Your experience of doing audax events

[Anonymous1502]

What was it like doing an audax event? What distance did you do? How long did you train for it? What bike did you use? How long and how did you train for the event? Any advice for someone wanting to do an audax event?

 

[alicat]

What was it like doing an audax event? Depended on the distance, terrain, weather, my fitness, organisation.

What distance did you do? Various
How long did you train for it? Six months for the first one. None after that.
What bike did you use? One of mine.
How long and how did you train for the event? See answer to your second question.
Any advice for someone wanting to do an audax event? Give us a bit more info to help you, rather than just firing random questions at us.

 

[DCLane]

It depends on the event; for a 100-300km there's no training and I tend to use my normal road bike.

For Paris-Brest-Paris, London-Edinburgh-London and 400km+ events I'll use a Ridgeback Platinum audax bike I've built and a bit more kit.

Start with a short event and build up. My first event went badly because I'd not read the instructions and guessed my way round. Knowing how to navigate (with a gpx file it's so much easier), read instructions and know what you're doing helps.

My suggestion is to do your first event with someone who knows what they're doing. Speed isn't an issue; following a major mechanical where I needed a wheel replacement I rolled past a rider who aims to be 2 minutes inside the time limit, riding at 10mph average.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

First one was 100km and very local.

I didn’t do any training, as I had a 5 day a week 40km (round trip) commute. So was plenty fit enough. It was a friendly affair and the controls / checkpoints were run by volunteers and Women’s Institute with cakes, sandwiches, and drink available. I can’t recall the time it took but there are generous time limits and so take advantage of that to have a nice sociable ride with others of a similar pace. The routes aren’t signed so you’ll need to be able to navigate or have a mentor to ride round with you.

 

[Anonymous1502]

What was it like doing an audax event? Depended on the distance, terrain, weather, my fitness, organisation.

What distance did you do? Various
How long did you train for it? Six months for the first one. None after that.
What bike did you use? One of mine.
How long and how did you train for the event? See answer to your second question.
Any advice for someone wanting to do an audax event? Give us a bit more info to help you, rather than just firing random questions at us.

I'm new to cycling. The most I've done in a day is 75km so far, but with only 2 short breaks but think I can manage 100km(Im doing a 100km bike ride in 2-3 weeks for a fundraiser, which I think I can manage)I want to be able to do 200km audax events eventually, perhaps the longer ones if I'm capable. I have a trek domane AL2 bike. I'm 19, good fitness. I want to know how I can train for those long audax events.

 

[Anonymous1502]

It depends on the event; for a 100-300km there's no training and I tend to use my normal road bike.

For Paris-Brest-Paris, London-Edinburgh-London and 400km+ events I'll use a Ridgeback Platinum audax bike I've built and a bit more kit.

Start with a short event and build up. My first event went badly because I'd not read the instructions and guessed my way round. Knowing how to navigate (with a gpx file it's so much easier), read instructions and know what you're doing helps.

My suggestion is to do your first event with someone who knows what they're doing. Speed isn't an issue; following a major mechanical where I needed a wheel replacement I rolled past a rider who aims to be 2 minutes inside the time limit, riding at 10mph average.

How did you train for it and for how long? How did you get good enough be able to do 400km+ events, doing 200km sounds amazing, let alone 400km!!! How do those long events work-e.g. London to Edinburgh - with sleep, eating- since you can't do the distance in one day? So do you just get a gps file and you have to follow it or how does the navigation work?

 

[Anonymous1502]

First one was 100km and very local.

I didn’t do any training, as I had a 5 day a week 40km (round trip) commute. So was plenty fit enough. It was a friendly affair and the controls / checkpoints were run by volunteers and Women’s Institute with cakes, sandwiches, and drink available. I can’t recall the time it took but there are generous time limits and so take advantage of that to have a nice sociable ride with others of a similar pace. The routes aren’t signed so you’ll need to be able to navigate or have a mentor to ride round with you.

How does it work with the navigation and the checkpoints? So did you just use kamoot or something like that?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

What tends to happen for those with good fitness is that they ride at a good pace then pass a certain distance then they fall off a cliff. So training really is about working out what a sustainable pace (for you) is over 100km, 200km. It’s also about working out what works for you food and drink wise. What works over shorter distances doesn’t always translate as the distances go up. In terms of physical training it’s a mix of increasing the distances at an easy pace mixed with shorter rides at a faster pace. Then combinIng the two for an audax.

It’s also about finding out what discomfort issues you get as the distance increases and finding solutions.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

See https://audax.uk/about-audax/new-to-audax/

 

[alicat]

I'm new to cycling. The most I've done in a day is 75km so far, but with only 2 short breaks but think I can manage 100km(Im doing a 100km bike ride in 2-3 weeks for a fundraiser, which I think I can manage)I want to be able to do 200km audax events eventually, perhaps the longer ones if I'm capable. I have a trek domane AL2 bike. I'm 19, good fitness. I want to know how I can train for those long audax events.

Thanks for the background info. Just start with a short one and work your way up to longer ones. Use them as your training.

The last one I did they supplied a digital link (GPX?) as well as a route sheet with directions. Mostly I just follow the paper route instructions. It doesn't break and it gives me something to do to stave off boredom.

