Audax without a car

[CommuteTooFar]

I do not give train instructions for two reasons.  It is not possible to get to the start at 8am from London or Bristol.  It is possible on the local trains.  I think it is possible from Swansea.  The other reason my rides are grimpeurs. There is a very real prospect of someone being stranded.  Long distance trains stop early on Saturday night. Nothing through the Severn Tunnel over night.

[TOBY]

I don't have a car and don't drive either, I manage to ride everything I want - get rid of it and you'll work it out.

What Toby failed to mention is that Mrs. Toby has a car and has been known to drive him to Chepstow for 6am starts. That's love .

This is through my laziness not through necessity 

[DanialW]

FY; and you want to be a car-less organiser too; that's brave 

Last year, I saw Winston Plowes turn up to organise a 100, with all his gear (including food) in a wheelbarrow.

[Nuncio]

I don't have a car

I think a close reading of my LEL ride report will show that this is not true.

[CommuteTooFar]

Old fashioned tourist type auks have a great knowledge of camp site locations.

[mattc]

Remember that many orgs do not plan their start times around trains though but when the facilities / helpers are available; and also based on traffic on the main roads near the start.

Sure - there may be many things that influence planned start times. It's just that I get the impression that some organisers (e.g. judging by routesheet instructions on getting to the start) probably don't consider train access as a factor that might sway numbers.

Having taken over the Barbury 100/200 rides, I do feel bad that there no trains early enough to get to them (Sunday). Changing them would probably be a fail, because I would lose all the car-based riders well before i gained any train-based riders

However, I have setup the 400 so that riders have 2 fast trains from That London arriving in time - it's an 0700 start, bucking the fashion for 0600s. (I would have liked a lunchtime start, but the commercial controls wouldn't be open when required.)

A big part of this is the magical 0800 starts. I do think that 300k rides and longer can just as easily start at various other times without problems, but the meat-and-drink 200k is a problem - very few train services will get you to/from a 13hour 200 on the same day. (even on a Saturday).

As for organising ... well, the 400 starts at Didcot Parkway, and I shall walk down with the brevet cards! But it's a shoestring event. Events with catering etc are a very different thing ...

[TOBY]

I don't have a car

I think a close reading of my LEL ride report will show that this is not true it contains factual inaccuracies

FTFY 

[Greenbank]

A big part of this is the magical 0800 starts.

As jo has said, just moving it to 0815 can make a huge difference for people getting there by train. For the Henham/Ugley audax in question I spotted 10 people arriving by train for that ride. If the start is kept at 0800 then you just can't make it to the start in time by train and people will either be put off entering, settle for starting 10 minutes behind everyone else, or have to use a car.

For other rides there's sometimes just one train per hour so you can either get to the start 5 minutes late or 55 minutes early (never nice when it means getting up before 5am). This has been enough to put me off riding an event as that's a long time to be sitting around avoiding eye contact.

You can't fix all Audaxes like this, but if it's just 15 minutes then I can't see it having a huge effect on time for volunteers, halls and control times.

[Chris S]

You can't fix all Audaxes like this, but if it's just 15 minutes then I can't see it having a huge effect on time for volunteers, halls and control times.

Well - I wouldn't worry about 15 minutes. Start the ride late and give chase  .

[arvid]

I don't own a car, but am very likely to buy one when money allows. And the main reason is audaxes.

The reason?
I like to think of audaxes as short holidays, I like to ride in a different area than my own.

Last year I did Ivo's brevets. 4 hours by train, one way. And bikes are not allowed during traffic hour in NL (1630-1800). So the earliest I can arrive after work is somewhere after 2200 on friday. Not very attractive with a 7am start on saturday...
Usually I had the friday off anyway so it didn't matter, but that might change.

This year I cycled to most of my audaxes (75km(Zwolle, 2nd closest starting point), 115km(Wankum), 200km(Maastricht) one way), this was nice, but costs a lot of time. And also energy that is gone on the audax itself. A bit too often I took a train home after the event, or gave up and took a train home.
When you have a car at the start you will have to go back there. I had no need to do that now.

About later starts: this year I missed the train to a brevet, and called. I was half an hour late(next train), but a volunteer waited for me. I just didn't move the first 30 minutes of the ride.

[mattc]

You can't fix all Audaxes like this, but if it's just 15 minutes then I can't see it having a huge effect on time for volunteers, halls and control times.

Well - I wouldn't worry about 15 minutes. Start the ride late and give chase  .

