Audax rides

Yep and yeah pretty much. I've used it 4-5 times last year. Worked really well as long as you have signal.

You need to do a bit of setup and can download an event beforehand. Should show the controls and calculates your time in hand every time you checkin somewhere. Upload at the end for validation.

That sounds kinda cool. My missus has already got it. I'm normally anti-apps but I also don't like having to stop if I don't need to so you could just enabled GPS and roll through the control? Or do you need to click something while you're at the control? I mean, I could still do that on the move.

Good luck on the GMC didnt realise they changed to June, would have been awesome to try it in warmer temps than it was in October! Was stuffing newspaper and costa coffee tissues down my jersey from a petrol station at 1am trying to get myself home lol

Ouch. As I've alluded to numerous times, we're pretty broken (I have a cold, looks like my missus has escaped) so if the weather was bad I would have zero qualms bailing on this. I emailed the org to say as much. He's cool about it - there's no waiting list.
I felt better this morning so we're almost certainly going to start. Whether we finish the whole thing is quite another matter.

So Laughton is at 112km of the route but the e-brevet thing says it's at 116km.
Is there any way to tell how big the geofence is? Because if you get to 116, turn the app on, will you be too far down the road from Laughton to get the checkin?

You need to click.

As I understand it the geofencing is set on a control-by-control basis by the organiser. Had one where they didn't get it quite right and we had to stop just outside the town control, we were briefed in advance and they were there stamping cards anyway.

I might leave it to the missus and do mine the old fashioned way. I've installed it though to play with.

Yep I'm doing both, I don't trust it / myself

Well I managed it. 385 miles, 20 000ft in 29 hours, no sleep, a lot of sitting around questioning my life choices in the middle of the night. Tried really hard to fuel right and it worked. Couldn't eat or drink anything last few hours, it was so grim. Luckily the weather was cool.

It worked, except for the Laughton control, which we already knew was a bit iffy because the distance was wrong on the route/brevet. But we also grabbed some receipts and got the infos anyway.

I think I've got whiplash from the ride back across London. Missus had a weird shin pain, just below her knee that we need to investigate. I've never seen that before. Need to google where the ITB goes..

Good day but relentless hills started to get a bit tiring coming back up from Bexhill. Enjoyed the beer and curry at the finish (and the cheese and pickle sanger at the Barn)

Also need to work out why the Exposure rear light isn't lasting long enough. I assume it's reverted to its brightest mode and needs to be turned down so it lasts longer. Where's the manual...

Tried really hard to fuel right and it worked.

#hippyisalwaysright

"619km, 6096m in 29 hours, no sleep" #ftfy

Well done. If you can't stomach food, try drinking your calories. No, not beer! I mean, you can if you want, but it won't help recovery. Protein shakes, drinking yogurt, chocolate milk, etc. If it's hot you might just want to stick with lemonade or coke or something. Or melt ice-cream and eat that.

Ah, didn't see you at the start, wondered if you'd DNSd...

I rode the first 200km fairly quick and then eased off a little as the heat was getting to me. The guy I was riding with didn't seem to need to drink or get tired, so I let him ride on.

That ride was a different kettle of fish to when it's usually in September. 3 ice creams, about 8 bidon fills, sweat stinging eyes on the climbs. Nice to do that last 90km in daylight for a change though!

We were there for the start but let almost everyone go. We weren't 100% from the 600k. I've still got a bit of a cold, etc. so I didn't want to feel any pressure to "keep up" and just took it real easy. I could've done with a bit more liquid but I'm so used to under-hydrating I kinda just got on with it. Less drinking = less sweat in the eyes ;)

Had a milkshake at Bexhill which was nice. Probably could've done with more ice-cream in general though.

Erm....Brexit means Brexit.

Missus had a weird shin pain

I've had shin pain twice. Once was because I put my cleats too far forward. Second time was on IndyPac when I forgot to put the saddle down after I put the cleats back, so saddle too high.

This is almost certainly volume related. She's just done the biggest ride ever and backed it up with a 300k the weekend after. 14,000m of climb in 2 weeks. So we doubled checked measurements but I'm definitely not going to change anything fit-wise. Will get busy with the glute, quad and hip stretches and maybe some rolling.

I opted for the scampi and chips at Bexhill. I think it saved me... (apart from my feet. my big toes were being a right pain for the rest of that ride).

(not my nago)

Compare and contrast...

https://www.strava.com/activities/7306567129

Did Kingston Wheeler's Wander Wye 600 this weekend gone. Inspired by YAL's idea of a fixed series and cos cba to get my other bike in working order, I decided to give it a try fixed. Prepared well by eating properly before and during the ride with the excellent advice in this thread from last week fresh in my mind.
The further away from London, the better it got. Shit driving finally started to subside after Oxfordshire. Beautiful country lanes worth the traffic-y bits. Struggled for a short brutal relentlessly short sharp up and down bit before Woofferton. Then Shropshire into Wales was deserted, not seeing anyone for miles. Headwind for the 100km before half way wasn't the best time for it. But then turning at Brecon heading into the dark to get to Chepstow on the A road with a tailwind was sublime with the moon and bits of clouds illuminating the brecon beacons. Then Sunday was mostly just lovely lanes, low 20's with a perfect tailwind for the 220km back. Except Ascot to Sunbury which is rammed the entire way with cunts in cars and horrendous road surface. But all was forgiven back at the finish with plenty of beer and extremely easy to eat food. Now I just have to do a 300 for the series.

Haha, nice! Those are defo in my "drinks not too have on an audax" list. Already had to make an emergency loo stop at tunbridge wells sainsos...

You poor poor thing! Not able to have milkshakes and coffees on long rides? What's even the point of riding then?!

@hippy @damitamit Same for me, remember chugging a massive thing of Yazoo as it seemed to be the done thing in these rides and feeling like I wanted to spew for the rest of the day... Same way I've realized bananas don't do me any favours either in that regard 🤢

My missus had two bananas. I don't bother with them personally. They're big and heavy and only 100 calories so why bother. If they're at a control and ripe I might grab one but I'd not bother starting a ride with a 'nana.

TransAm pics. Loved those little Quarts of choc milk from the supermarkets.

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TBF an American milkshake could probably power you for a couple of days...

Similarly if I ever see this kind of thing on audaxes I'm buying 3 slices, two to eat there and then, one for the jersey.

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Seeing all of your recent advice is really making me feel better about the choices of food I make when on an Audax. When I finally get round to getting some more rides done I look forward to eating even more cake than I used to, just to be sure I'm not underfueling.