The Rapha Festive 500 2024
Riding the Rapha Festive 500 in 2024
I completed the Rapha Festive 500 once before, when the streets of London were quiet, and I was alone for Christmas, unable to meet friends and family due to the Covid lockdown in 2020.
The Festive 500 is a worldwide event in which you ride 500km between December 24th, Christmas Eve and 31st December, New Year’s Eve.
Whilst it doesn’t sound like much, completing 500km in 8 days, when you factor in the busy Christmas period, weather, short days, overeating and drinking, is hard. On many of those days, the last thing you feel like is going out and clocking up the kilometres, especially if the weather is poor and everyone else is inside, by the fire, drinking red wine.
However, I was training, and the 500km would be a good part of the training plan, so I let my coach know, and she said to go for it.
The key to completing the 500k is planning, particularly if you have commitments over that period and need to work around the kilometres.
The Plan
24th December (Christmas Eve) 100km
25th December (Christmas Day) 25km
26th December (Boxing Day) 40km
27th December 40km
28th December 100km
29th December 0km
30th December 100km
31st December (New Years Eve) 100km
Total = 505km (just to be on the safe side)
How it actually went
24th December (Christmas Eve)
Plan: 100km
Actual: 107.5km
% of distance: 21.5%
Struck down with a bad cold and sinuses meant no cycling on 25th, 26th or 27th December.
At this point I thought it was out of reach, but on the 28th I felt better, and decided to try and get to the 500km. I had 392.5 km to go in 4 days, and one day I had commitments and couldn’t ride – so an average of 130.8km a day, in 3 days - could it be done?
It could be done, but one day I’d have to complete a mammoth ride.
December 28th
Completed km: 102.76
Total km: 210.26
% of total distance: 42%
December 30th – the Mammoth ride
Completed km: 175.86
Total km: 386.12km
% of total distance 77%
How did this feel? Hard.I did this in two parts. 105 km in the first part and that felt ok. The second 70km felt like it would never end, and I finished in the dark.
I started at 7.34 am in the morning, and crossed “the line” back home at 5.30 pm.
December 31st – 115km to go
Completed km: 115.93km
Total km 502.05
% of total distance 100%
It wasn’t how I planned to complete the Festive 500, but I got there. It was tough – winter riding, combined with illness and mentally draining. But I did it. I continue to find it incredible what we can do when we get our mindset right. I could have very quickly given up on it when it didn’t go according to plan. I made a new plan, gritted my teeth and did it.