What is an audax and what to expect
- Thread starter nxn2020
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
tubbycyclist
Senior Member
- Location
- Hebden Bridge
mcshroom
Bionic Subsonic
- Location
- Egremont, Cumbria
Gives a decent summary. Basically you will see a wider range of bikes, there will be cafes rather than feed stops (remember to carry some cake money 
) and there will not be direction signs/sag waggon. You will also see fewer people attack the event as a race than on a sportive.
Looking at your description I think you are describing the Wormingford Wyrm - http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/14-583/
It says there are two info controls. These will be things like "What year was the Post Office in X built", basically something you need to fill in on your card to show you went out to that point and didn't cut the corner. Carry a pen/pencil or think about photographing the answers for writing down when you get back if you are worried about forgetting them.
There is also a GPS track to download on that page if you have a Garmin or similar which should make naivigation easier.
) and there will not be direction signs/sag waggon. You will also see fewer people attack the event as a race than on a sportive.Looking at your description I think you are describing the Wormingford Wyrm - http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/14-583/
It says there are two info controls. These will be things like "What year was the Post Office in X built", basically something you need to fill in on your card to show you went out to that point and didn't cut the corner. Carry a pen/pencil or think about photographing the answers for writing down when you get back if you are worried about forgetting them.
There is also a GPS track to download on that page if you have a Garmin or similar which should make naivigation easier.
tubbycyclist
Senior Member
- Location
- Hebden Bridge
Speeds are not necessarily the same on 'shorter' events (ie under 200km). The organiser will have set the speeds, and looking at the link for your ride on the audax website - it is 15-30kph. The example from the West Yorkshire site is one that is quite lumpy, and so the organiser sets a lower limit.
Rides above 200km are nearly always the same limit everywhere (either 14.3km or 15km per hour).
mcshroom
Bionic Subsonic
- Location
- Egremont, Cumbria
Speeds are specific to the ride itself. On that ride the range is 15-30 kph (30kph max or 15kph min is an average to each control rather than you have to keep within the range at all times)
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
What's the 14.3 kph about, tc? I have never spotted one of those - the ones I have done/looked at doing have always been 15-30.
tubbycyclist
Senior Member
- Location
- Hebden Bridge
And there was me trying to stay away from the complicated stuff! The short version is that Brevet Randonneur (BR) rides can be between 14.3 and 15kph minimum speed. These rides are validated by Audax UK. Brevet Randonneur Mondiaux (BRM) rides are ridden at the limits set out by Audax Club Parisien - eg Paris-Brest-Paris qualifying rides, which is why there is sometimes a difference. These are based on time, ie always 13hr30 for a 200km ride (even if the actual distance is 220km)
A lot of 'permanent'/DIY long distance rides have the lower limit.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I will just think of it as a 200 km audax equating to 15-30 kph, even though it might not!
I realised yesterday how much progress I need to make before I will be able to complete a 200 again. I think I averaged 17 kph, but is was only over 103 km and I was knackered by the end.
I realised yesterday how much progress I need to make before I will be able to complete a 200 again. I think I averaged 17 kph, but is was only over 103 km and I was knackered by the end.
Yep, I'll be doing that one, as it is run by my club (Cycle Club Sudbury). It's a beautiful area, with lovely villages and quiet lanes. The hill up to Wormingford will sort out the wheat from the chaff!
Donger
Convoi Exceptionnel
- Location
- Quedgeley, Glos.
I notice someone has already mentioned the brevet card that you will need to get stamped at the checkpoints (or in which you will have to place your answer to a simple question to prove you got there). A friend of mine once pulled up outside a pub in a red, black and blue mix of tights, lycra and snood to record the name of the landlady from above the door for his brevet card. His arrival was met with a shout of "Hello, Spiderman's here!" and much chuckling from inside the pub. Top heckle.
You will also be given a route sheet, written in what at first looked to me like heiroglyphics, with symbols to represent T junctions, traffic lights, oblique junctions, and and changes of font to signify whether places are signposted or not and whether you pass through them or not (etc, etc). My wife can't believe anyone can follow such instructions. For the first few audaxes, I stuck with a mate who already knew where he was going, and it took me a while to pluck up the courage do do one solo. It soon becomes quite straightforward though, but at least one of your party will need to have the route sheet displayed in front of them at all times as there will be no marshalls or special roadside signage for you. Other riders will generally shout out if you take a wrong turn, but every little mistake will make the route sheet more and more incomprehensible as the distances will no longer tally.
Being an old git who hasn't gone metric yet, I always like to convert the Kms to miles before printing off the route sheet. I've also started to amend the route sheet to show the actual distances for each individual stage, and reset the distances to 0 on my trip computer for the start of every stage. Otherwise, any difference betwen the stated distances and your trip computer's recorded distances can make it a bit tricky to find turning points in the last few miles of the ride - especially if you have gne wrong somewhere. Last time out, every time I looked up to see a junction, there it was right in front of me.It was worth half an hour's preparation before printing off the route sheet.
As for the people, I 've always found them to be a great mix of all sorts. Male, female, young and old, sporty and just plain dogged. There might be no marshalls and no mechanics, but I've always found a great spirit of togetherness and helpfulness among the other riders. You will enjoy it.
It's on the 29th March, BTW, not the 28th. Saturday.
I am sure there will be instructions given out soon, but if not, I would recommend not trying to park in Wormingford, which is small, narrow-laned, and bound to be crowded. Go to Bures, a couple of miles down the road, and park in the village hall car park unless you are told otherwise.
Ian H
Ancient randonneur
The 14.3 is historical. The Parisians used to allow 14hrs for a 200, but then changed the limit to 13.5hr. AUK stuck with the lower limit and extended it to all BRs.
totallyfixed
Veteran
- Location
- The only county without a McDonalds
In one of them you have to think, flash carbon will not get a second glance, less testosterone.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
It didn't take me long to notice on my first hilly 200 that a couple of younger guys on flash bikes couldn't even keep up with me (I averaged 20 kph for the event), but a couple of older riders on tatty steel bikes (with mudguards and kitchen-sink-sized saddlebags) sailed passed me chatting away on the first big climb, and promptly disappeared into the distance! 
