Jack and Grace Cotton Memorial Audax

[Donger]

Not knowing the routes, and the fact Saturdays work best for me, I was favouring this event over Sunday's Winter Windrush Warm Up. Any advice Audax Elders?

If you are doing the Jack & Grace, watch out for the little climb between Lower Wick and the control point at Tortworth. The moment you take a left turn in the woods over a little bridge across a picturesque stream, snap out of tourist mode and change down a few gears immediately! The hill starts around a blind left-hander and immediately hits 13%. When I did it, the air was filled with a peculiar mix of muttered profanities and crunching gear mechanisms. It was chaos.
Enjoy the ride, though. There really are no big hills, and you get a real mixture of scenery, including Berkeley Castle, the River Severn and the Cotswolds.

 

[Donger]

Those two always used to be on consecutive weekends (I did both last year), why they moved it to create a clash is beyond me.

Yes, the Windrush usually seems to fall on Superbowl Sunday (the first Sunday of February). As such, I was relying on these two events to give me a good start to the Metric Century-a -Month Challenge. Met have to go further afield in February now.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Thanks everyone for the pointers. I've entered the J&GCM. 2nd event I've done and 1st with info controls. Gawd help me. I thought O' Levels were bad enough.

 

[Tilley]

Thanks everyone for the pointers. I've entered the J&GCM. 2nd event I've done and 1st with info controls. Gawd help me. I thought O' Levels were bad enough.

I'm still hoping to enter, but want to check on the weather in early January and be certain of my health. Too many people in my office persist on attending to spread their germs around before realising that they truly are ill enough to stay away, and some of us just seem prone to cold/flu

 

[Banjo]

Thanks everyone for the pointers. I've entered the J&GCM. 2nd event I've done and 1st with info controls. Gawd help me. I thought O' Levels were bad enough.

Don't worry too much about infos HC they are usually something basic like the name on a house at a junction or distance to somewhere on a signpost or similar.They are only there to show you passed along that road and didn't shortcut somewhere definitely no trick questions.

On a ride like J and G you will probably see a gaggle of cyclists with cards and pencils in hand peering at a postbox or similar.

Enjoy the ride,its yet another one I cant do due to my work rota.

 

[Dogtrousers]

You don't have to do info controls. Only if you have a specific reason to want official accreditation from AUK on your card. If you're just along for the ride you can ignore them.

 

[Banjo]

IMHO if you ride audaxes you should enter into the spirit of it and fill in the card.

 

[Dogtrousers]

IMHO if you ride audaxes you should enter into the spirit of it and fill in the card.

Yes, I see your point, but ...

I remember one where the info was a postbox, near the end of a very hilly route on which I made slow progress. I rode past where I thought it should be, up a big hill. No sign of it. I must have missed it, so I turned back. Down big hill, added a bit extra for good measure. Back up hill. Still no postbox. Gave up and carried on. Asked another rider. They couldn't find it either. Another time the question was was "name of pub on the left", I memorised pub name (Red Lion or whatever) as I rode through the village and carried on. Got to the end only to be told by the person at the table "No, the Red Lion is the one on the right, the question is the one on the left." In both cases I got another rider to tell me the answer. Yet another one was "colour of roof of xyz". My colour vision is poor, so I got it wrong. And another was "what material is the gate at abc made of". I remember getting a bit annoyed about that because it was made of some kind of nondescript stuff, and I didn't want to be hanging around in someone's gateway.

These experiences made me question whether I want to bother with infos ever again. After all, I'm not an AUK member, I don't collect points, I just go on them because they are nice rides organised by nice people. If I worry about infos too much it can completely spoil my enjoyment of the day. So now, I'm a bit more chilled about them. If it's easy, I'll memorise it. If it's not, or if I forget, I'll do without. If I don't submit my card, it's less admin for them to do (but I do make sure I always let them know I'm off the route when I've finished).

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Bad news about your rota Banjo. It would have been good to see you. Thanks for the info on controls. Better start doing crosswords and exercise my intellect. Interesting points Dogtrousers. Your slant on things helps me remember an Audax is an event to be enjoyed.

 

[Banjo]

I know what your saying dt.I have suddenly realized I have shot past an info and its back up a big hill or found the answer a bit confusing.

I think if you are able to fill in the card you should as the organizers gain more satisfaction in a long list of finishers than a long list of DNF which can make it appear there is a problem with the ride when in fact its just that some people cant be arsed.

PS HC No need for crosswords they are straight forward things usually you can just memorize if you prefer. Have a good day , the most important thing is to enjoy the ride

 

[Dogtrousers]

I know what your saying.I have suddenly realized I have shot past an info and its back up a big hill or found the answer a bit confusing.

I think if you are able to fill in the card you should as the organizers gain more satisfaction in a long list of finishers than a long list of DNF which can make it appear there is a problem with the ride when in fact its just that some people cant be arsed.

I never thought about it that way. I thought that paying my entry fee was enough, but I'll reappraise things.

However, just thinking about some of these is making me irritable, so maybe it's their own fault for making the infos so damn difficult, if I'd wanted to go and do a difficult puzzle I'd have gone out geocaching, not cycling.

On The Great Escape this year there were riders charging hither and yon all over one village trying to find a school name. Eventually someone came up with a name, but I'll swear I never saw it.

 

[Banjo]

Theres no easy solution really .What may seem obvious to the person setting the ride may be less obvious to riders on the day.

I couldn't find a house name in a village once so took a picture of the pub near by . The org was happy with that.

Organizers are mostly all cyclists themselves and their decisions to validate a ride or not are always based on common sense in my experience.

 

[Donger]

On occasions where I know I'm near the info control but I just can't find it, or the question is impossible/out of date I take a photo to prove I went that way. The only purpose of the control is usually just to make you take a specific route (usually up a steep hill that it would otherwise be possible to avoid). I once showed a photo when the question was an enigmatic "how many?" and the organiser was fine about it, acknowledging that it was a printing error. If you do collect the points or (in my case, in the absence of a Garmin) you want a validated card as evidence of your 100k ride, a quick photo should be all you need to prove you went the right way.

 

[Tilley]

Useful piece of advice that Donger. Assuming I get to enter it would be good to meet Heltor I don't think you will have trouble finding me as recumbent trikes taking part in Audax seem to be few and far.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Excellent! Pressure is on . I'll probably be the only one on a burgundy Surly Disc Trucker. 'Lady Eleanor Glanville' will be wearing her 1.75 touring tyres, looking decidedly buxom against the lithe Audax bikes. My summer tyres can stay in bed a bit longer.