Audax Etiquette

[De Sisti]

Things that I find irritating on audax rides: 

* Wheel suckers, acting under the guise of wanting to 'bit and bit' with you, only to
   leave you for dead when you tire.

* Riders who don't carry routesheets, always asking when/where the next turn is,
   riding on your wheel, only to leave you for dead when a faster rider/group comes
   along or they recognise the "finishing straight".   

[Greenbank]

Neither of these annoy me. In fact, the only thing that annoys me about Audaxes is generally myself.

[Chris S]

I find £5.95 for a baked potato downright rude (a certain cafe in Tewkesbury), but there's always a choice to go somewhere else.

If you don't like wheelsuckers, learn to fart like Charlotte Teethgrinder  .

Like Greenbank, I get very cross with myself at times - esp when the blood sugar is ebbing away and I get tired and arsey.

I suppose if I thought about it I could think of occasions when people have annoyed me - but in general I find randonneurs an easy-going bunch.

Oh Oh... One thing I've thought of. Motorists - the selfish, aggressive, rude ones.

[red marley]

Audaxers seem like generally well behaved bunch to me. One thing that does get my goat though is the attitude of some towards horses on the road. Don't rush past in a speedy peloton, slow right down, say hello before approaching and pull wide. We as cyclists should know better about the feeling of vulnerability when startled by a faster vehicle approaching from behind.

[Jaded]

Agreed, jwo. I've seen the same. Plus you get to appreciate any fine fetlocks on show for longer too.

[GruB]

I have no gripes really as long as no one expects me to be anything that I am not.

If you want to ride behind me then that is fine.  I will not point out pot holes and the like if I feel it is dangerous to take my hands from the bars.

I don't mind a chat sometimes but other times it is nice to have some peace and quiet.  (I'm still feeling sorry for what I put poor ChrisN through on the BCM last year ). Damn sugar rush  

I don't really enjoy riding in a large group though.  Too many people can't hold a line let alone look ahead.

[MSeries]

IMO experience, audaxers are a selfish bunch. Groups tend to stick together if it suits the strong riders. They rarely will slow down to keep the group together, if they have a mechanical and whole group waits they'll happily drop them later. I am over it, and have been guilty myself of blowing groups apart. It's everyman for himself.

Regarding hosses, make human sounds, the horse hears it, looks round the rider detects the horses movement and then proceed wide.

[GruB]

Audaxers seem like generally well behaved bunch to me. One thing that does get my goat though is the attitude of some towards horses on the road. Don't rush past in a speedy peloton, slow right down, say hello before approaching and pull wide. We as cyclists should know better about the feeling of vulnerability when startled by a faster vehicle approaching from behind.

Near Bushton yesterday I rode up behind two ladies on horses and one exclaimed lightheartedly "How many of you are there?"
When I replied 106 she laughed out loud.  

[Jaded]

"Spread out over 2 hours" you should have added! 

[Tiger]

Did I see you on that ride grub - I was recumbent bloke.

[GruB]

As you went around a slightly sloping left turn, just before turning right and then a little further up the road before the first big hill, where the secret control was, there was a chap in an old ACF top on the offside verge, bike upside down, changing a rear tube.  If you saw him then you saw me 

[Chris N]

Things that I find irritating on audax rides: 

* Wheel suckers, acting under the guise of wanting to 'bit and bit' with you, only to
   leave you for dead when you tire.

* Riders who don't carry routesheets, always asking when/where the next turn is,
   riding on your wheel, only to leave you for dead when a faster rider/group comes
   along or they recognise the "finishing straight".   

Just keep slowing down until they get bored - that or tell them that you don't want/need their company.  You don't have to be mean or grumpy about it.

I don't mind a chat sometimes but other times it is nice to have some peace and quiet.  (I'm still feeling sorry for what I put poor ChrisN through on the BCM last year ). Damn sugar rush 

I only carried on riding cos the sooner I finished the sooner I could get away from you.

[Giraffe]

Things that I find irritating on audax rides: 

* Riders who don't carry routesheets, always asking when/where the next turn is,
   riding on your wheel, only to leave you for dead when a faster rider/group comes
   along or they recognise the "finishing straight".   

