Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to the 2015 MyFitnessPal Tour de France Grand Tour Challenge.

This thread is solely for entering ride details into. Please keep all questions, discussions or general banter and inter-team trash talking in the discussion thread ( http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10139694/2015-mfp-grand-tour-challenge-signup-and-discussion-thread#Item_415 )

To attempt to simplify matters, I've created a "template" for ride logging that I really do need you to use:

TdF Challenge Entries for Rider ___ Team Pastana/Pie/Twinkie/Jumbo (delete as appropriate)

Stage Date    Distance     Time   Ascent(m)  Ride Log URL
                          h:mm:ss
====================================================================================
1 ITT    04/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
2        05/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
3        06/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
4        07/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________ 	
5        08/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
6        09/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
7        10/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
8        11/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
9 TTT    12/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
R        13/07
10       14/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
11       15/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
12       16/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
13       17/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
14       18/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
15       19/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
16       20/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
R        21/07
17       22/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
18       23/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
19       24/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
20       25/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________
21       26/07   ___._km  __:__:__  ____m  ___________________________________

Running Total ____._km

I'd suggest you copy/paste the template above into a .txt file on your machine, and use that text file as your own personal master file. Just edit in the rides as they are logged, when you're happy with everything, just "select all" and paste it into a post in this thread. If you're feeling REALLY helpful, wrap the "code" format around the entry pasted, and it should even come out as a proper table...

RIDES POSTED IN OTHER FORMATS (e.g. cut and paste from excel etc. - unless identical to the above format) WILL BE DELETED AND NOT COUNT UNTIL POSTED CORRECTLY. I WASTED FAR TOO MUCH TIME IN LAST YEARS CHALLENGES TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF PEOPLES "INTERPRETATIONS" OF THE REQUIRED DATA FORMAT. So - This time, it's "No More Mr. Nice Guy..." IF YOU CAN'T DO THIS, PLEASE SAY, WHILE WE STILL HAVE TIME TO FIND SOMEONE TO TAKE YOUR PLACE. IF YOU'RE NOT 100% SURE HOW IT WORKS, WAIT A FEW DAYS AND SEE THE OTHER PEOPLE'S POSTS AS AN EXAMPLE - AND IF YOU'RE STILL NOT SURE, PM ME AND I'LL TALK YOU THROUGH IT. Oh and the one biggie... EVERYTHING IS IN METRIC - Distances in Km, Ascent in Metres. Switch your Strava to metric settings for the duration folks please (or at least switch it over while collating your post), as neither I nor my Assistants have the time or inclination to check your manual conversions (which ARE invariably different at some point due to rounding errors). And as to why it's all metric. Simple:

1. It's A Continental Race, that's measured in Km's
2. Rule #24
3. I say so. It's my Challenge, don't like it, go start your own!

Also - as a note to the regulars, since MFP have made a complete mess of the "communities" and removed edit permissions for group managers, it's now impossible for me or any of my assistants to actually add in a separate note to each entry as "proof of posting to the master spreadsheet". We're also unable to delete old entries, so the thread WILL become absolutely MAHOOSIVE in a very short time. SO, once again, NO off-topic (i.e. non-ride posting) entries in here please, Keep that to the Discussion thread. Please Try and only add one update per day, and before posting check the last post in the thread... if there's a message saying it's currently being updated to the master spreadsheet, don't post until you've been given the all clear.

So... just a couple of guidelines / disclaimers before we start...

1) You don't have to ride every day that the tour riders do, just ride as often as you can, at a sustainable level - no point in riding 3 back to back centuries and then being restrained to the couch for the next 14 days. IF YOU GET SICK/UNWELL/INJURED STOP RIDING AND SEE A DOCTOR-YOU ARE NOT PROFESSIONAL CYCLIST AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO TOUGH IT OUT

2) If you ride more than once in a day, post the total distance, Time and Altitude, with a series of URL's for the individual logs - with 4 (or more) teams of 9 riders to keep track of, I really don't have the extra time to be adding 6 rides to the shops and back up every day for some people. While it's no big thing for a single person, with 40 or more people potentially doing this, last year I think I spent more time logging things than I actually did riding.

3) Remember, It's not **really** a race - don't go out and ride at stupid dangerous speeds and hurt yourselves. It's not big, or clever, and I can't afford the lawsuits that would ensue :laugh:

4) Post your ride details as soon as you are easily able to do so - while the "intrim results" will be available in the spreadsheet, these are very much "to be confirmed" records, and are subject to scrutiny/amendment at a later date, and will not be finalised until a couple of days after the challenge closes. If however you are off the bike for a couple of days, please add the rides as "DNR" as soon as you can. Also - if you're "on tour" or away from t'internet, don't sweat it (though a PM to me beforehand to let me know so I don't waste time searching for anything from you would be appreciated) - we'll get there eventually. When I've entered your ride, I'll stick an edit in the bottom of the thread to say it's sorted, and add a link to the updated spreadsheet by means of confirmation.

5) Ride logging commences 00:01am (in your own local time zone) on 4th July 2015. Logging ends at 23:59pm (again, local TZ) on 26th July 2015. For night rides that may cross from one day to the next, I reserve the right to log them in whichever day may need the extra mileage

6) Rides will be logged in a Read-Only Google Spreadsheet available Here...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-25uHM98B6nbxmJrIn0OSTbXYICff__L9s0zbBDR0Is/edit?usp=sharing

Go have a look at it, it's rather cool, if I do say so myself...

7) for Team Time Trial Stages, in order for the stage to be considered complete, at least 5 or more riders need to ride this stage - so, not only do each team need to exceed 28.0km for stage 9, but 5 or more riders need to book a ride (7 of you could ride 4km each if you so wanted, or one rider could ride 30km and 4 others could ride 100m up and down the road, BUT at least 5 need to ride on that day.

8) While we try and get the data entered perfectly, it's a big task, and the forum structure at MFP is now very messy and not really optimal, so it's entirely possible that mistakes may be made in entering your logged rides. If you notice a problem, drop me a PM rather than ranting about it in the thread - and please remember that this ISN'T actually how I earn my living, this is a free, fun challenge, and I'm out there riding as well, so please don't expect a 10 minute response 24x7 for the duration as, you'll be very sadly disappointed, and probably asked to leave and never return. I do get a little bit (ahem) forthright with people who are unable to follow the (hopefully clear) instructions, and as veterans of the challenges are well aware, I've had no qualms about throwing people out of the challenge before if needed, and will do again if needed - as I said above, the most important rule is because " I say so. It's my Challenge, don't like it, go start your own!"

9) And after all that..... Ultimately It's all for fun and fitness - so go out there and enjoy it...






ETA: Please don't post in this thread until the Challenge Starts on 4th July 2015 - See you all on the Starting Ramp in Utrecht...


Cinque, Quatre,Trois,Deux, Un, Allez, Allez, ALLEZ!