Audax rides

Literally everything I've posted from 2011 to 2022 depending on if you're talking fast, slow, road or mtb I've done quite a few variations on this theme. :D

Eat often, drink often, look where you're going, keep pedaling.

SR list or the AAA list? I remember doing something like emailing dates of my rides to someone but that was years ago.

Well, stop struggling to eat properly and you'll find it a lot easier.

I struggled to eat properly (and still do sometimes but am much better now).

Having benchmarks helped me. Doing 40 miles? Have a snack at 20 miles, something with 20-40 grams of carbs. One bottle should be done halfway, the other by the end of the ride. Anything longer than 60 miles eat something at least every hour. Whatever time you first eat something (9:45am) make sure you've eaten something by 10:45, earlier if your moving fast / working hard.

For audax length do the above plus stop at mealtimes and have actual food, sandwich / burger etc etc. Use hydration tablets if you suck at drinking, will give you some leeway. That's all I've learned tbh. If I follow that I feel fine all the way round. What fellow good audaxes slammed into me was being disciplined about eating and drinking was at least as important as the legs.

Tldr do what hippy said and get good at eating and the distance will follow way easier

Are you aiming for 40 hours or as fast as possible?

After 24 hours is very late to sleep on a 600. Most people would split it something like 325/275km and so sleep would depend on speed, but if you were doing 20km/h that would mean sleeping after 16-17 hours. If you leave it for 24 hours you will (a) be pretty wrecked and (b) almost finished so hardly worth it.

What time of day do you start? If evening then 24 hours before sleeping might make sense, but not so much if its a morning start.

Eat and drink lots - but you know that. How? It's very personal but this is what I would do.

Carry loads of bars and eat the first one within the first hour. Then keep having them at around 45 minute intervals, unless something better, like a proper meal, comes along.

If I ever struggle to eat than I will go liquid, with either juice (apple, grape, whatever is going), chocolate milk or lucozade.

I generally carry at least two litres of water and just keep sipping. I used to sometimes set an alarm for every 20 minutes and drink on each alarm.

It's always amazing how much less you need to drink at night. It can be quite funny having to piss five times in an hour if you keep drinking at the same rate as during the day.

I prefer a high 300s -400k split, leaving 200k to do on day two. But we did 350/250 on the weekend because there was a convenient hotel at a control. But if you just want to ride 24hr for the sake of doing that, there's no point worrying about sleep stops. You might nap on day two but you'll have done so much of the ride you'll probably push on (naps will help if you're getting noddy though).

Use feed bags - means you can carry stuff and not use "no shops" as an excuse for not eating.

Use a Garmin timer and always eat or drink on the 30min beep.

People say "eat proper food" but I've done this shit on jelly babies and lolly snakes for years so what do they know? :) Licorice is nice - it's sugar too but the taste profile is different from all the fruit jelly stuff. I'll often grab some.

Nowadays I don't get handups so have to make do with Coops and pubs. Egg and cress sandwiches and choc milk are my goto for "mains" unless I can find hot salty chips and tomato sauce (or pasta if I'm going posh). I'll get crisps now and then to get some salt in. Lucozade or plain water and tablets for drinking. I'll have Monster and Coke too some times. If there's controls/towns - cakes all the time. Love them. Missus gets sick of cake and sweets fast so goes to savoury foods but I found on the weekend's ride that too many flapjacks doesn't work well for me. I really needed more of the easier to digest sugars.

Basically, do whatever it takes YOU to eat enough to get around. Everyone is different. If you try one thing and you puke, try something different until you find what works.

Is it an audax? I'm guessing not in the UK if 28-30c.

Have just entered my first calendar event since PBP, which seems mad! Anyone else doing Fenland Friends?

EDIT: I can't read.

Greenwich Mean Climb this weekend. I've been off the bike for two days. Could be "interesting".

Yes I'm doing it.

Good advice troops, just what I was after, some first hand experience. Cheers

Great, hopefully see you there.

The AAA SR, IIRC if you are already on list it should update, but you probably need to request the grrl is added. (If she collects patches.)

https://audax.uk/results/achievement-awards/audax-altitude-award/aaasr-roll-of-honour/

Ta. I'll wait until it's in the results and email.

We met this guy on the 600k
Robert Bialek 18 2010 - 2021
Looks like he's been very busy with 18 AAA SRs!

Cool. It'll be like Fat Times in the High Weald again.

I'm trying to be good, hoping to recover more beforehand. I was pretty run down before the 600k so that long weekend didn't help much.

Looks like you'll be need to be attending the awards night, even if you don't stay top of the AAA table.

This year is all about turning us into the AUK AAA Power Couple™

I told Alan during Highland Fling I'm not losing this competition. I have the resources and the mentality that I'll move to Wales and ride the same climbs every day if I have to. :D

I'm doing the Flatlands, which I expect is not on your agenda, not the GMC.

I've got an entry in moonrakers and sunseekers this weekend. I was going to ride out in Friday night but I won't do it now as I can't get back by train, and late night not ideal as daughter's birthday party the day after, 27 x 5 year olds.

I couldn't quite mentally get to terms with the GMC, going the coast, coming half way back then going back again.

Ah, I see you replied to jake but under my comment. As I've hinted at, I think I'm going blind. Or, more likely, my attention to detail and attention span is trending towards zero.

I don't really think about where routes go. Rides for me are just following a line and looking at stuff until the line on the Garmin stops. Plus it has 4.5 AAAs and seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm getting progressively snottier though so still not sure it's sensible with Italy very soon.

I'm doing GMC this weekend and slightly bricking it because I've only ridden 1,100 miles this year and most of those miles were flat.

Oh well, head down and get on with it I suppose.

Looking forward to GMC tomorrow, especially with the earlier start and it being June, likely daylight finish.

This was my first ever audax for some reason which I did without a Garmin using the routesheet only, with a head torch. I stopped and had a beer in Bexhill as I thought that was the ride pretty much licked. I considered scratching somewhere near Penshurst only to realise the nearest station that was still open was in London, so I may as well ride to the finish.

Have learnt a lot since then...😂

We're still a bit fucked from last weekend but slightly less fucked this morning so it looks like we will be heading to Greenwich to at least start this. But I'm reserving the right to pull the pin at any point to save it for Italy.

Good luck to anyone riding any of the BRM 300s this weekend.

Was looking forward to doing the Full Monty but gone got that ol' covid thing. So much for getting the full set of centennials.

has anyone used the e-brevet app for a ride? GMC300 supports it.

How does it work? Presume you turn on GPS and "check in" to a geofenced area or similar?