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

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  • sufferlandrian
    sufferlandrian Posts: 8,244 Member
    I really am reluctant to have to post this. I have only missed one day of riding in the last two challenges. I had to miss today. I have had a couple of patients go really south on me, one who passed away. The time and emotional drain was too much and I needed to take the day off and spend time with my wife and kids and get some rest. I promise I'll get back at it tomorrow. Sorry Team Pastana.
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,686 Member
    Again, my apologies to Team Lotta Jumbos... but I'm honestly not sure how many rides I'm going to get in during Le Tour. My husband has been in the hospital for 2 weeks now for his heart condition, and there were hopes of him being able to go home on meds until a donor heart is available, but they can't keep him stable so he's going to have to have surgery :( This means for at least 6 weeks I won't have much spare time to get a ride in :-/
    So, if there is another eager beaver who's already been riding and willing to hop in my spot, cheers to him/her and go on with you! If not, I'll do my level best to try and get *some* miles on the board but I can't promise anything :-/

    Never mind about the silly cycling challenge, you concentrate on the important thing - being there for your husband. I know how much time is consumed when family are in hospital - it's all you can do to find time to eat/sleep yourself, never mind anything else.

    Thanks for letting us know - and I'm sure I speak for everyone on all the teams when I say you and your husband are in our thoughts (and prayers, for those who do that thing)...

    Stay Strong.



  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,686 Member
    steffenson wrote: »
    TheBigYin - I am not sure how this works out - is this where one of the 2 alts is able to join? Or not as the challenge has already started?

    Once the challenge starts (i.e. the first ride has been booked into the submissions thread by anyone, there are no substitutions allowed - just like the real thing.



  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,686 Member
    BigG59 wrote: »
    No way I'd have gone out in that weather if it wasn't for the challenge. That wet I got the winter bike out and for a few seconds considered my CX!!!

    I'm thinking that today may well be that for me... not happy at all about it, but even if I only ride up and down the street far enough to get outside my "strava privacy zone" so there's a GPS track, I'm NOT failing today.


  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,686 Member
    I really am reluctant to have to post this. I have only missed one day of riding in the last two challenges. I had to miss today. I have had a couple of patients go really south on me, one who passed away. The time and emotional drain was too much and I needed to take the day off and spend time with my wife and kids and get some rest. I promise I'll get back at it tomorrow. Sorry Team Pastana.

    Understandable, and once again I say it "don't worry about the silly cycling challenge" - and if anyone should be apologising to Team Pastana it's me... I've been as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike this tour so far, and not shaping up to be any better today :-1:


  • sufferlandrian
    sufferlandrian Posts: 8,244 Member
    TheBigYin wrote: »
    I really am reluctant to have to post this. I have only missed one day of riding in the last two challenges. I had to miss today. I have had a couple of patients go really south on me, one who passed away. The time and emotional drain was too much and I needed to take the day off and spend time with my wife and kids and get some rest. I promise I'll get back at it tomorrow. Sorry Team Pastana.

    Understandable, and once again I say it "don't worry about the silly cycling challenge" - and if anyone should be apologising to Team Pastana it's me... I've been as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike this tour so far, and not shaping up to be any better today :-1:


    I live in Montana. An ashtray would be useful on a motorcycle. :smile:
  • TDSeest
    TDSeest Posts: 1,089 Member
    Team Pastana presses on. I think we are doing really good given the circumstances (injuries and weather). I appreciate each one of you, as it spurs me on.
  • Jakess1971
    Jakess1971 Posts: 1,208 Member
    Again, my apologies to Team Lotta Jumbos... but I'm honestly not sure how many rides I'm going to get in during Le Tour. My husband has been in the hospital for 2 weeks now for his heart condition, and there were hopes of him being able to go home on meds until a donor heart is available, but they can't keep him stable so he's going to have to have surgery :( This means for at least 6 weeks I won't have much spare time to get a ride in :-/
    So, if there is another eager beaver who's already been riding and willing to hop in my spot, cheers to him/her and go on with you! If not, I'll do my level best to try and get *some* miles on the board but I can't promise anything :-/

    Life has a habit of getting in the way, sending you and yours some best wishes.
  • hawkeyegal1995
    hawkeyegal1995 Posts: 2,009 Member
    Sorry for my lack of logging...hopefully will get caught up in the nex couple of days-not that I have big Kms to post or anything. Had unexcepted visitors show up at my house plus extra hours at work to juggle. Now to find time to start sorting out my gear for RAGBRAI.
  • ntnunk
    ntnunk Posts: 936 Member
    I'm gonna try to boost my mileage now that I have last night's race out of the way. Try to do my part to give Pastana a boost!
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,686 Member
    smeakim1 wrote: »
    Yin have to give you props for that spreadsheet except that its all in KM ;-). Its actually pretty awesome and I deal with finance people all day who love spreadsheets. Pretty cool how it all links together along with the visuals.

