Audax rides

Yeah, met a few from ACH on Hereward the Wake and they all said it would be great...

I'm gutted to be missing Greenwich Mean Climb, although I will be in Berlin on my best mates stag, so some perspective is probably needed.

Organiser has kindly let me enter on the line for Flitchbikes 200 on sat, need to finish it quick and get back to London as I am going to a gig in the evening

I do want to do boat ride again at some point but ditchling devil I can pick up closer to home. Think i am right in thinking I can start at any point?

Can't remember off the top of my head but Paul (organiser) is very amenable to things. If you're were going to do GPX validation (which I'm pretty sure he offers) then it shouldn't matter where you start on the route.

Tom's a really good guy.

Beer before 8.00am!

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Anyone used a Gomadic to power their Garmin off AA batteries?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gomadic-Portable-Battery-designed-Garmin/dp/B00BDBXGAQ

Flitchbikes 200k. Well that was an eventful day.

Great route, very rural, rolling in parts, but nothing to worry about, 6745ft total climb for the route. Some gravelly sections which were a bit sketchy, but overall a great new route, it felt like I went hours without seeing a car in the afternoon. Rode the first 40k with another rider, but left him at the first control as I decided not to stop. Pushed on alone for the rest of the day, I wanted to finish in a good time to get back to London for a gig, and recently I have found if I am alone I tend to push the pace a bit harder.

Thanks to Tom for allowing me to enter on the line, and for accommodating me when I left my brevet card at the start, I realised at the first info! Decided I would just carry on and ride the route and not worry about the points, got to the first control and mentioned it and found he had phoned ahead and they had made me a paper sheet to fill out instead!

The heat was a killer yesterday I was struggling to keep on top of my water all day, I didn't use sunscreen and look like I have been on a two week holiday in the sun this morning.

After the ride finished I rode to Bishops Stortford to get a train back to London, found that all the trains were cancelled back to Liverpool Street, thought about riding but I didn't have a front light (note to self get dynamo lights sooner rather than later), I was not allowed to take my bike on the rail replacement service because jobsworth, so was advised to take a train to Cambridge and then to Kings Cross, by the time I had done that and waited between trains I didn't get home to Lewisham until 11:30pm (after leaving Great Dunmow at 6:30pm).

Despite the trains, I would recommend the route to others. Thoroughly enjoyable day out in the sunshine.

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Wow, looks like a lovely day out.

Around Weald this weekend. Need to pop out and do a bit of training today as I haven't done much riding since the 20th of July when I did the Boat Trip DIY. Going to head to Tonbridge and back just so I can check the route to the start of the Man of Kent DIY which is one that I want to do at some point.

Reading through the notes that came with the Around Weald email. Seems more like a DIY with collecting receipts and postal finish. Looks like there won't be any big tables laid out with cakes.

Seeking recommendations for two bits of audax kit:

1. Wheelset. I've got 105 hubs laced to Mavic's old Touring rims. I think it's the T317 or something. Then Durano plus tyres. 36h. Wondering if I could go a bit lighter while retaining durability, but I'd never need a wider tyre than 28mm.

2. Bar-mounted bag with see-thru window. Currently using a bag from Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op, which is cheap and cheerful. Found out recently that the window is far from waterproof! Anything nicer around on the market? Has to be bar-mouted rather than rack-supported.

The 105's are great hubs, real workhorse. I would stick with those for Audax unless you want to spend more. If the rims are still good then I would just use them till they wear out. I have Open Pro with all my own wheels. There are other great rims out there but this one is tried and tested.

On that Fairies Flattest 300 I saw someone using a Vaude bar bag. Looked very neat.
http://www.thebikelist.co.uk/reviews/cycle-touring-equipment/vaude-aqua-box-bar-bag/

Never used bar bags myself but I guess it would mean you could fish around for things when you stop without actually getting off the bike. Hmm. Now you've got me thinking about it.

Looks like I'll have to leave the house at 04:00 ish to get to Redhill for 05:30. What to do about sleep though? Should I have a nap in the afternoon and then just stay up all night or go to bed at 20:00 and get up at 03:00?

Is it a 300? It's so hard to advise because everyone reacts to sleep (or lack of) differently. If it was me I'd probably try for an early night, fail to get to sleep and eventually get about 2 hours. Better than nothing.

I was up till 03:00 last night and got up at 08:00 today so already a bit weary. Have done three overnight rides this year where I had an afternoon nap the day before. Which seems to have worked so far. No caffeine required either. (Although on that first one I had a big bottle of diet coke in the pannier which has caffeine.) But can always check into an Audax hotel if necessary.

Yes, it's a 300 or 311 in total. I'll be adding 56 to that by riding to and from Redhill. Left knee and ankle were playing up during my training ride on Wednesday. Fingers crossed it'll be fine tomorrow.

I wish I knew the answer to this too. The pal I am doing PBP with thinks that we can ride 520km before needing a kip. Given that we will have likely been awake for 10 hours before we start cycling this seems optimistic.

I'm not going to make it around am I?

You will utterly make it round in some sort of ludicrous time. I am having very serious doubts about me though.

Please see the thread I've posted in General regarding the possible closure of Barmouth Bridge, a feature on a number of audaxes including the classic Bryan Chapman Memorial.

http://www.lfgss.com/conversations/272814/

Yesterday's Around Weald Odyssey was more like a DIY perm than a regular audax. I really missed the church halls where tables were laid out with cakes and biscuits. You had to collect receipts at each control which wasn't a biggie as you had to eat anyway but later on most shops were closed so choices got limited. For the final control I couldn't find anything open and didn't have a bank card as I always have cash so didn't think to take one. I'll have to appeal to the organisers good nature to see if he will validate it.

Good weather, great views and good road surfaces pretty much all the way. A few killer hills. But luckily at the start when you're still fresh. But no shortage of hills later on albeit less steep but very long. The climb through Ashdown Forest seemed to go forever especially in the dark.

Rode with @mustardbeak and took it very easy chatting as we rode and taking our time at controls. But we didn't anticipate how many daylight hours we were using up by doing this. The other 300's I've ridden this year started at night and finished in the day. They were also flat. By the time it was getting dark we still had about 80km to go.

Only about a dozen or so on the ride I guess due to PBP and people generally being away on holiday.

Better make sure I do a DIY or calendar before the month is up or there goes the RRtY out the window.

Did yesterday's ride not count for RRtY?

It should count towards RRtY but as I didn't get receipt for the final control due to no shops being open and me not having a bank card to get an ATM receipt it may not be validated. I've just send the brevet, the receipts I collected and a note about the final receipt or lack of it and asked if he would let me know if it will be validated. If not then I'll have to get another ride in before the end of the month. Which has reminded me that I need to ask Paul if I can do the Man of Kent as DIY by GPS.

Just signed up to my first audax, going to be doing Greenwich Mean Climb, excited and nervous. Perhaps my first 300km having 4500m of ascent was a bad idea? Who knows.

Eat before you're hungry! And set off slow. You'll be alright...

set off slow.

Someone needs to tell PBP riders that.

Anyone in for Old Roads and Drove Roads this weekend? We're camping nearby the night before.

I've upgraded the bike to 105 for the occasion as well. Shame the mudguards are a total bodge as I need a part. Also the weather looks absolutely DOG.

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