I never got round to riding the Knotty for some reason and I lived in Nottingham at the time!
I've never been very fast. I used to ride quite a few evening 10 mile TTs in the 1980's and never managed to beat 25 minutes. The winners usually did 22 something. Everyone was riding steel road bikes with no tribars back then. When I started riding the local racing club's early season reliability rides I found that the longer the ride, the nearer the front I'd finish and on the longest ones I was sometimes first back. The longest was the Leicester-Skegness-Leicester 166 miles and I once rode this in 9 hours 25 minutes, over half an hour quicker than the previous event record.
I was mostly still a CTC touring cyclist until I started riding Audax events in 1984 with the CTC National 400km from Lincoln to Great Yarmouth and back. This event was great fun and very fast. There was a very fast group off the front, but I was in the next very large group tucked in behind Mark Brooking and Jane Ramsdale on "The Pig" tandem trike. I'd never seen one ridden that fast before so it was a real eye opener the way they took corners on it, absolutely stunning in fact! Despite some lengthy stops we made it round in the 18 hour minimum time. The fast group had finished in 16.75 hours, but the doors at the finish didn't open until we got back.
The following weekend was my first 600km event which was Jacqui Denny's event based in Seething near Norwich. It was a red hot weekend and so was the early pace. There was a sizeable front group this time and that made efficient controlling at cafes crucial if you wanted to stay in that group. I was particularly impressed with the way Ray Haswell went through controls and he was one of the strongest riders, very dashing and stylish too. The front group thinned out as the event went on, until it was just me and a rider from Reading. We finished in 27.5 hours including several hours of very enjoyable eating, especially when the loops returned to the Seething HQ for delicious meals provided by Jacqui and her helpers.
So that's how I got hooked on audax riding and nowadays I am even slower. I think I'd be struggling to ride a 10 mile TT in under 30 minutes now even on a carbon bike, and I'm much slower at climbing than I used to be too. Fortunately though I haven't lost my stamina and I need less sleep than when I was younger. I also keep faffing to an absolute minimum, which enables me to finish even the hilliest brevets in time and turn in respectable times for flatter rides and very long rides.
I'm 54 now and I've done many of my best rides since I turned 50. This is mostly due to the Randonneur Round the Year award as it gives me an incentive to keep riding all year rather than just March to September like I used to. I'm currently trying to keep 3 RRtYs going at the same time. In the autumn and winter 200km DIY by GPS mandatory routes form the mainstay of my cycling. If I ride solo I don't tend to stop at all and quite often take under 8 hours. Most of my sub 8 hour 200s have been since turning 50 and I also did my PB for the Mersey Roads 24 hours of 403 miles aged 50. The next morning I started Mark Rigby's "Sore in the Saddle" 1300km around NW Scotland and I successfully finished and thoroughly enjoyed that event. I suppose that was my midlife crisis week!
All 7 of my successful PBPs have been under 70 hours, but 2015 was my quickest at 61:29 by over 3 hours at 51 years old. I rode faster in 95, 99 and 03, but stopped more. 61:29 might seem fast to some people, but it's only 20km/h including stops and the fastest riders take around 43 hours, nearly all of which is on their bikes. The less you stop, the slower you can get away with riding. I actually cocked it up a bit and stopped for 3 hours longer than I needed to on one section, but never-mind, I enjoyed that stop even though it was a bit lazy!
I'm more satisfied with my 2017 LEL at 53 years old than the 2015 PBP. I wasn't as fit for the LEL, but did the best I could possibly do with the fitness I had at the time. I did stop more, because the entry fee included food at controls, but I still had to bounce some controls to keep close to my ambitious 80 hour schedule. I also kept sleep to a minimum with none on the first night and 1.75 hours on each of the other two nights. The worst bit was crossing the fens into that headwind knowing I needed to cover the last 200km in under 10 hours and that the last section was a bit lumpy. I only got back on schedule at Great Easton and only stopped there for 20 seconds! I made it back a few minutes under 80 hours and was later surprised to find that the only riders who had done it quicker overall were the first eleven of the elite riders who had set off at 0500. As a 117 hour rider, I finished with over 37 hours time in hand, which was more than any other rider. Again though, it's not that quick, just 18km/h including all stops. Although I stopped a fair bit, most people stopped a lot more and many unfortunately ran out of time.
