National 400 15th June 2013

[Jaded]

Many thanks to the riders at Kingswood for their enthusiasm and drive. AFter all, it's what we were there for - and good to be on the other side of the counter!

There's not much I'd change from what we did, except maybe for three things. We'd buy less food - but we assumed that we'd be the major feed before night, and with most things shut before Hadspen: The Return,

Scrub that, we're off to have a debrief in the pub. 

[Dinamo]

So as the elevation gain debate continues Strava shows a figure of 4438m.
It certainly felt like more 

[gibson_hero]

I just wanted to throw my thanks in to everyone involved. This was my first 400, and first Calender Event, and despite the throbbing in my knees from all the climbing, i thoroughly enjoyed myself!

It was a hard route imo, but thats why i have taken up audaxing, for the challenge! The food was great, controls very attentive and keen to make sure i was thoroughly fed and watered.

Looking back at it, despite cursing at the time, the route was great. A good mix of climbs,  both long and short technical ones, great views, and flat sections to make up time. I would have preferred somerset levels to the finish, rather than the climbing finale, but hey, i wanted a challenge!

Special thanks go to Drew, Simon and Darren who basically towed me back the last 50km after i pulled something i  my knee.

See you all on the road,

Rob (Rutland cycling jersey!)

[Chuffy]

Many thanks to the riders at Kingswood for their enthusiasm and drive. AFter all, it's what we were there for - and good to be on the other side of the counter!

There's not much I'd change from what we did, except maybe for three things. We'd buy less food - but we assumed that we'd be the major feed before night, and with most things shut before Hadspen: The Return,

Scrub that, we're off to have a debrief in the pub. 

Debriefing in the pub could get you barred. Best to remain properly attired, IMHO. 

[marcusjb]

Well done to all finishers, especially those new to the distance. And a big well done to those on the other side of the counter who gave up their time to help make the event a great success by the sound of it.

[STMS]

Well done to all finishers, especially those new to the distance. And a big well done to those on the other side of the counter who gave up their time to help make the event a great success by the sound of it.

The helpers were excellent and what stood out was the enthuisiasm a really good event. Well done everyone

[Wobbly]

Really enjoyed my time at Chepstow.  With everyone else busy and me  just getting in the way in the kitchen I took on the role of head of security. Ie chatting to riders and walking about looking at bikes. What a great way to spend a day 

Oh, that was you?

Thanks for looking after the Wobblymobile for me. Chepstow being Chepstow it was a considerable weight off my mind knowing you were keeping the scallywags at bay.

[caerau]

Well f*** me that was an experience and a half.

First of all, thanks very much to all those who organised it and helped at controls. I definitely met Vorsprung, Ian H, Jaded, Flatus, Feline, Simon P, Tony Pember, Banjo but all the rest too of course.  All the controls were awesomely well run and were a wonder of efficiency to behold and kept us all going excellenty.

Next it was excellent to finally meet many other forumites properly and ride with several of them for extensive periods.  Bike Mikey, Bairdy, Dinamo, Steve Poulton, Folk Devil, Fboab, Chris S and again apologies to any others if I have forgotten in my current state of mental limbo.

A special thanks to Andy Cox for the lift there and back and for (amongst others) rescuing me from a moment of darkness before the final Hadspen control.

Ride report.
Well it was a game of two halves.  The first 200 km were outstanding.  The weather was terrible at times but in between was nice sunshine to burn off the rain and I arrived at the Hadspen control (first time) to comment that I was dry despite much advice to put on my waterproofs.  Thanks to Mikey for offering to hose me down at that moment   I felt good, was keeping up, if not whizzing past, many experienced randonneurs and was very pleased with my form.
But then the really hilly stuff and the night section hit and I was in trouble.  From 4 hours ahead of the time limit at Kingswood I eventually finished  about 3 hours ahead of it so the last 150 were proper torrid.  Threat of knee injury forced me to walk up the singularity that was the hill before Peasedown St John and then the mental plan to not give up on a slope was knackered.  There must have been 4 or 5 double chevron slopes post Kingswood which I also walked :-( and then a real sting in the tail getting up to the final village before Ash Thomas at the end.  I was in proper trouble in the last 50k - not sure I wasn't hallucinating on the A38 with about 20/30k to go and had to partake in emergency anti-bonk measures as I seriously considered calling a taxi at the end - a bottle of coca cola got me through to the end.  I didn't bonk but it was hard hard hard at that point and a very close thing.  I now know what people mean by finishing the final yards of long events with sheer bloody mindedness.  The last 50 k must have taken me near 3 hours.   The debate about the climbing figure can go whereever it wants but noone I have talked to about it, newbie or experienced has said anything other than that was bastard hilly ride - the figure itself is a moot point.  Certainly far too much for a chap of my ample build. But yeah, I as much as anyone else, took on this ride as a challenge and that it certainly was.

