Obsessessed?

On Saturday I went out for as short a ride as I could to do just over 2000ft of ascent. There was still some snow on the ground and it was cold - so why on earth would I do that?

Basically - Strava. I sign up for the monthly challenges and try to complete some of them. Last year (2014) I managed to do 11 of them: http://midlandscyclist.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/jlr-strava-club-longest-ride-we-21.html.

Normally the ones I managed to complete were the Grand Fondo - made easier last year as the distance was reduced to 80 miles from 100 the year before. I managed all of them from April to December. I also completed two others by a lucky alignment of when they fell in the months (a 5 weekend month always stands a higher chance of higher mileage). I have not yet managed to complete an MTS challenge at 1250km for a month though

For 2015 there were some new challenges introduced in January - there was a shorter Fondo of 100km (64 miles), a Grand Fondo of 150km and a climbing challenge. I felt I was in for a good chance for the shorter Fondo with a planned ride on 1 Jan from my parents to my sister in law in Billingshurst which was just under 60 miles. I thought that a few extra loops near the end would strike that one off, but I ended up being 0.5miles too short - I was really quite annoyed. Here's the ride: https://www.strava.com/activities/235324641

Given 60+ miles in January is 4+ hours for me in the Winter I felt that that was it for any of the January challenges. I plodded on riding miles through January and because there was some ice I rode a few trips over to Rose Hill in the Lickey Hills to do repeats (the roads there and back are mainly bus routes so clear of ice). The first time I rode the Bilberry Hill ascent and the second time the other side of the Old Birmingham Road ascent. These rides are not really climbs but the roads over from home are rolling and it is easily possible to get over 100ft/mile - not bad for a city. I managed a couple of 50 mile rides and commuted to work twice. All in al this riding resulted in me getting to Saturday 31 Jan "needing" just over 2000 feet to a challenge. So I did, back over to Rose Hill again:

I also completed 381miles in January - most definitely a PB.

And on Sunday 1 Feb as it was dry I rode the Scott again for the first time in several months - it was a pleasure and always feels "better" than the Giant. With the massive tailwind I achieved a 20mph average for the first 20 miles although I paid for it when I turned back into the wind.