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Sadly missed the essence of this ride today.
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It was certainly damp today, glad I bothered with mudguards.
It's a great route - can't beat seeing signs warning you that going off-route may result in your rapid disassembly.
One car was so impatient to get past us on a fast descent it drove onto the verge. I was very disappointed when it didn't immediately explode.
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Who's in for flatlands in September? Need to decide whether to bivvy or book the Travelodge in Scunthorpe, a solid 5-6 hours in a bed is quite appealing!
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I'm planning on it but haven't booked in yet. Am really hoping to get away with no sleep/possibly a 1hr nap, but I have no idea how I'll fare.
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Think I'm going to get a hotel, I got round Bryan Chapman with no sleep earlier this year, but it would have been more enjoyable with some! Think the flat nature of the course lends itself to a good amount of time to play with for sleeping.
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I'm undecided if it's better to ask for a 100h wave, or an evening wave.
Riding through a night and then a day is much nicer than riding through a day and then a night.
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Mixed... I was pretty close to last place finisher and it took a ludicrously long time. 3 punctures and a failed garmin (piece of shit is absolutely not fit for purpose having now failed at IMWales and now this) didn't help.
But i enjoyed most of it, i finished, and felt as good on my ride home as I did on the ride out, albeit about 12hr later.
I wrote a little report but I can't get my computer to connect to the Internet just now so I can't upload it. I'll need a workable navigation system in place before I think about doing another one!
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Same thoughts here, I reckon I could get round in 100 hours based on other rides (though I haven't done anything beyond 600k yet) but I think on reflection I would prefer to start later, ride through the first night and sleep on the second night, I also think the extra 16 hours would be a good bit of insurance should anything not go to plan.
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Well done, I wouldn't worry about placing it doesn't matter.
@ad441 and I have commented to each other before, that it doesn't seem to matter how well you are going there always seems to be someone about 76 years old who beats you back everytime!
Any plans to do more?
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Aha internet... sorry it's so long.
ORDR done, and by and large I enjoyed it.
This was my first ever audax, and at 250km (including the ride out and back) it would also be my longest ever ride. I’ve done a little bit of endurance stuff in the form of IM tris and a couple of ultramarathons, but this was supposed to be the first of a few longer rides to test the water before deciding whether I’m capable of riding LEL.
Unfortunately my preparation wasn’t really ideal. So far 2016 has essentially been a write off from an exercise perspective and looking back at my training data I’ve essentially done nothing except commute and ride in the local 10mi TT league… In the last 4 months I’ve only ridden further than 50km twice, once in a 50mi TT and the other was a 100km café run. Still, I’d somehow formed the impression that most audaxers were old and slow [Sorry!] so I figured I would at least be ahead of them… it turns out I was very wrong!
To begin with, I arrived late to the start. The ride out into the headwind took slightly longer than expected and I pulled into Sparsholt at 0732 according to the time on my phone. Late, but only by 2 minutes so I was surprised not to have seen any riders riding out of Sparsholt as I arrived. Do audax usually begin with a 'grand depart', did people set off early or was my clock wrong? Either way I said hello to the organiser, picked up my brevet card and set off promptly; probably only 10 minutes delay and there were still plenty of cards left on the table.
I passed a couple of stragglers very early on, but it wasn't until the top of Ramsbury Hill that I began to catch up with the tail end of the field. As soon as I crested the hill I looked down at my handlebar phone mount and my phone was gone... I knew I'd checked it going through Ramsbury so I turned back, found the phone in the village before slogging up the climb all over again.
Up until this point I had been navigating following the breadcrumb trail on my garmin 910xt and had only suffered one small confusion crossing the A4 in Froxfield. This had caused some amusement with a pair of riders who I managed to pass 3 times in the space of about 5 minutes as I repeatedly went the wrong way, but as I arrived at the first control in Great Bedwyn my garmin died completely and when I restarted it the entire outbound GPX track had been erased. I did have a backup route on my phone, but I’d already discovered that the handlebar mount was worse than useless so from now on I would mostly have to rely on the route crib sheet and the kindness of others.
The group of riders that I had originally caught at the top of Ramsbury were just leaving as I arrived at the first control so I collected my receipt quickly and got strait back on the road hoping to catch them. I was riding my CdF with 35mm tyres so while it always feels sluggish on roads, it breezed the gravel secteurs and I passed a couple of riders on skinny tyres going through the woods just after Bedwyn. One of the riders I passed reassured me I was on the correct track and we got chatting so we linked up and navigated together through to Pewsey. Again there were lots of bikes when we arrived in town, but my plan of a short stop was interrupted by a puncture... it took me a while to find the sharp flint embedded in the tyre and what with all the upcoming gravel sections I also wanted to restock on inner tubes... by the time I got going again most people had already moved on.
Up Urchfont and onto Sailsbury Plain I again re-passed a couple of riders, but then going across the top of the plain I got another two punctures, including a slightly spectacular blowout that worryingly also damaged the tyre bead. The friendly rider from Bedwyn forest caught and passed me while I was fixing punctures and in turn I re-caught him as we arrived at info control #4 (by the way, what the f*ck is a vedette?). Having yoyo’d past each other so many times it seemed a shame to pass up the good company (and working GPS) so we stayed together through Tilshead.
