What is the Windline 1000 by ProLend? Ride 1,000 km in December
Plan 1,000 km (621 miles) between 16 and 31 December, see how the Strava tally works, and plan around short days or summer heat.
The short answer
It's a December cycling challenge to ride 1,000 km (621 miles) between Wednesday 16 and Thursday 31 December 2026. Anyone, anywhere, can take part, and every bike ride in those 16 days counts. That's 62.5 km (39 miles) a day on average. You enter online, connect Strava once, and your 16-day total is counted for you.
Key takeaways
- Ride 1,000 km (621 miles) between 16 and 31 December 2026, in any country.
- That's 62.5 km (39 miles) a day, or less over Christmas after a big first weekend.
- Rapha's separate Festive 500 falls inside the window, so those kilometres can count for both.
- Windline counts each entrant's total from Strava, indoor and virtual rides included, and adds it to each ride.
- Finishers get a Windline 1000 finisher card on 1 January 2027.
Definitions
- Route-timed forecast
- A forecast for each stretch of a route at the hour you'll ride it, worked out from your start time and pace.
- Front-loading
- Riding more of the total early, so a lost day later in the challenge costs you less.
- Club leaderboard
- Strava's weekly ranking of a club's members by distance, which resets every Sunday night in the club's time zone.
What is the Windline 1000 by ProLend?
The Windline 1000 by ProLend is a year-end December cycling challenge: ride 1,000 km (621 miles) between Wednesday 16 and Thursday 31 December 2026. It's open to anyone, anywhere. If you're turning it into a holiday trip, our guide to how to plan a cycling tour covers the groundwork.
It's Windline's own challenge, and ProLend, Windline's sponsor, puts its name to it. The idea is simple: close the year with a proper block of riding, on your own roads, at your own pace. Commutes, club rides, gravel loops and long solo days all count.
Who can ride the December challenge, and which rides count?
Anyone can, and every bike ride you upload to Strava between 00:00 GMT on 16 December and 23:59 GMT on 31 December counts, indoor and virtual rides too. To enter, sign in to Windline, tap Enter the Windline 1000 and connect Strava: Windline then counts your rides. Join the ProLend Strava club too, to see where you stand each week.
Many riders will also be doing Rapha's Festive 500, a separate challenge to ride 500 km (311 miles) from 24 to 31 December (its 2025 dates). It falls inside our window, so those kilometres can count for both. Rapha's challenge isn't connected to the Windline 1000 in any way.
Want this for your own route? Windline shows the wind for every stretch, timed to your pace. Free. Make a free ride page →
How will the tally work on Strava?
Windline keeps your 16-day total, and the ProLend Strava club shows the weekly race. That club leaderboard is Strava's own, and Strava says it resets at 11:59 pm on Sunday in the club's time zone. So the 16 days span three Strava weeks:
| Strava week | Days in the challenge | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Wednesday 16 to Sunday 20 December | 5 |
| Week 2 | Monday 21 to Sunday 27 December | 7 |
| Week 3 | Monday 28 to Thursday 31 December | 4 |
You opt in by joining, and Strava runs the board, so Windline doesn't handle your ride data for it.
The weekly reset means the board never shows your 16-day total, so Windline does. Once you've entered, each ride's description ends with your running total, for example "Windline 1000 by ProLend: 640 / 1,000 km" (398 of 621 miles). Enter late and nothing is lost: Windline reads in every ride since 16 December.
Windline judges every ride by its start time in GMT, so the window is the same everywhere. Strava's weekly board uses the club's time zone instead, so a late-night ride can land in a different week there.
Where is it summer, and how short are the days?
It depends on your hemisphere. The December solstice falls on Monday 21 December 2026, right in the middle of the challenge.
North of the equator, that's the shortest day of the year. London gets 7 hours 49 minutes of daylight, so a long ride in the UK, northern Europe or Canada means lights, layers and an early start. Read up on wind chill on a bike before you go.
South of the equator, it's midsummer. Riders in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina get long evenings, but heat takes over as the worry. Ride early, carry more water, and keep the longest days for the cooler ones.
Either way, short daily rides fit around the weather better than a few huge ones. At 25 km/h (16 mph), 62.5 km takes two and a half hours of moving time, and 125 km (78 miles) takes five.
How do you plan 1,000 km in 16 days?
Average 62.5 km (39 miles) a day, or front-load it with a long first weekend and ride lighter over Christmas.
| Plan | 16–20 Dec (5 days) | 21–23 Dec (3 days) | 24–27 Dec (4 days) | 28–31 Dec (4 days) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Even | 312.5 km (194 miles), 62.5 km (39 miles) a day | 187.5 km (117 miles) | 250 km (155 miles) | 250 km (155 miles) | 1,000 km (621 miles) |
| Front-loaded | 445 km (277 miles): 65 km (40 miles) on weekdays, 125 km (78 miles) on Saturday and Sunday | 195 km (121 miles), 65 km (40 miles) a day | 120 km (75 miles), 30 km (19 miles) a day | 240 km (149 miles), 60 km (37 miles) a day | 1,000 km (621 miles) |
The front-loaded plan puts you on 640 km (398 miles) by 23 December, so family days and travel cost you little. If the weather turns, a buffer in hand means one lost day doesn't turn into two long ones. For realistic ranges by fitness and terrain, see how far you can cycle in a day.
