I did it this (last) year. I received my badge.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1330367200
Actually I wrote an article for our internal Newsletter to take the p1$$ out of all these stupid race for life things etc. (I was also persuaded to!)
Over the weekend, my Crikey, how much Festive 500 badge arrived in the post; this is a quick story on how I earnt it.
The Festive 500 is a Strava challenge where you “Challenge yourself to ride 500km with Crikey, how much in the eight days between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve”. The easy way to do this is to undertake 8 rides of 62.5km every day, that’s less than the daily commute (although that’s only 5 days in a row!). However, I didn’t really feel that was for me, so opted to plan a large single loop of 500km, pack my sleeping bag, a bivvy bag and a load of food onto my bike, and see how I did.
I set off on Boxing Day a bit after 7am, within 3 minutes I’d headed back and picked up my cue sheet of distances between towns where I should be able to buy food, and then headed back out for good. My route started from home near Colchester, I clocked up the miles quite happily, saw the sunrise, it was cold, but clear. I whistled past Sudbury, towards Newmarket and stopped a bit afterwards to grab a snack – all was good. I carried on pedalling, taking in the quiet lanes, some long flat bits and some sea walls as I headed north towards the coast; by the time sun was setting, the air was getting chilly and I’d just about got as far as King’s Lynn via Ely and Downham Market. A couple of mini stops later, swapping of power sources for GPS’ and batteries, keeping myself fuelled and an extra layer of clothing, I settled in for the night shift. So far the forecasted poor weather had been holding off, and the brutal winds were just about in the correct direction to not affect me too badly.
I headed out to towards deepest darkest Norfolk for the night shift, the rain gradually started pouring; my bike computer was telling me it was about 2.5 degrees C, and it was starting to get to me. I headed along to Wells next the Sea, trying not to stop in order to keep some warmth in me, bit did stop to chat to a couple who had hired a holiday house for the festive period as they filled my water bottles up for me. By the time Wells next the Sea had come and gone, the weather was getting pretty poor – although it was pretty difficult to tell in the dark, and at least the roads were quiet at 9pm. Heading back south towards Fakenham and Dereham, I pretty much switched to “survival mode” and was doing all I could to keep moving and operating. The rain was pouring, it was dark, it was cold and miserable, and I’d normally be asleep in bed, but instead I was riding a bike in the dark, in winter, in pretty much the worst possible weather. If it was colder it would be snowing, which is preferable to ice-cold water clinging to all my clothes and making me feel like I was in a freezer.
Then salvation; I found a McDonalds open in Derehem, and without any hesitation headed straight into it. I left a massive puddle of water everywhere I walked, and my hands were so cold they wouldn’t operate – I couldn’t take the helmet off my head! Fortunately, I could get my credit card out and order some cups of tea and food whilst I thawed out and made some plans. It was sometime after 10pm, the weather was not improving, but I was 155 miles (250km) down, so that was good. An hour or so later in McDonalds, my hands were operating again, my kit that I had spent a small fortune on was coming into its own as it dried so quickly – and to be fair was doing a good job of keeping me alive. Rather than try and Bivvy out in the trees, I found a porch of a church not far from the McDonald’s to get a quick bit of sleep in – my sleeping bag had never felt so good, and 160 miles (257km) had been pedalled, 160 very hard earnt miles !
An early start on the 27th before anyone else had woken up, it was still raining, still cold , and my legs were pretty ruined – a very tight left leg and a right knee that was swelling. 40 miles later I made my way into Beccles where I sourced some breakfast, warmth and much tea. To be honest, from this point onwards it was all a bit of a blur. The weather and rain gradually let up , but the wind increased as I headed down towards Aldeburgh, then a long slog into a headwind towards Framingham and Stowmarket direction, negotiating a few flooded roads and some properly slow riding. Some alcohol with a friend later and a final 40 miles with a hangover on the 28th of December, and I made it home with a broken body (still rehabbing the kneed injury!) and a sore head. Festive 500 2017 complete, I won’t be doing that again!
