Rapha’s Festive 500 began in 2010 as a simple challenge: brave the winter elements and ride 500 kilometers between December 24-31. Since then, riders have covered over 400 million Festive kilometers, including many virtual kilometers after Covid lockdowns opened the Festive 500 challenge to virtual rides.
15 years on and it’s become cycling’s favorite year-end ritual. This year, for the first time, your outdoor miles count just like your indoor miles when it comes to finishing the challenge on Zwift. Read on for details…
The Challenge
Your task is to ride 500 kilometers (310.7 miles) in eight days, from December 24-31. Outdoor bike, e-bike, handcycle, and virtual rides all count toward the total.
This is all tracked through Strava – in fact, the Festive 500 is the longest-running Strava challenge in the world! You’ll need to sign up for the Strava Challenge and upload your rides to Strava to be considered an official finisher.
RoboPacer-Led Festive 500 Events
Outdoor rides and all Zwift miles (free rides, workouts, etc) count toward the Festive 500 challenge, but Zwift is spinning up RoboPacer-led events to encourage riders to go the distance. The following RoboPacers will be in each event:
- A: 3.7 W/kg Genie RoboPacer
- B: 2.6 W/kg Coco RoboPacer
- C: 2.2 W/kg Maria RoboPacer
- D: 1.8 W/kg Miguel RoboPacer
- E: 1.5 W/kg Bernie RoboPacer
Events alternate between “long” 50km rides on Triple Flat Loops at the top of each hour and “short” 25km rides on Watopia’s Waistband at the half hour.
See all of Zwift’s Festive 500 Group Rides at zwift.com/events/series/rapha-festive-500-zwift
Regular RoboPacer Schedule
The regular RoboPacers will be rolling as well, and these “always on group rides” are another great place to look if you want to rack up piles of miles. Zwift is changing the Watopia routes daily, to give us a bit of variety if we’re joining these bots regularly.
Here’s the route schedule during Festive 500 (see the full RoboPacer schedule here):
Wednesday, December 24
Thursday, December 25
Friday, December 26
Saturday, December 27
Sunday, December 28
Monday, December 29
Tuesday, December 30
Wednesday, December 31
Special Event: Ride with Eric Min on December 25
Join Zwift CEO Eric Min on Christmas day at 4pm UTC/11am ET/8am PT for a festive 50km group ride on Triple Flat Loops in the limited-edition Ugly Sweater kit.
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/5283128 >
Special Event: Ride with Rapha’s CEO Fran Millar on December 31
On the last day of the challenge, join Rapha CEO Fran Millar for a Festive 500 ride. It’s another 50km group ride on Triple Flat Loops. Finish strong!
Sign up at zwift.com/events/view/5288682 >
Kit Unlock
Complete the Festive 500 via any combination of indoor and outdoor rides, and you’ll unlock the Rapha Festive 500 2025 kit in Zwift:
Important: you will not unlock the kit until Zwift batch-processes all Zwifters’ efforts after January 2. Internal sources tell me it will probably be January 5-6 when everyone receives their kits.
Prize Drawing
Details of the Strava challenge say those who finish will earn the following:
- Entry into the prize draw to win a US$1,000 Rapha voucher
- A digital roundel for your Strava Trophy Case
- A 20% off code to spend at Rapha
- The chance to win a grand prize package from Rapha’s partners
More Events from the Community
Community teams always create special events (group rides and even races) to help riders hit the Festive 500km goal. In fact, each year at least one crazy group holds a ride covering all 500km in one event!
See all upcoming rides over 100km in ZwiftHacks >
Questions or Comments?
Are you up for the challenge? I know I’m in, just like past years. Share below!
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