Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Audax => Topic started by: Jaded on 14 March, 2011, 06:11:13 pm
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What is it that attract novices to Audaxes rather than Sportives?
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What is it that attract novices to Audaxes rather than Sportives?
That's a very good question ... I'll kick off:
- Affordable.
- In no way a pretend race, so no competitive aspect to discourage the slower rider
- Often run by locals (and local clubs)
- Less equipment snobbery - just run what ya brung (to steal a slogan from a different pasttime).
- Food usually more interesting than energy gels + bananas
- Huge variety; some have lots of support, some are cheap. Some short, some very not! Some are all cafe-based, some are more roadside-food based.
- No H****t rules
...
TBD
...
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^^^ all those plus
Friendly
Safer, as it's not a pretend race on open roads
An awards structure giving the choice of something to aim at (if you're that way inclined)
Of course it's not a like for like comparison. AUK is the Long Distance Cycling association. Sportives are mainly about 100 miles or less. Have a look at the listings for sportives over 200k http://www.cyclosport.org/search.aspx?distance=Very%20Long&MultiDay=0&month=All&countryid=99&search= (http://www.cyclosport.org/search.aspx?distance=Very%20Long&MultiDay=0&month=All&countryid=99&search=)
There's something interesting in Clayhidon nr Taunton in June ;D
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What is it that attract novices to Audaxes rather than Sportives?
That's a very good question ... I'll kick off:
- Affordable.
- In no way a pretend race, so no competitive aspect to discourage the slower rider
- Often run by locals (and local clubs)
- Less equipment snobbery - just run what ya brung (to steal a slogan from a different pasttime).
- Food usually more interesting than energy gels + bananas
- Huge variety; some have lots of support, some are cheap. Some short, some very not! Some are all cafe-based, some are more roadside-food based.
- No H****t rules
...
TBD
...
For me I never really saw myself as a sports person. I just don't have any connection with the cycling club network and don't really see myself as a racing/sporting cyclist. I'm just a guy who likes to go out and ride his bike. BUT, I also wanted something new to try that was a challenge. I "discovered" audax on the old C+ forum - probably after a few comments by Fixed Phil ;) Then pointed LEE at the website and from there it was a downhill slope. Next stop PBP.
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What is it that attract novices to Audaxes rather than Sportives?
The Audax crowd are, generally speaking, older and uglier than the Sportive crowd.
This makes me look younger and more attractive by comparison.
Why would I want to stand next to skinny young people?
The Sportive crowd tend to be overly concerned about Bicycles and cycling fast to achieve a good time, whereas I find the Audax crowd are more concerned about Cake and cycling fast only to ensure they arrive at a Cafe before it sells out of Cake.
You are unlikely to find things like this for sale on a Cyclo-Sportive Forum..
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/monstadog/P1020514.jpg)
..but I bet a few Audaxers have thought "Corrr..that's bloody gorgeous and will improve the looks of my bike"
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I'm a novice and have no interest in riding a sportive. I'm a slow rider and enjoy the relaxed pace of Audax. I enjoy riding in different areas and absorbing the scenery. You would miss a lot by just riding head down for a fast time. Riding round a shorter distance as fast as possible holds no appeal whatsoever for me and wouldn't do even if I were a speedy rider. I'm not interested in awards( just as well!) but the longer distances give me something to aim at. One of the most delightful aspects of Audax is the friendliness of the riders. People chat as they are riding round and at controls and will stop and help if you are in difficulty. I have first hand experience of this. I doubt that would happen on a sportive if people are focussing on times. I don't need a signed route - getting lost is part of the fun! ;D
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What is it that attract novices to Audaxes rather than Sportives?
It gives me a more personal challenge that a sportive ever could.
Going faster feels like such a one-dimensional goal, compared to the multi-faceted demands of cycling ever further distances. Epic memories.
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may be it is worth debating and Audax organizers should try to reach out rather than being self-indulging...
All Audax organisers try to attract entries from as many other cyclists as possible. Shorter 100km events often attract a considerable local club interest especially if they are hilly. We don't really have the resources to publicise our event to the entire region's likely entrants unlike sportives (who get considerable free publicity form the cycling press) We are mostly one-man bands borrowing helpers and other riders on the day without the means to cope with a sudden influx of riders one year.