Had one on an LEL who complained when I went 'off route' - we'd not included that road due to gravel, sand and pot-holes but I was on 28mm tyres at about 70psi.
I told him not to follow me if he didn't like it, speeded up over some bad bits and lost him.

On a 300 in '79 a mate and I had a sucker for about 120km then, when we had a minor (not stopping) problem he left us and finished ,er, 'first'.

[gordon taylor]

I generally enjoy Audax rides, as long as I'm not in a group.

I do get ratty with small groups of riders who depend on one leader with the routesheet in his back pocket. They come to a halt at a junction, spread all over the place, blocking everyone behind and wait until the sheet's been consulted.  

[LiamFitz]

There is the funny moment when you decide to introduce yourself to the bloke that you've been riding with.  Do it too soon and you could be stuck with the biggest bore on the road and lumbered because they can't fix a puncture and expect you to help because you have a common bond... too late and you seem rude....

Or is that something to do with being English...

Liam

[GruB]

I was with a bloke yesterday and I knew his life history within 5 miles from the start    All except his name    In interviewing we use the 'pregnant pause' as a skill to get the subject to fill the gap.  The uncomfortable silence works very well.  I think perhaps that was the problem yesterday.  I didn't really say much and he kept talking 

[drossall]

I do sit on wheels. Sometimes you're weaker than the other rider(s) and you can stay with them, but taking the front for too long means you're off the back a mile later. Conversely, I once towed a chap all the way between two controls, allowing him to catch his mates, and got bought a cup of tea for my trouble. I'd not have minded anyway; it's not a race, and someone on my wheel makes no difference to me.

Yesterday, the embarrassment was the other rider who kindly waited every time I slid off the back on a hill. Very gentlemanly, but I eventually felt that I couldn't delay him much more and said to go on.

[Greenbank]

I generally ride on my own on Audaxes. I'm happy to modify my pace (up or down) to suit if I'm riding with friends, but if I'm on my own then I just do my own thing. If that means dropping someone I've been chatting to for 15 minutes then so be it.

I rode about 200km of the Elenith on my own but within a couple of km of 2 or 3 rider, only 25km was I actually riding with someone close enough to chat to get/provide any benefit of a draft. With 50km to go I bumped into one guy who was finding it tough and I was happy to let him have my wheel all the way back to the finish.

[ChrisO]

Unless I know it is a group ride e.g. a club run, where everybody will share the work then I wouldn't expect people to take over if I feel tired. I ride at my own pace and if I can't keep it up then I've gone too hard. If someone can hold my wheel then good luck to them.

However if they've said they want to ride together then yes it is rude to drop the person the first time they slow down. At least wait until a control or until you join up with another group. If it keeps happening though then I wouldn't expect them to wait or stick to my pace. I'd also make an exception for long hills where most people like to go at their own pace.

It's a bit like a party. You're stuck with the conversation until someone else joins you or you go to the bar/buffet or the person leaves. You can't just ditch them in the middle of the room.

Route sheets, yes I can see that would be annoying. Isn't one of the big things about audax supposed to be self-reliance.

[De Sisti]

More often than not I just want to ride, concentrate on the route sheet and take in
the surrounding countryside. There has been an occasion when a bloke riding alongside me into a strong headwind, had such a soft quiet voice, so much so that I could only pick out every 3rd or 4th word. He must have thought I was rude when I kept on asking him to repeat what he had just said.

However, I did enjoy the run in at speed yesterday, from Hales Road to the finish of the Cheltenham Flyer trying to get myself and a small group back by 6pm.

[Si]

Things that have irritated on recent audaxes:

* having to ride through clouds of nasal discharge and gobbings when everyone is still in a big group at the start.  I know it's just one or two that are guilty but they do make it unpleasant for everyone else.
* on narrow lanes: people who barge through almost non-existent gaps because they have to be at the front at the start of a hill and then they wobble all over the place and crawl up the hill at 4mph holding everyone else back

(strangely enough  (not!), at the last one I did it was the same person who was guilty of both the above: firstly ramming me and another chap out the way an then blowing snot into our paths once he was in front). 

