Will Audax as we know it recover from this?

[salar55]

During my one and only BCM I slept under a parked caravan on a garage forecourt somewhere a few miles south of Pen y Pass ... but you try and tell the young people today that and they won’t believe ya’

Assuming garage forecourt after dark, young people today wouldn't believe anyone could cycle that slowly and complete a Wales End-to-end-to-end 600.

I was as close to “full value” as it’s possible to be and still earn my 6 points, but earn them I did.
Full value audaxers dont have the luxury of sitting in behind a fat arsed lycra windbreak to conserve energy. You could say that they earned the points the hard way.

[Hot Flatus]

I vaguely recall tales of an AUK who combined taking on PBP with pursuing a career in local politics. What ever became of him?

 

[Pingu]

When was free route introduced?
When did distances actually start getting checked? So many classic routes turnout to be massively under distance when people go and make them DIYs

 

An enquiry needs to be held and the records corrected if the rides are found to under distance. We cannot tolerate fake audaxes.

[FifeingEejit]

When was free route introduced?
When did distances actually start getting checked? So many classic routes turnout to be massively under distance when people go and make them DIYs

 

An enquiry needs to be held and the records corrected if the rides are found to under distance. We cannot tolerate fake audaxes.

Indeed, I remember one poor audaxer having to ride half way to Dalwhinnie to get their distance up to spec following a Newtonmore grill based "200"

And then there was the shock of discoving just how short Kingdom Come was while comisersting myself in Stonehaven greggs with 2 sausage rolls and a (square) sausage roll.

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[eckagain]

When was free route introduced?
When did distances actually start getting checked? So many classic routes turnout to be massively under distance when people go and make them DIYs

 

An enquiry needs to be held and the records corrected if the rides are found to under distance. We cannot tolerate fake audaxes.

According to recent research, a Daylight / Twilight based DIY from Kirriemuir - "Gie's a Light" - appears to be about 21k short of the claimed 600k. Those of you who have done it - and we know who you are - are hereby required to submit your brevet cards to the Audax Ecosse disciplinary committee for further scrutiny and retrospective forfeiture of points.

[salar55]

I prefer quality over quantity. 

[Lightning Phil]

I prefer quality over quantity. 

But have you ever ridden a 600, or have you always come up short, is the question now.

[mmmmartin]

I don't regard quitting as the end of the world. It's not the Olympics and - to quote Mr Hall - we're not f***ing curing cancer.

Never seen that quote before but it's bang on the money.

[salar55]

I prefer quality over quantity. 

But have you ever ridden a 600, or have you always come up short, is the question now.

Now is that as a one off or splitting into 2 rides👿

[slugbait]

On the topic of X-rated or not, can I offer the contrarian view that the longer the ride is, the more I appreciate X-rated. On 200s, check points with a friendly AUK volunteer and free/cheap food make for an easy day ride. But on everything past 600, I would rather sleep in a hotel room with a nice shower (I'm fast enough to get some sleeptime, slower riders may have different opinions). I still appreciate the volunteers at the controls, but I always feel I spend too much time there.

And I think audax will recover from this. I'm a solo rider mostly, but I find it comforting that I'm not the only doing some insane 600/1000/etc ride. The fact that there is some record of what I'm doing, or that there is someone at the finish, pushes me further than I would do on my own.

[Feanor]

This discussion has me looking at what I want to ride in this season, the 10th consecutive year of SR for me.
I'm looking at rides I've not done.

Tayside Transgression 300;
Ower the Edge 400;
Mull o' Kintyre 600.

In terms of a Not Shit list, I'd say that works pretty well.

Obviously, I'd need to extend the historical routes which are under-distance.

[FifeingEejit]

This discussion has me looking at what I want to ride in this season, the 10th consecutive year of SR for me.
I'm looking at rides I've not done.

Tayside Transgression 300;
Ower the Edge 400;
Mull o' Kintyre 600.

In terms of a Not Shit list, I'd say that works pretty well.

Obviously, I'd need to extend the historical routes which are under-distance.

Reminds me didn't you need to find something ridiculous like 30k to make the distance on the daylight?

Or was that when I mapped the current routeaheet for the twilight?

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[salar55]

This discussion has me looking at what I want to ride in this season, the 10th consecutive year of SR for me.
I'm looking at rides I've not done.

Tayside Transgression 300;
Ower the Edge 400;
Mull o' Kintyre 600.

In terms of a Not Shit list, I'd say that works pretty well.

Obviously, I'd need to extend the historical routes which are under-distance.

Reminds me didn't you need to find something ridiculous like 30k to make the distance on the daylight?

Or was that when I mapped the current routeaheet for the twilight?