Nevertheless I am very chuffed at impressing several rather experienced people with my speed at a couple of early controls.  That is very pleasing.  Fboab put it best... "You're fast for a fat guy"    Just a shame about the massive dip in form in the second half.

I had an interesting encounter with some police at a 24 hour garage in Beckington(?) were I was approached asking if I was involved with the 'race' as they'd seen 'loads of cyclists in Nunney (this was about 2 am).  I was a bit worried that someone had been hurt but as it turned out they were just concerned for us and trying to make sure we were all safe which was nice to hear.  You could see they thought we were all insane when I explained what we were doing.

Anyway, my first 400k and it's done.   That's also a randonneur 1000 done and 11 points so far in my first season since January.  Next up the Buzzard 600 next month for my SR.  Job done, not necessarily to my full satisfaction but a proper satisfying achievement nevertheless.
Audaxing is always an adventure and this was most certainly that.  I can see why the 400 k is seen as the hardest distance.  A bit of a toss up for me on whether the cambrian series 3A or this was harder  - I shall have to find some more benign 300s and 400s to do 

Hello also to also those I met but didn't catch their name.  The guy with the leg tattoos from Burnley, the guy in the Audax england jersey who was wanting to ride with me from Peasedown St John and the guy in the Sandals riding a fixie I met towards the end, the guy from Belgium and others also, thanks for the company.

Congrats to all others for completing and especially to those, like me, who completed their first 400 this morning

[Wobbly]

A big. No huge. No HUUGE! thank you to all the volunteers at the controls. I would name you personally but I'd hate to think I'd miss someone out so I won't single out anyone in particular.

Except....
...Feline!

I cannot tell you how much I appreciated the slightly see thru' skirt and the way you said "custard". Reason enough to enter the event I think you'll agree.

A very honorable mention goes to Chuffy and his exceptionally nice home made cider. It's a testament to my iron will power why I am here at home and not face down next to an empty barrel in Ash Thomas Hall.

I have a track log in my Garmin Geko which I will upload to Strava and prove conclusively that each leg of the ride should have 15 AA points.

[Reg.T]

Yes, that was a bit more of a challenge than I expected too. I'll add my thanks to the orgs and the heroic teams at all of the controls who cheerfully looked after us and kept us going.

But this ride will live on in my memory for something else...

As we braked for the junction at the bottom of the hill down into Exebridge, by rear wheel suffered a rapid deflation. I found a slit in the inner tube, so changed it, and checked that there was nothing sharp in the tyre casing, and resumed.

A few km further on the climb towards Wheddon Cross, the rear suffered a slower deflation. More careful examination revealed that it was caused by the tube rubbing/abrading where a cut had been left in the tyre at Exebridge. Decided to retire the tyre and fitted a new one and my 2nd/final spare tube.

Decided to repair the 2 tubes at the first control. While preparing the first one, I noticed a lump inside the tube, and extracted this through the cut:

The cut is about 13mm, meaning that it pierced tyre and tube probably from the right (in the picture), which has a spear-like tip, and didn't come back out.

Left the first control as Lanterne Rouge. Used a track pump at Hadspen to check rear was up to full pressure (thanks Feline) before continuing.

Next deflation was a few km after Frampton Cotterell. A small piece of something sharp had worked through the tyre. Had a job removing it, and decided to repair in situ so that there would be a patch to minimise the risk of a further puncture if there was anything left in the casing. Used a track pump at Chepstow to restore pressure again (thanks Banjo).

On the leg back to Hadspen, I caught up with Dinamo just after the sharp R in Burton, and then almost immediately hit a pothole I hadn't spotted. Cue a further rapid deflation of the rear due to a pinch-flat. Tube looked difficult to repair properly, so swapped for one of my repaired tubes from earlier.

SR Steve offered me a new spare at Hadspen, which I gratefully accepted. A few km after setting off on the last leg, I had a fifth flat - this time almost identical to the Frampton one, but in a different position.

