Audax rides

See things like the views do make up for it. Not massively ruling it out, just a bit unlikely. Nobody is going to serve me crepes on the side of the road are they?

As you are so full of confidence. Not even doubling the last distance ;-)

http://www.1001migliaitalia.it

Nobody is going to serve me crepes on the side of the road are they?

All along the route!*

* No, not really, not at all.

I think I am going to try and get a place on Vatterwhatsitcallederunden next year... I'll think about something like LEL and try not to be tempted to do something silly like the tourist-speed TransAm. That would certainly put me under time pressure as I'd be on unpaid leave I think :-)

The stuff about 4 days in the rain on rough roads etc. put me off LEL initially. PBP, in particular, is such an amazing experience that you wonder whether LEL has anything to offer.

I am very pleased to have ridden it in 2013 - it was a fantastic ride and much better than expected.

The route is great - especially up at the top end. The Fens are a bit shit, especially when your nose is into the wind - but they have their own character and riding towards those massive horizons is pretty cool in itself.

Very little roadside support, even in the control towns - no great surprise as virtually everyone you meet thinks you're either 'mad' or doing it for charity. None of the respect you get in France.

Controls are great (and soooo much better organised than PBP) and the whole ride feels like a series of 80km rides punctuated by going to a control run by some mates (the controls are all staffed by volunteers, many of them regular AUK riders).

Don't discount it - it's a great ride. Whether I will do it again for a while, who knows - there's too much other stuff going on and I'm not one for repeating rides (PBP aside!).

That looks lovely doesn't it? Are you tempted?

It's while looking at those views I'll hit another pothole and bleed out in the middle of a field somewhere...

#optimist

Don't discount it - it's a great ride. Whether I will do it again for a while, who knows - there's too much other stuff going on and I'm not one for repeating rides (PBP aside!).

Yeah, I'm not completely discounting it... Actually especially since reading what you say there about thinking similar things.

I suppose looking at the route can't hurt can it :-)

Ooh, that looks cool. 1600k with some big climbs in Italy, next year?

Where do I sign?

http://www.marcusjb.com/blog/2013/08/04/london-edinburgh-london-1400km-audax-2013-northbound
http://www.marcusjb.com/blog/2013/08/10/london-edinburgh-london-1400km-audax-southbound

To whet your appetite.

#doitdoit

Italy looks proper lovely. MsGraunch gave her blessing to trans am if I fancied it, I think she must want rid of me.

Mine said 'if you're doing RAAM I'm not doing support' so I'm doing TransAm. Problem solved. :)

(I bet she would support if I entered RAAM)

I can't see anywhere to enter it though - is it showing last year's or have I already missed the boat on Mille whatsit?

Piano piano ma bene.

Barely any info up on next year's Mille Miglia yet - don't think there's any rush at the moment

To whet your appetite

If I end up doing it, I think I am going to blame you. possibly repeatedly.

I'm not one for repeating rides

It's not repeating it if you do it on fixed next time rather than gears...

There's some more interesting things going on in 2017 that I will almost certainly be more motivated by.

Such as?

I'm quite interested in whether I could do TransAm. I should probably keep this as a mental exercise.

Oh, it's definitely a -mental- exercise.

innit

There's some more interesting things going on in 2017 that I will almost certainly be more motivated by.

#tease

There's always other stuff going on and I really am not one to ride the longer rides more than once. Even though last year's 1300 in Scotland was the best bike ride ever, I don't really want to ride the 1200km version next summer. I can only really get away with 1 1000km+ ride each year, so have to choose carefully.

Same with LEL really. Maybe something I will return to in X years.

2016, I will do a 1000km+ ride for sure, but it might not be an event - I fancy seeing what I can handle solo.