Weight - or lack of it..... should I worry ?
As a noob to all this Audax m'larky I'm starting to feel a little apprehensive about stamina and what its built on physically.
Having spent well over a decade decorating RTTC events with mid-field or worse performances up to 12hr, I concluded that I'm more a rouleur than a puncher/grimpeur. All well and good, I enjoyed 100s and 12s, managing to finish all but a handful of those I started. However, the many recent tales of epic derring-do that abound the yacf do seem to infer that grit and stamina are the "stuff" of a competent audaxer.
Grit, I can rationalise to the noggin and keep it there, but the stamina thing is starting to concern me somewhat, particularly when on flicking through the weight reports thread I see no-one (except Feline) is sub-65Kg.... I know I'm smallish (52cm frames, 5ft8") but is having a "slight" build (BMI 20.5) likely to cause me issues regarding finishing such taxing events?
A couple of years ago I was a newbie, recovering from a very bad accident and after 8 months wheelchair / crutches, with a knackered hip, I started audaxing...
I was around 64 kgs / 171 cms (5' 7") and soon very fast, avoiding stopping more than a couple of minutes at controls cos I struggled mentally with all the people and noise, and also from habit cos I had been a time trialist and my club
never stopped for coffee or caik. I was quite often first back, or thereabouts, which I now know wasn't what audax is all about, and I have learned to smell the roses and enjoy the company of my fellow riders....
Now I'm 60 kgs, & 171 cms, and I can ride all day on one bottle of hi five, and maybe three or four frusli bars, and sometimes less than that.
Just finished the Easter Arrow at around 420 kms in 24 hours, and in atrociously cold conditions, and though I did stop and eat when the others did, to be honest I didn't really need to, except of course the latte, which is my addiction !!!
I guess you would call me a racing snake, though at 60 (in a few months) I have probably shed more than a few skins, and I'm not quite so fast, but as for stamina
I don't think weight has an awful lot to do with how well you can audax, and it's more to do with your attitude and I'm proof that those of us of a lighter physique can have just as much stamina as anyone else....
Go for it 12-S