I was rather pleased to make it to the Arrivee without further incident. Can hardly believe that I suffered five flats in the same wheel in a single ride. Thanks to all of the riders who checked that all was under control when passing me . And to Bairdy for the hat-trick comment at Frampton. 

[ETA:] Monday morning and the rear has again lost pressure, so that's another leak I need to investigate and fix later.

[L CC]

Pictures now up on the blog

http://audaxing.wordpress.com/2013/06/15/national-400/

Please give me names for the unidentified riders

Rider 3 is daveco
Rider 12 is Dinamo

The tandem riders are (obviously) me and Chris- and that's a great photo- may we borrow it for our blog?

It's really hard to know what to write about the ride.
The controls were brilliant, our every whim catered for, even my stupid fussy blighter diet accommodated. Thank you, all.

The route was lovely. It wasn't what I had thought a National 400 was supposed to be, and I'm glad I've done this kind of stuff before, because if I hadn't I'm not sure I'd be doing any more. But, I don't really want to whinge, for all the scattered rattles between Colerne & Box (I was surprised, I thought I'd tossed all the toys out at Castle Combe when car down and car up met us in a skanky skoggy piece of singletrack and the name 'Hennesey' was muttered amongst some choice Anglo Saxon). And then walking much of the last 10k, just when you think you're home safe, was really the icing on the cake. That and wearing out both my sets of brake pads...
Not, as they say, very tandem friendly. There were a few fixers out there though. Hardcore.
On the other hand, we did better than expected to Hadspen outbound, revelling in the tailwind and providing a tow to some solos from Taunton, loved the tunnels (getting the tandem in and out of gates and barriers is a right royal PITA) and although blustery over the bridge, stayed upright. New Roads, and Views. 
My track says 3,800m climbing. My knees say 5,500.

[leeg]

My Garmin came up with 4829m for the ride and I'm not believing any amount of 'sometimes gpx tracks are wrong' accounts for the calendar entry saying 3300.  I don't really enjoy loads of short laney hills, wouldn't have entered if the calendar was correct and after getting round haven't found a new love of hills.

Controls were all great, shouldn't pick a favourite, but I will - Hapsden's beef casserole at 5am.

Thought the route mostly good, esp. first stage and the long climbs and descents on good road surfaces (hardly any potholes compared to Kent/Surrey/Sussex), but didn't enjoy descending the steep skoggy lanes in the dark and hated what seemed like 15 miles on the A38 after Taunton on the way back.

[Chris S]

Likes:

• Volunteer-led controls; it's the linchpin of the National 400 - thanks to everyone who gave up their time
• Lots of new roads
• That tailwind - that never really translated to a headwind when we turned for home
• The forbearance of fboab in my rantier moments
• ETA: The Tunnels - how could I forget The Tunnels? Excellent!

No-so-likes:

• [The section from Kingswood to Hadspen. Too technical for an overnight section, too hilly (dangerous to my mind in a couple of spots - for example, handling a tandem on the 20% descent at Colerne, trying to avoid the copious and wet metalworks)
• [The level of climbing overall. I thought the premis of the National 400 was to introduce CTC touring cyclists to the concept of a 24 hour, fully manned event. Making it as hilly as the Brevet Cymru, a grimpeur of some repute, is not the way to achieve this.
• Almost getting wiped off the road by a stupid kid, who passed us at speed, on the way into Frome. He was racing with his mate I think, lost control - fish-tailed a few times before doing a 180 into the hedge. Idiot. We stopped to check they were OK. The smell of booze was intense.  . Had I seen a cop on the way through town, I'd have reported it - but they were conspicuous by their absence.

As a moderately hard 400, it's a decent route. But it's not one we would have picked for tandem riding. Overnight steep, narrow, pot-holed lanes is no place for a tandem and if this had been highlighted in the route description, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have entered.

But there were many elements of this ride we liked - and I think overall we had a good weekend's riding; just not the one we expected.

My Garmin says 4720; when uploaded to RideWithGPS - it's adjusted to 4850.
Clickity

[Pete Mas]

I won't comment on the route, as others have already done so, except to say that having ridden the whole Exeter Wheelers Series this year, this one fits in with the others in many respects, apart from not earning an AAA points! The short steep gravelly lanes would have been testing to any novice 400 riders.

The amount of support and food offered to get us round was phenomenal, and was appreciated by novice and old hand alike, however, well done again to all the volunteers- seems like its mostly the same happy band on all these SW AUK rides (names already mentioned by many others), who selflessly give up their time to aid the enjoyment of others. One kind controller even removed an offending bit of wire from inside my tyre, which had caused a second slow puncture, after I had previously missed it whilst I  removed a shard of glass. whilst suggesting I relax and have some dessert.

