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@fizzy.bleach
I guess not!
Report
I know doing a ride report for a 100k audax is a bit much. I'm wary of stepping into tyre-lever-review territory here - but hear me out. This is my first audax since being ruled out of action with ITB issues last September. My main goal was to get round pain-free and I pretty much succeeded.
It was a friendly bunch and we covered the first 25km in an hour exactly which I was pretty chuffed with. I was bombing up those punishing Hertfordshire "climbs" and leaving couples - some as young as their early 50s - in my dust. Again my steed of choice was a dinglespeed Pompino, my Spa bike not being quite ready yet.
We got to the 50km half way point within 2.5hrs, which again I was happy with. Still no knee pain and I still had a lot in my legs. I should also add that apart form commuting I've ridden two proper rides this year, one 30 miles and one 40 miles so again I was feeling good. I grabbed a few bits of lunch and eyed up the Islington CC guys who were having sit-down food. I didn't hang around the control so as to avoid my knee seizing so I left after about 15 mins, knowing the clubs guys would soon bomb past me.
The dreaded third-quarter went lots better than planned. With a couple of fastish guys we did the 15km to the next control in under 30 mins which my mathletics tells me is an ILLEGALLY FAST AUDAX PACE. However, this all caught up with me in the final stretch of 20km where I crashed, badly.
I crawled the last 10km down the beautiful A1000 from Potters Bar to East Finchley with a pretty sore neck and right foot - I assume the symptoms of being too long in the saddle and out of practice. I still managed to beat the Islington guys by about 5 minutes as well, with a total road time of 5 hours, 2 minutes for 100km - not too bad - but the main thing was no knee pain.
Add to this my riding to the start and back and the total distance is about 90 miles today and to be honest I feel f*cked.
Positives
No knee pain
No pain in the rectal/goochular region
No mechanicals
Choice of barbag over saddlebag paid off
Risked not taking a waterproof - did not rain!
Negatives
Sore right foot might eventually require new shoes
Clicky pedals on both sides affecting sanity
Feel f*cked.
9/10 would ride again