MFP Cycling Classics Challenge 2013

The MFP Classics Challenge - Ride Logging and Results Thread.

Dates for the Diary...

One Day / Classics Races
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
02.03.2013 Strade Bianchi
17.03.2013 Milano-Sanremo
24.03.2013 Gent - Wevelgem
31.03.2013 Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres
07.04.2013 Paris - Roubaix
14.04.2013 Amstel Gold Race
17.04.2013 La Flèche Wallonne
21.04.2013 Liège - Bastogne - Liège
05.10.2013 Giro di Lombardia

Please keep any discussions in the initial discussion thread - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/830544-mfp-cycling-challenges-for-2013

this thread will be kept for race information, and our own results...

The Organisers of this Challenge Reserve the right to Delete Non-Compliant posts.

Replies

cloggsy71

06/10/13 - 94.9km - 3h 12m 53s - 329m - http://www.strava.com/activities/87244225

Street-side Church

Recovery drink (660ml of loveliness!) :drinker:

TBY Edit - 0pt Climbing Bonus, 0pt food, 1pt drink, 1pt Photo - total 2 Bonus pts

katozdad

6/10/13 107.5km - 4h58m44s - 1451mtr - http://app.strava.com/activities/87290153

In ride coffee and a scone - scone not italian, but Foggy out the 'Last of the Summer Wine' would be proud.

The falling leaves taken half way up Holme Moss, now my biggest ascent recorded on Strava. I liked how the sun was catching the leaves that were turning brown on one side of the tree.

And finally, the recovery drink this evening... Quality!

Really going to miss the classics. Really helped me to get an early start this year when it was so easy to stay in bed. Thank you TBY, I owe you more than you realise.

TBY Edit - 2pt Climbing Bonus, 1pt ride food/drink, 1pt drink, 2pt Photo - total 6 Bonus pts

(you do know that the building opposite Sid's Cafe is actually a Church, Don't you...)

hawkeyegal1995

46.67 km 1h 53m 25s 165m elevation gain

Had to cut this ride shorter than I had planned. It was in the 40s which is not a big deal but throw in a steady rain and I was cold and miserable.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/386897714

Hope it doesn't matter if the church is open or not but here is the old school country church.

the leaves are just starting to turn around here so no real pretty colors yet

Thanks for a great classic!!

TBY Edit - 0pt Climbing Bonus, 0pt ride food/drink, 0pt recovery drink, 2pt Photo - total 2 Bonus pts

cyclenut64

66.74 km 2hr 23m 48 s 330m elevation gain
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/386901226

Little chapel in the country

Another little chapel out in farm country

My fall colors, we don’t have much color yet but it will come fast.

My pasta, with Italian sausage, sauté onions and green peppers in garlic, I forgot to add the garlic bread before I took the picture and the beer to wash it down

After dinner coffee, I don’t have an espresso machine.
It was a beautiful day, cool but sunny, I wish I could have had more time to ride but had to get home and get daughter to her soccer game

TBY Edit - 0pt Climbing Bonus, 3pt food/drink, 3pt Photo - total 6 Bonus pts

narak_lol

I am sorry for the delay in reporting - problems with the PC so (hopefully!) photos to follow tomorrow :sad:

6/10/13 192.7 km 6h13m51s 1,536m elevation. http://app.strava.com/activities/87261095

I am very lucky that a scheduled long training ride coincided with this Lombardia challenge or no way I can put in this amont of mileage :laugh:

TheBigYin

I am sorry for the delay in reporting - problems with the PC so (hopefully!) photos to follow tomorrow :sad:

6/10/13 192.7 km 6h13m51s 1,536m elevation. http://app.strava.com/activities/87261095

I am very lucky that a scheduled long training ride coincided with this Lombardia challenge or no way I can put in this amont of mileage :laugh:

No worries Karan, there's a couple of people who have ridden but not yet posted so I'm going to give it a couple of days...

narak_lol

Hello - here are the photos for the bonus points (I hope!) :happy:

The fall colour here

Homemade pasta

Local Hong Kong style coffee (likely not qualified

)

I couldn't find any churches during the ride

TBY Edit - 3pt Climbing Bonus, 2pt ride food/drink, 1pt Photo - total 6 Bonus pts

harksy

http://www.strava.com/activities/87251062#comments
Sorry Big Yin I wasn't going to bother putting it in as I have no Photos, iphone is banjaxed and I am on an old Nokia

Distance 84.8 km
Elevation 658m
Avg speed 31km
02:43:58

TBY Edit - 1pt Climbing Bonus, 0pt ride food/drink, 0pt drink, 0pt Photo - total 1 Bonus pts

...and don't worry - the spot points are a bit of fun, the core activity is the ride...

TheBigYin

Final Results for the Ninth section of the Classics Challenge (Giro di Lombardia) are as Follows:

http://www.editgrid.com/user/thebigyin/MFP_Classics_Challenge_2013

(no screenshots this time, just a link to the actual spreadsheet)

- An truly astonishing 192.7km ride this week from narak_lol - Chapeau Karan!!!

