Audax rides

That weekend is out for me. Prefer to do Perms if I'm going for a set. Not that bothered though, just a nice to have kinda thing.

I'm on a no fly that weekend too. Looks likely I'll miss GMC too which is a shame.

Which leads into next season........ I was looking at the Crown and Anchor 200 in Kent, but have noticed a cheeky little 100 with AAA in Winchcombe. I can completely rip off EWE Baa perm and part of the Dean to ECE too it, but that makes it a 500. Hmm, what dilemmas.

I'm not that far ahead. I'm just winging shit as usual. Not that bothered about audax, it's just something to keep my out of the pubs EVERY weekend. :)

Any idea how many places there are for Blackpool-G-B?
Currently 59 registered.

Any one doing tour of the hills on Sunday?

Lovely ride out.

Best bit of the day was causing traffic chaos in Dorking with @J_a_m_es because the traffic light sensor loop couldn't detect bikes.

Worst bit of the day was all the hills. I know it's called tour of the hills but I really should learn to take a look at a bloody map before deciding on a course of action. It ended up being about the same climbing as The Shark.

Well something is adrift with my gpx track. Shows 8280m of climbing over 231km total.

It was certainly a tough day, bit it turns out I'm in better shape than I thought!

AUK link shows 4995 total climb, so hopefully I getcredited with some extra AAA on the ECE part.

Highlight for me, was every climb. Not a single footstep was taken today. Well chuffed. Oh and spinning down towards Arrivee, knowing I've secured 100AAA points this season.

Lowlight was feeling a dick for leaving Esher before @inappropriate_bike got there. Sorry again.

PS - come back to the dark side.

Train tickets, London to Blackpool are £90.
I have a car, would anyone be interested in a car share?

Oh and spinning down towards Arrivee, knowing I've secured 100AAA points this season.

Well done James. Huge achievement.

Meh - I was geared quite low. 😉

Remind me, was it fixed?!

A mixture of mostly 62" or 63".
Oh, and the trusty 24".

Incredible, really well done. Small gears are easier, yeah, but you've still got to go down the other side.
What did you do for a 24" gear?

Yeah, some of the steeper bits are tough - the 25% RH on AWE, a couple of long downhills on VOTR, and down Buttertubs north side spring to mind straight away.

As for the 24", I wore SPD sandals!

~30 points, err, I didn't really come close did I? le whoops

If TCR and TransAm had counted, what would you have got?

Maybe 50pts for TABR and 40 pts for TCR. I've not looked at my files for TCR though.

Pretty sure you could register TABR as a DIYxGPS.

TCR is trickier as you'd have to faff around with AUK's concept of controls (and it would make deviating from your original planned route nigh on impossible), the TCR checkpoints are too far apart for traditional DIY controls so you'd need to tie yourself in to intermediate towns/etc. (Personally I'd have no problem with allowing this kind of race as a class on its own, you'd only be credited with the minimum distance between the controls but all of the climbing that the GPX tracklog shows.)

There are a few downsides though, I guess there'd be some pushback by some AUK old farts against accepting TABR/TCR type races as DIY Audaxes. Some bullshit about 'not quite the same spirit', or excuses about checkpoints providing aid/etc, but mostly because it's far beyond what people do on Audaxes and they'd grumble.

The other downside is that validation of the ride(s) would hinge on providing a full GPX track (at more than 5 minute intervals that Trackleaders provides). One GPS fuckup and it's gone, and that stress wouldn't be welcome on a ride (I remember being grumpy for a while when my GPS charging solution fucked up on PBP and I realised I wouldn't have a full recording.)

I was under the impression they were races so not eligible for audax. I'm sure I asked about doing this for TABR couple of year ago. I have full tracks for the double double - once I'd worked out that the Garmin wasn't waterproof in TCR4 I sealed the SD slot and it's been fine.

There are a few downsides though, I guess there'd be some pushback by some AUK old farts against accepting TABR/TCR type races as DIY Audaxes. Some bullshit about 'not quite the same spirit', or excuses about checkpoints providing aid/etc, but mostly because it's far beyond what people do on Audaxes and they'd grumble.

Or more accurately because its a race, and therefore whilst a really long way not an Audax.

I think it's because they're races.

Or maybe, it's because these are races?

Could be because they were races. Yeah, races.

Races!

Nah it's because old people might complain.

It's what they do. I'm in training to be the best old person ever. I will out-complain the fuck out of anyone on the planet. I'm going to be the best complainer.