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bertocq
Good work.
Audax for beginners (Ditchling Devil specific).
Get to the start by 7.30-7.45 (too late and you'll still be faffing when everyone wants to leave), usually biscuits and squash available but the Windmill cafe itself will be closed. The toilets aren't part of the cafe so they will be open. Start is at 8am although it'll be busy (possibly 400 entries this year) so you'll probably be sent off in waves.
Make sure you can navigate as none of it is signposted. Either upload the route into a GPS or have the routesheet somewhere where you can read it whilst riding. Or cling on to someone else who knows where they are going but this is a dodgy tactic.
Brevet Card: The bit of folded card you get given at the start. Lists the controls (and their opening/closing times) and collect stamps/signatures and has the info control questions (see below).
Controls: At each control you stop and get your Brevet Card signed/stamped. This also lets the organiser know that you're still riding and that they should be expecting you at subsequent controls. You'll be able to get food at the controls (on this ride it's included in the entry fee) and get water/squash for bidons.
Speaking of subsequent controls: If you decide to give up the please text/call the organiser (his phone number will be in the Brevet Card) to say you've stopped riding (include your name in the text!). If you don't do this the people at the next control(s) will have to wait until the closing time (and past it usually) just in case you are still out there. The organiser will also try to contact you and eventually the emergency number you've provided (this is never nice when your emergency contact eventually gets in contact with you to find you've been lounging around in a pub for hours).
For the DD the first control (Highbrook) can be a little tricky to find. Look out for this on the descent a bit after Turner's Hill: https://goo.gl/maps/VmfUU1Arbc92 and you want to turn right and then immediate left (to go up the road past that pub on its right hand side). Once you're on that road keep riding until you see a village hall on the left and a paddock on the right.
Info controls: There will be a question written in the Brevet Card for you to answer. In previous years it's been a word printed on an A4 piece of card stuck to a post. One at the top of Ditchling Beacon where the South Downs Way crosses. Here: https://goo.gl/maps/uHF1jHU8U7v
The other is on a post outside the Devil's Dyke pub. Here usually: https://goo.gl/maps/ng776cWfaT82
Write the answers in the Brevet card (if you don't have a pen then remember them, or photograph them, and then borrow a pen from someone else or at the next control).
Dropping down from the Devil's Dyke; down from the pub, left onto the road and past the golf club, left onto Saddlescombe Road and it's easy to miss the left hand turn to Poynings: https://goo.gl/maps/eTXM6R4eGAH2
Upper Beeding control is in the garden of someone's house (the Chairman of Brighton Excelsior CC no less). Shoes off if you go inside and don't forget to say thanks!
Chiddingfold control in the pavillion by the sports field on the right: https://goo.gl/maps/RzWTQK5zV3p cakes/tea/squash/etc provided by the local church group.
Enjoy How Lane, Turner's Hill, Ditchling Beacon, Tongdean Sodding Lane, Devil's Dyke, Combe Lane and then it's pretty much all downhill from there.
Finish in Richmond Park (the Cafe near Roehampton Gate) for the faster lot and from 6:45pm-ish (there will be some overlap if you're on the cusp) at the Rose of York PH (Sam Smith's!) on Petersham Rd (just below the Petersham Hotel). Note that the organiser has asked to be texted (include your name!) if you're likely to finish at the pub rather than the cafe. You've got until 9.40pm and there's no shame in using all of that time, plenty of people do and Audax is about finishing and not about getting a time.
A big D-lock isn't required, I just use a lightweight cafe lock for piece of mind if you nip into a shop along the way. Most won't have a lock at all. I'll carry some cheapo blinky lights as I generally sit around at the finish and chat until it starts to get dark (the benefits of being slow and finishing in the pub).