Audax acheivements big and small.

[tippers_kiwi]

It helps if you are a whippet.  I will never not be scared of hills at >100 kg.  Even if I get lean I will still be too heavy to do anything but endure it.

Also being in the >100kg banding I know what you mean. Living in East Anglia makes hill dodging a little easier but I have found this year doing the miles makes them more bearable. I do enjoy that moment when gravity takes over!

[caerau]

I've rather found I've gone the other way recently to be honest.  When I started I was all keen at hill seeking as they were an achievement and I kept seeking out worse and worse climbs - not caring that I was slow.
But I've kind of hit the wall with climbs like the Devil's Staircase that I just cannot do and cannot see myself ever doing.  Accumulative climb will wear me down over time too - I find that after about 3000 m cumulative I start to walk them - gearing lower and lower doesn't really help as I just go slower to the point where I might as well walk.


I am on a mission to lose weight properly currently though - maybe that will rekindle my enthusiasm.  I did put a shedload of weight back on at the back end of last year, this hasn't really helped me this year.  I'm about 12 kg heavier than I was when I started audaxing. (Although that was a full 25 kg lighter than before I began the riding in May 2012).
I do appreciate that you tend to get the best aspects of Welsh scenery if you are prepared to ride up Mynydd Epynt etc...
I also will do the Tumble one day - that's local and doable, I just haven't done it on a ride where I've done less than 2000m before I get to the bottom yet 

[Cudzoziemiec]

My biggest audax achievement came on last year's South Glos 100, when I persuaded a sceptical IanN that we should make an unscheduled tea stop on Inglestone Common.

[Lars]

Getting the R10,000 badge last year was a good one.  115p in 36 Audax rides, averaging
close to 200 miles per ride felt quite rewarding in the end of the season. Esp since it was
a rather mixed bag of rides enabling me to enjoy various nice places - East Anglia,
Wessex, Surrey, Yorkshire, Wales and Ireland.

[IanDG]

My first SR series last year after about 20 years of being an AUK member was nice but organising the 'Golden Road and Standing Stones' event has to be my biggest Audax acheivement

[Nethypete]

SR upwrong and a decade (and two children) later SR a velo couche, and ever icreasing thoughts (growing obsession) of SR avec planche a repasser.

[marcusjb]

I've seen some amazing places and met some amazing people.

I know of a load of badges and awards I have achieved the requirements for, but really don't need to claim them because ^that bit means so much more to me.

[D O G]

Getting up Eggardon Hill on the Dorset Coast 200 last year, which really marked the start proper of my audax journey.  I'd worried about that hill for months, and so had trained a lot to try and be fit enough to get up it after 100 miles of riding.

Cresting it was a big deal - it told me I could do those distances without crippling cramp, and I've not looked back.

[αdαmsκι]

Winning South Bucks Winter Warmer in Dec. 2011 and Rural South last weekend .

[rabbit]

I learnt how not to be scared of hills.   

I was REALLY scared of hills when I started 

Please share !!!  As a new audaxer, and new cyclist for that matter, I am much more scared of hills than I am of distance.

Appropriate gears 

Ignore people who say you 'should' be able to manage with a 52 t and 39 t up front and an 11-28 on the back (normally men with thighs of steel).  Go compact, with a big range cassette (11-32) and then you don't grind your muscles into oblivion unnecessarily. 

Or even go the triple route + big range cassette.  .Tthere is no shame in running appropriate gears.  No shame whatsoever. 

[marylogic]

When my OH had to DNS the Snowroads last year deciding I was just going to b***dy do it on my own anyway.

Serving up bridies and beans to drookit audaxers at 1am on the Auld alliance


Oh and I agree about the gearing being important for hills. The other thing to do when you see a steep hill rearing up in front of you is to repeat the mantra "it's foreshortened, it's foreshortened". Well I find it helps anyway 

[Kim]

Hills aren't scary.  As rabbit says, with the right gearing you'll get to the top eventually.  It's the fenland hairdrier that'll eat away your soul - if it doesn't destroy your knees first.

