Take on the CW5000 Challenge as a team

At Cycling Weekly, we’re under no illusions that 5000 miles isn’t a long way. It's the distance from London to Beijing and also also the same distance of the Trans Am bike race, the epic self-supported race across 10 states of the USA.

With this in mind, there are many reasons why you would want to tackle the CW5000 Challenge as a team.

First, unlike the (debatably crazy) people who take on the Trans Am each year, it can be difficult for us to balance riding with family and work responsibilities. Especially in the winter months, it can be difficult to juggle home and work life commitments whilst also putting the miles in. As a group you can inspire each other to get on the road more.

The team challenge also offers a fantastic way to involve the rest of your family. Unless your child is the next Geraint Thomas, they’re unlikely to be hitting the 5000 mile mark this year. However, by entering as a team, it’s an opportunity to enjoy more rides together and share the rewards of the CW5000.

Whilst we believe 5000 miles is achievable by almost every rider if they set their mind to it, real life can often get in the way. Injury, illness or other major life events, like a house move, can often get between you and the bike. The team challenge can share that burden and help each other when life gets in the way.

>> To enter as a team all you have to do is add a team name when registering, just make sure you spell it the same way as your teammates. 

If you are already registered and would like to join a team, in your latest email click on preferences at the bottom of the email and there will be the option to add a team name.

How to manage your team?

In order to ensure that every member of the group receives the exclusive newsletter, everyone needs to register via the sign up page. We also recommend each member joins the Facebook group (link in welcome email), to share your rides and be inspired by others.

Nominate a team captain between you to coordinate progress and collate total miles. This will help you stay on track and give you an accurate measure of progress.

Alongside this, a team Strava or WhatsApp group offers a brilliant way to share weekly or monthly miles. Instead of hunting through individual emails or texts, having a central place to log miles will remove any admin time, thus freeing up precious time to get on the bike!

Feel like there’s a free rider in your team? Someone that spends more time dreaming about riding than actually riding? Why not introduce some friendly competition by having a forfeit for the rider who achieves the least miles each month, or doesn't achieve a monthly challenge. A donation to your favourite charity would be an admirable forfeit. Or for those groups who would prefer a harsher penalty, perhaps a ride through dismal conditions (not so difficult here in the UK) or a 15-mile ride using only one leg.

At the end of the day, having a group to achieve the CW5000 is a brilliant way to involve others and share in the comradery of a testing challenge. Once signed up, be sure to post in the Facebook group about your motivations and ambitions for the year ahead!

FAQs

Is there a limit to the people in each team?

There is no limit to the number of people in each team.

Does each team member have to complete 5000 miles/year or is it am overall, team target?

The team entry is there for people who don't think they will be able to complete 5000 miles alone, so the target is an overall team target

What happens if some cycle and others don't or don't do the required number of miles? Is it 1 fail, all fail?

It doesn't matter if some team members cycle a lot fewer miles than others, that is a dispute to sort out within your team.  When it comes to submitting proof of completing a challenge as a team, it just needs to be clear who has contributed miles to the challenge, so we can cross-reference that and check all members are indeed registered to the challenge.