- What looked like a fantastic ride, out in wonderful location, Katozdad, with 107.5km of some of yorkshire's finest roads - and what looked like a rather nice Cream Tea at Sid's Cafe - hope it was as good as it looked Carl.

- and just sneaking over the 3-digit distance, me :embarrased:

And As always well done to everyone who got out there and did a ride and joined in on my spot prizes and photo-bonuses...

Which brings us to the overall points...

Third Overall, albeit with the longest overall distance covered of any of us, is Harksy... 141points, 766.8km covered, 2 Events won and one Second Place, is a fantastic effort Alan.

Second Overall, with the 4th longest overall distance covered of 719.3km, resulting in 153 points, 2 individual Event Wins,2 seconds and a third place is Katozdad, once again a brilliant effort, and who knows what would have happened had you not been snowbound on the Gent Wevelghem weekend Carl.

So, the Overall Classics Challenge winner for 2013 is...

TheBigYin

(cue cry's of booo..... fix.....)

With 741.57km covered, and 158 points it was an incredibly close run competition - pretty much all down to the fact that I managed to get out for a measly 5.2km on the Gent Wevelghem weekend and amassed 8 points in the process...

But the real reason I feel like the winner is that I've had an enormous amount of fun coming up with this challenge, including writing the "potted historys" of the race, dreaming up themes for the "spot prizes" and marvelling at how some of the non-european riders in particular managed to source genuine Stroopwafels or bottles of Belgian beer. It's also been fascinating reading your ride write-up's and wherever possible, doing a "virtual ride-along" on the route courtesy of Google Streetview.

It's been a complete and utter pleasure organising this challenge - and I'm immensely proud of every single one of you that got yourself out there and turned a crank for the cause.

:drinker: or :flowerforyou: as appropriate.

( so, who's organising it next year... )

cloggsy71

( so, who's organising it next year... )

Erm... TBY... :flowerforyou:

Frannybobs

Final Results for the Ninth section of the Classics Challenge (Giro di Lombardia) are as Follows:

http://www.editgrid.com/user/thebigyin/MFP_Classics_Challenge_2013

(no screenshots this time, just a link to the actual spreadsheet)

- An truly astonishing 192.7km ride this week from narak_lol - Chapeau Karan!!!

- What looked like a fantastic ride, out in wonderful location, Katozdad, with 107.5km of some of yorkshire's finest roads - and what looked like a rather nice Cream Tea at Sid's Cafe - hope it was as good as it looked Carl.

- and just sneaking over the 3-digit distance, me :embarrased:

And As always well done to everyone who got out there and did a ride and joined in on my spot prizes and photo-bonuses...

Which brings us to the overall points...

Third Overall, albeit with the longest overall distance covered of any of us, is Harksy... 141points, 766.8km covered, 2 Events won and one Second Place, is a fantastic effort Alan.

Second Overall, with the 4th longest overall distance covered of 719.3km, resulting in 153 points, 2 individual Event Wins,2 seconds and a third place is Katozdad, once again a brilliant effort, and who knows what would have happened had you not been snowbound on the Gent Wevelghem weekend Carl.

So, the Overall Classics Challenge winner for 2013 is...

TheBigYin

(cue cry's of booo..... fix.....)

With 741.57km covered, and 158 points it was an incredibly close run competition - pretty much all down to the fact that I managed to get out for a measly 5.2km on the Gent Wevelghem weekend and amassed 8 points in the process...

But the real reason I feel like the winner is that I've had an enormous amount of fun coming up with this challenge, including writing the "potted historys" of the race, dreaming up themes for the "spot prizes" and marvelling at how some of the non-european riders in particular managed to source genuine Stroopwafels or bottles of Belgian beer. It's also been fascinating reading your ride write-up's and wherever possible, doing a "virtual ride-along" on the route courtesy of Google Streetview.

It's been a complete and utter pleasure organising this challenge - and I'm immensely proud of every single one of you that got yourself out there and turned a crank for the cause.

:drinker: or :flowerforyou: as appropriate.

( so, who's organising it next year... )

Well done everybody!!

The Classics Challenge rides were great fun, particularly the spot prize, buying a nice beer and/or cake/pastry was a great reward! I particularly remember trying to rack my brain to remember where there are any cobbles near me and drawing a blank, oh and finding one poxy Spring emerging flower for a point by the side of a dual carriageway (cycle path segregated, don't worry!!). I loved looking at everybody else's photos too from all across the world.

Thanks again to TBY for organising - a lot of time, thought and effort went into it - it's just a shame I had so many DNSs due to life getting in the way of cycling. Rude!

Cheers guys :drinker:

TheBigYin

( so, who's organising it next year... )

Erm... TBY... :flowerforyou:

Could be awkward if I'm over in Belgium for 3 or 4 of the races... It'd also put a bit of a crimp on riding those days come to think of it...

katozdad

Thank you very much TBY, this challenge has truly been my favourite challenge of the whole year. It has been hard at times, especially getting up at 6am on a Sunday morning (on occasion) and the water turning to ice in my water bottle (on at least one occasion), but it put me on an excellent trajectory for the summer of riding that I have enjoyed.

