Audax rides

3down yesterday was audax pr0n.

silky roads, tailwind almost all the way around, well organised, good people to ride with, good farm cafe, food at the finish and only two punctures in a five man group.

this audax thing isn't always horrible eh?

^Nice! :)

oh, and I didnt even mention the beautiful furry ponies.

haha excellent!
Sounds like a really lovely nice ride, the weather this weekend has been perfect for it.

Was it your first 300?
(I've still yet to do one :O )

Yeah the first. Flattish ride suited me. Probably not a perfect intro to what will be my first 600 in a month or so. Did feel strong at the end and did a body of work over the ride though, so for today at least I feel good about it.

Thoughts go out to hackney hash harrier audaxers. Fantastic weather aside, 500km weekends are a big undertaking.

zanda, are you doing the BCM as your first 600?

@poots
Whitham looks great! I might try to do it or the 150 if I'm feeling energetic.

In case you didn't know: it's advisable to have a pen, so you can write down the answer to any information controls. And I heartily recommend a map trap on your handlebars, so following the route directions is really pretty easy. Unless you're into computers as they supply gps stuff for audaxes I think.

Audax route sheets are brilliant. You need to know how to decipher them a bit (not complicated). The main thing to know is: If a place name (Lower Sodding) is in lower case, you're following a sign (sp) toward it, if it's printed in caps (GREAT SODDING) then you pass through it.

I've found using GPS tracks makes the navigation easier for me, and I tend to get lost less now.

although routesheets provide a lot of very useful info that is lost when only going by GPS track (info controls*/steep hill ahead/steep descent/watch out for the little dog who runs after cyclists etc etc)

*you have to remember where they are, or risk missing them

I have also signed up for the Witham Wanderer as my first gentle foray into Audax.

In terms of getting there I was going to get the 7:55am from Liverpool Street to Chelmsford (arrives 8:34am) and ride the 8 miles or so to the start from there.

Anybody doing 10 Thames Bridges 111km this Sunday? I am not relishing the thought of getting the 6:57am train from Paddington

zanda, are you doing the BCM as your first 600?

Yup.

What I dont know cant hurt me. Until it's too late.

Bothwell, if you didn't mind a bit of company, I could be tempted. I've just emailed the organiser to see if he will accept on the day entries.

Also, where are you looking to get the train to? The start location is (according to google) 1.7 miles from Maidenhead station. It is about 40mins from Paddington -
dep 07:29 arr 08:10 should leave enough time to ride round to the start and collect a card. At a pinch, dep 08:03 arr 08:32 would be managable. The trainline is offering me 06:43 but no 06:59.

@poots
Whitham looks great! I might try to do it or the 150 if I'm feeling energetic.

In case you didn't know: it's advisable to have a pen, so you can write down the answer to any information controls. And I heartily recommend a map trap on your handlebars, so following the route directions is really pretty easy. Unless you're into computers as they supply gps stuff for audaxes I think.

Audax route sheets are brilliant. You need to know how to decipher them a bit (not complicated). The main thing to know is: If a place name (Lower Sodding) is in lower case, you're following a sign (sp) toward it, if it's printed in caps (GREAT SODDING) then you pass through it.

Helpful pro-audax tips...especially the difference between Little Difference and BIG DIFFERENCE

Bringing pens, tracking down controls is all bringing out my inner girl guide.

I have also signed up for the Witham Wanderer as my first gentle foray into Audax.

Hurrah! I'll be on a black and pink Bianchi and (literally) red hair - say hi if you spot me!

Not really sure how we're getting out there...think we might be driving...

Bothwell, if you didn't mind a bit of company, I could be tempted. I've just emailed the organiser to see if he will accept on the day entries.

Also, where are you looking to get the train to? The start location is (according to google) 1.7 miles from Maidenhead station. It is about 40mins from Paddington -
dep 07:29 arr 08:10 should leave enough time to ride round to the start and collect a card. At a pinch, dep 08:03 arr 08:32 would be managable. The trainline is offering me 06:43 but no 06:59.

It was Paddington I was looking at, yes. You've got me to go and look at these train times again in puzzlement and I can't find 6:59 now either. I did look a couple of weeks back so maybe the site isn't very good at working out train times about a month into the future? Either that or I'm an idiot who can't work the internet, could be either tbh.

A bit of company would be great, but be warned that I won't be smashing any time records around the course!

Edit: Also what I meant to say was that leaving before 7am would be ridiculous madness given that the start is under 2 miles from the station. The 8:03 looks much more sensible. I'm sure that the last time I tried searching I was only getting two trains - the one that left Paddo at 6:59 and another one that arrived in Maidenhead at about 9:25, so I went for the earlier one even though the thought of getting up so early was making me feel a bit ill. But we can be reasonable human beings now.

Me and him looked at that Bridges Ride but I have a feeling we decided against it as there's engineering work that day and buses replace trains to get there...

Orly? Where do you check those things? National rail enquiries says "there are currently no reported service disruptions" but I can't even trust them to give me actual train times so I'm not planning to take that on faith.

From the National Rail website, future engineering works bit...there are some engineering works - including the train you were looking for but looks avoidable....

Start date
13/04/2013
Last updated
12:13 - 16/03/2013
End date
14/04/2013
Route affected
Download map of route affected - Map -
Train operator affected
First Great Western
Description
The following trains will not call at Burnham and Taplow, passengers should use connecting buses via Slough:
23:07 (Saturday) Oxford to London Paddington
23:42 (Saturday) London Paddington to Maidenhead
00:05 (Sunday) London Paddington to Maidenhead

The following trains will not call at Burnham, passengers should use connecting buses via Slough:
Sunday
06:36 Maidenhead to London Paddington
06:43 London Paddington to Maidenhead
07:29 London Paddington to Oxford
07:36 Maidenhead to London Paddington

Planning your Journey
For full details of these changes and the impact on your journey, please use the National Rail Enquiries Journey Planner

Aha, thank you. God, that wasn't easy to find. Looks like the 8:03 should handily miss all the engineering works as well as being a sane time of day. Score.

I was thinking about doing this one as well but haven't booked yet. Hmm if there is a risk of engineering works that's me out. Plus it'll take me almost an hour to cycle from Sydenham to Paddington. But I'm more concerned about the getting home when I'm pooped. Might do a solo L to B instead.

The Thames 10 bridges guy has replied and is accepting entries on the day for as long as he has spare brevet cards.

I was thinking about doing this one as well but haven't booked yet. Hmm if there is a risk of engineering works that's me out. Plus it'll take me almost an hour to cycle from Sydenham to Paddington. But I'm more concerned about the getting home when I'm pooped. Might do a solo L to B instead.

Nah, come to sunny Maidenhead. The engineering works will be done by 7:30am and they won't be doing any more in the evening so you'll be fine getting home afterwars. Besides, you can cheat and get a train to and from Clapham Junction (I may have used this tactic myself over the winter)

Just sent off my form for the Midweek Sightseer 100k. My first audax!

Check out the weather forecast for sunday!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2643743

Yeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhhh

AWESOME! and not so awesome that I'll be in Bespoked Bristol with my bike that I intended to ride on at that particular days.

whoa! Jesus christ, 18 degrees??