Audax rides

Tommy's advice is all spot on - zip ties and duct tape are the most useful things for their weight that you can take with you.

Wannabe - I've just moved to Paris as well actually and could be up for some long rides and some mountain biking. Need to get a bit fitter before trying a 100km because I've been off my bike for a few weeks with Christmas and moving here.

200k audax kit is:

Routesheet
Road atlas pages covering the area I'll be riding in (quite important).
2 x inner tubes
puncture repair kit
Topeak Road Morph G pump
Multi-tool
Chain tool + links(important as above)
Spoke key
Tire levers (metal, not plastic)
Tire boot
Zipties
At least one carrier bag.
A lightweight lock.
Tissues
A mobile phone
A credit card
At least £20 cash
Lights front and back. Don't ride with blinky front lights on an audax. If you're out in the dark then mapreading and sign spotting are much more difficult without a constant lightsource. An easily detachable light source is handy in case you need it to use as a torch for awkwardly placed or knocked down signs.

I have a toolbag and a handlebar bag. I usually don't bother starting with any spare food and pick up at least some Snickers in the first 50k. I tend to run fairly light and plan my riding carefully to make sure I know where snacking options will be away from controls rather than haul stuff all over the place. I won't take waterproofs or ride with mudguards unless I think there is at least a reasonable chance of rain beyond light showers.

43km in 90 minutes (all the time I had). 28.67kph average. No speedo, so that's just a calculation from a route drawn on gmaps and going by my watch, so it's safe to say it's not entirely accurate! But it felt pretty good, and I reckon 3 times that is fairly doable for me. I also used my tachymetre on my watch -- set it going, count to sixty in time with pedal revolutions, glance down, BAM cadence reading! Thanks to rabbit, I know that my gear (48/17, 23c) means 60rpm = 21kph, 70 = 25kph and 90 = 32 kph. 80ish is a nice pace. Old school, me.

Saw a guy on what looked suspiciously like that famous "world's best trek madone". Carbon wheels, aero bars, chris king bling blinding me, and a rack front and back!

Momentum -- I'll PM you my details and we can sort something out, it'd be good to have someone to ride with!

Seldom Killer -- thanks for that list, that's great. I'll just copy people until I get some experience of my own to go on! I'm going to take a pair of latex workshop gloves, too. They weigh bugger all, and I can stick my phone inside to keep it dry. Means I don't get greasy oily hands / grip tape / riding gloves in case of a mechanical. I'll go for 100k on monday, and see how that goes. If it goes ok, I'll look at the calendar and pick something out!

My hands were fine, but I lost sensation in my toes pretty quickly. I think overshoes are the way forward. I will also be investing in some decent bibshorts and jerseys if I'm going to be spending any longer on my saddle (which I had to fix before leaving).

Cheers everyone for the info, you're saving me from what I imagine are frustrating / painful / expensive mistakes!

Shoe covers are usually a good idea for any temps below 8oC

43km in 90 minutes (all the time I had). 28.67kph average. No speedo, so that's just a calculation from a route drawn on gmaps and going by my watch, so it's safe to say it's not entirely accurate! But it felt pretty good, and I reckon 3 times that is fairly doable for me. I also used my tachymetre on my watch -- set it going, count to sixty in time with pedal revolutions, glance down, BAM cadence reading! Thanks to rabbit, I know that my gear (48/17, 23c) means 60rpm = 21kph, 70 = 25kph and 90 = 32 kph. 80ish is a nice pace. Old school, me.

You may be a natural and take to it like a duck to water, but try to aim for maybe a 15mph average on your first 200. You can always increase your speed towards the end of the ride if you're feeling good, then gradually do them faster, if you want. Longer distances need to be done gradually more slowly, especially if it's a hilly route.

Saw a guy on what looked suspiciously like that famous "world's best trek madone". Carbon wheels, aero bars, chris king bling blinding me, and a rack front and back!

Surreal.

