Author Topic: How does Audax make you feel?  (Read 31763 times)

megajoules expenditure

How does Audax make you feel?
« on: 05 October, 2010, 10:36:03 pm »
In an attempt to restore some balance between the technology side of audax and our raison d'etre. How do you 'feel' about audax? :

For me Audax is a bike ride where you have a challenge to meet a time limit over varied terrain and a long distance,riding through day and sometimes night in every kind of weather,never knowing what wonderful sights you will see.Wildlife of every kind,wonderful skies and landscapes,the moon and stars and shadows in the mist.The sun setting on a summers evening and rising again sparkling on the dew the next morning as you still pedal onwards endlessly towards the finish.Sometimes alone and sometimes with a group sharing the banter to pass the miles.

What is Audax? Audax is the stuff of our dreams.

What does it mean for you?

Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #1 on: 05 October, 2010, 10:39:06 pm »
Audax for me means riding a bloody long way on my bike just because I can, I am not at a stage of my cycling career where noticing the scenery plays a big role ... I can obtain a 100 yard stare while just doing a 100k  ;)

IanDG

  • The p*** artist formerly known as 'Windy'
    • the_dandg_rouleur
Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #2 on: 05 October, 2010, 10:42:07 pm »
The last one I did gave me a sore arse and aching legs

Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #3 on: 05 October, 2010, 10:49:25 pm »
nothing.

Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #4 on: 05 October, 2010, 10:51:07 pm »

Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #5 on: 05 October, 2010, 10:53:29 pm »
How does Audax make me feel?

Tired.

Very, very tired.

Fidgetbuzz

  • L sp MOON. 1st R sp MARS . At X SO sp STARS
Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #6 on: 05 October, 2010, 10:54:13 pm »
Great.

I can kid myself that I am not as old as I actually am.

I love sunsets and sunrises - riding in  moonlight - hearing the dawn chorus.

Camaraderie and support from others.

New places to go and see.

The stupified and uncomprehending look of ones friends when ( post Chapman) you mention that you have just done a double traverse of Wales in under 40 hours.

Not quite so sure about 29 hours rain on Sheilas 600 last year tho.

BUT

I am so glad that I found out about Audax a few years ago
I was an accountant until I discovered Audax !!

Martin

Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #7 on: 05 October, 2010, 10:54:59 pm »
at last; a thread about the plusses of Audax after all the other stuff :)

it makes me feel I can actually be good at something; better in fact than a lot of other cyclists I know. It makes me feel glad to be out for 6 hours in warm fine drizzle knowing there will be a smiling face to chat to at the end. It makes me so glad to be on a bike when the weather comes good on a ride. It makes me feel that it's worth scouring Aldi for a car full of carbs to feed like minded people. who feel the same way I do.

αdαmsκι

  • Instagram @ucfaaay Strava @ucfaaay
  • Look haggard. It sells.
Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #8 on: 05 October, 2010, 10:55:30 pm »
Dirty.
What on earth am I doing here on this beautiful day?! This is the only life I've got!!

https://tyredandhungry.wordpress.com/

Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #9 on: 05 October, 2010, 10:55:41 pm »
Fuck knows.

Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #10 on: 05 October, 2010, 10:57:53 pm »
Dirty.

Oh yes, that too.

And hungry.

Very, very hungry.

Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #11 on: 05 October, 2010, 11:00:28 pm »

red marley

Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #12 on: 05 October, 2010, 11:04:34 pm »
My dad did audaxing in the early 1980s. So to my 13 year-old self, it was some remote impossible to achieve cycling event that was measured in hundreds, not tens. These rides were such achievements that they even gave riders who managed to complete them medals. To my 40 something year-old self, audaxing sums up many of the things I value. I can explore the geography of the country without the sensory deprivation forced on me by the car and train. It has taught me to appreciate the seasons and the week by week change in familiar routes. Audax represents what can be achieved by willing volunteers who organise themselves for the love of what they do without sponsorship, profit or vanity. It has shown me I can still learn new tricks, do tomorrow what yesterday I thought was impossible. I can leave my London front door on a Monday morning and be in Scotland on a Tuesday just by turning my legs. When I'm riding through the night, I'm part of a secret club of who reclaim the roads while others sleep on, unaware of our existence.

dasmoth

  • Techno-optimist
Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #13 on: 05 October, 2010, 11:05:58 pm »
I wish audax did make me hungry, would be much easier to keep my energy up that way!

