Audax rides

By way of an update:
Velophysio and or Nichola Roberts are, currently at least, within the network for Vitality healthcare. You can self refer and receive reimbursement of a limited amount per session.

Entered Bowland this weekend, first in ages. Will be my biggest ride ever, at 260km (with ride to start and from finish) and 3800m ups. Am really excited, was riding well 10 days ago and have had good rest since.

Signed up to do the Sea Shore 200 next weekend and thinking of ECEing. Anyone know a good route from London to Cranleigh(or any tips for making one)?

Which bit of London will you be starting from?

Your choice will probably boil down to longer and flatter (via Hampton Court / Guildford) or direct but hilly (via Peaslake).

Starting from North London. Thank you! I'll keep that in mind

I ride this route quite a lot and it takes you through or close to Cranleigh depending on if you do it in forward or reverse. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/15915579

Bowland was so tough. I spent the majority of the day alone (buddy had a tyre disaster) and near the back of the days field (of about 10 - it doesn't seem to have blown up in the north to the extent it has in London). Felt very close to bailing at Lancaster at the northernmost point, and at Burnley both on the outbound and return. For a solid amount of it I was in my bottom gear, freewheeling down and crawling back up the sawtooth hills. At some points I was actually longing for something steadier and longer to just build some kind of rhythm.
Anyway, a really tough day out that I'm not yet remembering too fondly. Couldn't even stomach a beer last night.

& some pics

Nice, thank you!

@motoko how did you both go? I’ve screwed up both Achilles and have numb toes. I suppose there’s a little time to try and sort those issues out ahead of PBP.

Well done, that's got to be one of the tougher 200's with that amount of climbing, looks stunning from the pictures. Hope you've had that beer now!

Nightmare for me.

Managed the first 50km seemingly okay. However after the first control o started feeling worse and worse. By the time I reached Shap I was groveling. Managed to get down to Penrith and took a long break and tried to eat something. Not much improvement. Pushed on to Carlisle where I realized I was definitely not myself and I had to keep stepping off the bike.
Scratched and took the train home from where I spent the next three days in bed with a nasty fever. Not sure what caused it but am gutted.

Thanks. It maybe wasn't the best choice for my first 200! With the ride to and from, strava had it listed as nearly 5200m, which was a bit of a punch in the face, I was expecting around 1500m less! I keep seesawing between feeling recovered and absolutely wrecked, but at least am starting to look back on it positively now. Date with many many beer tonight, cannot wait

It went fairly well for me actually. Felt I may have overdone it a bit the first day by getting to Oban but generally no major issues on the ride. Enjoyed the return a lot from Fort William. Last day was fairly tough going. Seemed to have lost the feeling in two fingers which isn't ideal.

@motoko Sorry to hear that. I'm sure I saw your Isen around Abington on the first, lovely colour :)

Sorry to hear that, sounds awful. Strangely, another rider scratched with identical symptoms though I think his kicked in a bit later on as he'd got himself back to the Paisley control.

That is a big first day! Found doing 350km was enough, particularly with the relatively late start. Glad you enjoyed your ride.

Might have been me if you’d only heard about it from volunteers.

I did show up at Paisley around 7.30pm after getting the train to pick up my grab bag.

It was a guy in a green/white/red jersey who was having some issues with his sciatica but was going quite well despite it. It’s a bit of a blur but I thought I saw him coming back from Inverness when I was still on my way there. Next saw him at Paisley after he’d scratched. Definitely (at least) 2 of you with similar issues.

Anyone riding the London Orbital tomorrow, I'll be stamping cards in Gravesend so say hello

It was the SeaShore 200k for me today. Beautiful weather and a nice route combined to make a thoroughly enjoyable day. Rode pretty much all on my own with the only really naughty section around Crowborough. Riding along the beach through Brighton was chaotic with thousands of people milling around. The road was a better place to be. Bang on 10 hours which I am delighted with as I stopped for coffee and a bite st each of the controls.

Did my first audax today Monmouthshire Ridges BP, not a great start, got up late and arrived as everyone was departing. Tool roll emptied itself on to the floor as I left. No bother, I passed a few people a few miles down the road which I know shouldn't matter, but it helped knowing I wasn't miles behind everyone.

Rolled on steadily and without incident for about 30k more, first major climb done, but couldn't seem to get myself to be fully immersed in enjoying the ride, put it down to the self imposed pressure of doing a new structured thing. Front mech had been over-shifting. Tool roll emptied itself again, more lethargy. 40k, closest bail out point to the start, very tempted but pressed on. Stop start stop, chain off, adjusted mech, pressed on, more of the B4293, which felt more like an A road. Fuck this, I thought, turned around, quick piss, I'm hungry, checked phone, was actually quite close to the lunch stop.

As I arrived a couple of people I ride with sometimes were leaving. Explained to them I was gonna grab some food and maybe bail, and bless them they came back and waited for me. 2nd 50 much more enjoyable, fun even, and they were very nice about not making anything of how much slower I was making them go.

I'd done 100k a couple of weeks ago at night, the tiredness was tough, but this was harder in some ways, psychologically, not my finest ride. On the upside I didn't really notice that there was over twice as much climbing and I don't feel too fucked now.

tl;dr ride with nice people, just keep going, arrive on time

That sounds tough, glad they could help you turn it around for yourself and have a good day out

Thoroughly recommend Faffers 400 as an AAA 400 vaguely near London.

Highlight was stumbling across an innocuous-looking Shell garage near the borders that sold everything from chicken food to fresh pecans and a huge selection of ice cream. For a 'no frills' route it was like a mirage in the desert. Tempted to look for new routes around there just so I can go back. http://www.locksgarage.co.uk/

Ha! I remember that place. Lots of cakes at the counter.

Yep, stuffed my pockets. They also sold me a USB cable and had a better selection of beers than my local Londis in London does.