[Feanor]

Don't fixate on the top; concentrate on more immediate goals.

The next snow-pole.
The pile of sand by the side of the road.
The next bend.
The next pile of sand.
The small pile of concrete that has been spilled on the road.
The next bend.
The car park.
The final ramp.
The top.

[Kim]

You forgot "Getting upwind of the dead badger."

Why are they always on the climbs?

[wilkyboy]

You forgot "Getting upwind of the dead badger."

Why are they always on the climbs?

Inappropriate gearing, clearly 

[L CC]

I've done more than most, but see the riding as testament to the amount of free time I've had and a worryingly obsessive trait.  Nothing to be particularly proud of.

That, with added guilt for abandoning children to do it.

Learning to give up when it's not fun is my greatest achievement. I'm too old and don't hate myself enough to ride after ride of misery any more. That's a big deal.

[Karla]

Winning the Sheffrec Full Monty in 2011

[paulworthington53]

Newport 200

A first SR series

Keeping my head together when a car crashed and barrel rolled towards me 350km into the 400.  That built character, I can tell you. My life flashed before me.

Not giving up. Though that comes from being bloody minded rather than athletic or anything.

I'm sure more will come to me...

[D O G]

Winning South Bucks Winter Warmer in Dec. 2011 and Rural South last weekend .

Pffft, I let you have it. 

[Redlight]

I get a little frisson of pleasure every time I see another rider in an Audax England jersey.

Feeding the LEL 2013 riders at Great Easton is the most I've done in terms of giving back. On a ride a few weeks ago, someone was praising the "bidon valet" service we were able to do at all but the busiest times and it was great to feel that our efforts were appreciated.   i'd like to help out on a few more events in future.

In the saddle, every ride is an achievement but the one that is most important to me is my first ride after an accident last year left me on crutches for almost 6 months.  Knowing that it would enable me to pre-register for PBP this year, I chose a 600 as my "comeback" ride. Admittedly, it was the Flatlands, but I was still happy to record my best yet time for that distance.

[Bairdy]

It's no longer about the challenge or sense of achievement for me.
First RRtY felt good, first SR felt very good, completing LEL felt very, very good. (I met the OP on LEL.)
I might chalk up more SR's and RRtY's,maybe R10000's but they'll be a by product of my riding not the reason for it.
I just like having a laugh and messing about at the back really.

[phantasmagoriana]

Finishing my first 200 with not even a minute to spare.

[hillbilly]

I learnt how not to be scared of hills.   

I was REALLY scared of hills when I started 

Please share !!!  As a new audaxer, and new cyclist for that matter, I am much more scared of hills than I am of distance.

Lose weight
Add gears
Get good brakes and make sure they (and the cables and wheel rims) are in good fettle
Be prepared to walk whilst you get hill fit...
...but only get off and walk as a last resort
Find your style: grind or twiddle, sit or stand.  Ride at your own pace.

Hills are one of the best thing about cycling.  They usually give the best views and a sense of achievement.

[Ningishzidda]

You forgot "Getting upwind of the dead badger."

Why are they always on the climbs?

Through the fifties and sixties, 'The badger', was a policeman, after the character on Tufty.

I see you've been to Lozells.

[Ningishzidda]

I learnt how not to be scared of hills.   

I was REALLY scared of hills when I started 

Please share !!!  As a new audaxer, and new cyclist for that matter, I am much more scared of hills than I am of distance.

Lose weight
Add gears
Get good brakes and make sure they (and the cables and wheel rims) are in good fettle
Be prepared to walk whilst you get hill fit...
...but only get off and walk as a last resort
Find your style: grind or twiddle, sit or stand.  Ride at your own pace.

Hills are one of the best thing about cycling.  They usually give the best views and a sense of achievement.

Spend a couple of evenings mid-week doing squats 'low reps to failure' on the Smith's machine. Ten reps max per set. Five minutes rest. As many sets as you can.
Same with Leg Flexors. Donkey Calves are useful too.
Eat 90% + protein milkshakes and eggs for breakfast.