Audax rides

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  • 😫

    It'a gone from a bit to self-consciousness and embarrassment to some other thing which I think I love. all I can say is be careful what you wish for people

  • Just got my copy of arrivée - great work @hollow__legs

  • I did about half of it in 2019, that 300km was among the hardest I'd ridden, even before trying to describe how bad the conditions were that year.

    Even when you scratch up near Hexham it turns out the quickest way back to the start is still to ride it, so I ended up doing a tad over 500km anyway

  • A resident of Balmarino, Fife to be precise.

    Sadly his wonderful wife Margaret passed away earlier this year and it has been hard on him. They were thick as thieves and their many adventures are catalogued wonderfully in the second volume RSF Achive Book. He is the organiser of some of the best perms going in Scotland including the 1590km Eightsome Reel that I did last year.

  • I'm pretty sure that Andy U up north and Graeme in Edinburgh will be running qualifying 400s. The whole history of the Auld Alliance 400 is as a PBP qualifier.

    Andy U should be putting on a whole BRM SR series as PBP qualifiers. Usually from around Inverness area. Lucy may also be running some out of Galashiels.

  • And to make it three posts in a row...

    Just spent the weekend in Subic Bay, Philippines doing my qualifying BRM 300 and 200 rides Saturday and Sunday. What a weekend! They had 1800 riders over the two days! Next planned ride is BRM 600 called "Big Hill 600" in Malaysia in early Feb. This will complete my PBP qualifying.

    Times are published, and the culture is a bit more sportify there with people going for course record times as teams with support cars. Nominally these support cars are for secruity as emergency response times can be slow and can only be used at controls only as per ACP rules, but seems there is a lot of shenanigans happening.

  • Thanks! Mines not arrived yet so interesting to see how they've chopped it up (which I'm fully happy for them to do). I can't remember if I posted a link or not, but the full version with loads of photos can be found here.

  • Thanks, will keep an eye out for those. Not sure how I feel about the Auld Alliance after the last one with it's 9PM start totally ruined me, but if needs must!

    Interesting to see that people go for course records during audax in different parts of the world. I've noticed quite a few people completing audaxes in America with a big emphasis of how quickly they completed them.

    Out of interest, how does it work with you having completed your PBP qualifiers out of the set time frames? I was under the impression you had to complete the qualifying rides in the following timeframes but maybe I've got it completely wrong or these are just the UK/Europe dates?

    • 200k: Sat 7 Jan - Sun 30 Apr
    • 300k: Sat 11 Mar - Sun 21 May
    • 400k: Sun 9 Apr - Sat 10 Jun
    • 600k: Sat 6 May - Sat 24 June

    EDIT: Just checked the Audax UK website and these dates are for the UK only. Makes sense.

  • Question about the above UK time frames: can I sub a longer ride for a shorter one? For example completing two 600's between 9th April and 24th June.

  • You could qualify with 4 x 600 on successive weekends.

  • Re. course records... I remember someone going for the "course record" at BCM a few years back... I think it was believed to be in the 24 hours ball park, but there is no official record as such... which is a bit of a shame for bods like me who always made a point of finishing an Audax first... probably the reason I no longer ride them... I am too competitive for non competitive events.
    However, I keep looking at the Pendle 600 and think I should have a go at it... even if I haven't cycled longer than 60 miles in a couple of years... anyone doing it next June?

  • So only plus to say for the Auld Alliance is that it is good practice for PBP in that it is a evening start. If you're doing the 90hr PBP ride you'll start the Sunday evening.

    The qualifying windows are specific to each country/region, we are fortunate here that we don't have any.

  • I remember someone going for the "course record" at BCM a few years back...

    That was 2018 - on a single-speed.

  • I think there was someone in 2019 who finished in around that time too, I remember the controller at the finish mentioning it.

  • I've entered but as Andy pointed out 'the Pendle doesn't sell out' so you probably have a fair while to make your mind up.

  • How often do PBP entries outweigh places? Keen to get a place but didn't complete any qualifying BRM events last season

  • I may be wrong, but don't think it has ever actually sold out before. They have expanded numbers to cope with demand growth.

  • Great thanks. I found entry numbers for 2015 which was below the limit so was hoping it would be similar

  • A great read, enough to have me eyeing up the Surly thinking of a fixed road conversion (again)

  • I enjoyed reading this! Thanks for sharing. This is a great picture


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  • Re unofficial course records, I think there are a few people who have done the Bryan Chapman in 24hours. Ritchie Tout, the previous organiser, is cetainly one. And I think Nick Gardner might have done it too. Maybe even together - the fast guys in audaxes are normally riding in a little group rather than solo, which obviously makes a difference to speed.

    I've heard there are other unofficial records, or standards, for courses - but it's only a very small group who were in on it, and as a private thing - no public bragging rights!

    Tom Deakins once told me that Gethin Butler rode one of his events (with a couple of mates) and got round in under 6h40, ie average speed of <30km/h. He rode it as a training ride so wasn't too bothered when he was told he couldn't get it validated as it was outside the time limit.

    After I heard that story, about 10 years ago, I thought it would be fun to have a go at being too fast, so got my TT bike out for a flat 200 and tried it. I was on track to the first couple of controls but couldn't hold it all day. As always, it's the stops that kill your speed.

  • When I was in the Phillipines they went out as a team for the record with the peloton a stream of lead out men. The flat 200 was done in 5:56! Like ACP, Audax PH don't have a max speed rule.

    https://audax.ph/content/files/uploads/978e8ab9-9753-4755-afd1-ce5da286a055.pdf

    I'm not a huge fan of organisers publicising and celebrating course records or publishing result times, it makes it more like a sportif, but each culture develops its own and our view of audax doesn't necessarily need to be universal.

    Saying it isn't a race, but then publishing results in order of finish time is a bit contradictory...

  • That is quick! Very interesting to hear how things are done elsewhere. It depends on who is riding and what they want to do, and local laws and customs, I suppose.

    But a lot of events do run on that basis of 'it's not a race but you came xxth'. It's a theme in ultras where some events started off wanting to be races but then pulled back from that.

    Does ACP not have a maximum speed? Didn't know that.

  • Actually they do have a 34kmph max

    Overall time limits vary for each brevet according to the distance.
    These are: (in hours and minutes, HH:MM) 13:30 for 200 KM, 20:00 for
    300 KM, 27:00 for 400 KM, 40:00 for 600 KM, and 75:00 for 1000 KM.

    Additionally, riders must arrive at each checkpoint between the
    opening and closing time for the checkpoint and calculated as follows:
    Opening: 34 km / h (km 1 to 200); 32 km / h (km 201 to 400); 30 km / h
    (km 401 to 600); 28 km / h (km 601 to 1000); commercial rounded by the
    minute. Closing: 1 hour + 20 km / h (km 1 to 60); 15 km / h (km 61 to
    600); 11.428 km / h (km 601 to 1000); commercial rounded by the
    minute.

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Audax rides

Posted by Avatar for Fixedwheelnut @Fixedwheelnut

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