Audax rides

I'm missing rides from back to Aug. I plan to win this.

you can't win an Audax any more than you can win a charity ride.

I'm not "winning an audax". I'm winning (or trying to at least) a competition of collecting climbing points.

https://audax.uk/about-audax/awards-and-trophies/

Altitude (the Challenge ACP - Michel Bonnin Trophy)

and

Altitude - Opposite sex (the Michelin Trophy)

https://audax.uk/results/annual-awards/individual/

I know that ;-) Is there an Attitude competition too?

There is, but it's only open to people who have ridden more 200k...

How's that for ya?
:P

cries into pillow

Almost 200,000m of climbing just in audaxes this season. Any wonder I've got attitude :P

#hippyisfat

Who's your daddy?

As we look to the new season, I am blessed by no windows for PBP qualifiers here in SE Asia.

My plans currently are a weekend at the beginning of December in the Philippines where they're running a Saturday 300 and Sunday 200.

For my 600 next month I found this devilish one in Thailand I am tempted to give a go, 12,000m of climbing though...
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41172784

The Mae Hong Son loop!

I've done that - not as an audax but as a tour, over 4 days. I'd definitely recommend - wonderful route, lovely roads, some brutal climbs (the short ones, rather than the long ones), great food, lovely towns and villages, friendly people.

A bit of main road to get out of Chang Mai, then two great, long climbs in the first half ,then some really brutal short climbs round about 200km. One of them made my rear mech collapse out of shape.

Then it is some easy stuff through forest, before my favourite bit, which was after you turn left to cut back towards Chang Mai at 324 km. A really quiet, hidden valley, again with some steep climbs that had me on the edge. A very pretty section by a river.

I did it 10 years ago in December. I didn't have such good info on the route then so wasn't sure what to expect on some of the sections in terms of gradients and resupply options. And I didn't eat enough, so by day three I was struggling for energy. I'd done PBP that year so thought I knew how to ride long distances, but didn't really understand nutrition then.

I didn't do the out and back bit at 210mi / 338km, and I turned left at 282mi / 454km with the intention of going up Doi Inthanon (the highest mountain in Thailand). But that road turned out to be brutal - about 4km at an average of 13% - and I was on a steel tourer with panniers / luggage for a 4-week tour. Probably the hardest ride I've ever done. I quickly ran out of food, there were no resupply options. I ate a couple of tomatoes that fell on the road from a passing farm trailer. I had my worst ever bonk and had to walk the last few inclines as I couldn't ride any more. I definitely couldn't manage the out and back to the top of Inthanon. I found food on the way down and was able to roll back to Chang Mai, but was ill for a couple of days, and didn't get my riding strength back for the best part of a week (went on to tour Laos).

But ignore that as you are not doing that bit! The road to the south is much less hilly. I'm sure it would be a really memorable 600.

When is that?

November 12th, so if you're at a loose end in a few weeks...
https://audaxthailand.knack.com/home?fbclid=IwAR1hp50Uidm3blOPhE5F_RKTnxtJj1f_zDnjT9s1LPLrwDJHVW_emZlPgI4#events/2023/route-details/617ad8b752244500204bbde7/

I've got a local contact with one of the orgs if you're tempted, otherwise they have lots of rides in their calendar.
https://audaxthailand.knack.com/home?fbclid=IwAR1hp50Uidm3blOPhE5F_RKTnxtJj1f_zDnjT9s1LPLrwDJHVW_emZlPgI4#events/2023/

Striking a little bit of fear into me with that description. It looks like a very challenging route no doubt, at audax pace I am 50-50 if I could complete, if I was to, probably would be without much sleep.

It was such an epic ride for me mainly because I was a lot less experienced, didn't have much info, was completely on my own, and it was at the level of difficulty where I was just able to do it. If you've prepared better and know what you're talking on it's probably not as hard as I made it sound.

Looking at the climbing it's similar to the hardest UK audaxes like the Pendle, maybe a few more metres but some is 'easier' climbing like a 1000m at 5-6%, rather than all being brutal up/down like the pennines (although there is a bit of that). I'm sure rides in the Alps or other mountain regions will have more climbing.

The weather is definitely better, the roads are lovely and smooth and the food is wonderful. I particularly remember the teak forests, massive trees with their leaves just starting to fall (in December), the fried rice and noodle soup available from stalls almost everywhere (apart from up that steep climb!) and the really sweet fun-size bananas...

I'd love to do it again, of all the rides I've done it's probably my all time favourite.

You going for the all time record, too? May aaas well.

https://youtu.be/h-9UvrLyj3k

Ah, no dice this year then I'm afraid. Thanks for the info though. One day perhaps.
Definitely would like to ride Asia and more America (maybe South) in future though.

I think that ship has sailed this year. If I was going to go for that I'd need to live somewhere actually hilly. It would be doable if I could actually be fucked to go for it.

fun-size bananas

Well keep in touch. Now that I am based in Vietnam, there is a lot of travel in the region for great riding.

Nice one, cheers!

Pleased to see the Pendle 600 is back, after Andy suggested he'd run the last.

I think I'm going back for another beating.

https://burnleyccevents.com/pendle-600-2/

Audax, lol.

So this season (this one just about to end) is the first proper season I’ve focused on audax. I thought I’d set some goals, so aimed for my SR series fixed, RRtY fixed as well as seeing how many points I could accumulate for the Fixed Wheel Challenge. I chatted by email with my local DIY organiser (I work weekends so pretty much all my audax rides are DIY’s) and checked if there was anything I needed to do beforehand to which I was told ‘for fixed wheel simply do the rides and then submit which ones you want to at the end of the season.’

So far so good. So off I went, completed my RRtY fixed, completed my SR fixed and got (so far) over 50 points towards the Fixed Wheel Challenge.

Today I emailed the Fixed Wheel delegate to ask how to submit all of this and was told that because I hadn’t bought any fixed wheel brevet cards none of my points were valid for entry into the award or for my SR. Wtf. So was I supposed to buy an individual brevet card for each ride? I eventually found the ‘regulations’ page on the Audax UK website, tucked away in some tiny corner but even after reading it it’s not clear. It says I was supposed to have every fixed ride validated with the organisers stamp or signature, but every ride I’ve completed has either been X rated with a postal finish or a DIY?

Still awaiting a response asking if I could at least have the SR validated.

/rant

Sorry to hear. I've never done fixed audax so have no idea about specific requirements.

In unrelated news I finished my AAA RRTY today with a 'cheeky 200' as someone from the office would say.