It was the first National I have ridden since the 90s..and thanks to all the riders I shared the road with along the way, including Roy, Richard H, pppete, LWAB and HK, RideHard, and many others.

Have just opened a bottle to celebrate my completion of The SW AUK Exeter Wheelers Series, and also the 20th Anniversary Wessex Series this year.

[marcusjb]

Well done Pete! That is an impressive double with 2 challenging series!

[Bikeabilityman]

I HAVE A COMPLAINT: Feline should have been serving up her vegetable and lentil casserole at the end! I enjoyed it from the very first spoonful, ate it slowly, as I wanted it to digest slowly, and really had to stop myself from having the offered second helping. If the last section was shorter (some have been 50k), and flatter, I would have had more. I realised whilst heading for the finish, I could have asked for a take out, to reheat at the end (although the veggie breakfast was much needed and tasty at the finish).

I went off course a few times (read the route sheet too much in advance, downloaded route/ track not working properly, and 2ndary Garmin's battery died, so no km guidance). Also, for most of the last 80k, my shifter was stuck in the big ring (not looked at it yet), so a lot of honking up hills. None of this helped the streaming cold.

Oh, and I think I get the prize for the first puncture (stubborn thorn) at around 6k in (first one on the new, three month old, bike). I immediately went from somewhere in the middle of the main bunch, to somewhere right off the back. It was little consolation passing others who'd suffered a similar fate, heading to the first control (one hour into opening, when I'm usually inside 30 mins).

Took nearly 24.5 hours (did the Severn Across inside 23). A hard ride indeed, but glad I did it!

Thanks to all on the team!

[Jaded]

Many thanks to the riders at Kingswood for their enthusiasm and drive. AFter all, it's what we were there for - and good to be on the other side of the counter!

There's not much I'd change from what we did, except maybe for three things. We'd buy less food - but we assumed that we'd be the major feed before night, and with most things shut before Hadspen: The Return,

Scrub that, we're off to have a debrief in the pub. 

Debriefing in the pub could get you barred. Best to remain properly attired, IMHO. 

Well, we are back from the pub.

Suffice to say that we've got things that we've learnt from and we'd all be happy to do this again, so it wasn't completely horrible! We've bought back the food that wasn't used from the 'kitty'. Hooray for crisps and other bad-for-you-stuff.

It's not about us though. The ride is the stage and the riders are the actors. Controllers and control staff are stage hands, dressed in black, moving stuff around in the background. We are there to ensure the actors get the best opportunity to perform on the stage. If you notice us moving scenery, we've failed.

So, after the list of Actors is published, I'd like to add these names to the 'Crew' section of this ride.

Mr Plug and Jo
Mr Flatus
Mrs Jaded and Miss Jaded
Paddie

Without you Kingswood would have been the graveyard of ambition on this ride.

Thank you.

[Thing2]

Pictures now up on the blog

http://audaxing.wordpress.com/2013/06/15/national-400/

Please give me names for the unidentified riders

Rider 3 is daveco
Rider 12 is Dinamo

The tandem riders are (obviously) me and Chris- and that's a great photo- may we borrow it for our blog?

It's really hard to know what to write about the ride.
The controls were brilliant, our every whim catered for, even my stupid fussy blighter diet accommodated. Thank you, all.

The route was lovely. It wasn't what I had thought a National 400 was supposed to be, and I'm glad I've done this kind of stuff before, because if I hadn't I'm not sure I'd be doing any more. But, I don't really want to whinge, for all the scattered rattles between Colerne & Box (I was surprised, I thought I'd tossed all the toys out at Castle Combe when car down and car up met us in a skanky skoggy piece of singletrack and the name 'Hennesey' was muttered amongst some choice Anglo Saxon). And then walking much of the last 10k, just when you think you're home safe, was really the icing on the cake. That and wearing out both my sets of brake pads...
Not, as they say, very tandem friendly. There were a few fixers out there though. Hardcore.
On the other hand, we did better than expected to Hapsden outbound, revelling in the tailwind and providing a tow to some solos from Taunton, loved the tunnels (getting the tandem in and out of gates and barriers is a right royal PITA) and although blustery over the bridge, stayed upright. New Roads, and Views. 
My track says 3,800m climbing. My knees say 5,500.