The only time I've been 15mins late (rode to the start) the org was on his way out the door. You don't usually have a contact phone number (it's probably on the BCard !).

[Chris S]

You can't fix all Audaxes like this, but if it's just 15 minutes then I can't see it having a huge effect on time for volunteers, halls and control times.

Well - I wouldn't worry about 15 minutes. Start the ride late and give chase  .

The only time I've been 15mins late (rode to the start) the org was on his way out the door. You don't usually have a contact phone number (it's probably on the BCard !).

Hmm... Clearly an Organiser keen to do other things. Ah well - not such a good idea then, if this is typical.

[mattc]

Remember, the organiser may have got up before you did
Or may have to dash off to:
- make sandwiches for the arrivee,
- man the first control,
- placate the family,
- catch 40 winks
... etc ...

Personally, I'd like to accomodate late/early arrivals where possible, but it's just yet another fiddly thing to sort out with the entries.
Ideas welcome for 2011...

[actually camping outside / dossing inside the HQ is a really good facility by the organisers that do it - not always possible of course]

[vorsprung]

i will ride to local events in Devon and Somerset, up to a 100km round trip

I do try and get lifts or car share.  Although there aren't that many people down my way doing the sort of rides I like.  So usually it is just me in a VW Golf going to Chepstow

I've only got the train to a handful of events because it is usually complicated, time consuming and expensive compared with the car.  One year I did travel to Kidderminster for the Elenith by train, which worked well as I always stay in a B&B for that anyway.

Another one that worked well was getting the train to Bristol for the Tasty Cheddar.  This is IMHO a horrible, dirty 100km but I really enjoyed the ride back to Devon

Oh yeah and I did the Penzance 300 this year, got down there by train.  And got a train back to the YHA when i packed

[vorsprung]

Personally, I'd like to accomodate late/early arrivals where possible, but it's just yet another fiddly thing to sort out with the entries.
Ideas welcome for 2011...

IANAL but I believe that BRM rides have a requirement that the riders can start up to 1 hour later if they so desire.  The finish time for such people remains the same.

[mattc]

WARNING - may contain green preaching content:

I don't own a car, but am very likely to buy one when money allows. And the main reason is audaxes.

The reason?
I like to think of audaxes as short holidays, I like to ride in a different area than my own.

If I had a (sensible) car, I would follow this approach, but try to maximise each trip. So driving for 4-5 hours just to ride for 12 just wouldn't make sense (although transporting 1-2 other riders would change this). But driving to a 300, then riding a 200 perm the next day (or just some gentle touring), then home, would make more sense to me.
Obviously this limits the number of 'away' rides per year, but that's life.
<\preaching content>

I don't expect other audaxers to arrange their rides with the same green criteria as me, even a bike has a carbon footprint, just a personal view ... etc ... etc ...

p.s. May I thank those who have driven me to events (or provided overnight space) already. (Noone ever accepts money for these services - bless em).

[Simonb]

Living in deepest darkest East Kent; taking a train to 99% of rides is out of the question without overnight stays (often before and after the ride). With two kids, a working Mrs B, and a busy job, I can't afford that much time.

If I lived in London I'm sure things would be different; the London has trains galore.

[arabella]

I made a deliberate decision not to drive to audaxes, then selected rides based on availability of transport thereto or accommodation nearby, often offered by fellow auks 

I also favour the stay over before/after option, either in the hall or nearby.

As Toby says, if you get rid of the car you'll find a way to do without.
Look out for rides such as El Supremo's 300 that starts early enough to catch the last train on friday, 400s that start at lunch time etc.

[Weirdy Biker]

...driving for 4-5 hours just to ride for 12 just wouldn't make sense (although transporting 1-2 other riders would change this). But driving to a 300, then riding a 200 perm the next day (or just some gentle touring), then home, would make more sense to me.

I kind of follow this approach at the moment.  I don't drive more in miles that I would ride in kilometres.

Knowing that other people round my way can manage without a car and still do a good range of events gives me a bit more confidence.  It shouldn't feel like such a big step to stop using a car but, in all honesty, it feels monumental.

As Martin said, I organise events.  I am fortunate to have the support of some Redhill CC audaxers and officials who will lend a hand with that.  I also suppose that having the organiser face up to getting to the start before others makes it more likely my events will be "friendlier" to those having to travel by train etc.  That said, the only thing I need a car for was lugging around tins of baked beans and other assorted goodies - maybe it will simply mean more basic events.

