2016 TdF Challenge - Prizegiving Thread

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TheBigYin
TheBigYin Posts: 5,682 Member
Ladies and Gentlemen Welcome to the Prizegiving ceremony.

First Up, We have the Sprinters Jersey - The Traditional Green Jersey- this is based on the highest average speed over the entire Giro duration.

This Jersey was quite a close-run contest this year, with two riders in particular in the offing... These two were the only riders to maintain an average speed of over 30kph for the duration of the challenge, but the winner, with an average of 32.0kph - a mere 0.31kph faster than his nearest rival... Our Jersey winner this year is...

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@m1xm0d3 - Joshua. Congratulations on a sterling effort.


Second Prize category is not really a "Jersey" as such, and one that I've not actually mentioned beforehand, because I didn't actually want anyone to be competing for it...

There's a tradition of awarding the last person on GC in the Tour de France a "Lanterne Rouge"... from the rear light that is fitted to the final carriage in a freight train.

Now, to be fair, this isn't about "picking on" someone who either had problems with completing the course, or was ill / injured and unable to finish. So, there are a couple of criteria that have to be met for eligability for this prize. One - a minimum of 6 rides booked, and Two - rides in all three "sections" of the Tour - the sections being separated by the 2 rest days. So - with the bottom 3 riders on the distance column of the leaderboard being DNF for one reason or another, this year's Lanterne Rouge is... @canbbot

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Back to the Jersey's - and this time it's the Climbers Jersey - based on the GPS logged ascent as per Strava links. This years winner clocked up an amazing 21,682 metres of ascent - that's higher than 5 of my rides this year were long...

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Well done Jason - @Jakess1971.

As a slight aside, it's interesting to compare the results of the plain "ascent" column of the leaderboard with the VAM tag's results... Think of it this way, the leaderboard is predicated on "how much" where the VAM column is based on "how fast"...

So, to take Jason as an example - he was 1st on amount of ascent, but only 7th when you figure in the time taken for the climbing... this reflects that most of Jason's climbing was done on long weekend touring trips, rather than (say) at a hilly Sportive or organised group Century... It also reflects MY climbing performance far more accurately - as I came in as a slightly surprising 6th on the climbers chart, yet I climb with all the speed and agility of a fitted wardrobe. Referring to the VAM chart, I come in at a more reasonable 14th - purely due to the rolling nature of the roads around here, it's difficult to find a 50km loop that doesn't have 400m of ascent on it, and it adds up. Other people aren't blessed/cursed (delete as appropriate) with that kind of terrain, and will never feature, and some people just appear to live in the valley between a bunch of mountains, and every ride seems to require climbing over some pass or other (@lbchilds2001 springs to mind here...)

So, I'm thinking that for 2017's challenges, the KoM is going to be decided on VAM rather than pure ascent figures, but for the rest of 2016's challenge, we'll stick with the metres...


Back to the Jersey Presentations...

Once Again, I've been running an "all rounder" competition based on points for the three main jerseys - everyone gets points from 36 down to 1 point based on their position in the three jersey competitions. The "all rounder" is the person with the highest overall points combined... It's a bit complicated, but if you check the logging spreadsheet, it makes a little more sense. It also allows me to bring back (a version of) my all-time favourite Jersey in any Race - the Combined Jersey...

Anyhow...

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Our All-Rounders competition winner is rider #303 - @cloggsy71 - a very consistent performance, 4th in the climbing, sixth on GC, and an extremely close 2nd in the sprints - very impressive to hit that kind of speed whilst still clocking up silly distances up and down lots of hills, whilst riding every stage of the tour... Pretty amazing for someone who's just on the comeback from a rather nasty broken collarbone - looks like the metal plates and screws haven't slowed him down too much - still averaged faster than he did in 2015 as well...



And so to the Big One. GC - the Yellow Jersey.

Well - it'll come as no surprise to anyone that the winner of our challenge this year is... @Jakess1971

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A total of 1792.8km - a clear 519.7km ahead of his nearest rival... on 12 days riding out of the 21... it's a good job he decided to take the week off, and only ride on the weekends really, or it'd have been even more of a foregone conclusion.

And still had time to keep prodding the hamster back onto it's wheel and keeping the CycLeagues app running...

Chapeau Jason



A final "well done" has to go to all the riders that managed to complete all 21 stages of the Tour and book at least one ride per day... This year I think we had an unprecedented number of "compleaters" - 7 riders... 7 riders finished the whole loop. That's as good a performance as Cofidis, Dimension Data, Movistar and Cannondale managed, and better than FDJ could do.

But, I suppose we have to pick one outstanding ride from the 7 finishers, it has to be Clive - @cloggsy71 - finishing top of the points table, second fastest, 4th on KoM... and all with a shoulder full of shrapnel... dare I say it, that winter on Zwift must have had a bit of an effect...




