I have a proposal for you all. This year, I want to devise and issue a handful of challenges for anyone to attempt. I got the idea while listening to a podcast about the Iron Butt Award and (very briefly) considering it. Since most of us can't ride together, it would be some opportunities to take some longer, purpose-oriented rides, document the experience, and have something to show for it.
Like the Iron Butt Award, these challenges would have a set of guidelines in order for the challenge to be considered complete. Proof of travel would be required, in the form of pictures of your gas receipts, food receipts, your bike in front of a city sign, etc. While each challenge would naturally be customized to fit the specific rider and area you live in, the basics would be the same. Ride a minimum distance away from your home in a period of time, take pictures of things (I'm thinking kind of a scavenger hunt for each of them), document your route through receipts and pictures of easily-Googlable landmarks and city signs, and post a thread. Completed challenges will be earn some kind of token of recognition; I'm thinking stuff like stickers, patches, t-shirts, etc. We can get into the design of those later.
For challenge types, I've got a few ideas already, and I'll take some suggestions.
- Simple distance in a day challenge - Like the Iron Butt Award, but shorter. I'm thinking 350 at a minimum, because that's a decent fun ride anyway. Maybe a 400 and a 600?
- Ride for Pie - Or pizza or whatever. Ride at least 100 miles for a piece of pie. Bonus if you do it on March 14th.
- Park to Park - Visit at least three state or national parks (including national monuments, historic sites, rivers, parkways, trails, or anything administered by the National Park Service). I'd like to have a couple versions of this one, including camping in a different park each night for two or three nights.