As for rides, I suspect that I'll eventually manage by a combination of camping (overlooked that), YHAs (which I use at the moment) and using holiday up for travelling to/from events.  But it will inevitably mean sacrificing some rides (or to put it another way, need me to be smarter and pickier about the rides I do) and doing more local ones (or doing 100km events bookended by rides to/from in ECEs).  Mentally running through my favourite rides (and those I'm likely to want to do again) I can picture how I'll be able to manage, albeit with more up front planning.

I suspect my decision is made and, if I stick to it, will be acted upon later this year.

[mattc]

Yup.

In theory, ECEs might mean that Audaxers going car-free will result in more kms ridden, despite the restricted events available

[hellymedic]

Never had a car.
Mostly lived in That London.
(When I didn't, I once lived very close to Shawn Shaw but never successfully completed any of his events.)
Cycled to some events. (Hertfordshire before 8am is really nice.)
Took many trains and did many Doncaster-based rides.
Stayed overnight in many places  before and after rides.
Had a few lifts from fellow AUKs.
Did almost all of this before I had a computer, mobile phone or interwebs.
Took the odd day off work as annual leave before or after a big event.
It's possible but not always easy.

[teethgrinder]

How feasible is it to do this whilst:

1) having a variety of audax events around the country (I tend to travel outside my local area)
2) doing 20 events a year (including all distances)
3) holding down a full time job with a traditional working pattern

I've never driven. I used to catch trains to and from events but got extremely cheesed off with it. I used a train for the Invicta 600 and to get home from El Supremos 600 (I think) and the Wu'ze 400. It reminded me how much I dislike waiting at train stations and all of the hassle that goes with travelling by train with a bike. And they were quite smooth journeys. It's expensive too, but I am a tight git.

20 events in a season is quite a lot.
Do they have to be calendar events?
I'd concentrate on the long rides as far as travelling goes. Do the 2 and 300k rides closeto home. Local events that you can cycle to and from before and after, even if you need an overnight stay before a leisurely ride home on the Sunday. Or do a DIY or local permanent. Start a thread on YACF and drum up some company. Permanents don't have to be ridden alone.
Then you can use up holiday from work to travel to and from the bigger events. The 600s in summer are much more worth travelling to than just an early season 200 IMO. Make more of an occasion of it. Much better to have a relaxing Friday cycling a leisurely 100 miles to an event and being all prepared than rushing around. Then take the Monday off for an easy ride home. It's no fun being at work when you're knackerred. But cycling home is good if you're not in a rush. You can stop where you like, have a doze or some coffee. It doesn't matter if it takes all day to cycle the 100 miles home if you're not in a hurry. I always enjoy my ride home from the Mersey 24, even though my legs are always stiff and it's a grotty ride down the A5. I just chill out and listen to the radio and take my time.
You could even do a week with events at each weekend and the midweek as a tour inbetween events.

but bearing in mind I don't have the mindset of riding through the night to do events and riding back.  

Ever tried it? If you're well up on your sleep and not falling asleep on the ride and it's a nice night, it can sometimes be more fun than the event itself.

If you finish work early on Friday, you could probably manage a quick 100 miles before dark in summer?
Even with my 1600 finish, I've just about managed 100 miles just about in daylight in midsummer.

[mattc]

As Martin said, I organise events.  I am fortunate to have the support of some Redhill CC audaxers and officials who will lend a hand with that.  I also suppose that having the organiser face up to getting to the start before others makes it more likely my events will be "friendlier" to those having to travel by train etc.  That said, the only thing I need a car for was lugging around tins of baked beans and other assorted goodies - maybe it will simply mean more basic events.

I'm glad you've posted this - it's made me think about running my event. I can't see organising our 100/200 will stop me selling the car.

I'm not sure how I'll get round this, but I'll either:
- lug stuff to the HQ in the trailer,
- rent a car and use it for other stuff that weekend,
- abandon supplying food at teh HQ, or
- depend on helpers etc to ferry the food around (and pay their expenses).
[incidentally, I'm paying my controllers petrol money - does everyone do this? It seems relevant to this debate.]

Hopefully it will all work out, but owning a car just to run Audaxes seems ... ludicrous.

[teethgrinder]

Hopefully it will all work out, but owning a car just to run Audaxes seems ... ludicrous.

The irony of The Long Distance Cylists Assosiation depending on cars so much often amuses me.

[DanialW]

Hopefully it will all work out, but owning a car just to run Audaxes seems ... ludicrous.

The irony of The Long Distance Cylists Assosiation depending on cars so much often amuses me.

It amuses me almost as much as when I hear a long-distance cyclist moan about 'over-distance' events.