Audax rides

Thanks, decided against it in the end just because Wales seems to still be less open in terms of shops, cafes etc. Giving the BBC London route a go tomorrow. Keen to do BCM soon hopefully.

These talks of LWL and BCM remind me of back in 2017 when @Ruserius and I did their calendar events one after the other with two weeks in-between (LWL then BCM); it struck me that we drew a big distorted 1000km figure of eight in space and time. Those were the days... Maybe it’s time I or we do it again in one go? Maybe not!

BoB email:

due to the new rules of the National Security Council about COVID-19 it is no longer possible to organise (and ride) a long distance bicycle ride like the Borders of Belgium.
We tried to hold on as long as possible, but with the infection numbers rising since 2 weeks it is the only sensible thing to do.
Therefore we push the BOB2020 to 2021 and keep the same period: start on thursday 2 september 2021.
The participants on the list keep their place on the list for 2021.
An official statement on the website and facebook will follow soon

Quite close to LEL. I'd probably pick this over LEL if it came to it, just because stopping at Cantillon before the Eurostar would be nice, and I've already ridden lots of the LEL route over the years vs the Ardennes, which I haven't

interesting, what is the qualifying criteria for BOB?

there's no qualifying criteria

That's well-timed. I told him I wasn't riding and he said he could either refund or keep my entry for 2021. See you in 2021 if the world hasn't ended by then.

Can you spell your own name?

I had to prove my Lambic tolerance and name 3 famous Flemish people

Vlaames de Vlammick
Vlammick de Vlaames
Vlamm e la ma Dinkdonk

?

How many people are in Soulwax? Them, and the bloke who carries their equipment

I'll definitely do this again next year now, I have unfinished business with this ride.

I finished LEL I didn't finish this.

Next year's audax calendar is either the busiest ever, or half of it's going to get kicked into 2022 at some point :((

I'd planned to organise an event this year, which is obviously now potentially next year.

But now next year is full of events from this year that didn't happen, plus all the events that were going to happen anyway, and things I'm riding or hoping to ride, which leaves about 4 days in total within which running the event might be feasible.

So that's looking a lot like 2022 as well, which I'm struggling a little to get excited about.

(Obviously caveat with boo hoo hoo, a very niche bit of a niche sport has been affected by covid, there are bigger things to worry about, yes)

Aren't 2ManyDjs Belgian? Oh, just googled. Soulwax IS 2ManyDjs! :S

Oh, I've got it! Tin Tin, Captain Haddock and Snowy. Sorted.

Who's doing a DIY tomorrow then?

I'll be out on the perm Wildcat Grimpeur. An out and back so you get all the devilish climbs twice.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/33585215

Planning on doing a ~200 DIY London-Bath next weekend to visit a mate and looking at some routes I could potentially steal and tweak... Anyone have any route recommendations/ideas (excluding extended routes that wouldn't be great for road bike w 25-mm tyres)?

This one from TNRC ride from a few years ago looks good:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/1348746

And Also came across this one:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30316012

This will also be my first time doing a DIY so need to start figuring out how to do that...

Also trying to look for some audax routes that could be fun..

For the DIY get some Virtual Bevets from here https://audax.uk/choose-a-ride/do-it-yourself-diy-events/ You can get 1 or 3 at a time and pay with paypal.

Then sign up for a "Mandatory route" under the local organizer which would be south east.

Then ride the event and submit the GPX at the end. Don't worry if the organizer does not reply before the event you have the automatic AUK email then you are good.

Here are some DIY's and routes which are also events I've done.

https://ridewithgps.com/collections/12218?privacy_code=q1FFezA3WU2vny3s

I'm looking to do my first DIY on Saturday if anyone wants to join me? Hoping to do my first 200km in about 6 months so will be a steady pace, 17-20km per hour. Route/destination still tbc .

Edit - likely to do an amended version of Straight Outta Hackney, starting/finishing in Seven Sisters.

Thank you, I'll definitely check those routes out! Any specific one you recommend?

I ended up doing a tweaked version of the TNRC ride above - on the whole it was really good. A few busy A roads up to km 80 or so, but after that it was especially nice..just quiet country lanes. Rolling into Bath via canal at sunset was awesome.

virtual brevet purchase + validation after sending gpx route via email was super quick and easy - yep I ended up just doing the ride without reply from organizer in the end and it all worked well. Definitely planning to do more DIYs this year!

nded up doing a tweaked version of the TNRC ride above - on the whole it was really good. A few busy A roads up to km 80 or so, but after that it was especially nice..just quiet country lanes. Rolling into Bath via canal at sunset was awesome.

virtual brevet purchase + validation after sending gpx route via email was super quick and easy - yep I ended up just doing the ride without reply from organizer in the end and it all worked well. Definitely planning to do more DIYs this

Yep once you get the hang of it you can just drop in a DIY last min. I can suggest this ride which i've done for the past 4 years. Good for winter too.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33991104

Did the BBC London 600
as a DIY at the weekend in lieu of all the other fun rides that I've cancelled this year.

Great route, though tons of it's along Sustrans and NCN, which really are a mixed bag in terms of surface quality.

Monsal Trail at night was incredible though, mile-long rail tunnels in pitch darkness full of bats.
Passed another rider in there at about 10pm which completely freaked me out, like.

Riding across the fens was brutal though, featureless and windswept. Not looking forward to that bit of LEL if I do it.

That looks nice. Might have to try that route into London. Congrats on getting through that in a weekend!

Well done.

I did a 400 last Thursday. It was my first solo DIY, ie where I didn't tag along with someone who was doing it.

I did the Chilterns Cycleway route, with a leg out from home.

Hardest 400 I've ever done, and the slowest. Lots of lanes and ups and downs. Some off road sections, some of which were wet chalk that I had to walk, and some others I detoured round. Had hoped to be able to ride all the Chilterns bit in daylight to make the descents easier, but had an hour of dark lanes at the start and two hours at the end, when it got really slow as I had to go easy on the descents.

I enjoyed it, only considered DNFing at one point, after about 140km when things were hurting and still a long way to go.

Slightly disappointing to find that the best bits were mostly bits I already knew. The northern end near Luton was not that great -lots of fly tipping on the quiter bits and some busy roads.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33981022

This week I'm going up to my parents in Carlisle and thinking of a hilly 200 round the Lake District, over most of the main passes.

Looks like you did all of the Chilterns!
Which bits would you recommend? Want to do a 150km -200k DIY this weekend.

The southern bits, it's nice around Henley, and the big climbs are around Princes Risborough