There was plenty of **** going off in my life this year that I could really have gotten stressed about, but this summer I have never felt healthier and more mentally capable of taking on the world, a lot of that positive attitude has come from my riding, and a lot of the feeling good and motivation to get out and ride has come from these challenges, particularly this.

So, without reservation, I'd like to offer my heart felt thanks to TBY for organising and making the challenge such an enjoyable and inclusive experience. :drinker:

harksy

Well done Karan a fantastic ride at breakneck speed!
Well deserved Mark on the overall! Great consistency this year by you even through all your troubles. Its amazing seeing how well everyone's cycling has improved throughout the year and you should take a bit of credit in keeping us all motivated with these challenges.

Keep 'er lit over the winter folks

narak_lol

Thanks Harksy for your kind words! I feel like 10 feet tall :bigsmile:

Huge congratulations to the overall winners! Plus big thumbs up to everybody who went out there and ride despite rain, storm & all those xxxxx elements. I bet I'm not the only one who did that :laugh: These challenges were a great motivator, in particular in times when I needed a kick in the bottom. And I noticed that we all put in awesome high numbers in those days - love that friendly competitiveness :drinker:

I look forward to the upcoming challenges, TBY (hint hint!)

KitTheRoadie

Just wanted to jump in and show my gratification to Mark for organising such a brilliant set of challenges, giving us all the motivation to get out there and ride our legs off! Also for the background info on the races, which personally I found hugely interesting, and making it fun with the spot prizes too!

Well done to the top 3 riders, truly inspiring distances/rides there guys, and well done Mark, don't worry I don't really think it's a fix!

I can only attribute my general fitness and this years performance increases on my bike to this and the Grand Tour Challenges, they really did motivate me to get out there ride when I might not have done otherwise, they made me feel like a part of something bigger and I miss logging my rides when they are over!

I really love the MFP cycling club, I'm proud to call myself a member, thank you Mark for providing us with this enjoyment, you really are an asset to this website and I'm privileged to have you as a friend on here. I raise my glass to you! :drinker:

PS - Sorry if that sounds a bit 'gushy', I think my wife's pregnancy hormones are taking over!!

:laugh:

TheBigYin

Well - what can I say - I'm pretty much overwhelmed by the responses here - I'm glad it's got a few of you through the odd tough spell - frankly, this challenge, and the 3 Grand Tour ones have, at times, been the ONLY thing that's got me through a very dark period of my life, giving me a direction and a purpose when my Dad died.

As some of you are probably aware, for the last 10 years, I've been primarily a full time carer for my aging parents, Initially both my Mum and Dad, then, when we lost her to Cancer in 2007, focusing entirely on my Dad's needs. While I knew that at some point the inevitable would happen, it was very sudden, and turned everything in my life upside down in the space of a week.

So - I'm in the process of taking my life "back off hold"... Part of this has been getting out and being a little more sociable, and breaking out of "the groove that had become so deep, it'd become a rut, then a trench." One problem I'd found was I was almost "institutionalised" - I tried 4 times to go away for a weekends camping before I finally made it! This Christmas, I'm spending 3 days up in the Lakes with a couple of mates, and actually looking forward to it... I'm hoping that by next year, I've actually got to a point where I get to visit my "Italian Surrogate Family" for a while, and the more I read the write-ups about the Spring Classics, the more I actually want to pack a camper-van with some clothes, some beer and frites money, and my bike, and go watch the races live, then ride on the day before or the day after...

So, if all that goes well, I may not be able to actually run these challenges next year - this I have to say is WHY i've put quite so much into them this year - the little things - Customized Dossard Pictures for the Grand Tours, Online Spreadsheets for the results, going over-the-top with the spot prizes, and even dreaming up the MFP Worlds...

I would however love to think that the challenges could continue even if I can't run them - i've got all the "source materials" tucked away and the spreadsheets saved - though the dossard process in Photoshop CS5 is a bit messy and would probably be a bit of a nightmare for anyone who took it on...

Jakess1971

Can't blame you for wanting to get out there, I feel a big yearn for cycling overseas and broadening my horizons, hope it works out well for you TBY, if you feel you can't run any of the challenges then I'm sure one of us can help out and keep the legacy going.

cyclenut64

TBY, I have been away for a while and haven’t had much time on MFP lately, but I wanted you to know that I truly had fun participating in all the challenges you organized. I know I put on more miles because of them and am more fit as a result. Many thanks to you and wish you well on your venture have fun at the lake. Take some time to enjoy life my friend.

TheBigYin

thanks once again to everyone who joined in on this one... hope there's a followup next year in some shape or form. For now, I'm going to un-sticky this thread to make way for the winter series challenges...

TheBigYin

bump