My hands were fine, but I lost sensation in my toes pretty quickly. I think overshoes are the way forward. I will also be investing in some decent bibshorts and jerseys if I'm going to be spending any longer on my saddle (which I had to fix before leaving).

If it's really freezingly cold, you can also wrap some clingfilm or kitchen foil around your shoes before putting the overshoes on top of that, and more clingfilm over the top of the overshoes. Should rarely be necessary, but toasty toes are nice.

Also try and eat something decent at some point like a sandwich, it may be just me but I've done 200 km on only some porridge for breakfast then dried fruit and sweets on the ride before but I had to do a few emergency evacuations. I need to get back into long rides the year, I want to have ago at a 400 and 600 this year too.

Ah this place is a gold-mine! Clingfilm under the overshoes, noted. Smart and cheap. I think it might just have been a strap done up too tightly on my shoe! It is pretty mild here, double digits in the sun, so I was a little surprised. Only on one side, which is even more odd. Was one foot colder??

Momentum -- pm'd you.

Even more surreal, the guy must have been 75-80, and was dawdling along at shopper pace. I hate to accuse a mystery bike shop of fleecing him, but he had about 4 grands worth of bike under him, to help him do 10mph. Nuts. I also overtook a guy on what looked like a team issue look time trial frame, carbon loveliness. Felt a bit smug until he shot past me having warmed up :( Spotted a fixenger with a beard skidding into moving traffic a la alleycat, too. Fun and games.

TheBrick(Tommy) -- yeah, I was quite hungry after that short ride, so I think something hefty will be required, even if it's just a service station pasty or six. Don't think they sell pasties in France, though. Croque-monsieur or whatever.

Also try and eat something decent at some point like a sandwich, it may be just me but I've done 200 km on only some porridge for breakfast then dried fruit and sweets on the ride before but I had to do a few emergency evacuations. I need to get back into long rides the year, I want to have ago at a 400 and 600 this year too.

Yes, something savoury is very important. On a 200, do two cafe stops, one at about 60-70km in, one at about 140km. Breaks the ride up nicely. I prefer that to doing just one stop (although I also enjoy the one feed at the DD after 66 miles).

All this talk of cafes is making me lust after a bacon sandwich. Except you can't get bacon in France. Not proper bacon, anyway, just big chunks of streaky pig you have to cut up yourself. :(

70km, break, 70km, break, 60km sounds like a pretty sensible way to split such a long ride!

Re: Mr Greenbank's LEL fixed: Wow. I'm stuck with the fixed for the time being for financial reasons, so I'll see how I do with longer distances. 1200km is a hell of a long way. Re-chapeau. There can't be a huge number of cyclists able to do that sort of ride fixed?

It's getting more popular amongst Audaxers. I think there were 7 fixeds on LEL (out of ~500 riders). They'll be a couple of hundred on PBP (out of ~5000 riders). It's not much harder on long distance rides than having gears.

Look back in this thread for links to posts about what to carry on long distance rides.

Not sure that LEL is harder than PBP. PBP is 200km shorter but hilliler / consistently undulating (rather than the pan flat Southern section of LEL), with tougher time limits (40 hours to the 614km to Brest, then 50 hours to get back).

18 months is enough time to get fit for PBP. I went travelling around South America for Nov/Dec 2008 and didn't touch a bike at all in that time. I came back and failed to complete a DIY 100 down to the South Coast (pretty much the same as London to Brighton) as I'd lost all of my cycling fitness. From there I built up to finishing LEL in July using my commute (flat 12km each way in London), blatting round Richmond Park and the Surrey Hills, and other Audaxes.

Plan on doing an SR this year, ideally with some hilly rides (Brevet Cymru 400, Bryan Chapman 600 for example.)

Okey dokes, need to get started with this audax malarky. Done a few forum rides to the coast on both geared and fixed so i guess a 100km audax isn't out of the realms of possibility at the moment. About the read the whole thread through along with the other long ride threads but whats the protocol?
Anything short and flatish in the londons famous london area within the next month or so?

Anything short and flatish in the londons famous london area within the next month or so?