Something else that can, not 'irritate' me but make me feel bad is the nice people who insist on riding with you when your legs are falling off.  this makes me feel really guilty because I think that my slowness is spoiling their ride; I try to urge them to go on at their own pace and not to worry about me, but generally audaxers are a very kind and caring lot.

Things that don't irritate me about audaxes (just to point out that I'm not saying the audaxes aren't great):
* too many to list 

[Old Spot]

More often than not I just want to ride, concentrate on the route sheet and take in
the surrounding countryside.

I'd  just ask to be left alone.
If that doesn't work, stop at the side off the road,  turn off the route or gradualy get slower and slower till they take the hint.  Generally wheel suckers don't worry me (it's rare that I have them anyway!) I don't modify my riding, and they actually help you aerodynamically!
I'm reminded of the late Phil Hampton (tragically killed back in 2002 whilst riding home from the Denmead 400) who sorted both the issue of wheel suckers and route sheets in one memorable episode.
He was reknown for the cardboard box he carried as a rack pack.
The below is taken from the AUK list.

I remember first meeting Phil on a 200k many years ago. The organiser
had the brilliant idea of printing the directions on a bubble-jet.
Unfortunately the ride started in a downpour, so most people's
directions slowly dissolved before their eyes, even the ones in plastic
wallets.
Not so Phil's. His were encased in three layers of construction grade
polythene and bound to the arm of his jacket by a whole roll of
Sellotape. This arrangement, together with the cardboard box, had
initially caused much merriment to a bunch of us ill-prepared wanna-be
racers who were new to Audax. Phil good-humouredly put up with this
teasing.
However, as our directions melted away in the rain we all went rather
quiet and gradually fell back behind him; it was patently the only way
we were going to get round.
All was fine until he decided to stop at a bus shelter for a snack.
This was retrieved from the cardboard box, which miraculously had been
unaffected by the deluge. The snack was a loaf of bread that had been
taken from its wrapper, made into sandwiches and then carefully
re-assembled back into the wrapper.
We all tried to cram into the shelter to get out of the rain, and
patiently waited for him to wade through the loaf.
By then it had long stopped raining, but we couldn't go on without
him.
He eventually finished his snack, re-mounted and slowly rode all of 20m
around the corner to a control.
This had plenty of cover, refreshments and spare copies of the
directions.
It was very obvious from the glint in his eye that Phil knew it was
there.

Great guy, great character; in all senses of the word.

Norman

OS

[Bledlow]

I've never had any of the PITAs described here, but then, I've not done many audaxes.

On my first (Dorset Coast, about 1992), I was caught by a group who'd left the first control behind me, & asked me if I was riding alone. When I said I was, & it was my first, they tucked me into their group & towed me to the next control. Nice. They then rode on & left me, but that was fair enough. Towing me all the way round would have slowed them down an awful lot.

[LiamFitz]

I did have a chap recently when I was just out for an hour on a Saturday afternoon.  He was sitting on a really nice carbon bike with tri-bars and he didn't say hello when I overtook him.  However he immediately quickened to jump on my wheel so I thought he was trying to be socialiable.  But every attempt I had to talk to him were ignored, so thinking he just wanted to be left alone I picked up the pace to speed away.  He picked up the pace and kept hanging in there.

I did all the normal pointing out of hazards etc but then started to get a bit tired so I thought i'd slow down and let him get off on his way.  I kept getting slower and slower and he just sat there.  Eventually I pulled into a bus layby and stopped.  He even followed me part of the way in and only pulled away when I unclipped my foot.

He never said a word - just pottered off.

My wife says he was a ghost or something from another world.... best not to interfere with things we don't understand...

Liam

[Salvatore]

Not really Audax etiquette, but I know from experience that if you're riding a 600, it's Sunday morning, and a 10-mile TT happens to be using the same road, latching onto his passing disk wheel for a couple of miles can really annoy a tester, especially if he can't shake you off.

But very amusing for onlookers.