So not self indulgent; just working within our limitations. As such signage; sag wagons and timing chips are all out of the question.
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You are unlikely to find things like this for sale on a Cyclo-Sportive Forum..
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/monstadog/P1020514.jpg)
That looks as if it's only a few rides away from achieving self-awareness, unbuckling itself and skipping off over a dry stone wall to eat the local wildliufe.
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Epic memories.
Same for me. Great adventures. Ace conversations with MSeries at 2 in the morning. Having Chris Crossland look panicked at the state of you when you walk through the door. Being too wet to carry on but too cold to stop. Climbing out of Dolgellau at 6am with deep blue skies and a blazing sun. Ice cream at Fishguard. Being utterly befuddled at the concept of Spalding at 4am. The endlessnessnessness of Lincolnshire. Taking a crap in a field. Realising that it's pointless explaining to the man in garage exactly what it is you're up too and no, it's not for charity.
Proper adventures - not bronze medals for 150km 'epics'.
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I was Audaxing before I'd even heard of sportives.
If I was starting again, I'd still probably pick Audax. It's all about the miles to me. I've always wanted to do the longest rides. A 100 mile sportive wouldn't cut the mustard!
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For me I never really saw myself as a sports person. I just don't have any connection with the cycling club network and don't really see myself as a racing/sporting cyclist. I'm just a guy who likes to go out and ride his bike. BUT, I also wanted something new to try that was a challenge. I "discovered" audax on the old C+ forum - probably after a few comments by Fixed Phil ;) Then pointed LEE at the website and from there it was a downhill slope. Next stop PBP.
The first half of your post could just as easily have been written by myself. However, I discovered audax because I stumbled across a web article/blog post about LEL and that brought me to this forum. I am now being sucked in, like a peanut into an elephant's trunk.
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I discovered audax because I stumbled across a web article/blog post about LEL and that brought me to this forum. I am now being sucked in, like a peanut into an elephant's trunk.
I needed to find some sort of low impact exercise after a HIP Operation and being someone who needs a challenge I stumbled accross a local sportive and decided to challenge myself to get fit to ride the 100km event.
Once I had completed this I was scanning the Web and stumbled on a blog about the LEL and that was that four months later I joined Audax UK and this week I completed my first 100km ride - my first steping stone to the next LEL.
I have to say the Audax event was much more layed back, but I think what gets me is the awards ................. I always have loved collecting things :)
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I actually did a sportive before I did an audax. I didn't know anything about audax at the time. I was attracted to the sportive because of the closed roads, the crowds, the scenary and it was something quite novel at the time.
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For me it was an accident. I'd started commuting regularly to work and so I jpined CTC for the insurance. One day I started to look at the rides listed at the back and saw an Audax (whatever that was) listed that started only 4 miles away. It was one of Don Black's Saddleworth series, a 160k unflat via Slaidburn. I was so pleased to find this type of cycling, one which appealed to so many of my interests; fitness, map-reading, nature, history and geography, as well as friendship and cake. I could probably have gone down the TT route and might one day have a go at a 24 hour, but I'm easily disappointed by achievement below expectations, which is a bit of a b****r when you're not as good as you'd like to be. There is always something to be got out of an audax, whether or not you were hoping to be qiuicker. I'm sure sportives are great for some people. Having said that, I've not seen many people smiling on the ones I've come across!
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I couldn't possibly do something with 'sport' in the name. That would just be silly. Well, the idea of me doing an audax is fairly silly, tbh, but I appear to be doing one anyway.
Of course, I may have to choose between getting round in time, and stopping to eat cake. I can't quite decide if this is a difficult or an obvious choice yet.
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For me it was some mentions of Audax and long distance rides on forums. I had returned to cycling about 6 years ago and had reached 40 miles or so on extended school runs - I did extra training to do the Tunnels Ride. Then I did a recce for a social ride with Ru88ell and made it to 98km. I also rode with Windy on Lewis at 95km total, and so realised 100km was possible.
So, in 2007 I entered the Jack & Grace Cotton Audax, a local 100km, and completed it with another Audax novice - we rode round, getting lost and eating cake together. I did another 2 x 100km that year, and also organised the ACF Stroud ride.
A friend's boyfriend was also getting into cycling and went off to do Sportives. It seemed that I was doing rides I remembered for the company, the adventure, the views, to challenge the course and the cake and he was doing it for the finish place.