Any of the Henham/Ugley rides are good. Just so happens the 3 clubs near the 'Uts all do theirs in the next few weeks (27th Feb, 6th Mar, 13th Mar):-

Find them in the calendar listing at http://www.aukweb.net/cal/index.htm

Most offer a choice of distances (50, 100km, 150km and 200km) although not all provide every one.

Easy to get to from London, train from Liverpool St to Elsenham and a 2 mile ride the other end.

1) Pick ride to enter
2) Print out entry form, fill it in
3) Send entry form, cheque (plus extra £2 if not an Audax UK or CTC member) and 2 C5 SAEs to organiser
4) Receive routesheet and event info sheet
5) Turn up before the start (at least 30 minutes gives you a chance to get a cup of tea/coffee and a chat to various nervous people)
6) Ride, stopping at various cafes or back to the 'Uts for more tea/cake/beans on toast
7) Finish, eat more food, wobble back to train

Typical ride is £5 or under to enter (although £2 extra if you're not an Audax UK or CTC member).

They all stick to the mainly flat bits of Essex, Cambs and Herts. Definitely on the flatter end of the spectrum of rides.

There's a place called Ugley? That's great.

[quote=Greenbank;1197033][/quote]

Genius. thats exactly what I was after. Sometimes asking dumb questions on here does get you results. Ta very much. Off to sign up for a couple now methinks.

There's a place called Ugley? That's great.

Yes. It does have an Ugley Womens' Institute and there's also a Biffa depot on the outskirts of Ugley (on the B1383).

This, and more jokes, can be found in the Ugley -> Twatt (there's one in both the Orkneys and Shetlands) forumenger ride thread somewhere here.

The CTC used to organise an Ugley -> Nasty (just North of Great Munden) and back 50km ride every so often.

Haha.. and people reckon Aussie place names are funny. That almost makes me want to learn how to navigate.. ;)

Right. Now all I need is a chequebook so I can sign up(haven't had one for years).
As pathetic as it sounds I think I'm gonna do a couple of 50km ones first til my summer legs come back and I've got the hang of the rides.
Brazier's run and Shaftsbury spring here I come.
Thanks for all the info Greenbank, much appreciated.

I'm guessing spares for a 50km will be pretty minimal, tubes, boot/tyre and odds and ends I suppose. Plenty of water and an emergency gel and flapjack should see me through.

50k sounds wise. If I have to navigate more than 50m away from home I'm gone for days..

The distance is not remotely worrying. The navigation however may be an issue. 50km gives much less scope for getting horrifically lost.

I may drive up to one of them as I can park at the LVCC hut .

I ll let you know which one's I am entering .

Hy guys,

I would like to have a go at this audax:
The Shaftesbury Spring 50
Henham 53 km
Saturday 6th March 2010

50 km and just 500m climb seem right to give it a shot.

With an average minimum speed of 15km/h it'll be done in just over 3 hours.

Link to the ride

Is anyone willing to team up?

Way too short for me, sorry. ;)

Ride there, do the route and ride home.

I've done that for Brazier's Run 100 the last couple of years. A 5am start to quickly knock off the 75km to the start, do the 100km ride and then ride 75km home again. Home just before 7pm, quick bath and off out to the pub.

( Not knocking the shorter rides at all. 50km is still a long way on a bike and deserves much respect. I'll just warn you that long rides can be addictive, in no time you'll be doing distances that most people think are inhuman.) ("you" being the OP, not Oliver or TSK who already do silly distances...)

Thanks for your replies,

Way too short for me, sorry. ;)

:)

I've done that for Brazier's Run 100 the last couple of years. A 5am start to quickly knock off the 75km to the start, do the 100km ride and then ride 75km home again. Home just before 7pm, quick bath and off out to the pub.

Hi greenbank, I have heard you do lots of long rides. I am currently riding in London on 48/15 with brakes do you think it would be silly to attempt this ride on this gear ratio?

What sprocket would you suggest me to add to my fixed-fixed hub? I was thinking something like an 18/19 tooth..