How does the wind forecast help you plan each day?
It tells you which days to make long and which way to ride them. A route-timed forecast shows the wind, gusts, rain and heat for each stretch of your route at the hour you'll reach it.
Put your long rides on the days with the kindest wind, and start into the headwind while your legs are fresh. If a day looks wild, how windy is too windy to cycle helps you decide.
What do you get when you finish?
On 1 January 2027, finishers get a Windline 1000 finisher card.
Enter the Windline 1000 now, and join the ProLend Strava club for the weekly board. Windline counts your total, shows it on your rides and sends your finisher card. For more, see how to see the weather along a Strava route.
Frequently asked questions
Do you have to ride every day of the challenge?
No. Only the total counts: 1,000 km (621 miles) between 16 and 31 December 2026. You can ride every day, ride only at weekends and on holidays, or mix the two. The fewer days you ride, the longer each one gets. Ten riding days means 100 km (62 miles) each, so most riders find a short daily ride easier than a few huge ones.
Can the same rides count for the Festive 500 and the Windline 1000?
Yes. Rapha's Festive 500 ran from 24 to 31 December in 2025, which sits inside the Windline 1000 window, so a kilometre ridden then can count for both. They're separate challenges run by different people. Rapha runs the Festive 500, and it has no connection with the Windline 1000. Check Rapha's own page for its 2026 dates and rules.
How long does 62.5 km take to ride?
About two and a half to three hours of moving time. At 25 km/h (16 mph) it takes 2 hours 30 minutes, and at 20 km/h (12 mph) about 3 hours 8 minutes. Add stops on top. Wind changes this more than anything, because a headwind slows you more than a tailwind speeds you up. That's why it pays to check the forecast before choosing your long days.
Why doesn't the Strava club leaderboard show my total for the challenge?
Because Strava's club leaderboards are weekly. Strava says they reset at 11:59 pm on Sunday in the club's time zone, so 16 to 31 December spans three separate weeks. If you enter the Windline 1000, Windline keeps your total for the whole 16 days and adds it to the end of each ride's description.
What if the weather is bad on the day you planned a long ride?
Swap days. Sixteen days give you room to move a long ride to a calmer day and ride short, or not at all, in the storm. Forecasts reach about 10 days ahead, so from early December you can see the first days of the challenge. Keep a buffer of kilometres in hand, so one lost day doesn't force two long ones later.
Get the wind for your ride.
Upload a GPX, add your start time and pace, and see the headwind, gusts, rain and heat for every stretch of the route, timed to when you’ll be there. Free for riders.
Make a free ride page →Sources and method
- Strava Support (2026). Clubs on Strava
- Rapha (2025). The Rapha Festive 500 challenge 2025
- Royal Museums Greenwich (2026). When is the winter solstice? (shortest day of the year)
The window is 16 to 31 December 2026 inclusive: 16 days, from a Wednesday to a Thursday. Strava weeks run Monday to Sunday (club leaderboards reset at 11:59 pm on Sunday, per Strava Support), so the window covers Wed 16 to Sun 20 (5 days), Mon 21 to Sun 27 (7 days) and Mon 28 to Thu 31 (4 days). Daily averages are simple division: 1,000 km ÷ 16 = 62.5 km; 1,000 ÷ 10 = 100 km. The even plan is 62.5 km × 5, 3, 4 and 4 days = 312.5 + 187.5 + 250 + 250 = 1,000 km. The front-loaded plan is our example: 3 weekdays × 65 km + 2 weekend days × 125 km = 445 km by 20 December; + 3 × 65 km = 640 km by 23 December; + 4 × 30 km = 760 km by 27 December; + 4 × 60 km = 1,000 km. Ride times are distance ÷ speed: 62.5 ÷ 25 = 2.5 h; 62.5 ÷ 20 = 3.125 h, about 3 h 8 min; 125 ÷ 25 = 5 h. London's shortest day (7 h 49 min 42 s) and the 21 December 2026 solstice are from Royal Museums Greenwich. Conversions: 1 mile = 1.609 km, rounded.
About the author
Wes Thomson, Founder, Windline. Wes Thomson builds Windline, live wind and weather forecasts timed to when riders reach each stretch of road. He built it for his own 2,093 km tour from Pont Drift to Cape Town, and writes these guides with the same focus: what the wind will do to your ride, and how to plan around it.