And Finally - the Team Competition...

Well - to be honest, this was always only ever going to go one way, considering Jason's ride...

Team Winners for this year are Pastana

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So...

That's it folks for the TdF. All that remains is to thank everyone for their participation, and to remind you to keep your eyes peeled for the next installment of the Grand Tour Challenge - LaVuelta - commencing in Balneario Laias on the 20th of August, and running until the 11th September...

Replies

  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,682 Member
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    as always, the full data and minutiae of the challenge is available on the mahoosive logging spreadsheet...

    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GFwKYoQS5OffYby42Az52HbFjhhpORZXDXOjgblu04o/edit?usp=sharing


    Special Thanks to Jason for his work on the CycLeagues app and collaboration on the automatic logging/data transfer to the spreadsheet - which I'm sure everyone appreciates - not only not having to enter/edit a text file after every ride, but (for the former colonials and other flat-earthers out there) being able to view your own Strava in Miles and Feet if you so choose... I know that without the auto-logging, there's a distinct chance that this series of challenges would have simply expired, as the overhead of riding AND the data entry was getting too much for me to cope with for near on 3 months of the year...

    Cheers Jason - I'll have to buy you a pint sometime...
  • Jakess1971
    Jakess1971 Posts: 1,208 Member
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    Superb final report on a great three week event, many thanks. I'm in awe of the speed demons, that's one category I'll never trouble and I take my hat off to you and to all those that put some extra effort into the tour, always love seeing the stats come in and I'll miss being a team member in the next one due to my focus being on LeJog, looking forward to seeing how everyone does though, judging by Le Tour the next tour will be quite tight at the top which might be better then one nutter going on long weekend tours ..... ahem.

  • cloggsy71
    cloggsy71 Posts: 2,208 Member
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    Awesome write up as usual Mark; I do so enjoy the end of tour awards ceremony! Gutted to miss out on Green due to my one trip out up the hills with the Bedale crew before I was fit enough... But to have achieved the overall points jersey I'm delighted! Well done to EVERYONE who took part; especially those who rode every day of the tour... See you all for the Vuelta?
  • cloggsy71
    cloggsy71 Posts: 2,208 Member
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    TheBigYin wrote: »
    Cheers Jason - I'll have to buy you a pint sometime...

    Fancy a trip to Wakefield Jase? We'll take him up on a pint ;)
  • wesleepuntilthesungoesdown
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    well done everyone and cograts to the Jersey Winners!
  • Jakess1971
    Jakess1971 Posts: 1,208 Member
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    cloggsy71 wrote: »
    TheBigYin wrote: »
    Cheers Jason - I'll have to buy you a pint sometime...

    Fancy a trip to Wakefield Jase? We'll take him up on a pint ;)

    You know at some point I'd like to do a tour de MFP Friends, would take me back to Yorkshire, Japan, Australia and some nice places in the states, could be one hell of a pub crawl, all in the name of a free pint :) (or perhaps sake in Japan?)

    Shame I only had three days for Yorkshire really.
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,682 Member
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    Jakess1971 wrote: »
    Superb final report on a great three week event, many thanks. I'm in awe of the speed demons, that's one category I'll never trouble and I take my hat off to you and to all those that put some extra effort into the tour, always love seeing the stats come in and I'll miss being a team member in the next one due to my focus being on LeJog, looking forward to seeing how everyone does though, judging by Le Tour the next tour will be quite tight at the top which might be better then one nutter going on long weekend tours ..... ahem.

    well, you'll certainly be missed Jason - I know you debated before this tour if you're training schedule was likely to throw things into a bit of a disarray - I'm kind of glad you DID ride, though with 20/20 hindsight I should have maybe swapped you and Tom (@Spatialized) over... But I'm glad you rode, because it forced me to go out and ride more if I wanted to "pull my weight" on the team, and ride 11.1% or more of the teams total distance and ascent...

  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,682 Member
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    cloggsy71 wrote: »
    Awesome write up as usual Mark; I do so enjoy the end of tour awards ceremony! Gutted to miss out on Green due to my one trip out up the hills with the Bedale crew before I was fit enough... But to have achieved the overall points jersey I'm delighted! Well done to EVERYONE who took part; especially those who rode every day of the tour... See you all for the Vuelta?

