Audax rides

I was just trying to understand how getting to the start for 4am works.

I stayed at Severn View Travelodge in years past. Getting up from a comfy warm bed to ride over the bridge for a 6am start was hard enough. Can't imagine doing it for a 4am start. Ugh.

I think with those things for me even with a 6am start I tend to sleep really badly, plus in a matter of hours will be completely in the zone of not knowing what time it is anyway so I don't mind starting at some daft time.

Last time I did it I stayed at Two Rivers in Chepstow which was literally a matter of rolling down the hill to the start.

What 400 event is that, Frank? 10am sounds like a nice time to start a 400 to me

Jelly fish legs from Stevenage.

I think I prefer the ones that start at night as you generally finish during pub time the day after.

I know it's always 'pub time' somewhere obviously

How are you getting to the start with the strikes and everything? I might have to cycle from home

I'll be on the tandem again. I had looked into Thameslink and it looks like they are running, but only from KX/StP - so we'd have had to do a bit of riding to get there. But now my stoker's wife is giving us a lift.

The JFL is a lunchtime finish, in a pub!

LNER also have some trains. I checked it as I have come down with a slight cold so am trying to give myself as much time as possible to hopefully recover, instead of staying with Stevenage friend night before. Very much in two minds about attempting a 400 when not 100%. Kinda thinking see how it goes, can always bail.

Shit! Get well soon. Pretty thin forum turn out for this one!

I’ve only done one 400 before that started at 9PM and it was horrible.

I’ve got a 400 tomorrow starting at 3PM and I’m hoping it’s not as bad.

started at 9PM

Got the Aberdaron 400 next week which starts at this time. Can't say I'm thrilled about it. However, I think the worst was a 300 which started at midnight.

I guess unless you can kick out 30kph average and start at 6am like on LWL (iirc some do), you're going to be unavoidably riding through the night and seeing monsters for the most part.

I dislike the ones that finish in the early morning the most as you tend to write off most of the next day (not that you're much use for a few days after a 400 anyway, granted)

Yep, and those 6am 400 starts are horrible as you usually finish in the coldest part of the night.

400 is a pretty hard distance to fit into a day. Having done early and late starts, I dislike the early starts most because I don't sleep the night before when I have to get up at silly o'clock. And I'd rather do the night riding earlier on in the ride and finish in daylight.
Years ago, when I was a bit quicker, I finished a couple of early start 400s in quick time. Then they are great as you get to bed and have a full day the next day, but I couldn't do that now.
I quite enjoy the midnight, or 9pm, starts. I'm actually a bit unsure about the 10am start tomorrow as it is a new one for me and it kind of falls between the two stools so not sure how it will go.

Completed the Border Nights 400 today with a 15:00 start yesterday and it was considerably less horrible than the one I did with a 21:00 start.

We got round the Jelly Fish Legs 400 with 10am start.

It was a lovely ride, very little motor traffic, lots of new roads, even around Musette cafe, which I've approached and left from other directions. Notably unhilly through the Cotswolds, and visited some pretty towns I've not been to for years, like Bourton on the Water and Chipping Campden, or ever, like Market Harborough.

The start time worked fine, but it made it feel more like a 600 than a 400, with going across two days. I got a bit sleepy just before dawn, but not enough to feel I had to stop. Had a quick nap sitting in the pub after the finish!

Pre/post-ride logistics is such an issue with long rides. We were being picked up so could have beer at the finish and be tired. One other guy said he was going to have a sleep in his car then drive home.

I also survived the Jellyfish Legs, with 1 hour to spare. Didn't really take off much clothing the whole ride, just never seemed to warm up except for in the midday sun at the arrivee.
Chilterns were good before Oxfordshire, which was a bit boring, but then the sun finally came out for the Cotswolds which is looking it's best atm. Was seeing @Thrasher up till then, but no longer after I stopped for previously discussed curry.
I then enjoyed the first part of the night's roads too much, and bonked badly upon arrival at Market Harborough. Recovered a little bit on an outdoor bench at McDonald's, but needed a lie down just after dawn which a graveyard in a small place called Geddington provided. Amazing how far 60km can feel at the end of a 400.

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Nice pics!

Agree about having to take any clothes off, same for me until the last hour.

with 1 hour to spare

You must have been one of the guys we leapfrogged with? I was on the tandem and we finished about 11:30

Just entered my first 200km calendar event since... oooh, October 2019? I did a lot of riding in 2020 including loads of DIYs, but then I had a baby, and moved to somewhere where there's fuck all events happening (the Isle of Wight) apart from a few across the water starting at Lymington. So that'll do nicely, the New Forest Excursion, on Saturday. It'll be the furthest I've ridden for over two and a half years.

Dauntsey Dawdle report

@youramericanlover and I rode Dauntsey Dawdle 400 over the weekend, it was unchartered waters for the both of us and certainly left its mark!

