Audax rides

The sound of freewheels in the dead of the night is really pissing me off, downright antisocial.

I used to love the silent Ultregra freehubs. Great for my preferred racing modus operandi of wheelsucking the fuck out of everyone. The modern stuff, jeebus, it's like yoofs and their stupid exhausts - let's see who can make the most annoying freehub noise! The new Rovals I've got, with the huge echo-y carbonness are fucking cray cray. I'm embarrased to leave the house with them they're so clicky :D

ended up chasing max souplesse

I know, he's a speedy bugger, gets you on the rivet.

Great write-up.
Lovely to read what was happening up the front!

Can’t imagine doing it fixed.
What was your gearing?

47x19, so 67 gear inches.

I thought the route was very fixed friendly.

Great write-up, gutted I missed it, maybe next year.

^ Same
@ElGonzo - loved the report, wish I'd been there.
Photos also good to evoke the nightriding vibes

Congrats, sounds like a great ride!

It’s interesting that you say you’d possibly enjoy audax if more of you were a bit faster. I find this is especially true when you start doing rides long enough to include a sleep stop.
A friend of mine once told me a story about his folks riding longer distance audaxes together way back when. When his dad used to ride alone he would always be fast enough to get a decent few hours sleep on a 600. But when his dad and mum rode them together they were never fast enough to get much sleep and had to resort to disco naps on benches.
Being a bit faster definitely helps if you like your sleep.

Nice write up, love it.

200 starters is crazy. Definitely going to have to head down for an audax or two next year.

proper riders 👍

Appreciate the kind words, glad people enjoy the report. @hollow__legs - apparently it was 208 finishers. Doubt there were many DNF's, the conditions, for an overnighter across the West Country in mid-November, were about as ideal as they get.

Would be ace to see you at a South one, I'd actually quite like to do one North of the border next year! I got a taste of The Borders this year and would love to ride some more up there! Life and logistics pending...

Ride fast, sleep whenever is a decent motto. Should make some stickers.

On a different note, it occurred to me that the ride from Bristol to Poole and back is BPB.
Not sure if that was intentional..

Another Italian offering...

https://www.999tuscany.it/en#percorso

This thread always gets the juices flowing, thanks all

Great write up @ElGonzo. 200 people is mad for a November ride. Would love to do a ACB ride next year.

My plan in 2025 is a fixed Round the year series. I’ve already completed an SR and LEL fixed and so am moving on to the next challenge.
I have ear marked the first six months of audax between South Wales and Bristol already but wouldn’t mind a back up option.
Does anyone have experience of a DIY and what hoops / regulations/ people I need to jump through/ pass / contact to have an emergency route I can use if I can’t make an organised ride.
Would it be easier to ride a current 200 as a DIY?

It's piss easy doing DIYs. I often do DIY by GPS. You buy some brevets off your DIY guy, pick Mandatory Route and then send your route file to the DIY guy. Ride it and then send your ride file back to them for validation.

I've ridden existing routes as DIYs as well as made completely personal routes (ie. one day of our recent Pyrenees trip I made into a 200k DIY)

Read this: https://www.audax.uk/choose-a-ride/do-it-yourself-diy-events/

Anyone doing Santa Special 200km near Colchester this weekend?

As Hippy said, it's pretty straight forward to use DIY's for RRtY. As long as you're not doing loops or using the same stretch of road over and over again, pretty much anything goes for a DIY. My winter route for RRtY is one big out and back (which happens to pass a Greggs 12 times).

Best thing to do is try and batter out your 200 for the month as soon as possible each month. Nothing is more stressful than trying to complete a 200 on the very last day of the month when you're 10 months in. Trust me, I've been there.

Saving your 400k and 600k SR series rides until Oct because you've only just be signed off to ride again is up there too :)

Would it be easier to ride a current 200 as a DIY?

For example, the first year I did RRTY I used this Calendar/Perm Boat Trip 200k route for maybe half the months of the year. Simply because it was close, I didn't have to plan it and I was too busy racing and stuff to piss about with unknowns.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45825451

Speaking of RRtY, I did my 200 for December yesterday. After a bumper 65 hour week of cheffing I kinda expected it to be hard, but, damn, it was really hard. Several times I had to get off the bike and just sit down on the floor. I ate and drank loads but had zero energy. Such a relaxing hobby.

Yeah, that would do it too.

I think the only sickies I've pulled in recent memory have been because the weather forecast was favourable for RRtY.

Yep as others say DIY is super easy. It was how I did most of my Fixed RRTY as it was during heavier covid times where events were harder to find. 10 out of the 12 months in the end I think.
For most of them I did try to make it a new route for myself as riding the same one felt like it would have been a bit boring for me and I'd have probably given up if I knew what was coming that month for the ride. Think I did one route 3 times and the others were all new.
I quite enjoyed the route planning as I had to be quite creative due to covid restrictions, one was a Christmas Eve London Boroughs ride when the tiers were announced which then inspired me to see if it was possible to do an Audax without leaving Zone 3, it was and I wouldn't recommend it.
Seconding Hollow_Legs on trying to get it done as early into the month as possible as well, sucks when it ends up on the last weekend and the weather starts to look shit.
Also I'd say start as soon as you can, I started mine in an October which meant all the cold and dark ones were done and I got to enjoy the warmer longer day rides at the back end of the process which was much less grim and kept me going when it started to get a bit tiring.

Nominative determinism

nods knowingly

I've got days off to burn this year due to crashing mid-summer so I'm going to ride northwards Thu, but probably only 180k not 200k because I'm lazy and have a 200k planned for Sunday and I'm not even doing rrty because I've done it once and that seems enough. Actually twice, because I did an AAA version of it when the missus and I crushed the AAA leaderboard one year...