2015 MFP Grand Tour Challenge - SIgnup and Discussion Thread...

TheBigYin

For those of you who didn't join in with last years challenge, what I propose is that as a team of 9 riders we try and ride between us a distance each day equal to or greater than the distance of that day’s stage in the Grand Tours (The Giro d'Italia, Tour De France and La Vuelta Espana). The person in the team who rides the largest total km’s gets the Leaders Jersy, the person achieving the fastest average speed overall gets the Sprinters jersey and the person who posts the highest total ascent figure in metres gets King of the Mountains jersey.

To verify the distances/speeds/ascents rides would ideally need to be logged via some form of GPS and posted to Strava. As I’d be looking at average speeds and climbs, I think that it’s only appropriate to restrict this challenge to outdoor mileage only.

So – anyone up for a challenge ??

Hopefully I've given enough time for people to see this, and sign up - who knows - we might even have enough people for more than one team despite the fact that MFP have done their level best to make a complete and utter bollocks of the communities on here, and pretty much ruined the whole group thing we had going for the last couple of years...

TheBigYin

Giro 2015's Route / Distances are as follows:

BigG59

I'm in. As usual I will be away during the week some weeks, but, I will do my far share of mileage and climbs.

Dave2041

Sure i'm in

KitTheRoadie

Wouldn't miss it!

Bram61

Count me in please.

KaktusJaque

I believe I my leg has recovered enough to enroll, please count me it.

Frannybobs

With weekends largely being tied up with house renovations I'd pretty much only be posting commuting miles, so although I'd be happy to join in I don't want any team having to carry me, so I won't be offended at all to sit this one out unless a team would be a rider short in which case commuter miles are better than no miles (sorry Mark, KMs !!!).

hawkeyegal1995

I'm in. It's a tradition at this point!

Kupe

I'm in. Agree with Hawkeyegal, the grand tours wouldn't be the same with out it.

Jakess1971

Yep I'm in, just don't shout at me if I do a lot of miles, in training for next year , Franny your more then welcome on my team, every mile counts.

Disclaimer: Away in London for a three day birthday trip on the 13-15th May with my bird .

TheBigYin

Frannybobs wrote: »

..I'd pretty much only be posting commuting miles, so although I'd be happy to join in I don't want any team having to carry me

Fran... Commuting distances are often the most valuable - most teams seem to have no problem hitting the targeted distances on weekends - lots of clubruns and weekend warrior riding happens - but through the week, that's sometimes a different story.

Lets not get too hung up on the massive distances folks - sure, it was pretty amazing that we as teams did 2 and sometimes 3 times the expected distance, but I'd hate this challenge to get to the point where people feel uncomfortable with signing up because they're not going to knock in 250km or more every week... I certainly can't commit to the same distance as I've done for the last couple of years worth of challenges - at the moment i'm pretty much stuffed after 25-30km (and that's in favourable weather conditions - I simply DAREN'T ride in the kind of weather we had for most of last year's Giro for example...)

Frannybobs

Cool, then I'm in - cheers guys

veloman21

I'm in. Defo need something like this to refocus after the last 2 weeks calamity.

cloggsy71

As usual, I'm in - No 303 again please

I promise to put my #SoapBox away after my little rant on the newsfeed

TheBigYin

cloggsy71 wrote: »

As usual, I'm in - No 303 again please

I promise to put my #SoapBox away after my little rant on the newsfeed

Rant away all you like Clive - I've got past the stage where I get annoyed by people who sign up then CBA to even send a note from their Mam to say "they can't play out this month"... I just think they're more to be pitied than scolded frankly.

Nothing against anyone who has a genuine reason for withdrawing, just the idle feckers that get cold feet at the prospect of actually being accountable for their rides for a 3 week period, 3 times a year.

So - anyone who's prepared to wave a big stick and kick some *kitten* on my behalf is most welcome to do so.

TDSeest

I'm in again. My work schedule is going to be awful this year, but I can pretty much squeeze in 10 to 20 miles per day, and longer on weekends.

Spatialized

I'd love to do this again but will be sans' bike for at least 5-7 days of this including the first and last weekends due to pre-planned vacations so I'll bow out. In the immortal words of so many racers: choosing to sit out the Giro in order to focus my energies on the Tour.

verdemujer

Yes! I had to search through TBY's thread to find this link and I'm so glad I did. Please! I really need the motivation for riding!

rides4sanity

Was going to pass, but it's just too damn fun...

And I've missed y'all!

cowbellsandcoffee

In. Gotta get those miles down for CX season.

TheBigYin

so - who do we have so far then....

1. TheBigYin (naturally) (309 - http://www.strava.com/athletes/165533)
2. BigG59 (332 - http://www.strava.com/athletes/1362791)
3. Dave2041 (don't think you've joined any prior challenges Dave)
4. KitTheRoadie (312 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/302091)
5. Bram61 (didn't ride giro - http://app.strava.com/athletes/252269)
6. KaktusJaque (didnt ride giro - http://www.strava.com/athletes/5478255)
7. Frannybobs (306 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/1081439)
8. Veloman21 (didn't ride giro - http://www.strava.com/athletes/veloman21)
9. cloggsy71 (303 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/418271)
10. TDSeest (308 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/667197)
11. Spatialized (323 - http://www.strava.com/athletes/596751)
12. verdemujer (328 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/1274983)
13. rides4sanity (335 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/434020)
14. cowbellsandcoffee (316 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/1526381)

not quite enough for a second team

time to start "telling your friends" (read nagging the living daylights out of everyone!)

