Audax rides

Tricitybendix - you'd mentioned a 1500 tour this year and learning German in two posts - are you planning on riding to Germany?

Good sleuthing. Yep, going to a wedding in Munich this summer, so planning on riding there and back via France, Belgium, Austria, Lichtenstein, Switzerland and Luxembourg. Will be a leisurely 100 miles pd though.

tricitybendix - Like many audaxers, I find the 400k (250 miles) that bit more difficult than a 600k because of the sleep issue. At the time you get close to the end is the same time when you get sleepy but fatigue and tiredness will mean that you're more inclined to want to finish the ride and you enter a downward spiral. On a 600k the natural sleep point is a lot more obvious.

If you're finding it more and more difficult then you might be suffering from target focus, where the repeat attempt to achieve something over a common obstacle means you think so much about that obstacle that is become a lot bigger.

On those 200m+ rides, start looking to plan in a couple of potential napping points. Even 15mins in a bus shelter can have a tremendous effect on warding off the dozies.

For PBP, I kept to a routine of around 2-3 hours sleep early on in the night and another 10-15 minutes of napping just before dawn. That worked very well for me, it might work for others. I think the main thing is that when you get those early signs of nodding off at the bars is to change priorities to look for an acceptable napping point. Motorway service, bus shelters, church porches, bank foyers, phone boxes, bus stations, railway stations and so on are all fair game.

Thanks. I haven't really done enough with pauses to know what works for me. I do know on Dunwich there and back last last year falling asleep in a public toilet for an hour by accident made me feel AMAZING, but only for about 60 more miles - I was falling asleep again by Epping. That said, that was a night ride so I wasn't starting on a full tank of sleep, so to speak.

I think I just need to practise more though I do find it quite hard work demolishing myself on a weekend and then working full-time all week :/