Audax rides

Just eat and drink a lot

Any wait to enjoy this on London - LE - London

I guess you mean: https://www.audax.uk/event-details/10134-the_white_hart as the one you linked to was the 2020 version.

Not riding it but I may pop along to the start with a track pump and bunch of tools/spares if I'm free. It's amazing what people forget to bring.

Ooh, I can then hang around and do the RP parkrun which I've never done before.

Still highly recommend that ride - you will invariably end up riding a big chunk of Cornwall at some unsociable hour and in those scenarios it's very agreeable : )

Assume you mean: https://www.audax.uk/event-details/10134-the_white_hart

I've entered this. That's sound advice - breaking almost anything into smaller chunks makes it easier to deal with. Carry snacks you like and keep eating them, don't stop and cool down too much at controls, keep pedaling, carry appropriate clothing for rain/sun and some spares for repairs. Keep pedaling.

Cheers, everyone. I'm doing it with the hardened Audaxers in my club, so should be in good hands on the day.

I’m hoping to have an appropriate pint at St Austell

you will invariably end up riding a big chunk of Cornwall at some unsociable hour and in those scenarios it's very agreeable : )

I did Kernow & South West as my 600 qualifier for PBP in 2011 so I entered Cornwall around 11am and left at 4am-ish.

I did all the nice roads down through Launceston/Looe/Snozzle/Truro/etc to Penzance in daylight (getting to Marazion around dusk). It was then dark for the soul destroying slog back North through Newquay (1am-ish) and Camelford back up to Bude.

Less said about the second half (Taunton/Yeovil/Seaton/Exeter) the better. I think I only started to enjoy it when I stopped at an offy 100m short of the finish to grab some beers.

Proper type II fun though.

The 2 hours I spent in the local Travellodge wolfing this down, drinking one of those giant cans of Stella and napping for 45 minutes were absolutely heavenly : )

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oh god. were you gunning for a decent time, or just to make the cut off? coz you are most definitely faster than me, and I was hoping to get a few hours kip haha

At the time I think I just thought 'let's break the back of this a bit', and I knew there was a load of fuckery elevation-wise between St Austell and Lands End, and there's a good caff near Land's End for a morning fryup.

Definitely wouldn't need to do anything like as daft as that just to make the cutoff.

When I did KSW in 2012 I got so sick of crappy lanes that I ducked onto the A303 for half an hour or so. It wasn't exactly pleasant but it was a hell of a lot faster! Helped me finish in time. Ian, the organiser, is a lovely guy, but I was cursing him for the gratuitous fishing village loops down to sea level and back up again, just before the end.

This is perhaps an advantage of being "geographically ignorant" - I'm just following a pink line and looking at a distance counter and whatever is, will be.

the gratuitous fishing village loops down to sea level and back up again, just before the end.

Ha, yes. I got a receipt in Seaton and climbed back up to the main road and bypassed Beer/Branscombe/etc. I'd long lost my sense of humour by that point.

Oddly I loved the night time blat up the A39.

This is perhaps an advantage of being "geographically ignorant" - I'm just following a pink line and looking at a distance counter and whatever is, will be.

The benefits of being properly fit. I've had that a few times in my life but not often enough.

When not as fit my body wants to start to optimise things. I kind of prefer mandatory route rides, or rides where alternatives simply aren't possible, as that takes all of that away as I just have to get on with what the organiser has set down.

I would rather suffer longer than attempt to reroute. For me, trying to 'do navigation' is more painful than riding pretty much anything :)

I have a pretty good navigational memory from plotting the route in the first place (I hated having to just blindly trust someone else's GPX file). The K&SW detour was easy as I knew we should end up on the main road after the fishing village forays so it was an easy choice. I'm also quite hard skinned when it comes to traffic so I don't mind a bit of main road bashing in order to make my life easier.

Last Audax was in 2017 I think (and one that you rode, although you'd already left by the time I got to the start and then there was no chance of catching you).

folliwing a pink line .... and whatever

Brimstone around Bath and BoB in the Ardennes hills was like good old disco days. Result!

I hated having to just blindly trust someone else's GPX file

I always blindly trust someone else's GPX file.

Mostly. Often, I'll redraw it in RWGPS using OSM maps, if for no other reason that it looks neater and the Garmin is less likely to beep off-route! with tracks that better follow roads. Doing this NEVER equates to a better understanding of the 'ground situation' in my brain though. It's like two totally separate things.

As an aside, if I'm dragging the missus around I'm probably more likely to avoid busier roads. I've spent years having wing mirrors whiz past my head. I don't think she needs that in her life.

Well done on catching those fishing villages - I did take quite a few vertical kinks out of the KSW route beforehand but I missed those ones, and the massive hill on the way in to Truro, when I could have just stayed on the main road!

I once took my wife on a route I'd planned and she actually got hit by a wing mirror. A white van got her on her shoulder, on the road through Epping Forest. Luckily it was just a skim and she didn't come off.
I'd only ridden that road early on Sunday mornings or on the Dunwich Dynamo so thought it was ok. It was terrible in morning rush hour.

You can't get it right all the time.

Like the banned tunnel I dobbed myself in for riding on one of the TCRs. It was fucking empty when I went through at 70kph. Jamming on the anchors to clamber around it (which I'd totally forgotten to do) was likely more dangerous.

I'm wondering if I should ride the gravel bikes during the Wessex events as training for the Serpents. The fat tyres would be a bit of a drag but might make the scrappy lanes a bit more fun.

Just got the new Arrivée, well done @hippy and OH on the AAA table!

I've not seen it but we better bloody be on top. Stupid idea that was.

:)

First qualifying ride for PBP completed this weekend; the Talla-Ho! 200.

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