That photo is one of the best tandem photos ever!

While the route of this was slightly different to the Avalon 400, Mr Hennesey was definitely blaming Mr Andrews for the descents when we towed him around that one  Having ridden some of Ian's rides, I'm not sure who's worse!

[Wild Rover]

Nice to meet so many of you as I gave out the brevet cards at Ash Thomas, and did general duties at Hadspen (outbound). I forgot my name badge - I was the one in the blue striped Exeter Rugby polo shirt.

I'm really glad to see so many enjoyed the ride and, more importantly, that everyone got through safely. It was my first time as a volunteer and I must say how impressed I was with my fellow volunteers, it was a pleasure to meet and work with them all - Chuffy, Baggy, Feline, Simon, TonyH and others whose names I didn't get in all the excitement (not forgetting Google)! It really opened my eyes as to how much work goes on behind the scenes and how pressurised it can be for those running the controls. A thoroughly enjoyable experience though, and highly recommended. Good to work with IanH and to meet vorsprung too.

Congratulations and respect to all who finished (especially the 'first timers') and commiserations to those who were unable to complete for whatever reason.

[3peaker]

So, the National 400 2013 is set for debate.

Several things spring to mind. Firstly, the absolute dedication of the Controls. To a Man/Woman, everyone pulled out the stops to keep us Cyclists on the road. Huge thank-you for an excellently run and organised event.

3300m of advertised climbing. My gps tracked at 4734m and that was on course. Now, that is just UNFAIR and that and steep slow descents probably added 2hrs to ride time over expectation. I wonder if I would have entered if the true climbing had been indicated. It is not that I am complaining about having climbs; but this route boasted 50% more than advertised with my gps map regularly showing local names followed with HILL. That would not have encouraged the Fixie riders.

The best (or most satisfying) part of the ride could well have been the traverse of Bath and Bristol using the new Tunnels CP followed by the Bath-Bristol CP and links to N Bristol. It was one of the few sections where the gradient was barely 1%. Taunton wasted 10mins, as we negotiated a local festival which closed the Town/City Centre.

What was an absolute success was riding to the bright purple line on my Edge 705. It saved a lot of time with night torch, stopping and reading the RS. A couple RS errors were overcome by the track; like Mikey, I noted and used Post Office Lane when I left the purple line. I understand non-GPS riders might have become unstuck here.

As mentioned elsewhere some descents were absolutely diabolical and downright dangerous, particularly off Colerne and re-entering Devon. On my Calendar rides, I will not inflict those types of descending on riders; they are just too risky for the numbers involved. That route would have been impassable on Trike for the use of narrow grass-centered lanes. There was no advanced warning regarding quality of roads. What made it worse was the timing of poor steep lanes as part of the night phase. I was saved by my impeccable Solidlight/SON Hub dynamo combo.

This year’s Nat400 was a Challenge. We all have our opinions. I have noted some of mine here.

[bikey-mikey]

Pictures now up on the blog

http://audaxing.wordpress.com/2013/06/15/national-400/

Please give me names for the unidentified riders

Rider 17 is our very own AC/DC loving BAIRDY !!

[SR Steve]

I arrived home at East Leake, Nottinghamshire at 5 a.m. after a "value for money" DIY 300 back from Tiverton. The Fosse Way was much hillier than I remembered, but at least it had stopped raining by then.

I roide a DIY 200 down to Reg T's place on Friday into a strong headwind and heavy tthundery showers. Thanks Reg for putting me up and giving me a lift to the start.

I enjoyed the National  400, especially the long tunnel with classical music playing and Feline's veggie casserole. Thanks to the organiser and all the helpers for looking after us.

[Wobbly]

I now lost my faith in Strava. Not only does Strava's analysis on the track log from my Garmin show a mere 3,300m of climbing but on a couple of occasions it alleges I developed over 1kw of power(!)

Edit to add: On further analysis I find that my legs kicking out >1kw did not coincide with the time I apparently reached 130kph...

[gibson_hero]

I dont know wobbly? When you rode wth Drew, Darren and myself out of Taunton is the first time ive rdden with a bent amd they look pretty heavy to push up hill. 1kw leg power might not be wrong.....and you did descend like a rocket! 

[Dinamo]

When I first saw routesheet I thought of riding from Hawkesbury Upton to the Beckingham roundabout via the A46 & A36 to avoid the 'tricky' section !
But in the end choose to follow the offical route