Audax rides

entries allowed on the day tomorrow, first train from LLS 7.55am, so a potential early start!!

so, still on for 8am at Cutty Sark Gardens this Saturday then @mustardbeak?

Yes definitely, meet outside the Gypsy Moth pub. Will PM you my number.

Did the Rural South 300 yesterday, found it tougher than the Heart Of England despite the lack of blizzard at the start. Endless hills and heavy showers might have something to do with this. The Fishers Farm Park control was a bit odd, set in some sort of theme park, complete with children running and screaming everywhere and dumb pop on loudspeakers. Felt a bit out of place and we had to endure it for what seemed like forever while the rain was hammering down.

ok,

@cgg - Fishers Farm! I've some great childhood memories of that place!

Route for the Windmill Ride was lovely. Very undulating, surprisingly, for Essex/Cambridgeshire/Tiny bit of Herts. Weather turned out to be okay though and it was quite nice doing a ride with a smaller field. Almost entirely lanes as well which is always a bonus.

This is the route for anyone interested https://ridewithgps.com/routes/14550942

Nice one. You should thoroughly enjoy next weekend then.

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Did you recce it?

Doh, the stupid hotel has gone up a tenner because I'm was too tight to pay the £2 CC booking charge.

#imadick

deffo gonna DIY based on the route card,

Anyone thinking of riding the Kidderminster Killer?

To avoid thinking about the Mille Pennines I've entered this, seems like a nice jaunt through Wales: http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/16-214/

Camping in the field the night before/after. There's a 400 the same day but the extra distance is in bits of England I'm not that fussed about riding in. Probably ride most of the way home on Sunday too.

Planning on entering that one too. Typical of one of John's rides - well chosen quiet and very scenic roads, but fiendishly hilly. Will most likely be camping before and after too - I don't suppose I'll be in a fit state to drive home afterwards.

@scherrit is being a champ and leaving his mum fend for herself while he works on my cursed ultra bike (JRA wheel should arrive today). I'm a bit wary of riding something brand new with a (sort of) untested position on a 1000k hard-as-fuck audax. Will entering another event make it all better?

Sweet! Rode Yr Elenydd and enjoyed that, expecting this to be similar.

Don't think it makes it any better... maybe just a little less terrifying...

Still planning to ride this weekend. Day one looks hard (conditions and terrain) but hopefully do-able, if not slower than expected. Day 2 should be ok after the first lumpy bit, then I'll see how I feel. It's relatively cheap/easy for me to bail from the main control so if I don't think I'll get round the 3rd loop I'll just roll along to Lancaster and catch a train home.

Taking sleeping bag/bivy and waterproofs, no dropbag so I can just pootle along and do my own thing to an extent...

That was the plan with the new bike. The TT bike doesn't have room for a frame bag which is why I left all the sleep gear in the car for the Tan Hill 600, which then cost me £85 hotel for 3hrs when I wanted to sleep through the downpour.

I could ride the TT bike again, but then the new bike doesn't get an outing, if the new bike is actually ready. Or I could ditch this, feel a bit of a dick but save 8hrs of driving and possibly ££ in hotel bills and shakedown the new bike over the weekend locally with more time to finish it and a potential pickup if I need to bail rather than being stuck in the middle of nowhere, with the car parked hundreds of miles away...

I dunno, I was super keen but with all the arguing and frantic search for new wheels and shit I'm a bit fucked off with the world at the moment. Or maybe it's all the rabies, hepatitis, encephalitis etc flowing through my body after yesterday's shots...

HTFU hippy

No.

Pub?

Oh ok.

ditch this, feel a bit of a dick but save 8hrs of driving and possibly ££ in hotel bills and shakedown the new bike over the weekend locally with more time to finish it and a potential pickup if I need to bail rather than being stuck in the middle of nowhere, with the car parked hundreds of miles away

Sounds sensible - just do a local ride, get comfortable with your new bike, and take a set of allen keys...

Anyone doing East Saxons or am I all on my own?

Or, ride to the start of the 1000.

If the bike makes it, do the 1000.

If it doesn't, get a pickup home and fix it, happy in the knowledge I'm not stuck up some exposed lump in the middle of nowhere with a broken bike (or body, if the position setup guess was out).

I'm doing Hungerford Hurrah this weekend
http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/16-523/

Plan is to do a brisk 200: after 400km+ on each of the last three weekends, no more long rides for me until end of July at least!

ride to the start of the 1000

Ride out from London to Blackpool...? Adding an extra 300+ km :-o

That sounds like a plan.

Maybe stupid with the roads going there unknown.

The Dean seems good as a bivi DIY. You could ride there do three times 1000 and a tons of AAA as well voila.