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Audax Spirit in such situations would involve whittling a new bike out of heather, twigs and decaying vegetable matter
Garry Broad on the 2011 Bryan Chapman 600 (Chepstow to Menai and back via Snowdonia). 100 miles in to the ride (near Rhyader) one chainstay detached at the bottom bracket and the other was 75% detached. The local bike shop could not help him but he found a garage with a welding torch.
After getting it fixed he had to decide:
- 12 miles to the nearest station
- 100 miles directly back to Chepstow (without going to Menai)
- 300 miles up to Menai then back down to Chepstow to complete the ride.
He chose win.
His full writeup: https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=43334.msg943411#msg943411
Other notable entries are Gary King riding most of a 200km Audax after his handlebars snapped right next to the stem. He shifted the bars to one side so the break was inside the stem clamp, made a shim out of a coke can found by the roadside to bolster it slightly, and then rode it for another 180km.
Or McNasty riding 500km of a 1500km German Audax with a snapped downtube bodged with zipties:- http://www.owenphilipson.com/blog/2010/09/12/george-berwick-500km-on-a-broken-frame/
Or Martin Lucas riding the last 160km of the Bryan Chapman with 1/5 of his (fixed) chainring missing.
- 12 miles to the nearest station
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Greenbank
It's not for me, but I could see the potential utility of this if you were doing a long ride in a remote-ish area where there was the potential of getting stuck when the weather turns bad - repairs can be difficult in the dark with cold hands. I say this as someone who doesn't have anyone they could call on with a car in such situations. And as was pointed out it would actually be cheaper than the equivalent taxi to the nearest train station / B&B / whatever.
I would have said 'potentially useful for entrants in longer audax perms' but I get the impression that the true Audax Spirit in such situations would involve whittling a new bike out of heather, twigs and decaying vegetable matter, while subsisting only on what you could kill with your bare hands.