That’s annoying...

[Exit Stage Left]

Why did you choose the 84 hour for your first PBP? I'd view your attempt to do an 'evens' 12 as ambitious, but doomed. However, I can't see any reason for you not to get round PBP in under 90 hours. It's a perfectly reasonable target with a 200 mile+ 12 last year, assuming that you've got a 90 hour place. Completing the PBP project is worth a bit of fiddling with mudguards.

Simple answer, so I could start after a good night’s sleep. My DNF was due to Achilles Tendinitis not fatigue and I could have easily finished on my 84h schedule. This year plan is to ride faster and sleep more. The mudguards are not the issue, even with mudguards on I don’t enjoy riding in the rain so won’t if I don’t have to. I am riding in the rain today (with mudguards) because I have to. Sometimes it rains on tour, the odd day here and there is not too bad but if the rain sets in for days on end I generally come home a few days early.

I've experienced achilles tendonitis on PBP and LEL. It generally results from pushing too high a gear. No matter how much you tell yourself not to, you end up not spinning. It's unlikely that aiming to ride faster will alter that. You still have to ride 1200km, compressing that into less time puts more strain on the body.

If you weren't fatigued, and pulled out through an over-use injury, then sleeping less, and riding slower, is the way to get round.

[JJ]

YMMV, but I generall find that it's enough to unbold the rear mudguard stays from the frame.  That's usually enough to let the wheel-less bike fit across the back seat, at least with bendy plastic mudguards, optionally lashing the stays to theframe a little further along with a rubber band.
Getting it into the boot space of a small hatchback can require turning the bars sideways, or even taking  them off, to dangle.  That way it's not even a 10 minute job to put back together.

[FifeingEejit]

I started Wilkyboy's 200 with 2 mudguards and finished with one.   That could have caused a validation quandary.

I've had similar, the rear guard returning on someone else's saddle bag. I've yet to reattempt fitting those guards to that bike.

I entered Yorkshire Via Essex as it appears to allow me to leave bike decision to the last minute, the two bikes with Guard options are slower.
Although I intend to have my 600 by then and only wanted the novelty of flat land and to find out if this Fen wind stuff is laughable southern softism or genuine.

[Brad]

I've got a Volkswagon Lupo, one of the smallest cars on the road and I can get a bike with full mudguards inside it!

[Pedal Castro]

Due to the all day forecast rain I was going to put a mudguard free bike in the car and drive to my Bikeability gig but I thought I'd just check to see if my winter commuter/tourer would fit, which it did, just, with front wheel removed but front mudguard left on.

So I'll put the raceblades on my Merckx to fulfill the M rule, but I won't ride anyway if the forecast is heavy rain, light showers are OK.

[JohnL]

If I bring my trike Tomsk will nod approval and others may wonder about my naked rear wheels.

I’ve emailed Tomsk already and got the following reply:

Barrows are a 'special case' - you're ok!

I’m contemplating putting a little sign on my saddlebag:  ‘I’m special.’

John

[jsabine]

I've got a Volkswagon Lupo, one of the smallest cars on the road and I can get a bike with full mudguards inside it!

Aye: a while ago I was a bit wary when my hire car turned out to be a Renault Twingo, but I was still just about able to get my fixer (60cm frame, mudguards, rack, tri bars) inside and drive it ...

Took the front wheel off and had to angle the bars down, but the guards could stay on.

[FifeingEejit]

I've got a Volkswagon Lupo, one of the smallest cars on the road and I can get a bike with full mudguards inside it!

Frame size and Wheelbase of the bike may have an impact here;
I've got a Corolla and with the seats down and the bars turned so the front guard is in the air without the wheel, it's still pressed against the seat base and the rear guard is squashed against the rear wall of the car.
"56cm" frame there, never tried to put the 58cm framed touring bike in...

[L CC]

I've got a Volkswagon Lupo, one of the smallest cars on the road and I can get a bike with full mudguards inside it!

Aye: a while ago I was a bit wary when my hire car turned out to be a Renault Twingo, but I was still just about able to get my fixer (60cm frame, mudguards, rack, tri bars) inside and drive it ...

