Christmas Cross & the Rapha Festive 500

Summary:
Ride 60 miles from home with a tail wind & fresh legs
Race 50 mins cyclocross
Ride 60 miles back home with a head wind & tired legs

Report:
Each year, Strava issues a challenge to ride 500km in the 8 days between 24-Dec and New Year.  This year marks my 4th attempt, having completed it successfully in 2011 and 2013.  It's a great motivation to get out of the house and ride some "base miles" to offset the customary calorific intake of the holiday season.

I love riding my bike but I always prefer to have a destination and purpose to the trip instead of making an arbitrary circular route.  Participating in the Festive 500 makes me eager to find excuses for riding to destinations and Christmas Cross organized by the Kentuckiana Cyclocross series seemed like a perfect fit, a cross race about 60 miles from home with a start time of 2pm on Sunday 28 Dec.

To avoid getting a chill after the ride down and the race, I needed changes of clothes and shoes.  This was too much to fit in a back pack and riding for 7-8 hours with a weight on my back was an unpleasant prospect so I elected to use my Bob-Yak trailer.  This also meant I had the capability to hail a set of cross wheels and ride some faster rolling tires there & back.  With that, the plan was formed.

Ready for the road, trailer with cross race wheels & dry clothes

It took me 3 hours 40 mins to ride there with a tail wind & fresh legs (not a great combination, I struggled to stay warm enough).  I got to the race venue in Charlestown with time to register, change into race kit, remove the bottle cages and fit my cross wheels.

Bottle Cages off, Race wheels on...

The race was a small affair but with a high standard, people making final preparation for Nationals.  My legs were a bit shocked with the aggressive demands at the start and I found myself dead last early in the first lap.  The muddy course demanded plenty of running and as I warmed up, I started passing people again.  With one to go, I had no chance of making up another place so was happy to ride out the final lap, but the accumulated mud on my bike had other plans - my rear derailleur seized up, ripped off the mount and got stuck in the rear wheel.  I ran the final quarter lap already wondering how I was going to get home.

Rear mech damage after the race

The cyclocross community proved (again) that it is just that, a community.  I was offered various rides home, however I was still set on riding back if possible.  I managed to get a replacement mech hanger from John Gatch, got a complete tool set to use and was able to repair the damage, ready to hit the road after the podium.

Repairs complete, ready for the ride home

Podium
John Gatch (4th), Mike McShane (3rd), Andy Messer (1st), John Card, (2nd) Tim Proctor (5th)

The ride home was about 75% in the dark and the wind hadn't dropped or changed direction so it was largely a head wind.  Just short of Seymour I picked up a flat on the rear wheel.  Fortunately, I had my cross wheels on the trailer, so it was a quick change to get up and running again.  My ride home took just over 4 hours, given the head wind, tired legs and wheel change I was pretty happy.

I'm always amazed when I manage to get from A to B (and back again) simply with the power of my body.  Strava estimates I burned 5,500 kcal over the day, but I burned no gasoline!

Strava data for the day (via Garmin Edge 500):
Ride to the race
Race (finished 5th overall)
Ride home