I've met lots of odd people and had a sore arse more times than I can remember, despite often coming last. What's not to like?!
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A friend of mine who has just taken up cycling has now ridden one sportif, Exmoor Beast and one audax, Jack Cotton Memorial.
He commented on how much more socialable the audax ride was :thumbsup: and much better food !
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If I could get around a 200k in 6-7 hours and confident in winning events I would ride both Sportives and Audax.
If I was 3st lighter and rode my bike for any real distance more than once every fortnight this level of performance might be achievable.
If I didn't love beer & pies, had a 9 to 5 job, didn't have a family, had the necessary self-discipline and didn't have a hectic social wife life, I'm sure I'd be riding my bike at every given opportunity and probably would be 3st lighter.
As it is, I ride Audax.
H
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If I didn't love beer & pies, had a 9 to 5 job, didn't have a family, had the necessary self-discipline and didn't have a hectic social wife life, I'm sure I'd be riding my bike at every given opportunity and probably would be 3st lighter.
Sport for typical, middle-aged people, then?
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I don't think of Audax as sport or myself as 'typical' but a fair number people I know who ride Audax do so under the same constraints as me and would struggle to take up cycling seriously.
H
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I don't think of Audax as sport or myself as 'typical' but a fair number people I know who ride Audax do so under the same constraints as me and would struggle to take up cycling seriously.
H
I think you do yourself a disservice if you don't think a Paris-Brest-Paris ancien is a serious cyclist.
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One of the advantages of a Sportive is a marked out ride.ie no map reading required.So no getting lost down Cow gate lane,somewhere between Littlehampton and Grimsthorpe,or is it Manington?
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I've always seen it as ordinary people doing extraordinary things. We like to see ourselves as characters, but you meet the same mix of characters in plenty of other places.
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For me it was a Sportive that attracted me as a novice.
The idea of doing Audax came later. It felt more arcane (controls, info controls, route-finding etc.). In fact although the idea came later, I did my first Audax (the Killhope Grimpeur 100km) before my first Sportive, as part of the build up to the 150km distance, but the Sportive entry came first.
The Sportives I've done have been every bit as friendly as the Audaxes.
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One of the advantages of a Sportive is a marked out ride.ie no map reading required.So no getting lost down Cow gate lane,somewhere between Littlehampton and Grimsthorpe,or is it Manington?
I used to go down Cow Lane gate a lot. Not because I cannot read a map, or because I don't have a sense of direction, or because I cannot read directions, but because I lose concentration and day dream, and being left-handed I confuse left and right. "Left here" I shout at riding companions and then turn right.
So I got a GPS.
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Sportives = Sportistic types
Audax = Autistic types
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I've met lots of odd people and had a sore arse more times than I can remember,
I used to go down Cow Lane gate a lot.
I think you need to be speaking to Mrs. Miles
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I think you do yourself a disservice if you don't think a Paris-Brest-Paris ancien is a serious cyclist.
I am sure that some people like to see themselves as 'characters' or Audaxers being ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
I have a different perspective.
I see an Audax as something that most people can do if they put their minds to it; it's just that the distances are mind boggling to start off with and can seem both aspirational and yet unattainable.
The reality is, compared to Ultra Marathons, even the hardest events are not that hard. With modest levels of preparation most people can ride an Audax and you certainly don't have to be an athlete to be competent enough to get around a 600 or even PBP.
That said, PBP is a serious undertaking for most mortals but that doesn't mean you have to take the event, yourself or Audax too seriously just because you've done it.
H
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You are unlikely to find things like this for sale on a Cyclo-Sportive Forum..
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/monstadog/P1020514.jpg)
..but I bet a few Audaxers have thought "Corrr..that's bloody gorgeous and will improve the looks of my bike"
I bet a few audaxers would look at that half way through a ride and think, Corrr... that's bloody gorgeous, a bed with a pillow.
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I don't think of Audax as sport or myself as 'typical' but a fair number people I know who ride Audax do so under the same constraints as me and would struggle to take up cycling seriously.
H
I think you do yourself a disservice if you don't think a Paris-Brest-Paris ancien is a serious cyclist.
