The results from our Winter Goal Setting Challenge are in, and we’re pleasantly surprised.

Over 1,400 members of the Love to Ride global community signed up to the simply-structured challenge, which invited users to set a goal and try and complete it within 3 weeks. There were very few constraints on what target you aimed for, and if munching some miles didn’t appeal, you could see your riding target as slices of cake, chocolate bars, or pints of beer.  Participants seem to have responded well to being given the reins, while the goals set ranged from just a single ride to a thoroughly epic 1500 km.

For our users in the UK, the timing of the challenge couldn’t have been worse, with record rainfall and high winds all through the challenge period. Some of our participants were bested by the weather – one user wrote “My 100 mile in a week goal could not compete with the gales and floods thrown at us last week” – but many more pushed on through, with over 400 UK users hitting their goals.

Bad weather is often invoked as a reason not to cycle, so it was great to see a wide cross-section of people just getting on with it. It didn’t hurt that there were some pretty decent prizes on offer, including vouchers for local bike shops (because we like to support the little guys).

We’re now looking forward to launching our next Love to Ride promotion this spring, as well as a busy programme of workplace cycle challenges. We’ve weathered the storm, and it seems like 2014 is going to be a great year for Love to Ride, and for cycling.