I was thinking how I might some up the appeal of 'Audax' in one word. For me that word is 'Cohort'. There's a sense of the word that fits a group with shared characteristics. That applies to both the grouping of riders you keep seeing throughout an Audax career, and also to the specific groupings that arise from clusters of rides, such as SRs and qualifiers.
I started in Audax at a time when I was doing long-distance time trials. That tended to limit my cohort to those who liked to press on. I would drop back to other groups when the climbing kicked in, and smaller riders pulled away, but in general I saw a limited number of other riders.
In 2003 I concentrated on getting my partner Heather around PBP. So I was in a different part of the field, and took to filming as an additional activity. Life in 'the bulge' brings you into contact with a different group, it's more sociable.
Following that I tended to concentrate on starting fast, and then dropping back through the field to encounter as many other riders as possible. The result is that my 'cohort' is very extensive, and as I've ridden or covered 5 PBPs and 5 LELs, it's also pretty international.
I've got memories of who I rode with, where and when. I recall riding with Arabella, Salvatore and LWAB on LEL South of Thorne, and with Arabella on a lot of the East and West Coasts in 2014 as a PBP pre-qualifier. These are some of my cohort.
Cohorts can come across as cliques, and I wonder of that's what's behind the desire for a more 'inclusive' Arrivee, without lots of photos of riders. I've got lots of my own films to remind me of my cohort, but I can also look at old Arrivees, and be reminded of old friends.
I did wonder which of my films summed up the appeal of Audax to me the best. I think some express my personal views better, but when I got to thinking about the people I've ridden with over the years, the Mull It Over 300 film from 2011 meant the most. It has many of the people I'd ridden with in Northern England and Scotland. Some have left the Audax scene, others are no longer with us at all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdlUNP8MjNY&t=75s