It's a thoroughly satisfying way to see the country.  Left to my own devices, I'd never do something like travelling to Wales just for a weekend of riding up hills.  This year, I've done that twice and had a wonderful day out each time.  And a lot of other great rides as well.

It's just a pity about the C5 envelopes! (sorry...)
Half term's when the traffic becomes mysteriously less bad for a week.

CrinklyLion

  • The one with devious, cake-pushing ways....
Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #14 on: 05 October, 2010, 11:16:37 pm »
Weirdly tempted, on occasion  ;D

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #15 on: 05 October, 2010, 11:21:05 pm »
^^ This

Karla

  • car(e) free
    • Lost Byway - around the world by bike
Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #16 on: 05 October, 2010, 11:25:20 pm »
Weirdly tempted, on occasion  ;D
I'm sure you could still do Gerry's ride at the weekend.  Find a nice yacfer to let you draft round but don't try to stick on the wheel of Bob Johnson or of any Cliftonites called Dave  ;)

MercuryKev

  • Maxin' n Audaxin'
Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #17 on: 06 October, 2010, 12:03:35 am »
When I first started it was all about the personal challenge and every ride brought with it new discoveries about what I could endure.  Now I knows that I can ride the distance I can begin to enjoy the route.  On every ride there is a moment when the terrain, scenery and company combine to validate my effort.  So how does Audax make me feel? Happy.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #18 on: 06 October, 2010, 12:20:37 am »
When I'm riding through the night, I'm part of a secret club of who reclaim the roads while others sleep on, unaware of our existence.

Glorious!
It is simpler than it looks.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #19 on: 06 October, 2010, 12:50:20 am »
Dawn
Day
Dusk
Night
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter
Sunshine
Fog
Downpour
Ice
Elation
Despair
Pleasure
Pain
Frustration
Satisfaction
Hunger
Thirst
Fatigue
Refreshment
Wildlife, scenery, urban sprawl.

Life at its most intense, all in a day or two.

AndyH

Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #20 on: 06 October, 2010, 06:15:33 am »
Good. Very very good. I have become something of an addict.

edit

At first I thought I could handle it. A few Brevet Populaires. But before long it wasn't enough anymore. I needed bigger and bigger hits and soon discovered BRMs. On my first 200 I was already thinking about a 300 and it has grown from there. I am worried that next year I might have to go abroad to find satisfaction. Do I need to go to rehab ? Maybe I should sit in a darkened room sewing badges onto a carradice saddlebag.

Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #21 on: 06 October, 2010, 06:47:13 am »
Audax is a good ride spoilt.  Otherwise?  Indifferent.

ludwig

  • never eat a cyclists gloves
    • grown in wales
Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #22 on: 06 October, 2010, 07:11:05 am »
The joy of discovering that you can achieve something that was unimaginable a few years before.
A slight smug feeling when describing how you spent the weekend to others.
The joy of not becoming an entirely fat bastard.
The knowledge during the week that anything that life throws at you wont be harder than what you did for fun at the weekend
The knowledge that the more effort that you put into something the more you appretiate it.
The feeling that your bike becomes part of you.
Discovering new places.
The joy of boring your kids silly with "I've cycled up that road" stories.
Audax was the key for me beating deppression where all kinds of pills and therapies failed

Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #23 on: 06 October, 2010, 11:20:52 am »
Dawn
Day
Dusk
Night
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter
Sunshine
Fog
Downpour
Ice
Elation
Despair
Pleasure
Pain
Frustration
Satisfaction
Hunger
Thirst
Fatigue
Refreshment
Wildlife, scenery, urban sprawl.

Life at its most intense, all in a day or two.

And as such cannot be beaten!  :thumbsup:

But the best is the adoration of "you must be mad!"  ;D

Grandad

  • Once upon a time
Re: How does Audax make you feel?
« Reply #24 on: 06 October, 2010, 12:20:28 pm »
Jealous when anno domini and its associated malfunctions means that 200+ is a thing of the past.

Fortunately a huge memory bank of all the features listed in the above postings.