In general, I take "full value" to be a facetious way of saying "in danger of finishing OTL", but I know of occasions when some riders have deliberately taken longer than they need to, with long breaks en route, and finished well past the 12hr mark.
In my early days of audaxing, I was very close to the cut-off on a few occasions. When I say I aspire not to be full value, that's pure litotes. What I mean is I'd like to be able to do a 200 inside 8 hours. I've never achieved that but was quite close a few times, when I was at peak fitness five or six years ago. But the point is, I've been at both ends of the field (I even won an audax once), and based on my own experiences, I agree with the notion that it's the slower riders who need most support, and so will bear that in mind when making plans for any event I run.
I am the very definition of a full value rider. My first 200, I finished in 13:10. I have since finished one ride in 13:26 (that had 2500m of climbing and 34°C weather), I've also had a couple of 12:50, a 13:15, 13:05. etc... I've also had a 300 come in at 19:22.
I've only ever had one OTL, which was a 300, and that was because of puking after swallowing a fly, and doing 150km of the Ardennes on an empty stomach (I lost 1kg on that ride). I still finished in 21 hours.
I'm not lazing about with excessively long stops or anything like that. I am just slow. Some of these rides have had stonking headwinds as well.
hmm. for me a 9pm start on a Friday means
-wangle trains so as to get to start for 9pm, possibly leaving work early (but at least I'm fresh)
-finish towards 11pm (26 hours for a 400) the next evening with scant prospect of getting back home
which is why I prefer midday on a Saturday for a 400 (though the min value riders will disagree)
El supremo used to start one of his 300 so that public transport users could catch the last train down and finish plausible o'clock the same day. a bit like the 23:59 ones
Ah yes, the UK where trains stop before 2300. Except for Groningen where the last train to Amsterdam is 2248, I can get home from about 2300 on a Saturday from most major cities in .NL. This perhaps influences my view.
If I was doing a 400 in the UK with a 2100 Friday start, I'd just book a hotel for the Saturday, but I appreciate that not everyone has that option.
I'm hoping that the travel restrictions are such that next year I can do a 300 or 400 BRM in the UK (currently eyeing Green and Yellow fields).
I'd consider Citoyen's events if they are BRM and the calendar works (hint hint :p )
J
J