One isn't if one's only done it once and is not doing it again ;)
although PBP convinced me that there's more to cycling than a lifetime diet of SR's and ultra randonees; but I'll never give up the 100s and 200s
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I'm relatively new to distance cycling, having started with a L2P charity ride a few years ago and from there taken part in a few sportives. I did LEL09 as my first ever audax, for which I trained by riding sportives or doing solo rides. Last year i did single 400 as a PBP pre-qualifier and this year so far a single 200, so still very much a novice audax rider but these are my thoughts on the question posed in this thread.
Apart from the elite riders i'd say the fastest audax riders are easily the equivalent of the gold standard sportive riders, and there are plenty of trundlers on your average UK sportive. Sportive fields tend to be bigger, entrants younger and the bikes flashier (though not necessarily more expensive). The big difference, and what attracts me to audax, is self-reliance. On a sportive you don't have to think about where you are or where you are going, consequently you never remember much about it. For an audax, particularly the longer ones, you need to prepare beforehand, pack the right kit and get in the right frame of mind to tackle a long day / night on he bike. Although you'll meet a fair few people along the way you have to be prepared to ride alone and find your own way. You don't need to be an athlete, i like the fact it's not a race even though we know for some it still is. As someone who was a decidedly average sportive rider i've found that audax provides an opportunity to deliver, with focus and determination, a worthwhile and serious cycling endeavour. I have a wife, kids, job etc and it's not easy to make time to ride the required distances, much easier to do a few gentle sportives over the summer and then hang the bike up. But here I am, looking forward to a 300 and 400 next month and onwards towards Paris this August.
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I don't think of Audax as sport ...
and would struggle to take up cycling seriously.
I read this as a variation on the old saying*:
Sportifs are pretending to race,
Audaxers are pretending not to.
;)
*Which has usually been quoted by this stage, how odd ...
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I think you do yourself a disservice if you don't think a Paris-Brest-Paris ancien is a serious cyclist.
I am sure that some people like to see themselves as 'characters' or Audaxers being ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
I have a different perspective...
Being a serious cyclist is not about going fast or winning an audax event (© Ural Kunst). It's about being comfortable on a bike; about knowledge, skill and experience.
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Plodding home after the Chiltern Hills last weekend feeling vaguely pleased with myself after a good day out I was left for dead on a hill by a 12 year old on a BMX blowing raspberries at me.
I'm not sure how this adds to the debate but it seems relevant somehow!
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Many have posted here that Audax is addictive, which is what I am finding.
I see an Audax as something that most people can do if they put their minds to it; it's just that the distances are mind boggling to start off with and can seem both aspirational and yet unattainable.
Yes. 18 months ago I devised a 100k route around Dartmoor. Just to see if it was possible. 200k just seemed a bit silly.
That said, PBP is a serious undertaking for most mortals but that doesn't mean you have to take the event, yourself or Audax too seriously just because you've done it.
But if I succeed I was planning to wear the jersey everywhere. Or at least the Hi Vis. ;D
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Being a serious cyclist is not about going fast or winning an audax event (© Ural Kunst). It's about being comfortable on a bike; about knowledge, skill and experience.
I suspect that not many of us were that comfortable on a bike, knew much about cycling, were particularly skilled or experienced before we decided to our first Audax. I also suspect even more of us were unsure as to whether we had any of the above in sufficient measure to complete our first <insert leap of faith distance> event.
What you suggest constitutes being a 'serious cyclist' are things that you only acquire through riding your bike and pushing the limits of what you think you can achieve and takes time to build up. If not having these was a barrier to riding an Audax then there would be no mad dash to get to the Tutti Pole before the rest of the field gets to the cake, would there?
I have managed to lure a fair number of my chums into the world of Audax and I very much doubt that they look at me and believe that taking part in events demands a rigourous training regime and self-discipline that one would associate with a 'serious cyclist'. I suspect they look at me and think "this Audax lark sounds like a great thing to do and let's face it if he can do it, so can I".
H
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...I suspect they look at me and think "this Audax lark sounds like a great thing to do and let's face it if he can do it, so can I".
See? You make it look so easy.
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I doubt the original premise "What is it that attracts novices to Audaxes rather than Sportives?"
Novices do Sportives. They are mass participation events. All those hundreds of people include lots of beginners
Some neophytes might do an Audax if it was local to them and if they'd heard of it
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...I suspect they look at me and think "this Audax lark sounds like a great thing to do and let's face it if he can do it, so can I".
