Audax rides

@WhitleyJay is correct, Tom Jackson came back to me and said that it's fine to start when you get there off the first train. 6:06am from Bromley South is the one I'll be on, inshallah. Selfie at Farningham as proof of passage.

Thanks all,
Are other people coming from SE London just planning on riding over? It's not so far but not what you want at like 4am 😅 I only clock off the night shift at midnight !
If so I'll just ride over. I'd rather just start with everyone else

I'm getting a ride over with a few local audax hitters but then will roll out with @ElGonzo when the first train arrives so happy to dole out any brevet cards?

Anyone doing the Isle of Wight rando thing? Did I ask this already?

https://www.cycleisland.co.uk/randonnee/route-overview

Saw it in my calendar but I dare not enter after the K&SW debacle (where's my fucking money GWR?)

Would be cool to ride down, stay somewhere, ride the route and then ride back.

Or could do the whole lot as a DIY 200, 300 maybe 400k

aye, would be rude not to given i live on the route.

not a proper audax but it's eligible for gsd points i believe and you do get a card stamped on the way round.

Yeah, I'm not bothered about validation and such, it's more about collecting tiles / riding somewhere I've not been. That being said, it might be easier to DIY it when there's fewer people competing for food, accom. etc

I'd say personally, the IoW loop is nicer not on randonee weekend.

It's nice and quiet route mostly best enjoyed without a thousand people around.

Fair point and kinda what I expected. Maybe we can have another go out our missed Kernow & SW DIY on the May Bank Holiday instead, but I guess tonnes of people will be flocking down there too.

I personally don't mind the people. Don't feel it's that bad compared to any other organised rides I've done. The eastern bit is always relatively busy cars-wise regardless of when you do it.

I enjoy the fact there's food along the route on that day. Sundays are often when places on the Isle shut and is normally my day for riding so having places to refuel which aren't shops is a novelty (though in recent years a couple more places have opened up right on the route, so maybe that wouldn't be such a thing any more).

I have a IoW loop booked in with some friends during school holidays. Is the traffic gonna be bad?

school holidays

traffic gonna be bad

.

Does it need to be rescheduled? I thought the roads were all empty and chill out there

I have never been there, no idea about it. Can you live there? Isn't it like Ile de Re where no cars are allowed or something?!?

Isn't it like Ile de Re where no cars are allowed or something?!?

lol, no. I love the Isle of Wight, and it's a great place to ride a bike, but the roads get very busy in the school holidays in my experience, especially at some of the more popular attractions.

But @plasticniki lives there, so she'll have proper knowledge.

Nah it'll be fine, there's just a very stark difference between the east where all the seaside resorts are, and the west which is where I live and the roads are always very quiet.

A roads will probably be busy but I'd always avoid those. Locals will sometimes use small country lanes but they are twisty AF and horrible to drive because they're constantly up and down with barely any decent sight lines. Absolutely wonderful on a bike though. You'll be grand!

Make sure you do the entire Military Road including the descent from Blackgang.

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I'm riding or from SE - by the time you've faffed about with trains you can pretty much have ridden to the start.

Nice, thanks everyone.
I think I'll just firm up and ride over. Should give me an hours sleep between finishing work at needing to get up 😅

Are you doing this on the ultimate roadie? Anyway please look out / avoid me (delete as appropriate) as I want to talk to you about the falsehood of 53t chainring hegemony

Just do it TNRC deluxe style starting with last orders and getting to spoons for the breakfast, roads will be much quieter.

I only clock off the night shift at midnight !

Hahahaha. Rather you than me.

After experiencing many many night demons on my last through the night ride I am really looking forward to daylight and not wishing I was dead etc etc

I'll be on the Canyon roadie, yeah!
Do say hi if you see me :) Hopefully my knee holds up and I make it round!!

If you're not wishing for death, are you even alive?

If you see YAL, stick with him, he’ll get you round alright!

Cambrian Minor tomorrow. Didn’t really look at the details until last night. Will be my third 100km of the year and haven’t done this amount of distance riding for years.

Turns out it’s 148km and AA. Going to be a long day but despite my awful aptitude for climbing I’m weirdly excited by the prospect of heading into the Welsh mountains for the first time since a few tours in the Brecon Beacons pre pandemic.

Did a 300km DIY with a friend on Saturday from Hove to Whitstable. Bloody hell it was a bit of slog. Had a grim headwind from Hastings to Whitstable and my friend ended up bonking pretty hard. The route was backloaded with elevation too so probably not ideal for someone running on fumes. The last 50km were a bit soul destroying with what felt like never ending hills.

Glad to have finished it though and even managed to top it up to a double century in the end.