Festive 500 by a few of your rando friends

[pamela blalock]

For the last week of 2011, Rapha, the UK clothing company, challenged
riders to do 500km over 9 days. Most randonneurs, of course, would not
find this challenging at all. But take into consideration the time of
year, weather, family obligations etc. Also part of the challenge was
to tell a story with words, video, photo, whatever. It wasn't enough
to just log the miles.

A few randonneurs took part in the challenge, and made Rapha's short
list, and now are competing for *likes* on facebook for a chance to
win a bike or some nice swag.

Ryan McKay, stayed up all night to cram for his final, uh I mean he
did the 500km all in one go! real rando-spirit there
George Swain, who's article The Road to Recovery, featured in the most
recent American Randonneur, is continuing his recovery, and also
completed the challenge.
John Bayley and I, had some fun with it as well - keeping with a theme
for our week of riding. We did a few of our rides on tandem, as well
as single bikes, and even fixed gear.

If you do facebook, please go out and support your rando friends.
Check out their photos and stories by following the link beneath the
rapha-selected photos, and support their/our efforts by liking their
entries.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.307218682648434.63240.165374816832822&type=3

The short list has 28 entries. The photos for the randonneurs can be spotted ...
Ryan - next services 82 miles
George - red nosed reindeer
Blayleys - shadow of tandem

Apologies if I missed any other randos...

And thanks for your support!

pamela blalock
watertown, ma

http://blayleys.blogspot.com

[George Swain]

Dear Pamela,

Thanks so much for the mention! Yes, it was great to see (at least)
three randonneurs in the final 28 of the Rapha Festive 500 Challenge!
What an honor. It just goes to show that randos know a thing or two
(or three) about riding long distances in adverse conditions within a
short amount of time (to say the least!) This 500K was the highest
volume of weekly riding for me since my accident. Simply participating
and completing the challenge brought me great joy and felt like a
wonderful omen of things to come. Thanks for your support.

I'll add that while we are "competing" for the bike and swag,
individuals can "LIKE" as many of the entries as they chose. Readers
can "LIKE" all three of us by clicking on our photos on the Rapha
facebook page.

Here are the links:

George
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=307219095981726&set=a.307218682648434.63240.165374816832822&type=1&theater

Pamela and John
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=307220529314916&set=a.307218682648434.63240.165374816832822&type=3&theater

Ryan
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=307220129314956&set=a.307218682648434.63240.165374816832822&type=3&theater

Keep the rubber side down!

George
http://thehudsonvalleyrandonneur.blogspot.com/

On Jan 22, 7:33 pm, pamela blalock <el...@blayleys.com> wrote:
> For the last week of 2011, Rapha, the UK clothing company, challenged
> riders to do 500km over 9 days. Most randonneurs, of course, would not
> find this challenging at all. But take into consideration the time of
> year, weather, family obligations etc. Also part of the challenge was
> to tell a story with words, video, photo, whatever. It wasn't enough
> to just log the miles.
>
> A few randonneurs took part in the challenge, and made Rapha's short
> list, and now are competing for *likes* on facebook for a chance to
> win a bike or some nice swag.
>
> Ryan McKay, stayed up all night to cram for his final, uh I mean he
> did the 500km all in one go! real rando-spirit there
> George Swain, who's article The Road to Recovery, featured in the most
> recent American Randonneur, is continuing his recovery, and also
> completed the challenge.
> John Bayley and I, had some fun with it as well - keeping with a theme
> for our week of riding.  We did a few of our rides on tandem, as well
> as single bikes, and even fixed gear.
>
> If you do facebook, please go out and support your rando friends.
> Check out their photos and stories by following the link beneath the
> rapha-selected photos, and support their/our efforts by liking their
> entries.
>

> https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.307218682648434.63240.16537...