    Cheers - the "linking through" is all part of my attempt to be as lazy as possible... minimise any duplicated keying, and make the whole thing pretty much re-useable for the next grand tour. Plus of course, it HAS been refined over something like the last 7-8 grand tours, so it's had chance to evolve (and been scrapped once or twice along the road, and a new, better version released that looked the same, but had better "engine" behind it.

    (Yes, I sort of do this for a living (it's part of what I do at least) ... although usually with better tools than google sheets)

  • m1xm0d3
    m1xm0d3 Posts: 1,576 Member
    Dang I would have loved to join this challenge. This is what I get for not venturing the forums or browsing the groups to join. Oh well. Maybe next race.
  • Jakess1971
    Jakess1971 Posts: 1,208 Member
    Sorry for my lack of logging...hopefully will get caught up in the nex couple of days-not that I have big Kms to post or anything. Had unexcepted visitors show up at my house plus extra hours at work to juggle. Now to find time to start sorting out my gear for RAGBRAI.

    Every km counts, I've seen challenges before where it's just a couple of kms between the teams, check the spreadsheet, were doing quite well you know :).
  • sufferlandrian
    sufferlandrian Posts: 8,244 Member
    m1xm0d3 wrote: »
    Dang I would have loved to join this challenge. This is what I get for not venturing the forums or browsing the groups to join. Oh well. Maybe next race.

    Well stick around. The Vuelta de Espana is up next. :smile:
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,686 Member
    Jakess1971 wrote: »
    Sorry for my lack of logging...hopefully will get caught up in the nex couple of days-not that I have big Kms to post or anything. Had unexcepted visitors show up at my house plus extra hours at work to juggle. Now to find time to start sorting out my gear for RAGBRAI.

    Every km counts, I've seen challenges before where it's just a couple of kms between the teams, check the spreadsheet, were doing quite well you know :).

    you're not kidding every KM counts - it may be tough at the top, but it's as tight as a gnats chuff at the other end of the chart at the moment... 1589.4km vs 1591.1km !

  • trimom10
    trimom10 Posts: 388 Member
    Team Pastana, hopefully I'm not dragging team down by not biking every day. Between my work schedule and my training schedule, I'm unable to log a great distance during the week, but I've had some climbs. My goal for this weekend is to have saddle time both days. Tomorrow will likely be a recovery ride since I have a four mile race (run) in the AM.
  • cloggsy71
    cloggsy71 Posts: 2,208 Member
    I for one am gutted #Pastana hasn't covered the KM's for yesterday's stage... Come on - Allez Allez Allez!
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,686 Member
    cloggsy71 wrote: »
    I for one am gutted #Pastana hasn't covered the KM's for yesterday's stage... Come on - Allez Allez Allez!

    You and me both Clive... Probably more upset by that than being DFL on the teams overall. It's all the more annoying for me because I thought that we'd got a more even spread in the teams for this challenge, but it seems I've really screwed up this time :-1:


  • anaconda469
    anaconda469 Posts: 3,479 Member
    I do not have access to internet, so I can't log miles today. Can I log my Saturday miles on Sunday when I get home? I am using my phone to post this.
  • Kupe
    Kupe Posts: 758 Member
    Sorry team pie, no team time trial for me today. Melbourne has decide that winter is enforce today. 5 degrees with rain and wind. I don't think even die hard rule 9 nutters are going to go out in this.
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,686 Member
    I do not have access to internet, so I can't log miles today. Can I log my Saturday miles on Sunday when I get home? I am using my phone to post this.


    no problem whatsoever...

    if ANYONE is going "out of coverage" for a few days, either a "backwoods" trip, or just "on tour" and away from a computer, just drop me a PM and I'll make a note in the spreadsheet so I don't start pestering you for details when you can't add them.



  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,686 Member
    Oh...

    Don't forget folks - today is TEAM TIME TRIAL DAY - there's only a target of 28.0km IN TOTAL for today, BUT there must be 5 or more people that ride today for the stage to be considered "completed"...

    So, one rider could ride 28km and the other 4 COULD ride 100metres each, or 5 riders could ride 5.6km each, or any combination you like... as long as theres a total of 28.0km or over ridden, and 5 or more people out there on the bike.

