Taking the road less travelled: Your May challenges are here
It's high time we tipped over into triple digits on our rides, and tried something new


This May our British based CW5000ers have three bank holidays, which hopefully means three extra days of riding. Whether or not it's a whole day spent in the saddle or just a quick blast in between family gatherings, a bank holiday beats a day in the office every time.
With all this extra riding we're setting you all your first big ride challenge, whilst also encouraging a bit of exploration. We're hoping challenge number two is going to uncover some new roads or climbs that we haven't heard of before. Find something really special and we might end up writing a feature on it.
Hit a hundred
Challenge number one is to complete a century ride. Riding 100 miles is a right of passage for any cyclist. In the past century rides were a big deal, a kind of sportive before they were invented and there is still something extremely satisfying about seeing your GPS tick over into three figures. For this challenge we'll also accept 100km rides, which are just as satisfying, and a little less tiring.
Ride a road to nowhere
Cyclists mostly avoid dead end roads. Why bother? We'll only have to turn round and ride straight back down them.
Well there's a good reason to head past that T sign, as explained by writer Simon Warren in this article he wrote for us earlier this year. That dead end road might just be the best climb you've ever ridden. Or maybe it's 20 minutes of traffic free pedalling. You never know, between us we might find a climb we previously never knew of.
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Editor of Cycling Weekly magazine, Simon has been working at the title since 2001. He fell in love with cycling 1989 when watching the Tour de France on Channel 4, started racing in 1995 and in 2000 he spent one season racing in Belgium. During his time at CW (and Cycle Sport magazine) he has written product reviews, fitness features, pro interviews, race coverage and news. He has covered the Tour de France more times than he can remember along with two Olympic Games and many other international and UK domestic races. He became the 130-year-old magazine's 13th editor in 2015.
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