Audax rides

Regarding the DIY multi-days:

"My understanding is that you have to hit the minimum riding distance each day but are allowed to have rest days.

The authors of this scheme didn’t really have 50kers in mind but nominally I’d say you’re good to go."

Unless someone wants to come out here and do a DIY 400 and 600 with me?? I need a ride buddy

I'd like to give 400 a crack so could have my arm twisted...

Also, anyone signed up for Oh! To be in Kent ?

Similarly I could be persuaded.

@po and @ElGonzo sorry I was away for a bit! I'll PM you some potential plans maybe.

I can recommend this if you're still looking for a hilly 400. It's the Chiltern Cycleway, out and back via Henley. I did it two years ago. Advantage is that it has roadsigns at most of the junctions! Can obviously rejig the start to get it to work better from your home if you don't live in Ealing.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33981022

Oh that's a good option, cheers. Is it fixed friendly would you say?

Not really. Kop Hill is a bit steep, as are a few others

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about this - that actually looks fun given it's nearly all new lanes for me. Ta!

anybody on here got experience with those Shokz bone conduction headphones?

I usually partner my solo paincave moments with a bluetooth speaker, but im doing a 600 in a few weeks and reckon the bits I'll want music the most are also times where the speaker may be [more] antisocial. I did Frontier300 with wired headphones (handy as phone can charge while listening) but I have a modern phone now so no headphone port.

I like mine but they can suffer from wind noise cancelling out the sound quite easily. For prolonged periods combined with glasses they can make my ears a bit sore too. I have the basic ones though so these issues might be less of an issue on the others. Think about where you’ll store them when not in use as well, I fit mine into one of my jersey pockets and it’s fine but they don’t pack up like wired or standard in ear wireless headphones obviously so something to think about.

I tried someone's bone-conduction headphones the other day and they were surprisingly good (not riding though).

aaaaaand now I've just realised I have no headphones port on my new phone. Fucksake.

Around your neck? Or into your helmet vents like glasses, perhaps?

Get a version with magnetic charging.
The first set I bought from Costco had micro usb charging. Presumably sweat caused each if the original purchase and the 2 replacement sets to fail. (Would no longer charge). Struck lucky when Costco had no replacement stock and was given a full refund to credit card. Bought mag charging version direct from Shokz. No problems so far, in hundreds of hours of cycling.
@hamrack had a mag charging set a long time before me.

You make a good point re. packing them up, and the ear thing could be a dealbreaker. I have enough trouble with my glasses for that. Plus I have extra wind noise to deal with because of the speed holes in my earlobes.

I used to have this bluetooth amp thing to connect IEMs to my work computer – it kept dropping connection so I binned it off in the end, but it was good while it worked. I might try that again as I can then use normal earbuds and have the amp in my jersey pocket like a little race radio. Can charge from battery in the pocket, and also get to pretend i'm Jens on a solo breakaway.

I presume I'll just be able to get a USB-C to headphones adapter for mine. Or I'll just take my old phone.

I've had a few sets of ones from Trekz/Shokz (they changed name). The latest ones (aeropex/openrun) are quite flexible so the irritation from prolonged listening is much lower. The mag charging is also excellent as @mespilus says.

If you want to listen to music I find that you have to bring the level up quite a bit to deal with wind noise as @ric_a5 says, but that's much less an issue with podcasts/spoken word as the brain is good at picking that out.

Amazon has the aeropex model on a good price, it seems the best value right now. There's a quick charge version (OpenRun) and a truly new model (OpenRun Pro) but that sacrifices the IP rating somewhat.

I like mine but they can suffer from wind noise cancelling out the sound quite easily. For prolonged periods combined with glasses they can make my ears a bit sore too. I have the basic ones though so these issues might be less of an issue on the others. Think about where you’ll store them when not in use as well, I fit mine into one of my jersey pockets and it’s fine but they don’t pack up like wired or standard in ear wireless headphones obviously so something to think about.

Pretty good summary.
They are a bit much on the ears along with sunglasses, but i can usually find a way to make them fit.
When not in use I just push them down onto my neck.
Take back-up headphones too. It's really annoying when you are on a long ride and get into listening to something and the battery dies three hours from home.
I use standard wired headphones on really long events as I don't want another device to have to charge, but some people used them on TCR.

Downside to this being unable to charge phone while listening. I'm basically riding with the brakes on if I don't have Rammstein/Neurosis/Power Trip on the go

Charge the phone before you leave, turn on Airplane Mode. Music for days.

Someone has probably made a double-adapter for this situation too.

Can confirm, this is NOT fixed friendly.

other option is cheap and light mp3 player and wired headphones. battery lasts for way longer than phone and as much music/podcasts as you want on a micro sd card. was part of my weekend touring setup.

mmm it had crossed my mind to pick up an old ipod shuffle or something. sadly because im just the worst, all the music i listen to is either on streaming playlists or vinyl. I can't stick to bandcamp purchases and my itunes library from 2008 for 600km!

I have this also. Battery definitely doesn't last way longer than phone though.
Obvs I could buy a new one but nowadays why have two devices when one will do (other than as backup)