See? You make it look so easy.
The Hummers doth protest too much, methinks
Hummers also had his own way of saluting our achievements
(http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm30/Dyffers/P7040518.jpg)
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Some neophytes might do an Audax if it was local to them and if they'd heard of it
(you're probably not helping by bandying words like Neophyte around :facepalm: :) )
Oh sure, in numbers terms there are more sportive riders, and thus more of them may be novices.
We're saying that Audax IS attractive to novices in many ways. Maybe not for all novices, but I know novices who tried Sportives and hated them, so it's hourses for courses (or routes/tracks/... ) (One group would be those that flinch when asked for £25 to ride their bike for a few hours).
It's absurd to say something isn't attractive to a certain person just because they didn't know it existed! Like saying everyone prefers the Beatles to Pulp because the former get more air-play.
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I lose concentration and day dream, and being left-handed I confuse left and right. "Left here" I shout at riding companions and then turn right.
I'm right handed but still confuse left and right regularly! I've found highlighting the routesheet in different colours but the same one for each direction is the only thing that helps. If it weren't for that I'd get lost even more regularly! ;D
Incidentally I did my first audax (only 100K) 5 months after I started cycling ( weekends only) and it was about a third above the longest distance I had ever done in one day and was not a local event. Despite being half dead by the end ( and stuck in the sudden snow for hours on the drive home) I enjoyed it so much I did another one the next weekend.... and now I'm hooked! :)
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Even though I have followed other people out of the start control and let them do the map reading like the worst of them, one of the things I like about Audax is the fact that you're better off having some idea where you're going. And I quite like the rigmarole of setting up the GPX and so forth.
Unfortunately an awful lot of cyclists don't. Trail Breaks who now run the Southern Sportives, used to run something called the Navigator Series which was basically MTB orienteering. I used to do a couple each season with bro'-in-law and we both enjoyed them. When I looked at their site last autumn to see where the winter's events were there was this slightly sad little notice which rings true a bit of attitudes to audax too.
Having reviewed the last season, we're sorry to announce that we won't be running any Navigators this winter. Those of you who have discussed the events with us over the last few seasons will be familiar with the problems we've been facing with them.
The events reached a point last year where they were struggling to break even, and have been declining in attendance steadily over the last 10 years. We've tried many different things to broaden their appeal, but these changes have not helped to attract new riders and often haven't popular with established riders either. Our experience with riders across a wider range of events points to one fundamental problem - navigation is not popular in cycling at the moment, and is not even considered an essential skill by many.
We're clearly not in a position where we can reverse this trend single handed, and have to concentrate our efforts on the events in our schedule that are enjoying greater popularity and growth.
This has not been an easy decision to make for what is Trail Breaks oldest mass participation event format. I think it's fair to say that our affection for these events has been a significant factor in keeping them going at all over the past few years. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have taken part over the years and we hope that you'll find other things on our calendar to enjoy in the future.
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Having seen the routesheet for a French 200 some of us rode on Sunday, I think it fair to say that UK organisers (me included) have contributed to this trend with our detailed instructions "R @ T sp Highdown" etc. The difference between this and a signed route is minimal.
The French routesheet (which I gather is standard over there) was merely a list of places and road numbers. Navigation (whether interpreting these instructions into a GPS track, or riding with paper on the day) was clearly necessary. You cannot describe what we UK riders are doing as "navigation".
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I don't think I've ever ridden a signed route but I'm fairly convinced it's as easy to ride past an arrow as it is a turning marked on a routesheet whilst
thinking about last night's telly, planning world domination daydreaming. Even having a GPS doesn't proof you against that and anybody who rides with a GPS has no right to disparage those with such concerns.
So I don't think we should underestimate what Mr Gates would term The Fear*. All we can do is to help new riders overcome it.
*Though personally I prefer the now somewhat archaic IT term, FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt).
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I've ridden a signed route. People have a habit of nicking the arrows. This is not helpful.
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In the context of this thread, a recent arrival of a certain route sheet in my inbox made me smile:
This is a bare-bones DIY-style event with no controllers or support and will seem unusual unless you ride permanents. I am the only organiser and I will probably be riding.
