I have long believed that a rider needs most (but not necessarily all) of 5 things to get round a brevet. In random order (not importance):
- Ability
- Preparation
- Determination
- Experience
- Luck
Not having 1 or 2 of these aspects is no barrier to success (indeed, makes a more interesting story afterwards) but lacking 3 or more is very likely to DNF you.
Ability is your natural talent for riding long distances at sufficient speed. Some people never develop saddle sores and can cruise at evens all day. Lucky them; the rest of us go a bit slower, need to rest a little more and cultivate some aches.
Preparation is about mind, body and machine. Understand the route and yourself (don't add unnecessary miles), train appropriately for the event (don't start long rides sleep-deprived!) and ride a machine that has a fair chance of getting to the finish without breaking. Try to tip the odds in your favour, rather than against you.
Determination is your implacable conviction that you will do whatever is needed to finish, regardless of known difficulties or (more importantly) unexpected obstacles. And you actually do it when needed. Some people plan things to the nth degree and fall apart when something else happens. Some start a ride seemingly looking for excuses to stop. Don't be like that, if you actually want to finish.
Experience is helpful and doesn't have to be bike-specific. Knowing how you feel after 10, 20 or 30 hours in the saddle or knowing whether you need a 20 minute nap, a 2 hour snooze in a bus shelter or 4 hours in a proper bed to feel somewhat human and regain some road speed can be the difference between finishing and DNFing. I usually feel crap between 2am and dawn, so I try to sleep through those hours on longer brevets and ride faster afterwards.
Luck can be somebody loaning you a spare tube after your third flat, finding shelter as a cloud burst passes by or the wheel of a fellow rider into a howling headwind when you are already shagged. You can't rely on luck always being good but it can easily make the difference in a tough pinch.
That is general enough for a start but you specifically asked about audaxing while older. I am a fair few years younger but have had my legs ripped off during brevets by 70+ riders for many years. This is what I have learnt from them.
As you get older, speed and recovery tends to decline. Try to improve your preparation and reduce wasted time. Training to improve your cruising speed always helps (particularly climbing faster) but brevets are about total time, not just how fast we ride. Not all time off the bike is wasted, many of us need some recovery but I know that I faff while not actually benefiting from the faffing. Don't faff when you need to make miles, don't faff when you need to accomplish something off the bike and don't faff when you need to rest.