    You ARE aware that your overall average compared to last year is nearly 2kph faster, aren't you... You've really come back strongly after the accident - and, I still think that the "combined" is a hell of a thing to win - we'll have to watch it, sprinter turned all-rounder... shades of King Kelly... of course, that's a calculation only you can make ;)

  • FitterBody
    FitterBody Posts: 367 Member
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    Congrats to Team Pastana, and all the winners on your great performances but also to all the competitors as I think we are all winners just getting out there riding and putting our all into the challenge and reaping the cycling improvements, the fitness & health benefits, and the big smiles and feelings of satisfaction that come from that. I know I gained a lot from the challenge personally and look forward to the next one when I will likely be back on my flat earth gerbil wheel grinding out the KM and admiring those who climb so well, so high, so far, and so fast. Thanks to my fellow PIEs for kindly trying to make up for my shortfall in the climbing (I ran over as many pebbles as I could; honest!), and apologies in advance to any fellow team members who will need to do so in the next challenge. Thanks again Mark & Jake for all they did to enable this. It is very much appreciated. _/\_
  • nerdieprofessor
    nerdieprofessor Posts: 512 Member
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    Jakess1971 wrote: »
    cloggsy71 wrote: »
    TheBigYin wrote: »
    Cheers Jason - I'll have to buy you a pint sometime...

    Fancy a trip to Wakefield Jase? We'll take him up on a pint ;)

    You know at some point I'd like to do a tour de MFP Friends, would take me back to Yorkshire, Japan, Australia and some nice places in the states, could be one hell of a pub crawl, all in the name of a free pint :) (or perhaps sake in Japan?)

    Shame I only had three days for Yorkshire really.


    Everyone is welcome at our place. We have nice river valleys, hills and mountains (modest sized) to bike, and local brew pubs and spare bedrooms and bathrooms.
  • Jakess1971
    Jakess1971 Posts: 1,208 Member
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    Jakess1971 wrote: »
    cloggsy71 wrote: »
    TheBigYin wrote: »
    Cheers Jason - I'll have to buy you a pint sometime...

    Fancy a trip to Wakefield Jase? We'll take him up on a pint ;)

    You know at some point I'd like to do a tour de MFP Friends, would take me back to Yorkshire, Japan, Australia and some nice places in the states, could be one hell of a pub crawl, all in the name of a free pint :) (or perhaps sake in Japan?)

    Shame I only had three days for Yorkshire really.


    Everyone is welcome at our place. We have nice river valleys, hills and mountains (modest sized) to bike, and local brew pubs and spare bedrooms and bathrooms.

    That would be pretty cool.
  • BigG59
    BigG59 Posts: 396 Member
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    Thanks again for organising Mark. Work meant I didn't get out during the week and as a result this was my lowest distance in the three "tours" I've done with you.
  • m1xm0d3
    m1xm0d3 Posts: 1,576 Member
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    Congrats to everyone who participated. This has been another excellent challenge. Thanks again guys.
  • cloggsy71
    cloggsy71 Posts: 2,208 Member
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    TheBigYin wrote: »
    You ARE aware that your overall average compared to last year is nearly 2kph faster, aren't you... You've really come back strongly after the accident - and, I still think that the "combined" is a hell of a thing to win - we'll have to watch it, sprinter turned all-rounder... shades of King Kelly... of course, that's a calculation only you can make ;)

    I wasn't aware, no :o

    Guess I've bounced back better than expected?!

    I like then combined jersey too; it matches my eyes :D

  • jillyian
    jillyian Posts: 423 Member
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    great job everyone, especially the organizers of the challenge!! thanks team mates of Twinkie Scoff you all did a good job rolling rolling rolling..... and to all the winners of the jerseys
    Congratualtions!!!
  • canbbot
    canbbot Posts: 37 Member
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    Mark. Do you have a high resolution copy of that award. I want to have it framed. Last beats everyone on the couch.
  • canbbot
    canbbot Posts: 37 Member
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    canbbot wrote: »
    Mark. Do you have a high resolution copy of that award. I want to have it framed. Last beats everyone on the couch.

    I bought a red lanterne https://www.amazon.com/Stansport-Hurricane-High-Lantern-12-Inch/dp/B000K6FI7E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1470009642&sr=8-2&keywords=red+lantern
  • Jakess1971
    Jakess1971 Posts: 1,208 Member
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    canbbot wrote: »
    canbbot wrote: »
    Mark. Do you have a high resolution copy of that award. I want to have it framed. Last beats everyone on the couch.

    I bought a red lanterne https://www.amazon.com/Stansport-Hurricane-High-Lantern-12-Inch/dp/B000K6FI7E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1470009642&sr=8-2&keywords=red+lantern

    lol awesome and very true, everyone who takes part is a winner in my book regardless of position.
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,682 Member
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    canbbot wrote: »
    Mark. Do you have a high resolution copy of that award. I want to have it framed. Last beats everyone on the couch.

    I didn't... Pretty much worked at the resolution you had downloaded.

    BUT... as I was bored this morning... here you go...

    (it's a different Lamp - the original source image wasn't big enough to scale without lots of jaggies...)

    28638719681_0db5b7b3fd_o.jpgLanterneRouge_326_BIG by The Big Yin, on Flickr

    should be 2224x1436 pixels (that'll do somewhere around A4 size print for you, on a standard 300dpi inkjet printer. Couldn't go larger, as the constraints were the actual Dossard Size...