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No need for a sleep over on that one if you do it😂

[Feanor]

When I rode the twilight route from South Queensferry, I didn't need to extend it as I recall.

[salar55]

The Tayside? The hydro road will soon be a downhill course dropping into Glen Lochay if the estate/farmers dont fix it up.

[Ian H]

When do you reckon Scotland will need its own ACP 'correspondant'?

[sg37409]

This discussion has me looking at what I want to ride in this season, the 10th consecutive year of SR for me.
I'm looking at rides I've not done.

Tayside Transgression 300;
Ower the Edge 400;
Mull o' Kintyre 600.

In terms of a Not Shit list, I'd say that works pretty well.

Obviously, I'd need to extend the historical routes which are under-distance.

Have any of your bikes even got mudguards ?

The Tayside is a ride I definitely would like to ride again.

[Karla]

When was free route introduced?
When did distances actually start getting checked? So many classic routes turnout to be massively under distance when people go and make them DIYs

 

An enquiry needs to be held and the records corrected if the rides are found to under distance. We cannot tolerate fake audaxes.

Oh gawd this is about to get all CTT isn't it 

[BrawleyBurst]

One of the aspects of Audax I used to enjoy most was the contribution of the organiser. When you have someone like Mark Rigby in the chair you were confident that the route would be reliable and interesting, the controls would fit the bill and he would invariably be at the arrivee to welcome you home. I would see him in a freezing car park in Tewkesbury at 6.30 am in January to hand out brevet cards for Mr Pickwick’s January Sale and and have a quick chat then send us all on our way at 7.00 am in the darkness. When I crawled in to The Royal Hop Pole close to or one occasion after the cut off he would invariably be ensconced at table 48 with a few other finishers rotating in and out alongside him. I always enjoyed catching up with him, offering to buy him a drink (he gently refused every time) and feeling part of a little club. Will this ever return? Who knows, but it was good while it lasted.

[Geriatricdolan]

One of the aspects of Audax I used to enjoy most was the contribution of the organiser. When you have someone like Mark Rigby in the chair you were confident that the route would be reliable and interesting, the controls would fit the bill and he would invariably be at the arrivee to welcome you home. I would see him in a freezing car park in Tewkesbury at 6.30 am in January to hand out brevet cards for Mr Pickwick’s January Sale and and have a quick chat then send us all on our way at 7.00 am in the darkness. When I crawled in to The Royal Hop Pole close to or one occasion after the cut off he would invariably be ensconced at table 48 with a few other finishers rotating in and out alongside him. I always enjoyed catching up with him, offering to buy him a drink (he gently refused every time) and feeling part of a little club. Will this ever return? Who knows, but it was good while it lasted.

Some of those cafes, typically quiet, used by AUK might close down after the pandemic... if they haven't already, they were probably barely viable before. Those that stay open, will be under pressure to pile customers up high to start turning a profit and I am not sure the stingy men in baggy lycra fit the bill. It might well be that a lot of places used as controls will rather try to attract customers prepared to spend a bit more than 3 quid.
The all hospitality business will become more focussed on profit, that's for sure

[mattc]

I suggest you leave AUK to people who think it may have a future (even if they are wrong).
Take your negativity down the allotment, or go start your own cycling body. Good luck!
 

[John Stonebridge]

Ensuring distance integrity for audax events in Scotland was patchy prior to 2010 when distances started being subject to an independent peer review.  Before that, it was the organiser acting alone who set the event distance. 

It was common knowledge that many events were underdistance and significantly so in some cases. 

Its no great surprise that a number of long standing events and their most ardent supporters have melted away from the audax scene in the last decade or so. 

[Geriatricdolan]

I suggest you leave AUK to people who think it may have a future (even if they are wrong).
Take your negativity down the allotment, or go start your own cycling body. Good luck!

It does have a future, but it will probably be closer to unsupported adventure type cycling... more TCR and less beans on toast... maybe more events for gravel bikes and fewer rides based on cafe'-type controls. More remote routes and fewer village halls...

[Jethro]

I would like to think that Audax will again return to some sort of normality in the future, but probably not for a couple of years at least and not until most of the World's population has been vaccinated.  Until then I think it will be as quoted above.  Sadly, I cant see LEL or PBP happening anytime soon!

[FifeingEejit]

Ensuring distance integrity for audax events in Scotland was patchy prior to 2010 when distances started being subject to an independent peer review.  Before that, it was the organiser acting alone who set the event distance. 

It was common knowledge that many events were underdistance and significantly so in some cases. 

Its no great surprise that a number of long standing events and their most ardent supporters have melted away from the audax scene in the last decade or so.

Interesting, and makes sense as the road network has barely changed and it couldn't have been entirely down to Google maps increasingly having remote walking routes to mess up route plans.

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