Maats Cycling Culture
Maats x Rapha: Festive 500 hosting 'The Big One'
Maats proudly presents the annual Rapha Festive 500 Challenge.
"Time is precious, waste it wisely."
The eight days between the 24th and 31st of December are sacred. Time for family, time to down tools, time to refocus on what’s most important in life and balance everything you hold dear. It’s for this reason that riding the Festive 500 is so special - this challenge demands dedication and commands commitment."
Maats is thrilled to announce that we're hosting this year's Rapha Festive 500 Challenge, offering you one huge ride to boost your progress to complete the challenge.
An elevated Store-to-Store-to-Store Ride:
The absolute highlight for Maats in 2025 was the beginning of Chapter 3, Maats Rotterdam, which we celebrated with a brilliant store-to-store-to-store ride in spring. And since December is a month of looking back at the past year, we are bringing this event back. Longer, tougher and more brutal.
On Sunday, December 28th, we’ll host an epic ride of approximately 250 km, giving you the opportunity to boost your progression to reach that 500 km mark by December 31st.
Event Details:
Event: Rapha Festive 500 - The Big One
Starting Points: Maats Amsterdam (AMS), Maats Utrecht (UTR), Maats Rotterdam (RTM)
Meeting Time: 08:00
Departure Time: 08:30
Ride: 250km road ride
Pace & Groups: All groups will maintain a feasible pace of 30 km/h throughout the whole ride. Groups will have NO designated ride leader. This is a day where everyone is ride leader. Stick together, do this together and make sure everyone can keep up.
> Flat tire or small bike issues? Wait together as a group and help each other out.
Shop Stops: There will be several stops along the way, including each Maats store, making sure you get plenty of opportunities to refuel your energy tank. At each Maats store bananas, sweets, buns, cakes and beverages will be waiting for you to fully recharge your battery.
Additional Stop: There will be an extra stop included besides the 3 Maats stores. This stop is meant to rest a little bit longer, so you can catch your breath before heading back into the saddle. More information on this soon... Stay tuned.
Post Ride: Time to open up a bottle of champagne. Because you've earned it! Time to rest, grab some food and raise a glass on both the end of a beautiful year and a heroic day.
Don't want to do the full route? No worries, there is always an option to take the train back home upon arrival at one of the Maats stores!
You will receive a detailed briefing a few days before the event.
