Strava/Trek Century Challenge (July 2020)



With an app for just about everything, there are many choices for cycling to help keep track of your rides, and Strava is one of the best.  As I understand it, Strava got its start as a cycling app and has branched out into other activities.  Keeping with my philosophy to not pay for phone apps (seems like a can of worms to me), Susan and I only use the free version of Strava.  However, it comes with a load of features including tracking mileage, time, rate, and recording a map of your trip.  It also recently added a “segments” and a “legends” feature to allow you to compare well-travelled routes against other cyclists.  The app has always run smoothly, syncing seamlessly with my Garmin app and Susan’s FitBit app without any glitches.  I really am considering a subscription because I am getting so much value out of it and feel like I owe it to them.

In July 2020, Strava and Trek teamed up for the Trek Century Challenge: bike 100, 500, or 1000 miles in the month of July and win a mug, a digital sticker, and a medallion (bronze, silver, or gold) that attaches to the stem cap of the handlebar post.

On July 30th, Susan and I took our final July ride and finished with  141 miles.  Out of all the cyclists doing the challenge, I am somewhere north of 156,000th place.  And I don’t care how low I am.  I am just happy to be on the list.  Some list.  Any list.  I am just happy that we got out there and biked all month.  I am happy that it’s a habit.  I’m happy that I did every single mile—every inch—with Susan.  That we are even able to bike 25 miles at a shot.  Very cool.

For a frame of reference, at the time of this writing, the first place cyclist has 6,786 miles in the month of July.  Let’s be perfectly clear and do the math.  That’s an average of more than 225 miles PER DAY.  The winners of the Tour de France average about 25 mph.  At that rate, he’s cycling, on average, 9 hours a day, every day, for 30 days.  That’s.  Insane.  I thought “Buddy, you might have a problem!”

Then I researched him.  He is a 63 year old grandfather.  (WHAT??)  He uses cycling to raise awareness for an orphanage in Kenya.  He holds the Guinness World Record for fastest time to cycle ACROSS Canada.  He is using this Strava challenge to break the Guinness world record for the farthest cycled in one month (30 days).  I offer him my most sincere congratulations.  May we all find our passion and turn it into something to improve the lives of others.  Look for him at www.grandpascan.com.  I found a picture of him with some of his friends from Kenya when they got off the plane.  He looks like an average grandpa.  You could overlook him in Walmart.  Except there is nothing average about him.  Good on ya, buddy.  And I will be rooting for Arvid Loewen from Winnipeg with all my heart.









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