Make sure that you are adequately equipped as I cannot help you in any way. Roads could be muddy, wet, icy, poorly surfaced, closed etc. and the weather could be cold, wet, windy, freezing etc. Make sure that you have lights good enough for riding rough roads and reading the routesheet in the dark for several hours.
Make sure that carry sucient clothes, food, drink, maps, tools and spares. IF YOU ARE NOT SURE THAT YOU CAN RIDE SAFELY THEN YOU ARE ADVISED NOT TO START.
All of which, of course, may be true of the conditions on the day.
Personally, I cannot see why for the life of me Audax does not appeal to a wider audience.
H
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Read any Sportive ad and they're all banging on about the challenge in a 'come on down if you think you're hard enough' sort of way, whereas Audaxers just go for a bike ride. In all weathers. At any time of the year. For sometimes hundreds of miles. With little or no outside help. Mostly on their own. I mean, where's the challenge in that?
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;D ;D ;D
Audax isn't glamorous, though, is it? On a sportive you can put the superhero fancy dress on and pretend to be Contador. It isn't anything like a race, but the signed route, the 'freebies', big numbers of cyclists on the road, the banners at the start ... a different experience.
The Paris Hilton of bike rides.
It smells like Marketing.
Professional Marketing.
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Audax isn't glamorous, though, is it? On a sportive you can put the superhero fancy dress on and pretend to be Contador.
Oh, I don't know...
(http://www.fotothing.com/photos/1fa/1fa5786ed0964076def19065b7f9a134.jpg?ts=1236300805)
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;D ;D ;D
On a sportive you can put the superhero fancy dress on and pretend to be Contador.
I used to pretend to be Contador but it's getting harder and harder to find a vein.
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Read any Sportive ad and they're all banging on about the challenge in a 'come on down if you think you're hard enough' sort of way, whereas Audaxers just go for a bike ride. In all weathers. At any time of the year. For sometimes hundreds of miles. With little or no outside help. Mostly on their own.
Not to mention that many audaxers ride to the start and home again afterwards, sometimes adding >100km to the distance.
d.
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I actually did a sportive before I did an audax. I didn't know anything about audax at the time.
Same here.
I never really knew about the possibilities for "organised" cycling until I was in my 30s. I've been vaguely aware of cycling clubs since I was a teen, but it never occurred to me to actually join one until I was already too old to consider a career as a racer.
The club I joined was mostly leisure riders and a few veteran racers, so none of them ever talked about audax, but we did enter a local 100-mile sportive one year as a group, and that was my first taste of a cycling "event". I loved it, it was a really good day out.
I only discovered audax when I discovered online cycling forums but as soon as I heard about them, I knew they'd be right up my street, simply because they aren't far removed from the kind of riding I did in my teens - long day rides at a brisk but not too fast pace.
I don't think it's entirely fair to say sportives are less friendly than audaxes, and audaxes can occasionally feel quite competitive, as if some participants are treating them as a race. But both generally conform to the stereotypes.
d.
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Sportives...don't. Done few and really dislike them, or I should say I hate the underhand competion found in them.
There's more - 100Km as most of them are, make it 100 miles and I might start to change my mind. 100Km isn't a challenge for any fit young thing on a dollar dollar bike, especially as when I was 15 I was expected to follow the old boys in the club for 100miles on water, mars bars and dextrose.
To me there's racing - training - and riding, so I have trouble getting my hear round the concept of the sportive. The sportive IS NOT a race yet I've seen more rider/team support vehicles at sportives than I've ever seen since the days of the Milk Race.
Horrid things full of crashes and poor riders.
I have been told though that the bigger UK and European events ARE some quite special.
And going back on my rant a bit, two good'uns I've enjoyed. The Bucks Off Road Sportive and Raphas Hell Of The North (London).
Reliability trials however are great things.
And I've not yet done my first audax but I'm feeling good vibes about the whole scene, and it's something I've wanted to do since seeing some old boys back in 75 riding an audax near Dorking while I was busting a gut in a road race. I've had to waut a long time before I felt comfortable riding with a saddle bag and dreadful clothes.l
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A lot of the nature of Audax participants is down to the entry procedure. The early entry and 2 SAEs weeds out a lot of spontaneous folk. I don't think I would ever have ridden an Audax if the Fleet Moss didn't allow EOLs, and I wouldn't have done so many if Heather hadn't got interested and done the paperwork for me. I'm too disorganised to do much of that sort of thing. I'll be riding PBP largely because Heather likes the atmosphere and would feel disconnected if she didn't have me doing it.
