Audax rides

There's a nice selection of BRM 300s up now to mark the centenary. Couple must have snuck in before the cut off. Was tempted by the Scottish and Welsh options, but have gone for the flat Cheshire option instead!

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Thoroughly enjoyed the 2020 poor student race in the peloton to the Summer Café in Malmesbury.

South Bucks Winter Warmer. My two pet hates: cloverleaf route and roads I'm already sick to death of

Have you mixed it up with a different event?

https://lister4cycling.webador.co.uk/the-route

I've done that ride once or twice before - I like to check them all off and I might've done it with the missus once because it was close and simple - I think she was still on her singlespeed back then.

When I was doing AAA stuff I mostly use the routes your clubmate Dave created. Chiltern Hillturns, Chiltern Chiltern Bang Bang, Chiltern Churner etc. These are varied enough for my brain. Not that I've ridden any of those in the last 2 years, so it'll all be fresh.

Which station would you go through to get to those? Like, do you train Ealing -> Reading first? Many of the Reading trains don't stop at Ealing or go to Paddington and then back out, but providing you time it ok, and maybe ask organisers for a later start they might work.

Could do part of it on a Friday night carrying camp kit and then wild camp out west but even that seems quite fiddly and requires finding a decent spot, which is shit in England because of the laws. It's one thing for me to sleep in a bivvy bag in a carpark but don't know if the missus is going to be up for that nonsense.

They both look interesting. That second one even more so with its AAA points (if I'm going to do AAARRTY I need to keep an eye on those).

I was looking at this: https://audax.uk/event-details?eventId=9407 for a Nov 200k with AAA but it starts from "Llanbadarn Fawr, Aberystwyth" which is 360k ride, 4-5hr drive or 10hrs!!! on trains.

So maybe I should just do one of Dave's DIY AAA routes. But I want to go further afield and I prefer to do calendar events than just tapping out miles of Chilterns for some arbitrary goal.

I'd penciled in the Droitwich one too as I've not done that before (it doesn't even come back to Oxford so it's not like it's London bound but I get what you mean).

Yep. I've done rides in early April where there's still snow by the roads in the Chilterns. I guess it could be quite pretty but I'd worry with the quieter roads there's more risk of ice. Not much of that drama in July (until climate change is in full effect here and we have Siberian weather)

Maybe he's thinking of Chiltern Grit, which goes out and back from a pub a few times.

Clearly I don't remember most routes I've done, but that one sticks in my head

It looks like the route has changed since I last looked at it - that looks quite good!

Usually Reading, or Slough. I don't go via PAddington as hassle.

When I wild camp I've always (twice!) done it outside the hall as the timings work better, and I don't need to allow a buffer to get there afterwards. Go round the back and no-one else sees you. Depends on the hall of course.

Yeah - I'd love to do that Aberystwyth one but I might as well look at rides in the Alps its so far away.

It looks like the route has changed since I last looked at it - that looks quite good!

Same as when I did it in 2019, it was good!

Thinking about it again this year actually, if there are any "on-here" who'd like a group

https://audax.uk/event-details?eventId=9258

I always confuse Upper Thames (2015, 2016) with South Bucks Winter Warmer (2016, 2017) but I still reckon you're maybe thinking of Chiltern Grit.

I uploaded my first one from 2015: https://www.strava.com/activities/6195843262

Usually Reading, or Slough. I don't go via PAddington as hassle.

Yeah, cheers. I think that's what I'll start looking at doing.

Good shout re: the hall. Plus if anyone asks, you're there for a legit event!
I was just thinking of doing the trip in two parts but it does make sense to get it over and done with on the Friday night rather than introducing the hassle of a ride to the start.

Haha good point.

I'm more about riding new stuff though, so if I could work out how to get over there it would definitely be different.

I was just thinking of doing the trip in two parts but it does make sense to get it over and done with on the Friday night rather than introducing the hassle of a ride to the start.

Yes, that was what worked for me. I did look for places on the Friday nights but I wasn't tired enough to want to stop. And was a bivvying virgin then so would have chosen crap sites.

but I still reckon you're maybe thinking of Chiltern Grit.

Maybe I am! Apols to Terry Lister and his ride for all the bad vibes I've sent it over the years!

I really want to do a SR fixed this year. I'm based in the South East coast and have kids so can't really be doing lots of travelling there and back. I am planning Thanet Platinum perm for the 200. Oasts and Coasts have a nice 300 but doesn't look like it's down as a perm - can I do it as a DIY (especially as I could then make it so it starts and ends at my door)? There is the Man of Kent 400 perm, but I really need to be doing a 400 with other people. The only one I see is Asparagus and Strawberries 400 which I would love but then I'd have to stay overnight with my mother-in-law. I like the idea of BCM for the 600 but I don't think my fitness is up to that much climbing it so will probably be Fenland Friends.

I hated Chiltern Grit, the later in the day it got, the more drunk and horrible the pub got. that's not even taking into account the route.

can I do it as a DIY

Yep. I normally ask the org as they might have some tips but no one has said "no".

https://www.strava.com/activities/498491388

I didn't notice the pub, presumably because I wasn't in there for long. But there was some horse thing on down south when I rode it so lots of twatty traffic on the south leg.

Pretty sure that's the one I did as my first 600 on its maiden running, over 9000m climbing? Stunning route, but it killed me. Mind you, I was carrying about 4 stone more than I am these days.

Just did the Dartmoor Devil yesterday. Near knee deep flooding, (I chickened out of riding through and took shoes/socks off), 30mph winds with 50mph gusts.
Fun though.

Ben Allen Dragon? Is that different to Ben Allen's Tour. I can't find it in the calendar now.

I think I did Ben Allen's Tour 600k as part of a Hyper a few years ago: https://www.strava.com/activities/2404752157

In search of Dragons, 2014 I did it. Was a scorcher IIRC as well. https://www.strava.com/routes/2890210098910562178 Was the route.

Presumably that's the one Frank means.

Yeah that's the year I rode it too, tons of traffic, think it was wet too from memory. You'll have finished way before me so probably still the lunchtime crowd, it was like a disco by the time me and my mate finished!