Audax rides

Ha! "Next year" runs screaming into traffic

I entered it in 2019 as part of a Hyper SR but I also had RATN, Transpyrenees, TCR and Transiberica on the cards so DNS because I wasn't going to recover in time. Good to finally check it off the list, along with the Wessex SR series.

Next year Andy is running Mille Pennines I think so probably no Pendle, but 1000k of his routes instead.

Mille Pennines

I DNS'd that last time as I'd OD'd on other rides. I'm not sure I could get round it nowadays!

Similar to the Pendle, I'd entered Mille Pennines back in 2016 or so. It was going to be my shakedown ride before TCR but then I had bike dramas and didn't have anything to ride so DNSd that as well.

I'm going to pencil it in for next year.

https://millepenninesaudax.com/

Yes, me too. But I was already shaken down (up?) enough by long rides the previous two weekends!

It's tempting but my reservation about it is the cloverleaf route. I know it doesn't mean much to you, but it messes with my head.

cloverleaf route

My only issue with that is in the old Garmin days I'd often end up on the wrong bloody leg of the route! :D

@ElGonzo and I did Wander Wye over the weekend and I have not fully processed yet but finished my fixed SR.

Also huge hi / thanks to the forumers who we kept seeing at the controls. Was so so nice to see friendly faces along the way.

Huge congrats. Looking forward to the processing stage and a full ride report!

Also huge hi / thanks to the forumers who we kept seeing at the controls. Was so so nice to see friendly faces along the way.

Second this. Big up to @Amcharl and @WhitleyJay !!!

I've mostly retired from audaxes, but a while ago I was feeling nostalgic for overnight riding + awkward conversations in village halls and beige food, so I signed up to do Fairies Flattest 300. It's a 2am start 300 so you get the night riding but without having to actually ride through the whole night. Plus as the name suggests, it's really flat and was comfortably expecting to be done by mid-afternoon-ish and was hoping to have a relaxed time eating ice cream and taking photos.

Decided (correctly) at last minute to take bike with mudguards rather than fast road bike, which
meant last minute saddle/seatpost installation. As a result I spent first 100km adjusting stuff and getting knee pain in process. Then at around 200k a guy came off his bike on one of the downhills so got involved helping with ambulance stuff, finding someone to take his bike, etc. This set me back quite a bit meaning the cafe (and everything else) in Dungeness was closed by the time I got there. Then hit massive pothole immediately after that, proper snake bite puncture in tubeless tyre. At that point huge thunderstorm started. Trying to cram myself and bike into a phonebox (the only shelter I could find) and sticking plugs in a tyre was fairly miserable - managed to get it to hold about 20psi and limped along intermittently pumping up tyre and keeping weight over front of bike. Some hours later I realised there was actually another puncture altogether in the tyre and all I needed to do plug that one as well - something I'd have probably realised straight away if I'd had more sleep.

Eventually made it back to the end at nearly 10pm - felt bad as was literally last rider in and suspect everyone else had finished several hours before.

Highlight of the ride was probably eating a Magnum in the rain at about 9pm. Plus some of the night riding was quite fun. Actually overall it wasn't too bad and have some sense of achievement from not DNFing. Plus despite being totally soaked for about 4 hours, at least it wasn't cold. At one point a car splashed a huge puddle over me and it literally felt like having a bucket of lukewarm water thrown over me.
(at risk of starting a tubeless discussion, would have been far worse if I'd had tubes - pretty sure I'd have given up/lost will to live if I'd had similar amount of punctures with tubes).

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Glorious.

Fabulous! If this doesn't bring you back from 'almost retirement' then nothing will.

If I had limitless time I would definitely see if I can still do an SR. But as it is, I think I'd rather ride offroad/camp without time limits. Plus the less time I spend on the road with angry drivers, the better. There were some very angry drivers out in Kent yesterday.

very angry drivers out in Kent yesterday

I feel Kents quite an angry place in general

Full of Feckin Kents

Sounds like quite the adventure!

Tubeless debate initiated:
If you had tubes, you'd have seen where the sidewall issues were with the tube bulging out, booted it and carried on without all the other drama. :P

I feel Kents quite an angry place in general

Yes it was really very angry. There was a road crew out fixing something on sunday morning and one of them was going absolutely insane screaming at cyclists that they couldn't go down the road. Guessing maybe his Saturday night coke binge had been interupted by a work call out, but genuinely worried he was going to have a rage induced heart attack.

Tubeless debate initiated

Must resist....
But while I wouldn't have had that issue, I think I'd have been through at least 3 tubes before even getting to that point and would have been desperately trying to get damp patches to stick in the rain in a phone box and think it very likely I would have given up at that point. Would have also pinch flatted front tyre in the same pothole (had sealant marks round edge of rim where I'd obviously hit it hard enough to allow some to escape) so would have been dealing with double punctures. Wrestling wheels off around mudguards, etc, etc...
Main mistake I made was not taking a step back and inspecting the tyre slightly more carefully rather than getting into tiredness induced 'must move on at all costs' state.

Feeling guilty now. I briefly ruined the non-ebay deals thread by starting a tubeless discussion in there. I would say I'd carry on discussing tubless in the relevant thread, but have work to do so probably shouldn't.

Haven't booked any more audaxes yet, but am doing a solstice overnight ride tonight which I plan to take very slowly. I really do love riding at night.

No way is Kent more angry than London come on

I've been in Faversham for two years and the main thing I've been suprised by is how friendly everyone is.

Faversham is posh Kent.

You’re wrong on that. Essex &
Kent waaaay more aggro than London.

I've been in Faversham for two years

Sorry to hear that

Nope

I guess there's an expectation that in the countryside the number of ragey fuckwits would drop away a bit quicker. But most of the commuter belt counties have a decent set of Fuckwitius Range Rovererus

And I thought it would be the tubeless discussion that would derail the thread, rather than the class system/rage levels of the south east.
From a cycling point of view I'd say Essex>Kent>London in terms of rage experiences, but it's really very hard to quantify. The Kent/Essex rage seems more like an ongoing state of existence rather than anything linked to specific events.

Maybe about 5 streets or so