Board Challenge Week 2

Wow!  A great first week of the Minnesota Randonneurs Board Challenge series.  Out of the 70 riders in our Strava group, 50 rode at least one 50 km ride in the past week (May 18-24).  In all we rode:
50km+                 79
100km+ rides.     32
 
Many of you already have an impressive Strava resume going this year, some of us are just getting started. If you would like to join us and are using Strava now, add Minnesota Randonneurs to your Strava club list.  If you are not a Strava user send a note to this email and I'll add you to the list.  At the end of the week, send me another note with the rides you completed during the week.
 
Before I unveil the May 25-31 challenge, here are a few notes I observed from analyzing the first week results.
  1.        A good number of riders are participating in indoor trainer groups and challenges.  Some of these look pretty intense and must be great training (and a chance to ride with friends or other riders from around the world!).  As I went through each rider profile it was sometimes hard to tell what mileage was actually recorded in some of the online session so there may be some additional 50/100k rides that I didn’t pick up on. 
  2.      2. Most of our riders are from Minnesota and Wisconsin, with a few Iowa and Illinois folks and some others scattered around, including a couple of riders from outside the US.  All are welcome, keep racking up the miles and posting your rides.  If you have friends that would like to join in, have them add Minnesota Randonneurs to their Strava Clubs list.
  3.       Some rider’s Strava ride profiles are limited in the level of detail (i.e. per ride info) that is shown so in some cases these riders may have ridden more than one qualifying ride (other than their longest ride) during the week.  If your entry in the list of riders has a ? mark at the end of the row you are one of these people.
 
       A couple of notable achievements need to be highlighted from this past week.  John Jarvis and Kate Ankofski both completed a Rebecca’s Giddy Up Everesting Challenge on Saturday in St. Paul.  Kate completed 16,000’ of climbing over 90 miles and John did the full Everest, 29,029’ in 173 miles.  Congratulations to both riders on an impressive accomplishment.  To learn more about the Everest Challenge, check out https://everesting.cc/ for the rules and details.
 
 
 
 
 
Top Riders For the Week
 
This week’s more prolific 50/100k riders were:
              Rider                   Home                 50k        100k
              Tim Bauer          Eagan                  6               1
              Dave Spoelhof   Duluth                  4               2
              Dan Diehn          Black River Falls 4               1
              Paul Dzimian     Eden Prairie         4               1
              Keith Morical     Minnetonka          3               2
 Chuck Ryan        Champlin            1               4
             
The Board Challenge for May 25-31
 
The 50k and 100k rides are still open this week, but given that there were six rides recorded over 100 miles last week, the challenge is now extended to include 150k (93.2 miles) rides. 
 
150k is probably going to be tougher for some during the week but let’s see how many we can rack up, as well as continue to get out in the evenings, early in the morning, or on your favorite trainer program to add some more 50s and 100s too. 
 
Here in Minnesota it looks like a pretty nice weather week coming up, even a little warm, so be sure to pack lots of fluids.
 
A word about the current pandemic.  We are all aware of the evolving nature of this 2020 crisis.  Please practice responsible safe group riding and minimize your contact with others while you are on your ride.  Carrying a mask with you is a good idea, even if you aren’t wearing it all the time while you’re riding.
 
This challenge and use of the Strava posts are not official events from Minnesota Randonneurs or RUSA.
 
Stay safe!
 
Rob