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I have been told though that the bigger UK and European events ARE some quite special.
Reliability trials however are great things.
+1 to both; I've done 4 French sportives and they blow the UK sportive scene out of the water; and will be off to Sweden in June for the biggest of the lot (also not a race yeah right)
RT's are very much like an Audax with none of the unnecessary complications like detailed route sheets brevet cards or even food stops; but with the added frisson of having to get a move on to finish in your requested time band or FAIL; on the one I regularly do I now enter the 30 min later slot and try to get round within the earlier slot and then hang around just round the corner waiting. But they are a exclusively winter beast; everyone's off TT'ing first sign of spring.
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I've ridden a signed route. People have a habit of nicking the arrows. This is not helpful.
ISTR that was the least of my problems on PBP. But I wasn't absolutely last in the field, just near the back
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I've ridden a signed route. People have a habit of nicking the arrows. This is not helpful.
I've often wondered what would happen if a critical sign went missing. On a local one the organiser went round with bits of orange lametta and hung it from the branches on trees on the right roads, I assume he took it all down afterwards.
I'd like to see a pilot scheme to sign a 100km Audax to see what effect it would have on entries...
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Make sure that carry sucient clothes, food, drink, maps, tools and spares. IF YOU ARE NOT SURE THAT YOU CAN RIDE SAFELY THEN YOU ARE ADVISED NOT TO START.
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I think I know what event that is; 3 years ago it was very good advice indeed; nearest I've come to death (or packing) on an Audax
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There seems to be a lot of overlap between types of events: Reliability Trials, Sportives and Audaxes. A case in point is the Charlie Westlake "Sportive" run by Bury CTC each March in honour of a past club president. It is a hilly 100k ride from a leisure centre in Bury across the moors below Blackburn and over Pendle Hill via Downham and finishing above Rochdale at Owd Bett's, a superb pub (there is also a good snack wagon in the lay-by opposite). There's no broom-wagon, no bananas and any food you want you provide yourself. There are two or three controls, manned by club members, who mark your route-sheet as a proof of passage. They require you to finish in a certain time but, like Audax, it's pretty generous. It's also accredited as a CTC Tourist Trophy ride. It has a real Audax feel about it, friendly participants and organisers and, as common with Audax, a shorter ride running at the same time.
What pleased me was how interested the organiser was in the Audax-style route-sheet I had nerded for myself from the club's (perfectly adequate) directions. He was genuinely keen for me to let him have a copy, which I did, as soon as I'd modified it to allow for that commonest of route-sheet problems - the closed-down pub.
Yes, the ride was for charity but the basic minimum entry fee was Audesque at about £3, I think and you gave what you wanted.
A great ride and I recommend it to all of you who are up this way in March.
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If the purists had had their way, there wouldn't be any AUK events less than 200km.
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I actually have no clue why I entered my first Audax. I think someone on here said 'if you can ride the Dun Run then you can definitely do a 200k' ... so i entered one for 2 weeks afterwards ;D
I often wonder why I am riding an Audax when I am actually on it. Especially if it is pissing down with rain, freezing cold, foggy, with a headwind and all uphill. Yet I still enter another one afterwards!
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[Especially if it is pissing down with rain, freezing cold, foggy, with a headwind and all uphill]
So all the time then !
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I'd like to see a pilot scheme to sign a 100km Audax to see what effect it would have on entries...
I'm not sure about how it wold affect entries but I can't help but think that some audax riders would still conspire to get lost, ignore instructions and continue ride as if they know better than the organiser even in a part of the country that they've never been to before.
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I got talked into my first Audax by the guy at Park Cycles, Sutton Coldfield.
I was on my way home from RAF Cosford one Friday afternoon ( 100 km round trip ) and he suggested the 'Staffs Lanes 100' as a 'nice day out'.
It was.
The only bike with mudguards I had was a crappy old Peugeot all steel hack with Safety handles that I used for work. It did the business, and then went on to finish the Castleton Classic 12 months later.
I can remember there being a Cyclosprotive a few years later, which was populated by posey wannabees.