After Tilshead, I had meant to ride on the front and take the brunt of the headwind from my navigational partner, but after a while he dropped back and almost immediately I missed the Gore Cross turn and rode 3k down a beautiful sweeping descent before realising my error.
I didn't see any other riders as I rode up to Imber and on to Warminster, but at several points I did begin seeing riders flying in the opposite direction. This was probably my lowest point on the ride. It was windy, exposed and raining; I was frustrated with my navigation, I was frustrated with the info controls and I couldn’t understand how I was taking so long. Still, I knew I wasn’t in last place (quite) and so I pressed on riding to my own pace (I guess ~180w NP so far).
Eventually I arrived in Warminster and was told that the control had already closed. This came as a bit of a jolt... up until this point I hadn't really worried about time. Of course I knew I was towards the back of the pack, but whenever I was actually riding I seemed to be moving past people and everyone I was overtaking were both friendly and completely relaxed and I saw no dangers in riding together for a few minutes. Clearly 3 punctures, continual uncertainty at junctions and the occasional larger diversion really do add up. Apparently the good riders do the whole loop in about 8hours, it had taken me 7 to get halfway! Eventually the marshal took pity on me and signed my brevet card. A few other riders arrived at Warminster after me, but by now I was in no mood to stick around so I loaded the return leg onto my garmin and set sail with the wind behind me.
I have far less to report about the homeward journey, I rode at a steady but not too casual effort (again I estimate probably just under 200w NP), my garmin crashed repeatedly and my navigation, while better, was still hesitant. I caught and passed several riders. Some riders I passed several times either because of my own navigational failures or because they had skipped sections of ridgeway that were by now pretty scary in the wet twilight.
I don’t have my brevet card to hand but I think I rolled into Sparsholt at about 2015 meaning I was out on the roads for almost 14hours. My biggest confusion isn’t so much how the fast guys do it (I’ve ridden hilly IM bike courses (~180km) in 5:30 and still had the legs to run afterwards) but rather how I was so slow? The bike rack outside the control was full of lairey 90s mtbs and hybrids that had all ridden faster than me. I don’t have accurate data for the ride since my garmin ate the first 210km of it, but my legs felt pretty good (especially given the lack of training) and I estimate my NP was in the 190w region and my AP would have been nearer 150w… normally on my cervelo that would see me ticking along in the region of 30km/h, not the 14km/h I achieved.
I can only suppose that slowing to check the route card for every junction, repeatedly riding 100m past turns before doubling back, and general navigation confusion all add up considerably. Add to that 3 punctures and further inexperience at controls (especially the info controls), and it probably eats up a huge amount of time.
This put a bit of a dent in my confidence about a LEL attempt, but overall I enjoyed it. Unusually (for me) I had no shoulder, or back pain and my arse was only a little bit tender towards the end. I ate a restorative slice of quiche at the finish and still felt fresh enough to keep the same effort on the way home.
TL:DR If I want to keep building up towards a possible LEL attempt I need to work out a reliable method of navigation first.
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Fast rider? They have shorter time limit in PBP
Ha! No.
One of the info controls had a question along the lines of "what is the phone number written on the water container next to the vedette?" I tried googling and all I got was pictures of women in corsets... apparently it's a brand of bodyshaper lingerie. However there was a disappointing lack of corseted women around so apparently they were referring to some kind of military sentry post. Even that didn't help much as there were several buildings nearby, most with phone numbers on. Info controls were as annoying as my mum's annual cryptic easter egg hunt...
3 flats with 35mm tyres? Blowout sounds like you pinched the tube.
Yup, 1st was a flint. Second was the blowout but maybe 25km after the first puncture, everything seemed fine but suddenly I heard rubbing against my mudguard and before I could stop to look "bang". Third was another flint about 2mins later.
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Check the info clues at the start when you pick up the card, if there's anything you don't understand just ask the organiser and they'll usually explain what you're looking for, I couldn't remember what a "gabel end" was at 6am sometime last year and they happily explained which bit of the barn I needed to count windows on and I drew a little picture on the card incase I forgot :)
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None of the other riders seemed to know either and I was the only one with enough Internet to Google. Tbh most of the clues were only unclear because I was looking at the wrong thing... Unfortunately you only discover that once you've spent 10minutes pulling your hair out at the wrong signpost! You live and learn :-)
Tyres were Clement explor osh. They've been fine for commuting and the knobbly bits near the sidewall saved my neck at least once on sketchy wet ridgeway descents, but I've always found them very sluggish. Will order the nice 30mm schwalbe one pro tyres that folk on the tubeless thread recommended and see if I get on with goo.
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It's not a race.
Once again:
A sportive is a ride in which everybody pretends it's a race.
An audax is a ride in which everybody pretends it's not a race.
:)
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Well, I know that and you know that, but did ewanmac? Nope. :)
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Oliver Schick-
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If you swing by Ealing you can have my small cable lock.