300 watts for 13 hours: Unbound Gravel champion crushes the Festive 500 in a single Christmas Eve ride

For many cyclists, the holiday period is no longer reserved for rest and indulgence. Since its launch by Rapha in 2010, the Festive 500 has turned the holiday lull into a global endurance challenge, daring riders to log 500 kilometres between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

Many cyclists, especially those in the colder confines of the northern hemisphere, need every one of those eight days to reach that 500-kilometre mark, as the days are short and social demands are high.

Yet some riders, whether they're professionals or avid cyclists in the global south, can breeze through the challenge. Defending Unbound Gravel champion Cameron Jones is in both of those camps. The New Zealand-native, who was home for the holidays, used that to his advantage and crushed the 500 kilometres in one 13-hour ride on Christmas Eve.

In fact, due to the time change, Cam Jones finished the Festive 500 challenge before riders in California could even start accumulating the kilometres. To make it all the more astonishing, Jones averaged 300 watts for the whole 13-plus hours of ride time.

"I knew I could use it as an announcement ride for my new Rapha partnership, so that was motivation to hit some cool-looking numbers," Jones told Cycling Weekly about his motivation to do such a mammoth effort for the challenge.

"I didn't really think too much of it at the time; I was just stoked to be home for dinner! But the attention it got from the cycling world was crazy."

For nearly anyone else in the world of cycling, a ride of that stature would likely be more of a task than it was to Jones. For him, it was just another day of zone two riding as he builds to defend his Unbound Gravel and Life Time Grand Prix crown in the new year.

Zooming out, the 32 hours and 15 minutes he rode that week actually amounted to less time in the saddle than the week before. Jones also conducted lactate testing the day before the Festive 500 ride, and those results confirmed that holding 300 watts for 13 hours truly remained a zone-two effort.

"I didn't want it to take too long, I had to be home for family dinner, and I wanted to be in a productive zone 2 most of the time," he said of the effort. "I aim for 300 watts for most of my endurance miles, so I went for that. I didn't head out with any speed or power ambitions, but the classic cyclist OCD for ride stats got me after I was still over 300 at hour 5.

"It didn't get too hard until hour 10 when 300 became a real effort to sustain. I guess that stubbornness to get a certain power or speed is my competitive spirit with myself."

In that sense, Jones’ ride feels more relatable. One of cycling’s purest pleasures, and the drive behind the Festive 500, is the simple satisfaction of stacking kilometres, accumulating hours and surpassing your own expectations. What makes Jones remarkable, even as one of the world’s top gravel racers, is that he still embraces that mindset in a results-driven sport where success is measured in podiums, not year-end ride totals.

"I did my first challenge ride during COVID-19. Repping the local Marahau hill to the height of Mt Cook, New Zealand's tallest mountain, at 3724m," Jones said of his draw toward these big days in the saddle.

"Then I did a couple of charity fundraiser rides for the local rescue helicopter. 100 laps of the local jump trail, 9,000 meters of down plus another 2k of air across the 2,000 jumps I did that day."

The Festive 500 ride isn’t the only large mission Jones’ has tried this off-season, either. Before leaving his U.S. base in Virginia this November, Jones took a stab at the infamous Massanuten Ring and its 69 miles of rock gardens, steep climbing, and technical singletrack. While it was nearly 400 kilometres shorter, his FKT of “The Ring” was only two hours less of ride time. He got that FKT by a mere 36 seconds from Virginia endurance legend Abe Kaufman.

"With how competitive the racing is, I am hesitant to do anything too silly mid-season," Jones said of his plans to continue these types of challenges. "It is more of an end-of-season or early-season thing to do."

Nevertheless, for the Kiwi who has burst onto the scene over the last two years, these big adventures feel like a blessing. These activities, after all, are for the love of the sport, more than they are for the training. In a sport where professionalism has chased some of that spirit away, holding onto that love has been special for Jones.

"At the start of last year, I was worried that going professional would harm my love for cycling by making it feel like a job," he reflected. "I have always loved doing big mission rides that aren't necessarily the most productive for road or XC racing. Finding this gravel and endurance mountain bike scene has been perfect for me. The races are all so different and challenge such a wide cycling skillset, which means more types of rides are actually productive."