Little lessons I have learned in my (very short) time as a randonneur:
- spend as little time off the bike as possible.
Imagine a fifty kilometre stage between controls, and that you spend an extra fifteen minutes ordering something that isn't ready to eat and fiddling with your saddle height. Rather than ride to the next control at a healthy moving average of 15mph, you would need to average 17mph to catch up. That's a lot faster, and the longer you take off the bike, the speed required on the bike to balance out grows exponentially.
- at any control, only order something that you can see is literally ready to eat.
On my first 200k I spent a whopping forty-five minutes waiting for soup and bread, which seemed like me to be a safe choice speed-wise, but I was wrong! Compared with a hypothetical version of myself who chose a cake that existed right then, I'd have had to cover the next fifty kilometres at 23.5mph instead of 15mph.
Imagine this happened at all ten controls of a 600k - you'd have lost seven and a half hours of time, which effectively raises the required average speed from 15kph to 18.5kph.
- don't try to go fast!
You don't actually have to ride quickly to get around an audax in comfort, if you ride at just 20kph (12.5mph) you bank an hour of time for every three hours ridden, or ten hours total over a 600k. Freewheel down hills. Resist the temptation to chase riders who are a million times fitter than you.