Winter Training Challenges - Signup/Discussion Thread

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  • Dave2041
    Dave2041 Posts: 257 Member
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    *Applaudes* Chapeau Jason, hard fought throughout and we both had periods of leading and chasing. Was a great challenge, well run and you never gave up no matter how frustrating running this must have been! Thanks again, see you in the classics/ Next challenge :) Good luck for LeJoG!
  • ddroth
    ddroth Posts: 95 Member
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    Thank You Jason!!! There were times i probably would have skipped my day of training just because it was a long day at work and i just wanted to relax BUT NO I had to keep pushing because i knew Clive was right on my wheel the whole time and I had to keep pushing or he would have got by me for 5th overall:):) (super fun) Great job and it really was fun and a great tool to keep on track with training for the spring.... AWESOME...
  • cloggsy71
    cloggsy71 Posts: 2,208 Member
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    Awesome challenge Jase! Chapeau to you for taking on and dominating the beast that was the Winter Challenge & also, really well done on the win! You & Dave are truly Mentalists!

    As I say to Mark all the time "If you build it, they will come!" and this has proven true for the winter challenge too!

    Can't wait for v2.0; the automated version, next November!!!

    I wonder if the automation could be developed sooner to aid the Grand Tour logging?

    Chapeau to the finishers and to all who took part. See you back here next year, all fitter & stronger!?
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,682 Member
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    Thanks Jason, for the kind mentions, and for taking on the whole challenge thing this winter - there's no way I was in the right frame of mind to administer the challenge - I think If I'd have had to keep booking in the massive rides and burns that some of you lot were making day in, day out, I'd have pretty much given up and folded on my own meagre efforts. So, I'm delighted that you took on the task, and even more delighted at how well it worked.

    Only thing now is, you've set a High Benchmark, and I'm not 100% sure I'm going to be able to live up to it with the Grand Tours and Classics... Certainly, there's no way I'd have the patience to do daily updates of all the status in my newsfeed - I tried, and, well - put it this way... there's a reason that I made the whole "Results Spreadsheets" instead.

  • Jakess1971
    Jakess1971 Posts: 1,208 Member
    edited March 2016
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    Thaks all for the kind comments :).
    cloggsy71 wrote: »
    I wonder if the automation could be developed sooner to aid the Grand Tour logging?

    I have considered working with Mark on this and having something ready for one of them, however I wouldn't want to commit to such a thing as I have a heavy schedule of training and have enough on to try and get something ready for November, I'll be aiming for basic but functional, I think if the next Winters challenge goes well and we get some good participation then it can be enhanced for a wider community and the framework could be used for any challenge like the Grand Tours if Mark wanted to use such a thing, I see huge potential for creating all sorts of online challenges using Strava as source data, for example a virtual race across America or a LeJog using an map to show where you are etc, monthly leagues, cup competitions, it'll all be community driven so suggestions & feedback are most welcome, it would be great to build something together.

    So far I've built a MySQL data model for the pulled Strava data via the API, sourced a server for hosting on and currently determining which web based technologies are best to play with, I like to play .... such a geek.
    TheBigYin wrote: »
    Only thing now is, you've set a High Benchmark, and I'm not 100% sure I'm going to be able to live up to it with the Grand Tours and Classics... Certainly, there's no way I'd have the patience to do daily updates of all the status in my newsfeed - I tried, and, well - put it this way... there's a reason that I made the whole "Results Spreadsheets" instead.

    Very much looking forward to the Grand Tours, I might be a bit hit or miss on them but these have always been run flawlessly, I'll enjoy watching someone else stick the hard work in now :)
  • ntnunk
    ntnunk Posts: 936 Member
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    This was a great challenge. I didn't really get my head into the game until late but it definitely got me riding sooner and kept me riding longer!

    Great job on the administration. I'm really looking forward to seeing the automated system when it rolls out.
  • m1xm0d3
    m1xm0d3 Posts: 1,576 Member
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    Bravo and nicely done everyone! :mrgreen:
  • steffenson
    steffenson Posts: 312 Member
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    Congrats everyone on all the hard work! (most particularly Jason!) I feel like I have gotten to know all of you (and your biking habits) over the last 4 months.
    This challenge sure made winter riding a lot more fun and got me on the bike about twice as much as I would have otherwise (maybe more). After sleeping for a few days I am not sure what I am going to do with myself - though mentions of beer, video games and (cheap) dates all sound up my ally! Biking wise I hope to find something new to motivate me for (likely) another month before I can start riding outside and try to keep up with the fastest of the local cycling groups.
  • jillyian
    jillyian Posts: 423 Member
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    I felt like I was missing something when I got home and I didn't have to go to upload and share my ride on the ride logging thread
  • Jakess1971
    Jakess1971 Posts: 1,208 Member
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    I know what you mean, kind of happy i have no responsibility now though :)

    You can ride for classics points though today, mine will not be very long today though.
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,682 Member
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    Yep - Classics Challenge is on now until October (if I'm still above ground by then...)

