OK, so I owe all of you an update on the audax - been really busy so forgive me for the delay, please.
I'm really happy with all of the advice I have received here since considering longer distances and you guys have all been instrumental in getting me off the ground, and get me off the ground you did!
I opted for a 200km, within an hours drive of where I live. It was due to set off at 8.00, so fairly civilised - doors opened at 7.00. I turned up at about 7.30, collected my brevet card and had a coffee. I faffed with the bike while everybody else got ready. I had a courier bag over my shoulder with too much stuff in it, there was no need to bring food and my lock was too heavy. The trouble with carrying a bag is that you put too much stuff in it. I had a spare tyre (in the bag), handwash gel, and lots of other stuff that I didn't need, but all this stuff just sits in my bag for my commute, so I'm used to carrying it all around for 50km, 100km at the weekend, but it gets to be a pain at 150km.
Anyway, 8.00 came and I set off. The group thinned out quite quickly and I hung around at the back rather than look like a smartarse and get passed later on - I wanted to feel things out and I'd rather catch people up later than have them pass me with my lungs bursting! I hadn't really looked at the route, just loaded it onto my Garmin. I did have the route sheets but they were in my bag so it was a pain to stop to look at them.
Next came a pivotal moment. The night before I had created a new profile on my Garmin: 'Audax', displaying different stuff to my usual 'Commute' profile, that I thought I'd find useful. I didn't like it, so I changed it back to 'Commute' and that screwed the navigation up, telling me to U-Turn. I messed about with it at the side of the road and carried on for a while, stopping and starting. In the end I started doubting myself, and as a guy passed me, asking 'everything OK?', I said, 'All fine', and then caught him up.
Meet Andy, who's arse I stared at for the next 9 hours.
I told him about the navigation issues, and that it was my first Audax, and he asked me where my route sheets were and we laughed about them being in my bag. Then we laughed about my having a bag over my shoulder, but he agreed with me doing my first Audax with what I had got, and seeing how I got on. My main excuses for being sans route sheets was that I didn't have room for a map trap on the bars, and that I just hadn't had time to arrange things properly. We mostly rode along side by side but I would sometimes drop behind him, without drafting, to allow cars to overtake or just to allow Andy to pull away and reel him back in later. Sometimes its nice to break from chatting, just in case you're annoying somebody - after all, we'd just met.
It was great to chat with him, he'd completed the LEL this year and he had lots of experience on the Audax scene so I made sure that I picked his brains about as much as I could. Andy was happy to answer my questions and I learned alot from him. We had quite a bit in common, so it was very easy to get along. I have decided on London-Wales-London for my first long distance ride and Andy had, of course, done the ride before. I asked about what sort of distance I should have done before taking on LWL, "300km?", I asked. Andy said that 300km can be worse than 400km (the LWL distance), so I should see how I felt after 200km. "If you don't feel too bad, you could probably do the LWL", he said.
I learned to keep my brevet card handy, and some spare change for receipts at control points. I learned how the control points work, and that you should get in the food queue first, then get your card stamped and your bottle filled later. I think I learned a lot about what I need to do for the future if I am to take this long distance stuff seriously and enjoy some adventure.
I kept wondering out loud when I would start flagging, and Andy said that it would come sooner or later. It did, at about 170km. It was a windy day and at 170km we were headed right into the wind, it was vicious. We got down on the drops and pushed through. About 15km later, we stopped at the last control point before returning to base. It was a pub and I didn't really have time to stop and linger, but I made sure that Andy and I had a drink together and, back on the bike, I grinned and told Andy that I had found my Mojo again. "OK, let's get our heads down and knock out these last few kilometers, so you're not too late." he said. That's what we did.
We got back in good time, got our cards stamped and said our goodbyes. I rushed off and loaded the bike into the car, then headed home for a curry with my wife and some good friends. I was late, but I was forgiven.
I got back on the bike two days later and went straight to the bike shop for a frame bag, to carry stuff with. Its out with the courier bag!
Thank you all for your encouragement and advice.
