For some of us, Christmas time is an opportunity to get the bike out of the shed and spend a little more ‘me’ time outside with multiple layers on. It's the time to get those legs moving, fuelled by all of the festive treats. Christmas time is also full of cycling challenges to motivate you to keep the pedals churning, and maybe try something a little different instead of riding the same old routes. 

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Challenges are a great way to ride as they offer your (often) cold winter rides a purpose and a big sense of achievement at the end. Christmas cycling events come in all shapes and sizes; some have an individual start, some a mass start, and there are even virtual challenges, so you don't have to travel anywhere far to take part and earn your badge. 

Whether it’s for training for your first enduro mtb race, for fun or just to get that finishers medal or badge, let's have a look at what festive events you can get your teeth into this year. 

Rapha Festive 500

Taking place from 24 - 31 December, this is perhaps the most well-known Christmas cycling challenge. It's timed at that Christmas and New Year phase when you are in limbo waiting for a fresh year and when the bliss of Christmas is fading. The challenge: ride 500km over a week. You can do this alone or get a group together and have some fun as the goal is to enjoy every part of the journey. 

It is completely up to you how you split the distance for each day; if you do more one day, you can treat yourself to a day off - and there are those who also smash the whole 500km in one go in a day (a little easier in the Southern Hemisphere). You can mix disciplines; do a gravel ride one day and a mountain bike the other. You can even do a stint on Zwift which is full of Festive 500 group rides.

To sign up and track your progress, you need to have a Strava account to join the Rapha 500 challenge. This keeps track of the mileage covered, and once completed, you get a digital badge (gone are the cool physical patches), and a chance to win a bike and other prizes.

• www.rapha.cc/

Sonder Winter Gravel Series

Part of a new gravel series, this Sonder event takes place on the 18th of December in Ambleside in the Lake District. The organisers say it's a self-supported ride, leaving the Alpkit store at 10 am, lasting roughly 2-4 hours depending on your speed’.

This is a perfect event to do without the worry of being in a mass start and worrying about timing - it is a low-key, stress-free, just-get-out-and-enjoy-the-ride type of occasion.

It costs £10 to take part and is suitable for all riders of any ability. It is a solo ride that can be done with your riding buddies, and you need to take everything needed to be safe in case of any eventuality. A GPX file is what you follow, and no doubt will be a scenic fuelled route, and Alpkit rewards you with some tasty refreshments at the finish. If, after this event, it has piqued your interest to do another, then there is one on New Year's Day in Hathersage.

• alpkit.com

Strava Challenges

The digital fitness platform Strava seems like the place to be if you want to take part in virtual challenges to keep up your mountain bike fitness. Not just through December but throughout the year, Strava hosts a number of ‘challenges’. They are a great way to motivate yourself to get those legs moving with an endgame of completing the challenge - and keeping up the consistency.

The virtual nature of these challenges means you can choose where to get those miles in; indoors, outdoors, road, off-road, gravel, mtb; it's your call. To sign up for a challenge, you need a Strava account, and the data recorded from your rides automatically updates your result. Simple. Let’s take a look at what’s on offer.

• Cycling Climbing Challenge - climb a total of 7,500 meters
• December Cycling Consistency Challenge - Ride 800km over one month 
• December Cycling Distance Challenge - Ride a total of 1,250km throughout the month
• December Gran Fondo - Complete a 100km ride

For more info check the Strava website below. 

• www.strava.com/challenges

Festive Ride (Gravel) - The Service Course

The Service Course in Wilmslow, Cheshire, is one of four Service Course boutique bicycle stores, with the other three based in Nice, Girona and, most recently, Abu Dhabi. They cater for those who seek beautiful, unique one-off bicycles; think limited edition custom builds, and luxury, highly premium brands, such as Mosaic, Bastion and Curve.

The Wilmslow Service Course store is organising a festive gravel ride leaving the shop on the 18 December, and it is the perfect excuse to also browse the bling scattered inside.

For more information, check the Facebook page below.

• www.facebook.com/

Twelve Days of Christmas Challenge

Nice-work is an organisation that hosts events throughout the UK, and this winter, they are organising a virtual challenge called Twelve Days of Christmas to help you stay active over the festive time. 

You can start your 12-day challenge on Christmas Day and finish on 5 January, or, if you prefer to be finished sooner, start on 14 December and finish on Christmas Day. To be part of this challenge, you visit their website and once entered, you get your logbook to track your activities and submit your results. Once finished, you are then a proud owner of a well-deserved medal. 

• www.nice-work.org.uk

Crickley Flyers Christmas Special 2022

Head to 417 Flyup mountain bike park based near Cheltenham on the 18 December, where the local mountain bike club, Crickley Flyers, are hosting a fun, festive-style downhill race to end the year on a high. There are two race runs each, and the fastest time of both runs counts toward your final result. The tracks used are blue-graded, and you can enter them on the website below. 

• www.britishcycling.org.uk/events

Pearce Cycles Charity Uplift Day

Pearce Cycles are a long-standing event organiser based in Ludlow, well known for its downhill mountain bike series held throughout the year using classic venues such as Hopton Woods, Bucknell and Bringewood. This December, they have a wintery uplift that aims to provide a fun day of riding at Hopton while raising money for local community groups and Air Ambulance charities.

On the day, the uplift will run from 10:30am until 3:30pm continuously, site open from 9:30am. Pearce Cycles encourages everyone to attend and enjoy a relaxed day riding down some fun and fast-flowing trails suitable for trail, enduro, e- mountain bikes and downhill mountain biking. 

Find out more about this festive day on the bike below.

• www.pearcecycles.co.uk/races

Kids MTB Race - Forest of Dean CANCELLED

Christmas is the most magical time for a lot of us, especially for the little ones. If you have a keen biker in your family, then why not head over to the ‘capital city’ of mountain biking, the Forest of Dean? There will be a race for the small peeps, hosted by Forest of Dean Cycle Centre in the heart of the popular trail centre, on the 17 December. 

They don’t have to be a seasoned ripper, just as long as they have a little confidence in technical terrain and are aged 5-14. Sign-on is from 9 am -10:30 am. Racing starts at 11.00 am and there is a podium ceremony to finish. Each rider will have two runs, the second one being seeded. Pre-entry is essential as there are only 80 places available. You can have a look at more information on the website below - and if your favourite kiddo doesn't have a bike yet, we've got a guide on the best kid's mtb bikes, too. 

This event has been canceled due to snowy/icy conditions

• Best children's mountain bikes
• pedalabikeaway.co.uk

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