Arriving into Kesh we felt a bit battered but a quick stop for a drink and some sweets soon had us feeling much better again.
A few kilometres up the road we reached Ederney and the spot where I scratched in September. I had to get a photo to completely dislodge the monkey and give him a final boot up the arse.
Grainne decided to keep rolling and despite only being stopped for a few minutes she proved damn hard to catch! I could see her bright yellow gillet in the distance but it took a long time to reel her in.
We were now into one of the long climbs in the last third of the route as the road winds and climbs from Ederney to the quarry at the high point of Scraghey. A long, tiring section but finally we had the wind mostly behind us and it really is just a matter of getting the head down and grinding on.
At the top of Scraghey Grainne was feeling tired and felt it better if I just pushed on and left her to follow at her own pace. She was quite determined about this and I know too well what it feels like to be riding even just slightly harder than is your own comfortable pace so I clipped back in and rolled off having said our goodbyes.
About 15min up the road I hopped off the bike to have a wee in a farmer’s field. I was only just off the bike when I heard a cheery hello as Grainne sailed past! Once I was sorted and back on the bike her yellow gillet was once again fading into the distance and I was once again working hard to reel her in! It was Castlederg before I caught her. Apparently with the pressure off she discovered her second wind and was sitting a steady couple of 100m or so behind since we parted earlier.
Rolling into Castlederg together we decided we had earned a final tea break and stopped at a shop on the way out of town.
My favourite spin snack.
While stopped for tea one of the other guys messaged to see how we were doing and this was Grainne’s response….
After tea we did say our final goodbyes and I headed on solo up the final long climb out of Castlederg and the long, sweeping descent into Castlefinn. A short section along the back road towards home, the final inevitable 1.6km climb back to the house and it was done. Just before I turned on to our road I was passed by Grainne in her car so I got home knowing she was safely finished also.
Back in September I was absolutely gutted about my DNF. A large part of this was the knowledge that I knew I was capable of doing it. I was sure that better clothing and a chance to ride my own ride would be successful so it was immensely satisfying to prove that right and to prove myself too.
What surprised me most was how good I felt finishing. I felt like I had at least another 15km left in my legs. That night I made plans to ride 160km the following weekend to get my first 100mile century done. However, during the week the weather turned a bit nasty and I had to scratch that idea. Through the rest of October and November I’ve been a bit hit and miss but doing enough to keep my legs in good shape. I also managed to get my November Audax ticked off with a solo ride on a new route.
Heading into December I’m feeling pretty good on the bike. I have my December Audax to get done and I’m heading for a decent mileage finish to the year.
I’ve been joking with some of my Club friends about the Festive 500 and while unlikely to happen it definitely feels like it would be a great way to finish out the year if the weather plays ball over Xmas….
I know that’s not the song title but I can’t say it without singing it in my head!
As September rolled over into October it appears that I am on a bit of a roll too…
Those three spikes are 3 rides of 100km+ in the last 4 weeks. It would have been 3 weeks in a row but Storm Amy blew in last week and spoiled that! We lost power on Friday shortly after 4pm at the height of the red warning and it stayed off until well into Saturday evening. We lost water on Saturday morning and it was Sunday afternoon before that returned to normal (our supply comes from a reservoir on the side of the valley that requires pumps to fill from the main supply lower down).
Having booked a long, 4 day weekend off some months ago, it turned out to be a bit of a wasted weekend but I was finally able to get out on the bike on Monday for a nice, social spin with two clubmates to Raphoe for tea and back home via Ballybofey.
This was followed by night rides with the Club on Tuesday and Thursday evening, both around 30km but on the MTB on hilly back roads so decent workouts over 2 hours each. Saturday morning I went out with the Stabiliser group for a short, easy recovery ride before the main 100km ride on Sunday.
5 rides and 240km in the one week is very rare for me, even when I was at my most active, but it should be noted I only got one ride in the previous week…
Sunday morning it was back to Audax and time to get in the October RRTY 100 ride. This time we had decided to ride a route recently published by another Audax Ireland member just a week or two ago.
I’ve no idea of the significance of the name!
Myself and Grainne had managed to talk two other clubmates into joining us. Paul will do a few but Brian may give the full RRTY Challenge a go. We publicised our intent on the Club WhatsApp group and as we coordinated our start with the Sunday morning Club ride we ended up with 7 in total!
Official starting point where we picked up the route*
Overall it was a really good route. I’ve ridden all of it before but not always in the same direction as Sunday and definitely not all together. The 1000m elevation is edging towards hard for a 100km ride but it was surprisingly tough on the legs. There aren’t a big number of climbs but they’re all hard climbs. For many routes around here the majority of the elevation is gained on long, gradual climbs but Sunday we earned them on some pretty steep ground. Returning to the MTB on Tuesday night I could still feel the lingering effects!
Sandwiches, bars and sugary drinks were devoured at the much needed lunch stop at Victoria Bridge*Big squad out on Tuesday evening enjoying the unseasonably mild and settled weather*
Sunday also marked my one year anniversary of rejoining the Club via the Stabiliser Group. A fitting way to mark it and not something I was expecting just 12 months ago!
October 12th 2024*
We’re experiencing a very unusual spell of mild and settled weather for the last two weeks (calm after the storm?) but that is due to break down this weekend to something more typical. I’m keeping a close eye and hoping that Saturday stays good as I have a plan to rectify some unfinished business that will hopefully be the subject of my next post…. 🤞
*all photos of Club activities courtesy of Brian McElhinney 📸
niall harran 