Audax rides

Intrigued by RRTY? That's just one 200km a month for twelve consecutive months

are you thinking of...

A super randonneur series, being a 200/300/400/600 in one season?

the youngest rider to do a century on their record is 8 years old.

Intrigued by Audax in general. But I doubt that I'll ever have the free time to chase a certain amount in one year, or do one a month for x months. I just work funny hours and wouldn't be able to fit it all in.

600 can be done in weekends i reckon.

dying to do a 400, got 100, 200 and 300 on my belt already.

under

The expression is 'under my belt'.

Just sayin'

600 can be done in weekends i reckon.

dying to do a 400, got 100, 200 and 300 on my belt already.

And if I ever get a proper weekend I'll look into doing one.

the youngest rider to do a century on their record is 8 years old.

cool!

under

The expression is 'under my belt'.

Just sayin'

I'll punch you with my belt.

Having said that... Is SR done in one calendar year? So this one:

http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/12-223/

Wouldn't count towards anything done in 2013? Or is it within 12 months?

As Vesalius says, RRTY is independent of the Audax year, any 12 months will do.

Sparky the Audax year runs from 1st November - don't ask me why. It's just one of the many arcane and random facets of randonneuring ;)

An SR series is four weekends in the year, I understand the challenges of your profession but surely you could pick your audaxes in advance and book four weekends off in advance? Based on your (slightly scary) Tour of Britain Sportive stats I saw you certainly seem to have the legs for it.

Ed you can't punch someone with a belt, but you can whip them... Which 300 did you do? How did you find it?

As others have said up thread, the 400 is reputed to be the hardest, due to the lack of rest. An extremely experienced (and I mean extremely experienced) audaxer is a colleague (he emailed me because I share the same name as another extremely experienced audaxer) and he said:

"Once you've done 400km, 600km doesn't seem so daunting"...

^I was under the impression each season starts in october?

I would like to make the transition from 200-->300 soon, haven't done any more than 200 (250 including travel to the station etc, but that doesn't count)

As Vesalius says, RRTY is independent of the Audax year, any 12 months will do.

Sparky the Audax year runs from 1st November - don't ask me why. It's just one of the many arcane and random facets of randonneuring ;)

An SR series is four weekends in the year, I understand the challenges of your profession but surely you could pick your audaxes in advance and book four weekends off in advance? Based on your (slightly scary) Tour of Britain Sportive stats I saw you certainly seem to have the legs for it.

Ed you can't punch someone with a belt, but you can whip them... Which 300 did you do? How did you find it?

As others have said up thread, the 400 is reputed to be the hardest, due to the lack of rest. An extremely experienced (and I mean extremely experienced) audaxer is a colleague (he emailed me because I share the same name as another extremely experienced audaxer) and he said:

"Once you've done 400km, 600km doesn't seem so daunting"...

You're right. And my 2012 to-do list grows slightly longer... It'll be worth it to put Super Randonneur on my CV.

A couple of corrections.

The eight year old did a 200k not a century.

This year the end of the audax season moved from November to October. This is so that there is now an adequate time before the AGM to get all the results in and sorted for the awards.

Previously it was in November to coincide with the AGM. The AGM is in November so that it doesn't clash with lots of people trying to do rides and also so that members can have a reasonable expectation of being able to ride to it.

Super-Randonneur series do need to be ridden within one Audax year.

As first 400k's go, I would strongly recommend the Severn Across, especially for Londoners. It's a relatively easy route to follow and once the Somerset Monument is out of the way there's nothing really to test you (although I have found a couple of people crying their way up to Membury services, mostly food and water related) If by then you find you can't face navigating the back roads, it's easy to just hop on the A4 and boot it back to London.

Alternatively, I can strongly recommend the LlanfairPG 400k. Worth travelling for and absolutely lovely. I'm strongly tempted to do it this year, even though it comes the weekend after the Bryan Chapman Memorial.

You can take a nap on a 400k. I've done it a couple of times and depending on your timing a mood it can be well worth it. The problem comes that because you won't be going for more than an hour's sleep, it's not easy for organisers to put on a fixed sleep stop. This means aiming for a nap in motorway services if there's one close to the route, a friend similarly close or finding a quality, sleepable bus shelter. More common in rural areas but growing rarer. Church porches are a good idea if you can find one too. Chuck on a few layers and get 15 minutes shut eye just around dawn and the difference will be amazing.

The eight year old did a 200k not a century.

Gotcha, I lost my book and remember it being over a century (miles rather than km).

Out for the December 200k on a DIY ride yesterday. Bitterly cold and thus a very hard slog most of the way round. Out in those conditions I find it pretty hard to hydrate properly. Still, at least that's the most troublesome RRtY ride out of the way.

Mind you, the temptation is to do the Winter Solstice ride and start doing a double Randonneur Round the Year.

Was that your last ride then? If so congrats!

Erm... No

That was ride three of twelve.

When those crazy audax types talk about doing multiple RRtYs then they're usually referring to the number that they are doing at the same time. Hence if I am doing a double RRtY then I'm doing 2 x 200km rides per month.

If I were Steve Abraham I would be doing 5.

I am toying with keeping this one going as a Fixed RRtY and the other one geared.

Sorry I missed the obvious connection, just the bog standard RRTY for me please! (for now anyway...)

I'll be doing the LBL perm again on the 15th for my december ride, anyone is more than welcome to join :) Still need to sort the paperwork etc for it though.

It had bloody better not rain/snow

Long day yesterday, took 2 friends along for the LondonBrightonLondon perm, one dropped out halfway but the other managed to hold on till the finish.

Narrowly within the time limit as well! Longest time I've spent on a 200k

The early darkness can really hamper progress, my light is decent but not good enough so you can ride at a fast pace, and my friend only has a tiny little commuter light so we were both using mine, so that slowed us down.
Hopefully the new bike I'm building with dynamo hub/light will be signifcantly better and eliminate the darkness issue.

It rained a fair bit on the way back as well, which dampened my already knacked partners mood!

January calendar events, The poor student 200 starting in Oxford? The Willy Warmer 200 from chalfont st peter? Anybody got these on their radar?

Just to top it all off when we reached near Kingston again I noticed that my rear wheel was buckled and rubbing, I went to true it quickly and noticed that two spokes had ripped up the surrounding rim on my mavic ma2s! Was praying that it would hold out till I got to Richmond! Hasn't exploded yet but that rim is a goner.

Well, that was the December 200 done, have just realised that RRTY can be started at any point, not just at the beginning of a new season, so I'm 5 months in!

Potential January 200s:

The Poor Student 200 looks great and would like to do it to explore some new scenery but I may not be back in london before then..

The Willy Warmer 200 is later in the month and within easy reach of London but I've done a few rides this way already.

Anybody else got these on their radar?

Vesalius - Audax Club Hackney will be riding the Poor Student, we'll be on the train out if you are traveling there from London?

Tempted, not sure if I'm really ready for 200 fixed though. Will decide by saturday.

Always wanted to do the Willy Warmer as it's run by my club and I've never tried audax. It always conflicts with something though, checks dates like this year I'll be out of the country! doh!

Vesalius - Audax Club Hackney will be riding the Poor Student, we'll be on the train out if you are traveling there from London?

Thanks for the heads up!

Again I'm not sure if i'll be back in London (or have my geared bike built up...) by then, but I'll give you a shout if I will be.