Rapha Rising Challenge

laurence_cooley · Post by **laurence_cooley** » 24 Jul 2012 17:57

Last week, Martin McGowan and I completed the Rapha Rising Challenge on Strava. The challenge was to climb 6,881 metres, the combined elevation of the queen stage of this year's Tour, the Circle of Death, over the course of the week. Neither of us were aiming for much more than the target climb so the effort stopped when Martin completed on Friday and me on Saturday, but including Sunday's club run, Martin clocked up 7,665 metres and I ended up on 7,565 m. This put both of us in the top 900 of some 10,000-odd entrants.

The highlight was getting home on Saturday lunchtime from some loops around the Clent Hills to realise that I had scraped over the target and could watch the Tour time trial in peace. The lowlight was Monday night, when the two of us were riding loops in opposite directions over the Lickeys in the wind and rain, in a scene that resembled something out of Wuthering Heights.

Philip Whiteman · Post by **Philip Whiteman** » 24 Jul 2012 18:22

A great account

martin mc · Post by **martin mc** » 24 Jul 2012 18:22

Don't forget to register that you've completed the challenge Laurence to receive your roundel & get entered in draw for the bike. In memory of the fantastic weather during early part of last week I've decided the only logical place for my roundel is on one of my mudguards!

laurence_cooley · Post by **laurence_cooley** » 24 Jul 2012 18:31

martin mc wrote:Don't forget to register that you've completed the challenge Laurence to receive your roundel & get entered in draw for the bike.

Have done. I will treasure that roundel when it arrives.

AlanW · Post by **AlanW** » 30 Jul 2012 11:04

Well done guys, as you will have seen I failed at only 54% complete.

But as we were we going on holiday on the 21st July the plan was to ride down to Tenby and meet up with the family, which would have put me somewhere nearer to required amount of climbing in order to complete ithe challenge.

But a last minute logistics problem, meant that it didnt happen.

We returned home last night after a glorious week of sunshine, and was greeted by a huge number of KOM's lost.

And after a week of cooked breakfasts and gourmet evening meals it might be a while before I can even contemplate trying to regain them.

laurence_cooley · Post by **laurence_cooley** » 30 Jul 2012 11:16

AlanW wrote:We returned home last night after a glorious week of sunshine, and was greeted by a huge number of KOM's lost. And after a week of cooked breakfasts and gourmet evening meals it might be a while before I can even contemplate trying to regain them.

On that topic, see this post!

Andy Terry · Post by **Andy Terry** » 30 Jul 2012 12:16

I know someone (not local) who has been known to travel onto a mate's 'manor' to steal their KOMs.

AlanW · Post by **AlanW** » 30 Jul 2012 13:32

Andy Terry wrote:I know someone (not local) who has been known to travel onto a mate's 'manor' to steal their KOMs.

To be fair, I think that we are all probably guilty of doing that at some point.

martin mc · Post by **martin mc** » 30 Jul 2012 17:07

AlanW wrote:
Andy Terry wrote:I know someone (not local) who has been known to travel onto a mate's 'manor' to steal their KOMs.
To be fair, I think that we are all probably guilty of doing that at some point.

I think that's part of the fun of strava, take a KOM crown, loose it & then go out to try to take it back. No sense in treating a current KOM title as a personal possession that can be stolen.
Good luck in your quest to get them back Alan (ps sorry but i think i may be guilty for one of your lost titles - I'm expecting lost KOM message from strava any time soon).

AlanW · Post by **AlanW** » 30 Jul 2012 17:35

martin mc wrote: Good luck in your quest to get them back Alan (ps sorry but i think i may be guilty for one of your lost titles

Yes you are Martin and certainly no need to apologise, as you say its all part of the fun trying to get it back again. But you have raised the bar you swine......

laurence_cooley · Post by **laurence_cooley** » 24 Nov 2012 21:50

Someone has been taking Martin's hill repeats technique to the extreme: http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... otony.html.

laurence_cooley · Post by **laurence_cooley** » 14 Jun 2013 17:21

Uh-oh, this challenge is back.

Andy_Craddock · Post by **Andy_Craddock** » 14 Jun 2013 18:07

Can we move the kidderminster killer and just do it a few times. seems undoable, but I do have some annual leave that week.

Andy_Craddock · Post by **Andy_Craddock** » 15 Jun 2013 19:37

I can see a lot of riding done around Romsley and lickeys around this time. Anychance we could inorporate a hilly ride for the club runs during the challenge? It will be a perfect reason to help me improve my climbing which I need to do!

Andy_Craddock · Post by **Andy_Craddock** » 15 Jul 2013 17:03

Andy_Craddock wrote:I can see a lot of riding done around Romsley and lickeys around this time. Anychance we could inorporate a hilly ride for the club runs during the challenge? It will be a perfect reason to help me improve my climbing which I need to do!

Ok so here is where I asked for a hilly ride on Sunday, so its my fault

Im hoping to complete this challenge, it seems that everyones rides are suddenly changing this week, cant think why?

laurence_cooley · Post by **laurence_cooley** » 24 Jul 2013 22:38

In the end, only me and Andy were stupid enough to finish this this year - both of us just about scraping over the target elevation. It was nice that the weather played ball this year, unlike last.