Took the front wheel off and had to angle the bars down, but the guards could stay on.

Twingos are a girls car, clearly- I don't have to take anything off my bikes to get 'em in.

[Tomsk]

If I bring my trike Tomsk will nod approval and others may wonder about my naked rear wheels.

I’ve emailed Tomsk already and got the following reply:

Barrows are a 'special case' - you're ok!

I’m contemplating putting a little sign on my saddlebag:  ‘I’m special.’

John

... just like everyone else 

Nobody, but nobody slipstreams a barrow, in the wet or dry, despite the possibility of tucking in very close: With three wheel tracks to worry about, Barrow Boys/Girls can suddenly take weird lines, avoiding road nasties, camber etc which will unsettle the unwary. Also they're paranoid about where their rear wheels are in relation to surrounding riders. On the plus side, cars give you a wide berth.

[Danu]

Think that is an unjust comment, and an insult to some of audaxs finest barrow riders.
I have slipstreamed some of the best barrow riders and never had an issue

[JohnL]

Think that is an unjust comment, and an insult to some of audaxs finest barrow riders.
I have slipstreamed some of the best barrow riders and never had an issue

My bold. I’d advise giving me a wide berth!!!

John

[RobD62]

This, and the FB thread, raises only one question in my mind...Why would you not use mudguards, anytime, anywhere?
Of course, I have ridden bikes without mudguards, racing and training for racing.  But audaxing aint racing! Guards weigh nothing and I can out-decend peeps without them. So, no aero issues!
The "I rest my case" statement...there is nothing worse than sitting on a chamoix soaked in gritty road water. Nuff said 

[S2L]

This, and the FB thread, raises only one question in my mind...Why would you not use mudguards, anytime, anywhere?
Of course, I have ridden bikes without mudguards, racing and training for racing.  But audaxing aint racing! Guards weigh nothing and I can out-decend peeps without them. So, no aero issues!
The "I rest my case" statement...there is nothing worse than sitting on a chamoix soaked in gritty road water. Nuff said 

Helmets, mudguards... they are all personal choices. I don't like guards on modern road bikes, they rattle, they lose shape if you are not 100% careful how you store your bike and they severely limit the tyre size you can use, often 25 mm is already a gamble with SKS, 28 doesn't fit. I put them on in winter, because roads are wet regardless of whether it rains or not. This time of the year, roads are only wet when it rains.
A light rainfall can be dealt by my seatpack with no backside spray, a heavy rainy day will probably be in the forecast and would probably result in a DNS for me (like 50% of riders on an average audax)... so I don't think I need to keep them on all year round... 

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

I noticed the M symbol only a few days before when I rode the Flatlands a couple of years back.  I'm lucky in that I have a choice of steeds, with or without mudguards, but I'd booked my overnight accommodation on the basis of the no mudguard bike, which was somewhat faster than the one with mudguards. 

As it was the wind played nice.  It rained a lot but that was no problem for the company, and I reached my sleep stop before my 1am witching hour.

[arabella]

A light rainfall can be dealt by my seatpack with no backside spray, a heavy rainy day will probably be in the forecast and would probably result in a DNS for me (like 50% of riders on an average audax)... so I don't think I need to keep them on all year round... 

I hope in that case you also always pay attention and make sure that when you overtake a slow poke (eg: me) that you aren't one of those people who pull in too soon and give me a face full of whatever's coming off your rear wheel.
(And, as was pointed out to me, similar point to those with shorter mudguards (ie ones that finish above the level of the chainstay))

[Kim]

Think that is an unjust comment, and an insult to some of audaxs finest barrow riders.
I have slipstreamed some of the best barrow riders and never had an issue

+1, although not under audax conditions.

Barrows are an extreme example of the species, but the sort of lines riders of multi-track cycles will take through corners and around hazards are easy enough to anticipate with a bit of experience.  (If you don't have a bit of experience, I suggest observing from a safe distance before attempting to draft one.  See also: The dynamics of recumbents and tandems on hills.)