    And we've some spectacularly "classics" type weather here - snowing like a good one at the moment...
  • Dave2041
    Dave2041 Posts: 257 Member
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    Jakess1971 wrote: »
    Thaks all for the kind comments :).
    cloggsy71 wrote: »
    I wonder if the automation could be developed sooner to aid the Grand Tour logging?

    I have considered working with Mark on this and having something ready for one of them, however I wouldn't want to commit to such a thing as I have a heavy schedule of training and have enough on to try and get something ready for November, I'll be aiming for basic but functional, I think if the next Winters challenge goes well and we get some good participation then it can be enhanced for a wider community and the framework could be used for any challenge like the Grand Tours if Mark wanted to use such a thing, I see huge potential for creating all sorts of online challenges using Strava as source data, for example a virtual race across America or a LeJog using an map to show where you are etc, monthly leagues, cup competitions, it'll all be community driven so suggestions & feedback are most welcome, it would be great to build something together.

    So far I've built a MySQL data model for the pulled Strava data via the API, sourced a server for hosting on and currently determining which web based technologies are best to play with, I like to play .... such a geek.
    TheBigYin wrote: »
    Only thing now is, you've set a High Benchmark, and I'm not 100% sure I'm going to be able to live up to it with the Grand Tours and Classics... Certainly, there's no way I'd have the patience to do daily updates of all the status in my newsfeed - I tried, and, well - put it this way... there's a reason that I made the whole "Results Spreadsheets" instead.

    Very much looking forward to the Grand Tours, I might be a bit hit or miss on them but these have always been run flawlessly, I'll enjoy watching someone else stick the hard work in now :)

    Happy to collab on this if you want.
  • Jakess1971
    Jakess1971 Posts: 1,208 Member
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    Cheers Dave, I'd certainly value your input, I'll keep you in the loop, let me know of any ideas you have etc.
  • Spatialized
    Spatialized Posts: 623 Member
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    Awesome job everyone! Big thumbs up to Jase for running the show! Looking forward to the next set of challenges.
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,682 Member
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    Just a "heads up" folks - I'd rather hoped that we'd carry some of this momentum into the classics challenge, but it seems rather quiet in there compared to the Winter Challenge - maybe one of two of you would like to sign up, but think you've now "missed the boat" - nope - it's open until October - and there's PLENTY of events still to come, and LOADS of points for the overall, not to mention each individual event having its own little medal table...

    Have a look on this thread for details of how to signup -

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10348271/how-do-i-join-the-classics-challenge#latest

    To be honest, the future of these challenges - including the Grand Tour Challenges later in the year, ALL hinges on your participation - there's no point whatsoever in me running these things as a challenge if its only going to an obsessive compulsive that ride centuries for every event, and three or four people like me who just want an excuse to drink Belgian Beer and Eat Waffles or Moules Frites...

  • Jakess1971
    Jakess1971 Posts: 1,208 Member
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    Having had a good play with the Strava API it's been an eye opener to see the historical issues developers have had with access, this goes back to July 2013 but is still a good heads up for using the API http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/07/cutting-removing-functionality.html

    One main limiter I've found is you can grab your own full history of data using the API but when it comes to other users you can only grab recent club data unless you feed it a specific activity id.

    One fellas bad experience using the Strava API with a fit leagues & challenges website ... although seems mainly focussed at running http://fitleagues.com/node/123

    Also had a brief look at the Garmin API and decided against this as it's a one off $5000 access fee ..... unless anyone fancies stumping this up??? No? Thought not lol.

    However saying all the above I'm still looking at doing something as a pet project mainly for a fun current skills brush up as much as anything else, I've been doing server side chemistry base software for a long time now, we should at least have something usable for a future challenge of sorts I think.

    We should be safe at creating something useful for the community but at the same time not replicate anything that looks Strava Web Site like.
  • banshee1013
    banshee1013 Posts: 125 Member
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    Hi Jason, thanks for the 'honorable mention'! I just wanted you to know I didn't drop out because of any issues with you, the group, or logging - I just got really busy in both work and personal life and didn't have the time to ride :-/ Things seem to be settling down now so hope to be back on the bike soon - especially because I have a 2 day 160 mile ride coming in November :)
    Thanks to you and Mark for all you do!
  • Jakess1971
    Jakess1971 Posts: 1,208 Member
    edited April 2016
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    Hi Jason, thanks for the 'honorable mention'! I just wanted you to know I didn't drop out because of any issues with you, the group, or logging - I just got really busy in both work and personal life and didn't have the time to ride :-/ Things seem to be settling down now so hope to be back on the bike soon - especially because I have a 2 day 160 mile ride coming in November :)
    Thanks to you and Mark for all you do!

    No probs, if your interested in something a little more automated without all that messy logging have a read of this thread:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10364900/2016-beta-summer-automated-challenge-1st-june-to-31st-august-discussion-and-signup-thread/p1