 

[Solocle]

How did you train for it and for how long? How did you get good enough be able to do 400km+ events, doing 200km sounds amazing, let alone 400km!!! How do those long events work-e.g. London to Edinburgh - with sleep, eating- since you can't do the distance in one day? So do you just get a gps file and you have to follow it or how does the navigation work?

I started cycling again at 19, on going to uni. After riding 12-13 km around town for shopping trips, I built up to 100km in about 1 month. That was an out-and-back to Swindon, stopping for lunch at Nando's.

Then it was off to Yorkshire, and I didn't really do anything longer - 50 miles in the Yorkshire Dales, climbing Fleet Moss, twice! Once each side... that was tough. Or the 60 mile loop out from Leeds up to Skipton, and back via Bradford...

That was in July 2018, and I didn't do my first century until February 2019. I did do a 70 mile sportive in September, then an 85 mile club reliability ride in November. Then, my century was a cycle home from uni, at a relaxed pace. Extremely tiring by the end, but I definitely could have done it at an earlier point.

July 2019 was a sub-6 hour century on a sportive (in the Mendips, so hilly, too!).

My first audax was at the start of November. 200 km (well, 220), around Oxfordshire.
That wasn't a huge step up from a century, but those extra miles did really sting, and I found myself diving into a motorway services for an extra (sugary) drink...

I probably went too hard for that one, but it was also sodding wet. I was getting carpal tunnel symptoms at the end...

Two weeks later, I did a 300 km audax.

Actually over 200 miles, I detoured via home, and my Wahoo ran out of charge for the last bit!

200 km isn't so far removed from a century sportive. Sure, you might get some night riding to do...
300 km felt totally different (especially with a 10 pm start!). 100 miles done at night, on main roads, which were super quiet at that time.

I also couldn't sit on the saddle after that ride. It was standing on the pedals on the ride back from the station...

So, when I did it again, in December, I paced myself better, and invested in some chamois cream.

I completely bonked at the end (the plan was 500km) - not enough food taken in during the ride.

But, in terms of training: I jumped from 200 km to 300 km without any. The 200 km was pretty decent training, but then, it's really a question off refining your technique over time.

Getting to 200 took a while, although I could have done it sooner (I probably couldn't have done 300, though!)

 

[DCLane]

How did you train for it and for how long? How did you get good enough be able to do 400km+ events, doing 200km sounds amazing, let alone 400km!!! How do those long events work-e.g. London to Edinburgh - with sleep, eating- since you can't do the distance in one day? So do you just get a gps file and you have to follow it or how does the navigation work?

I didn't train for anything up to 300km, just started at a 120km event and worked up. For the bigger events I completed a shorter one and then moved to a longer event. My move from 200km to the 1200km Paris-Brest-Paris was in a 6 month period. Personally I'd not advise that approach

400km and above means sleeping comes into play. Some riders sleep at controls, with 600km+ often having beds, others don't. I tend to grab an hour or so but also just keep going. Often controls are at a cafe, or based around somewhere you can get food.

Most events have both written instructions and a gpx file, although a few old-school ones just have written instructions. Riders can then create and/or share a gpx file. I've learnt to go through this and check major junctions so I'm aware of what's likely to come. That helps with things like eating and knowing where could be an issue.

Once you get to any real distance it's worth considering carrying extra clothing / food / spares. Everyone's different at that though - from 400km upwards I've got my 'full' audax kit just in case whereas others make do with a lightweight bike, a tube and CO2 canister only.

 

[Aravis]

The OP will be talking about calendar events. One bit of advice is to be patient. I understand that it's hoped to restart calendar events next month on a trial basis, and it could be a while before there's anything like a normal schedule. They'll probably feel quite different for a while as well.

When I was restarting cycling in 2015 I rode a couple of 100km Audaxes, and they were an invaluable part of the process. So in a way, the Audaxes were the training rather than being something I trained for.

Those events also showed me some things I don't like about Audax. You ride someone else's idea of a good route from a starting point you have to get yourself to at a time not of your choosing. For these to be worthwhile sacrifices there need to be things you value about the event itself, and for many people, clearly there are. From my somewhat jaundiced perspective, if you just go for a ride of similar distance, you'll be doing it on your own. On an Audax, much of the time it's little different.

There's also the excellent concept of DiY by GPS, which enables you to register a ride of your own as a points-scoring Audax. Essentially the process is threefold: say what you're going to do before you start; do it; demonstrate that you've done it. It works for me, but others don't find the same fulfilment.

The longest Audax I've done is 200km, so no real distances yet.

 

[Nick Saddlesore]

https://www.centrallondonctc.org.uk/whatisaudax
When / if life gets back to normal there are some Calendar Events particularly suitable for newcomers, e.g. The Stevenage Start and End of Summertime rides, and the ACME winter series from Witham. These are accessible by train from London. I'm sure there are similar events elsewhere.
100km is a pleasant day ride. 200km is just doing the same again. 300km is a long day with quite a bit of night. 400km was my max, I got bored and just wanted to go home.

 

[ianrauk]

300km is a long day with quite a bit of night.

300's are the furthest Audax I sign up for.
A: I like my bed.
B: Like you, I start to get bored.