A 6am start from Raynes Park meant an early night after carb-loading then on the road from Greenwich at 4:49am. Getting out the door at that time usually means catching an early flight and a modicum of excitement for the imminent holiday, my body started to get the message that something different lay ahead as we cycled past the dregs of Friday night, crackheads and the odd scuffle on Clapham High St. It was cold and the deeper we got into the suburbs the colder it got.

We collected our Brevets and set off into the way too crisp morning. Soon enough we were part of a little train, it just started to stretch beyond us but we made the call to catch it and hang on. Discretion being the better part of valour YAL rightly called the pace just a tad too hot so we let it go. We settled on a few guiding principles for the day:

1. No heroics
   
2. Any time is a good time to stop for a break
   
3. Keep it fun
   
   

We rolled deeper into Surrey, the day started to brighten but it was absolutely not getting any warmer, my mesh base layer was a baaaad choice and my nipples could have found a side-gig as diamond cutters, fuck me it was baltic! The lanes through Surrey were great, the Woodlands through Shere a particular delight. It was shortly after this that we came across a rider down just after a hairpin on a slippery descent. She’d taken a fair hit and looked in significant discomfort but was surrounded by people, nothing we could do/add so we rolled on through Surrey, a nasty little climb and then to the first control at Easebourne. We sidestepped the bacon rolls and flat whites, quick stop and rolled out.

Some lumpy riding over the next 40kms through West Sussex and into Hampshire but I was feeling good, really good. Some stunning lanes and good riding had me feeling euphoric! Another relatively quick control stop at New Arlesford (Tesco Express, egg & cress sarnie and a bag of cashews) and we rolled on. The lumpiness started to get a bit relentless and the lanes more and more ‘agricultural’, the wind seemingly coming from every unhelpful direction possible. But spirits remained high and we set our sights on the next control at Amesbury. Porton Down MOD was thankfully open so we avoided a 7km detour, the wind becoming all too obvious on the big red flags!

Amesbury, what a shithole. We sat down on a bench for a bit of rest and some food but didn’t linger for too long; you could almost smell the GBH in the air so we bounced before becoming statistics.

Traffic near the A303 was predictably wank and I could definitely feel it in the legs now along with a few aches and pains that started to emerge; left knee and achilles certainly bothersome but not super worrying at this stage. A 50km stretch to the first info control at East Tytherton proved a little too far so I called for a quick stop in a sunny, sheltered spot to eat something, question my life choices and stretch my left calf. Spirits were lifted by a few very pretty villages and the sight of a resplendent white chalk horse on the side of a hill but we were now in need of real rest and, more importantly, real food.

We hit Cirencester just in the nick of time and beelined for a rather nice sit-down chippy. We were joined by other riders including a group of three Brouleurs who were somewhat optimistically hoping to get back to Raynes Park around midnight. It was around 7pm at this time and there were 160kms to go…

Bellies full, leg warmers and all other layers on we cruised out of Cirencester, the roads quickened and I called it: 1km turns and lets try to make a dent in this. It worked. Minds focused on the task at hand we rolled really, really well fuelled by tons of free flying protein, a lovely sunset and the sight of a bouncing and bobbing Muntjac that had us absolutely giddy! Info control at 280kms, a well earned bocadillo and we continued in the same vein towards Oxford North service station, the last stretch of that on the A40 was fairly shite. Kind of our own fault for not reading the route sheet where the cycle path was mentioned.

Quick refuel at the service station and then we hit the centre of town around 11pm. Almost got wiped out by a couple of students veering all over the road on their bikes, then people spilling out of pubs, noise, traffic, minicabs… Combination of all this made me feel a bit unwell and almost panicky so we pulled into the next petrol station I spotted with a shop barely 5kms after having left the control. Chocolate milk, a cereal bar and I felt infinitely better! We continued into the night, hard work. The chat and jokes had pretty much dried up now and then we hit Howe Hill, nice enough climb but would have been nicer without 350+ kms in the legs.

We hit Henley (final control) at quarter-past-way-too-fucking-late and didn’t hang around long, doubled-back on ourselves out of Henley and crossed paths with the three Brouleurs from the chippy. My arse was in bits by this stage, everything hurt and it all just seemed interminable. It wasn’t until we’d trundled past Windsor, Staines and Kingston that I finally began to feel like we’d actually make it. Raynes Park, 3:45am. Broken. Cup of tea, shake of the legs and then had to climb back on and ride to Greenwich. 24kms I certainly could have done without, pure suffering on CS7, police doing their best to keep things from going full Mad Max in Clapham. Somehow made it back to Greenwich, 458kms all-in. 24 hours I won’t forget in a hurry for myriad reasons. Chapeau to YAL, would not have made it round without him.

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Love it ♥️

Amazing effort!

Awesome, great write up. Cool bike!

Another great write up. Loved this bit and you nailed it:

Amesbury, what a shithole. We sat down on a bench for a bit of rest and some food but didn’t linger for too long; you could almost smell the GBH in the air so we bounced before becoming statistics.