  • hawkeyegal1995
    hawkeyegal1995 Posts: 2,009 Member
    A warning to team Pie-this will be a very light week for me as I gear up for RAGBRAI starting on 7/19. My logging will be sporadic that week as I don't take my computer along but I am back home on Wednesday night so depending on my energy will try and get caught up-if not everything will be posted on Saturday/Sunday when the ride wraps up. If all goes well, I should have about 700-800 km to add.
  • anviljenkins
    anviljenkins Posts: 562 Member
    yea it is raining here today, but I have a new water resistant "wind jacket" to test out, so I will get a few Twinkie KM in at least :-)
  • Jakess1971
    Jakess1971 Posts: 1,208 Member
    A warning to team Pie-this will be a very light week for me as I gear up for RAGBRAI starting on 7/19. My logging will be sporadic that week as I don't take my computer along but I am back home on Wednesday night so depending on my energy will try and get caught up-if not everything will be posted on Saturday/Sunday when the ride wraps up. If all goes well, I should have about 700-800 km to add.

    Sounds like a meaty addition to me, ride well and stay safe.

    On another note anyone know whats happened to one of my team members Jedicouncil? No rides logged in the sheet for him.... bit amiss of me to miss it until now but still.
  • Jakess1971
    Jakess1971 Posts: 1,208 Member
    Kupe wrote: »
    Sorry team pie, no team time trial for me today. Melbourne has decide that winter is enforce today. 5 degrees with rain and wind. I don't think even die hard rule 9 nutters are going to go out in this.

    Sounds a tad on the dangerous side to me, safety first and foremost.
  • Jakess1971
    Jakess1971 Posts: 1,208 Member
    TheBigYin wrote: »
    cloggsy71 wrote: »
    I for one am gutted #Pastana hasn't covered the KM's for yesterday's stage... Come on - Allez Allez Allez!

    You and me both Clive... Probably more upset by that than being DFL on the teams overall. It's all the more annoying for me because I thought that we'd got a more even spread in the teams for this challenge, but it seems I've really screwed up this time :-1:


    I think predicting what people will ride is a tough ask really especially when you get some nut job riding mad miles or some mountain goat pulling out a 10,000m climb ... or someone going on a 600km Audax lol, still waiting on Glenn to pull another one of those out the bag ;)

    If I were you I'd be damn proud of what you've done here, this challenge gives a real focus to getting those miles done, ultimately it's just about covering that course distance and every team is doing that in spades, anything above that is a bonus.
  • sufferlandrian
    sufferlandrian Posts: 8,244 Member
    Sorry Team Pastana. It's not looking good for a ride today. The weather outside is beautiful and I'm inside on my fourth surgery for the day. What is it with eyeballs the last two weeks? The dogs are not doing so good in the "Protect your eyes" department.
  • steffenson
    steffenson Posts: 312 Member
    A warning to team Pie-this will be a very light week for me as I gear up for RAGBRAI starting on 7/19. My logging will be sporadic that week as I don't take my computer along but I am back home on Wednesday night so depending on my energy will try and get caught up-if not everything will be posted on Saturday/Sunday when the ride wraps up. If all goes well, I should have about 700-800 km to add.

    Hey Hawkeyegal I'm also doing RAGBRAI.... My first! Going with Brancel charter. How about you?
    Unfortunately I have about 2k miles of driving round trip so will not be able to log any miles for nearly 10 days!
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,686 Member
    edited July 2015
    steffenson wrote: »
    A warning to team Pie-this will be a very light week for me as I gear up for RAGBRAI starting on 7/19. My logging will be sporadic that week as I don't take my computer along but I am back home on Wednesday night so depending on my energy will try and get caught up-if not everything will be posted on Saturday/Sunday when the ride wraps up. If all goes well, I should have about 700-800 km to add.

    Hey Hawkeyegal I'm also doing RAGBRAI.... My first! Going with Brancel charter. How about you?
    Unfortunately I have about 2k miles of driving round trip so will not be able to log any miles for nearly 10 days!

    I've dropped a note in the spreadsheet that you're both on the Route... Can I ask, as it's an organised trip, is there any "upload" facility for Garmin data, or are we going to have to resort to waiting for you both to get back from the ride ? (I know at some multi-day events the organisers put on "strava trucks" where you can basically "dump" your Garmin at the end of each day...)

    Oh - and if anyone else is doing this event (or any other multi-day, away from home trip) can I ask if they can also let me know so I can make provisions - and, I'll be honest - when a "regular" doesn't log for a few days, I actually start to worry that something's gone wrong... I know it's daft, but I do actually feel slightly responsible for you all :)

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