Audax rides

Did the Plains 300 Audax on Sat/sun, its apparently a strange one as it starts at 11pm, riding through the night on the way out. Enjoyed it a lot and finished about 4pm Sunday I think, similar to the 200 I did my legs felt OK, it was my wrists and neck that hurt this time. Also after nearly giving up on my brooks saddle, I thought I would try one more long ride on it and it finally felt broken in, no pain at all. But now my stupid brain straight away wants to buy one in a Ti and a colour that suits my bike...

I got onto the ride late as a reserve after emailing the organiser. My pal had already signed up or I would have taken missing the deadline as a good excuse not to bother, but I got an email on Weds or so last week saying I had a reserve spot so it was game on. The main problem was I hadn't sorted any lighting and now it was too late to order and build a Dynamo set up. Thankfully @andy_k lent me his Exposure Toro, which was so good I am reconsidering the dynamo option...

Neither myself or my friend have Garmins so we tagged onto a group on the way out for easier navigation in the dark. There was a light tailwind and on mostly main roads, which were quiet at night our 10/12 man peleton made good progress and it felt like the first 150 flew by. On the return leg we mostly rode alone, with my mate pulling into the mild headwind while I navigated with routesheet behind. He is very strong and to be honest I was getting tired just holding his wheel at one point, but got a second wind after the last control and enjoyed the final 40k on some beautiful roads back into Poynton.

I rode to the start and back which made my total about 350k I think, I think I want to try a more lumpy 300 then move onto a 400 in the next few months. Also probably be very different riding alone as I was pulled along quite a lot of the way.

Edit: just realised I sound like one of those super boring ride reports in Arrivee, at least I didn't describe what I ate at every control.