New to Audax and need advice

[Ian H]

Not that I wish to put ideas in your head, but check out some of the photos in this brochure.

 

[steveindenmark]

That looks rempting Ian but it would be a very steep learning curve considering I have never ridden a brevet, I don`t have a bike and the most I have ever ridden in one go is about 20 miles and that was about 30 years ago..

But you never know...I am just about mad enough to set it as my challenge for 2011...and then of course I will have to write the book.

Steve

 

[smutchin]

I have no idea what a route plan looks like and was hoping that someone could e-mail me a copy of an old one so I can study it and work the route out on my PC.

Good idea, but bear in mind that Audax routesheets are designed to be useful from the point of view of the rider, so you might get an instruction like "R by house with white gate", which won't be obvious on a map but will make sense when you're out on the road.

(Of course, this is less of a problem these days thanks to Google Street View)

d.

 

[mcshroom]

I have no idea what a route plan looks like and was hoping that someone could e-mail me a copy of an old one so I can study it and work the route out on my PC

Hi Steve

There are a few route sheets available on line, like these two here. These are permanents rather than calandar events (they can be ridden on any date) but the style is the same

 

[zigzag]

That looks rempting Ian but it would be a very steep learning curve considering I have never ridden a brevet, I don`t have a bike and the most I have ever ridden in one go is about 20 miles and that was about 30 years ago..

But you never know...I am just about mad enough to set it as my challenge for 2011...and then of course I will have to write the book.

Steve

i think you should be more optimistic. lel '09 was my first audax, never done a night ride before that or a distance longer than 200km. i didn't know much about cyclists clothing, food, energy bars, powder drinks etc. i still don't like them, but at least i know what i could use if going gets tough.
by this i'm not saying that lel or any other mega ride is easy - they are all hard. but the quicker and more organised you are - the easier it gets. start training for pbp now and you'll make it in 2011, no doubt.

 

[Philip Whiteman]

....... lel '09 was my first audax, never done a night ride before that or a distance longer than 200km. i didn't know much about cyclists clothing, food, energy bars, powder drinks etc. i still don't like them, but at least i know what i could use if going gets tough.

Flippin Eck! I take my hat off to you. Talk about jumping in at the deep end. Clearly you survived to tell the tail.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

have a word with arallsopp in these parts, he rides long distances on a recumbent for fun, has written a book about his adventures on LEL and is a ruddy nice bloke to boot.

see here for a recent exploit

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Yes, recumbents are welcome. I've often seen them on audaxes.

Here's a typical route sheet. Generally you can get a GPX file, either from the organisers, from another rider or with a bit of google-work beforehand.

One of my first cycle tours was in Denmark, about 10 years ago. A loop North from Copenhagen round the coast and then back via Roskilde. I particularly remember a very chilly swim in the Baltic!

At my first (and so far only, yep I'm still a newbie) Audax ride last month, I saw someone riding a folding bike on the ride. I didn't think they were suited to rides like this, but I guess he thought otherwise. This particular ride was 200km, and had roughly 3000m of climbing, with many hills up to 10-15% grade, so was reasonably tough to ride. I never found out how the folding bike rider went on the ride, but hope he made it through OK.

 

[Greenbank]

At my first (and so far only, yep I'm still a newbie) Audax ride last month, I saw someone riding a folding bike on the ride. I didn't think they were suited to rides like this, but I guess he thought otherwise. This particular ride was 200km, and had roughly 3000m of climbing, with many hills up to 10-15% grade, so was reasonably tough to ride. I never found out how the folding bike rider went on the ride, but hope he made it through OK.

Someone did LEL (1400km Audax) on a Brompton. He also did lots of other long Audaxes on the same bike.

 

[Arch]

If a bike suits you, and fits you, then it's good to ride any distance.

 

[PalmerSperry]

If a bike suits you, and fits you, then it's good to ride any distance.

On the 200 I attempted back in April, there was someone on an MTB ... Complete with "knobbly" tyres! (Albeit ones with a central ridge.) And he was faster than me!

 

[Greenbank]

If a bike suits you, and fits you, then it's good to ride any distance.

There's no guarantee. A bike that is comfy for a 200 may be torture on a 300km ride. I've seen it happen to a few people on their first attempts at longer distances.

Those extra few hours could be enough to push your body past the limit of coping/masking an incorrectly fit/setup bike.

The only way to know is to use the same bike/setup for progressively longer and longer rides and hope that it is all ok.

 

[bof]

There's no guarantee. A bike that is comfy for a 200 may be torture on a 300km ride. I've seen it happen to a few people on their first attempts at longer distances.

Those extra few hours could be enough to push your body past the limit of coping/masking an incorrectly fit/setup bike.

The only way to know is to use the same bike/setup for progressively longer and longer rides and hope that it is all ok.

Amen. Also of other items. I have a pair of very expensive mitts that give me blisters after around 12 hours riding. I could have used them on club runs till the cows came home and never known this. I suppose the moral is carefully build up a list of what works for you as you go further and further.

 

[Threelionsbrian]

Amen. Also of other items. I have a pair of very expensive mitts that give me blisters after around 12 hours riding. I could have used them on club runs till the cows came home and never known this.  I suppose the moral is carefully build up a list of what works for you as you go further and further.

It's whatever suits you IMO, damage limitation, i doubt there is suitable solution for many but as long as your legs are ok you can tinker with the rest.

 

[ColinJ]

i doubt there is suitable solution for many but as long as your legs are ok you can tinker with the rest.

I think there is more to it than just leg fitness. I've injured my legs a couple of times, but apart from those times it has always been some other part that has caused problems on long rides. Always my lower back, often my bum and sometimes my arms, shoulders or neck; a couple of times my wrists or hands.

In my case, problems are not caused by poor bike fit or inadequate cycle clothing because my longest, hardest rides carrying panniers were trouble-free (140+ mile rides with 10,000+ ft of Pennine climbing). If I'm slim (or slimmish) and fit, I can put the work in; if I'm not, it hurts - a lot!