Audax rides

dafuq are they? Are they the things Cav was using a few years ago? Dynamic compression leggings? £££ = out. :)

FYI - I'm also doing this in my first season of audax and am fairly nervous about it ...

I'm also doing this one. Kind of annoyed I went with the 7.30 start now as would prefer to spend less time in the dark.

Me too. I feel similarly.. did I make a mistake taking the later slot? I might be really glad of the extra sleep the night before. The 400 I did started at 9am and it was great to start an audax without the first 3 hours trying to warm up and get my body started. Time will tell, I suppose.

FWIW, I found LWL harder than the Bryan Chapman (which I did 3 years ago with not enough distance riding in my legs) and harder than the 600km I did the following weekend. This year's LWL was really windy on the outbound leg. Combined with very harsh roads - I'll fit fatter tyres if I ride it again in future, it was a surprisingly tough day out. Fast riders I know who finished in 18/19 hours also said how much harder it was than the 500km they did on the Easter Arrow.

I was also wracked with anxiety during LWL for no good reason. I sorted my head out much better for the 600 - took it a check point at a time. Had time goals to help keep me on track but didn't think about anything other than the next check point which helped massively and made for a much more enjoyable ride. The roads were much better quality and I did manage to avoid the bitterly cold section of the night though.

Yeah there is that. I guess also should be lighter for longer and hopefully warmer.

3 hours sleep is plenty, by the time you stop to sleep at Lilleshall (380k) you've more than broken the back of the ride for the next day.

I've 'slept' in the hall before my last two rides cheap room is definitely more optimal for actual sleep. Someone was snoring so loud this weekend I could still hear them through earplugs!

Yeah and I'm trying to be nice to my body. I'm not sure what all my injuries are gonna do so the more rest and the better frame of mind I'm in the more likely I'll finish happy and do the next rides.

The weather on a very long ride is almost always the defining factor in how hard it is\feels.

Even climbing makes less difference in the UK with the lack of hills we have.

Ride the Pendle and say that :P

I'm doing the NC500 soon. Loadsa hillz.

For some reason I assumed it'd be flat, but I guess not all coastlines are sandy beaches...

What's the gain over the 500mi?

9,388m

Similar to the Pendle I think but ~200k shorter. Hills on the coast might help with the wind, assuming that's also a factor.

Even climbing makes less difference in the UK with the lack of hills we have.

Yes, even when you are going up a real pig of a hill in the UK, especially south of England, you can always console yourself that it won't go on for much longer

The Pendle looks savage

Yeah, and it's the 3rd 600 on the list. It'll be manageable if the weather's ok but if it's shit weather like the Tan Hill was then I can't see the road surface and I'm not risking a pothole-induced crash just to finish an audax.

When I did PBP I tried flatlands as my 600. I snapped a seatpost an DNF. The only other 600 I could get to was Mr Pickwick Goes in search of Dragons and something elses. It was SO hilly. Without a doubt my biggest cycling achievement. I loved the ride so much in retrospect :-)

I've got to make it to the start first. I'll reserve judgement about 'enjoyment' until way, way, way after the event.

Back to mudguards - I had to dump my front one half way round the Dauntsey Dawdle.
I noticed that it was a bit over to the side, so I stopped and saw that both cable ties holding it to the fork crown had snapped. I didn't have any spares, and didn't fancy it flapping around near my front wheel on the 12% descent that was coming up - so off it came.

Spotted a @hippy this morning. :-)
I'm stamping cards at the first control on the Ben Allen 600, he seemed a little surprised when I asked who he was. Nice to meet you!

G'day. Yeah, I often get an "are you hippy?" on the road but not so much from organisers/volunteers and I was probably quite focused on the breakfast menu to be honest :)
Thanks for helping out. That was a good 600.

WCW next weekend. There's an annotated route sheet here, courtesy of Nick: https://www.camaudax.uk/rides/lel/wcw/2019/

Nice. I'm just in the process of downloading the official files. Not sure if there's any point using one over the other, aside from waypoint marking and maybe the sleep stop detour.