Audax rides

That's just a big phallussy.

I'll be on a 42.

Any idea when they might validate stuff over 300k? I'm trying to convince the missus to do an SR

I thought it was from 17th May?
https://audax.uk/static-data/covid-restrictions

Yes, longer rides are OK now

Ah, cheers, I checked it recently but clearly not recently enough.

Not strictly audax but ahead of N/S Downs Escapade I need to get myself some form of hiviz jobby. Has anyone on here used one of these? https://www.provizsports.com/en-gb/classic-flexi-viz-cycling-running-belt.html

Seems that it should do the job, while not ISO #### to be PBP compliant, but I'm not doing PBP

has anyone ridden LWL and dauntsey dawdle? which one has the nicer route?

Only LWL (Severn Across) but multiple times so I clearly must like it. It was the grrl's first 400k too.

Maybe I should do Dawdle this year to compare?

Not done dauntsey dawdle but did wander wye which looks fairly similar. From memory think I preferred LWL but they're not that different.

I've done both, and enjoyed dauntsey dawdle more for the route. LWL was my first 400 and struggled with sleep deprivation and broken derailleur issues.

Thanks all - Adapted dawdle it is - I wanna go to New Zealand and sadly will have to miss some SDowns to make it a round 400. First fixie DIY 400. excite.

+1 for Dauntsey Dawdle I really enjoyed that ride

Only 200km difference.
Crossed paths with dawdlers when doing the Paddington Express from Bristol.

Paddington Express

How you rate this route?

I've done the Dean (quite a similar route) and Severn Across (old name for LWL) loads of times and did the Dawdle in 2019.

I liked the Dawdle but largely because it was new roads - I'm kind of tired of the Forest of Dean / Chepstow / Malmesbury loop as done it so many times.

The Dawdle is a funny ride: the first half is hilly and the second half is flat.

If you haven't done either before, SA / LWL is an epic route: Chilterns, Cotswolds, a bit of Wales, climbing back over the spine of southern England and racing against the setting sun, while the DD is just a big loop.

Overall, I think I enjoyed it, flat as hell though. Most of the climbing was on the London to Bristol section. The outbound leg from Bristol was good, quiet roads for the most part.

That Isla bike is lovely.

We've had a wide variety of kid cycle gear, how well it works seems to depend on the kid.

1. Burleigh trailer - kid hated it
   
2. Hamax siesta - loved but destroyed two back wheels, 36 spokes recommended
   
3. Wehoo trailer - well loved, especially by a kid that hated sitting still
   
4. Follow me - best invention ever, 10/10
   
5. Wild bikes - better than Frog, cheaper than Isla
   
   

We aren't quite into Audax territory yet, but don't think it is that far away.

Well, Niece #2 needs a new bike sooner rather than later. And has demanded a galaxy paint job. No pressure then.

Don't think I've used a Hamax Siesta, but whatever Hamax it was didn't stop Niece #2 from having a kip in it a few years ago.

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The tandem had its first proper outing this weekend. My friend Niall and I decided to "get the hang of it" on the Moscow Express 200 from Edinburgh. The route took in the Lang Whang and Clyde Valley Westward to the village of Moscow in East Ayrshire. Supposedly the village was renamed from Moss Haw after Napoleon retreat in 1812.

It was a tough effort with more climbing than the 1900m rwgps total elevation suggested. 13-15% gradients on a tandem are particularly hard.

Take away thoughts...
1) need to get better at mind reading
2) dragging brakes on decent in a big no-no. We had a puncture on a particularly steep, narrow and twisty one with no sightlines around the hedges.
3) Despite my best efforts, as stoker I really can't steer.
4) All the subconscious micro-rests you get on a solo don't really happen on a tandem. The quick break in pedalling, the standing on pedals to take the weight of the saddle and stretch.

Hopefully with more practice our synchronicity will improve.

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more climbing than the 1900m rwgps total elevation suggested

RWGPS is always wrong

So are Garmin and Wahoo. 2 x the wrongness.

RWGPS I think picks the closest point to your route that it has elevation data for. So it's always going to be an estimate and that estimate varies depending on your route and which maps you use. You can see it change by grabbing a GPX importing it and then doing an Auto-Trace of that route. More points = more accurate estimate.

I've tended to use an applet which takes the gps tracklog, samples it and then runs this through the high resolution DEM from the OS. This tends to give a more accurate result than the models used on strava / rwgps which tend to use global datasets.

This is the approach used by AUK for AAA calcs.

The Moscow Express ride ended up being 2,400 m vs 1,900 m

I guess if you're trying to climb x metres or go for AAA points, that's important.

I just tend to look at it after a ride and go "oh, that felt like a lot of climbing" or "oh, really, less than they said". It's not like I'm going to not ride something because it has 4000m vs. 3500m or whatever so total ascent is only ever a rough metric for ride difficulty or something I try to reduce while TCR routing :).

Biggest shock for me was the Bowland 200, with ride to and from Manchester was 3500m on rwgps, came out at over 5000m. Brutal day.

@motoko tandem looks great! You look buzzing to be on it in that photo.