Oh - and I'll be trying to allocate "team numbers" as close as possible to what we rode last year, just to try and cut down on my hours in photoshop creating the dossards... I've added the details I think are correct... but obviously, this was based on 4 teams, and we've barely enough riders for 2 at the moment, so anyone without a 30x or 31x number is liable to change...

Jakess1971

TheBigYin wrote: »

so - who do we have so far then....

1. TheBigYin (naturally) (309 - http://www.strava.com/athletes/165533)
2. BigG59 (332 - http://www.strava.com/athletes/1362791)
3. Dave2041 (don't think you've joined any prior challenges Dave)
4. KitTheRoadie (312 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/302091)
5. Bram61 (didn't ride giro - http://app.strava.com/athletes/252269)
6. KaktusJaque (didnt ride giro - http://www.strava.com/athletes/5478255)
7. Frannybobs (306 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/1081439)
8. Veloman21 (didn't ride giro - http://www.strava.com/athletes/veloman21)
9. cloggsy71 (303 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/418271)
10. TDSeest (308 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/667197)
11. Spatialized (323 - http://www.strava.com/athletes/596751)
12. verdemujer (328 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/1274983)
13. rides4sanity (335 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/434020)
14. cowbellsandcoffee (316 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/1526381)

Oi you've missed me off! You trying to tell me something?

TheBigYin

Amended List - I was cutting/pasting and got to Fran, then next scroll down and up I went to Fran again but missed out the 3 entries in-between her 2 posts...

1. TheBigYin (naturally) (309 - http://www.strava.com/athletes/165533)
2. BigG59 (332 - http://www.strava.com/athletes/1362791)
3. Dave2041 (don't think you've joined any prior challenges Dave)
4. KitTheRoadie (312 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/302091)
5. Bram61 (didn't ride giro - http://app.strava.com/athletes/252269)
6. KaktusJaque (didnt ride giro - http://www.strava.com/athletes/5478255)
7. Frannybobs (306 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/1081439)
8. Veloman21 (didn't ride giro - http://www.strava.com/athletes/veloman21)
9. cloggsy71 (303 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/418271)
10. TDSeest (308 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/667197)
11. Spatialized (323 - http://www.strava.com/athletes/596751)
12. verdemujer (328 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/1274983)
13. rides4sanity (335 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/434020)
14. cowbellsandcoffee (316 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/1526381)
15. hawkeyegal1995 (315 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/2201255)
16. Kupe (313 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/296878 )
17. Jakes1971 (305 - http://www.strava.com/athletes/3024626)

Still not quite enough for a second team

nerdieprofessor

Sign me up. I've been 313 and 305 before for other tours but I don't think I've done the Giro.
I've just joined Strava yesterday. I *think* I have it set up to sync with my Garmin, but we shall see later today.
https://www.strava.com/athletes/8934381
I won't be good for much climbing since I'll be at the beach for a week during the Giro and, well, I'm not a climber anyhow, but I hope to ride most days. I'm just coming back from illness.
New profile photo is at the end of my ride to Paris on Sunday (Paris, Arkansas...).

rides4sanity

I still have this one from a few years ago...

cyclistphil

you can count me in. Still recovering from crash and surgery but I will give it a shot.
https://www.strava.com/athletes/74312

Spatialized

TheBigYin wrote: »

Amended List - I was cutting/pasting and got to Fran, then next scroll down and up I went to Fran again but missed out the 3 entries in-between her 2 posts...

1. TheBigYin (naturally) (309 - http://www.strava.com/athletes/165533)
2. BigG59 (332 - http://www.strava.com/athletes/1362791)
3. Dave2041 (don't think you've joined any prior challenges Dave)
4. KitTheRoadie (312 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/302091)
5. Bram61 (didn't ride giro - http://app.strava.com/athletes/252269)
6. KaktusJaque (didnt ride giro - http://www.strava.com/athletes/5478255)
7. Frannybobs (306 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/1081439)
8. Veloman21 (didn't ride giro - http://www.strava.com/athletes/veloman21)
9. cloggsy71 (303 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/418271)
10. TDSeest (308 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/667197)
11. Spatialized (323 - http://www.strava.com/athletes/596751)
12. verdemujer (328 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/1274983)
13. rides4sanity (335 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/434020)
14. cowbellsandcoffee (316 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/1526381)
15. hawkeyegal1995 (315 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/2201255)
16. Kupe (313 - http://app.strava.com/athletes/296878 )
17. Jakes1971 (305 - http://www.strava.com/athletes/3024626)

Still not quite enough for a second team

Well, looks like I have to ride now...and that's OK. Just warning the team, I will not be riding at all from 5/29-5/31 though, the bike doesn't fit in/on the car we're taking on vacation. See y'all on the road!

Cycle_pathic

Count me in...https://www.strava.com/athletes/1319723.

lbchilds2001

Please add me in as well.....https://www.strava.com/athletes/4998632

verdemujer

I borrowed Veloman21's post and used it to post in some other group challenges I have going on. Oh - I just remember one more place I can post it. We'll see if anyone bites. I had an awesome commute this morning so I'm really looking forward to this. I really have my fingers crossed for good weather in May. Maybe I should be crossing toes too.