Audax rides

di2 all teh way

Do many people do PBP with Di2? Do many people ride audax with Di2?

I had planned to transfer the parts from the busted bike over but it seems a shame not to take the oppurtunity to upgrade to something a bit more hassle-free.

If it fails I get to ride singlespeed, much the same as if a cable system fails. The difference is probably the likelihood of finding spare di2 parts versus cables. But it's audax, not wilderness touring so is that a big issue?

Hmm..

Nah, it's not a di2 frame so fuck it, cables it shall be.

Lots of hair-shirt Audaxers still rooted in the 1970's said that people using Di2 on Audaxes would suffer plagues of problems. Plenty have done long rides with it with no problems at all but, as you say, a failure could mean HTFU-ing with singlespeed for a while.

The PBP controls did have mechanics (who could replace broken gear cables, retrue wheels, etc) but not sure about the availability of Di2 spares, even in 2015. You'd only be 12 hours max away from a bike shop though, and you'd hopefully find one with Di2 spares.

If the replacement bike could have full hidden Di2 setup then maybe but I think 'sticking' with cables will have to do. It's meant to be a cheap commuter/winter mile bike anyway.

Are many of us riding to Oxford at the weekend?

I am and am somewhat concerned about getting lost :-)

Garmin + route sheet = what's the worst that could happen?

No Garmin. Just route sheet/phone/extra batteries/map I guess. I'll probably go on fire.

Maybe I'll buy a Garmin. Everyone I know who has one hates them though

They're great AND they suck.
They could be heaps better but they're currently the least sucky way of navigating.
I have an 800 and it has made following routes much nicer. Every now and then I take a wrong turn but I can quickly correct it. Some times it completely dies and needs a reboot but it generally picks up where it left off. But basically, I wouldn't be doing audax if they didn't exist. I don't do routesheets.

I think that you are costing me money.

In 387 years it will have paid itself off in terms of paper and ink savings. #saynotoroutesheets

800 or 1000 do you think?

and do I need the "Navigation Bundle" in order for it to be useful to me?

1000 is lacking battery capacity, as for actually using it I have no idea. I've only had lots of experience with the 800. The 810 is meant to be better according to @skinny. I'd probably buy an 810 if I was buying now. Some people get away with navigating on the 500 but I'd get lost to easily to run without maps.

I just had the base thing and then bought maps, but I've also used it with free OSM maps and they've worked quite well too.

Thank you. I think I'll leap in with an 810 then.

Over the years I've had various approaches:-

• organisers routesheet
  
• routesheet rewritten to my own preferred format [1]
  
• organisers routesheet in whatever format, stopped caring
  
• route plotted as sparse route and split into chunks for an old Garmin eTrex H (the yellow one with no mapping) with routesheet as backup
  
• got an Edge 705 and spent ages making .tcx files for the routes to use turn by turn navigation (which often goes wrong when the route involves a cycle path or something else that cars can't do) [2]
  
• the route (as a .gpx file) split into chunks (in case of loops or out and back courses) and just displayed as a coloured line on the map. No turn by turn navigation, just watch the map page and make sure you stay on the coloured line
  
  

The last is what I've settled on and what works best for me. It helps that in order to create the .gpx track file it means I have to read through the routesheet and stare at maps (OS and google maps, including streetview and satellite views) so I've got a pretty good idea in my head of where it goes and what the niggly bits could be.

tl;dr There is no right answer, you've just got to find whatever works best for you.

1. Part of which involved tracing the route on a map which, with my memory, meant I'd quickly realise if I had missed a turn, and I had a good idea of where the entire route goes
   
2. e.g. instructions like "Left through hedge"
   

More and more Di2 appearing on Audax rides.

A huge number of French PBP riders will be on the latest and greatest carbon bling and I suspect there will be a lot of Di2 (you can spot the French riders easily, no luggage as many of them have a friend/family member at each control in a camper van).

There were a few issues on LEL with Di2, but there are those like Mike Lnae (points champion and record holder) who have used Di2 for many thousands of km.

Battery life is good enough for a 1000km + event I believe, but I do know that a couple of riders left a spare battery in a bag drop on LEL, and a couple of riders ran out of juice and had no way of charging.

As @Greenbank says, there are mechanics at every control on PBP - doing roaring trade in new wheels, saddles etc. Difficult to say what expertise in Di2 will be like, much like the UK, some mechanics will be 'WTF is this?' and others will be totally happy with it.

Hey I will doing it :)
first one for a while

One thing I'm not sure about with Di2 is how bodgeable it is if it does go wrong. At least with cable mechs if you snap a cable or break a shifter you can trap the cable under a bottle cage bolt or use the limit screws to pick a vaguely useful gear: on the Ditchling Devil a couple of years ago I rode with a guy whose Di2 rear mech packed in (I think it still shifted at the front, so it wasn't battery), and neither of us could work out a way to give him anything other than the smallest sprocket.

That said, Bikey Mikey's not had any real trouble AFAIK.

The 200 is better for audax. The battery lasts way longer than an 800 or 810 and it doesn't have the bug which makes it freeze/crash at 250-300km and be as much use as a chocolate teapot thereafter (grr).

The navigation isn't as advanced because it doesn't do turn by turn or whatever it's called but you can follow a route on it fine.

It's smaller and lighter than an 800/810 and it currently costs £79.99 on Wiggle.

Interestingly/uninterestingly I have noticed Steve Abraham is using a 1000. He's clearly got a way of topping the power up but it doesn't seem to suffer from the 800 bug judging by his Strava.

He's clearly got a way of topping the power up

External battery pack (PowerMonkey type thing), and a recharge every night.

Don't forget the good old ETrex 20... none of the fancy "you can see when you're having a heart attack" connections, runs 24h+ on AA batteries (nice and easy to replace) and it can do maps/route/turn-by-turn...

Garmin are missing a trick by not having a device like the Edge 705 that takes AA batteries.

I want maps, navigation and the ability to record cadence/HR/power, for 20+ hours.

External USB power packs are a faff, but are my current solution (pun intended).

Small target audience though, so no great surprise.

@omash27. Excellent, I will see you there, somewhere. I'll be the slow old git on a lynskey swearing at his Garmin 1000 + extra battery pack. I will also be the one sitting in a pub stuffing pies into my great gaping maw half way round.

Etrex 20 here. Works perfectly and does what I need. Never had any issues apart from a bit of trial and error when I first got it. Used route sheets before that and did get lost a few times. No I never get lost but I do take time to study the map before hand and perhaps even use Google Street View for some sections where it's not clear. I edit the .gpx file a little before loading it on the device. Then it's just a case of following the purple line. AA batteries.

My Sunday has become free again, so signed up to do the short (Quainton Express) Steam Ride. Anyone else Steamriding this weekend? I will try to make sure my garmin doesn't send me straight down all the A roads this time.