Author Topic: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?  (Read 3892 times)

Wal

Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #25 on: 15 August, 2014, 08:53:43 pm »
This has been my first full year at AUK so I have no pattern set as yet.

I accomplished about x15 50k rides over the winter and into Spring... I then sustained an ankle injury due to a fractured ankle which has saw my riding curtailed.

I was not aiming to high, I was hoping to get up to the 200k limit this year and continue this as an RRTY into 2015, I was also hoping to have my first 200 BRM for my ISR...

I have the all clear to cycle next month, so will start with small rides and hopefully finish the season with a first 100K under my belt...

Looking forward to training over the winter for the next season.  :thumbsup:

Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #26 on: 15 August, 2014, 09:37:02 pm »
I try to keep a double RRTY going, mostly to stay reasonably fit over the winter as I don't do much other cycling. Also, at 50, I would find it too hard to start from scratch each year.

I like do an Easter Arrow, SR series and at least one 1000km+ ride each year. I prefer scenic, hilly rides so tend to accidentally accumulate a few AAA points. I am married with 10 and 11 year old daughters, so it can be a tricky balancing act at times. This year I had to miss the Irish 1200 and HBK 1500, but was happy to be able to ride the Mille Cymru and Highlands 1300, both great events.

I am also happy to have recently rediscovered the unique atmosphere of the Mersey Roads 24 Hour Time Trial and have enjoyed riding the last two. I hope to ride again next year to test my fitness prior to the PBP.


Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #27 on: 15 August, 2014, 09:53:34 pm »
Big goals, that are stymied in alternate years by Real Life Events.

Sometimes it all goes to plan, sometimes we end up in A&E and/or on antidepressants.

Next year it's due to go to plan. I will get that 1000k ride done before I die, dammit. At this rate I'll need another arrow.  :facepalm:

O, and despite loathing the championships, I still like to win something  :facepalm: :facepalm:

Ruth

Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #28 on: 15 August, 2014, 10:21:57 pm »
I've only approached an audax year once.  There was a year planner on the wall, lots of rides entered and paid for.  It was a great plan, it was my SR and my biggest ever riding year, planned out to perfection, with the love of my life right behind/beside me.  It was gonna be so great.

On January 25th of that year a 19 year old girl in a Nova t-boned me, killed my fixie, my mojo, and my face, all at once.  Great muti-tasking that woman.  Respect.

I don't make riding plans any more. 

I've achieved 2x100km calendar events this year, thanks to mcshroom and SlowCoach of this parish.  I won't be planning anything else. 

I really enjoy watching other people achieving their riding goals, and other people's riding reports are the thing that makes me smile more than anything else.  I don't plan for me though :)

Bairdy

  • Former Pints Champion
Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #29 on: 15 August, 2014, 10:36:58 pm »
A basic season for me will be RRtY x 2 plus at least one SR.
I need the RRtY's to keep it all pumping properly as I ride few non Audax miles.

DIY x GPS with favourable weather (mostly with Mikey) over the winter months came in handy this year, balls to risking my neck on ice and riding in lousy cold weather.

Enjoyed the 1000k in France very much so hope to do more overseas stuff.

Also enjoyed riding Blacksheeps Silk Run 100 with Mrs B, so might do some more BP's with her next season....as long as she doesn't keep asking the orgs for a point.  :facepalm:
"And I been up to my neck in pleasure
              Up to my neck in pain"

Cycling Daddy

  • "We shall have an adventure by and by," said Don Q
Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #30 on: 16 August, 2014, 07:06:37 am »
Hmmm as pointed out above this year has a way to run.
Next year
1.  Keep going through the Winter: RRTY  '200's and lots of them'
2.  Try to get fit for PBP even if I end up not riding it '200's and lots of them +
3.  For 2 above SR
4.  Try to keep the rest of my life intact= lots of DIY/perms mid week

But then planning much kind of spoils the adventure
L
Too much sanity may be madness. And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #31 on: 16 August, 2014, 07:18:01 am »
A way to run yet, yes. This year's target is now ten days behind me, and finding motivation for the next months is hard: I tend to go out and get fed up in 30 km. I'm laying on a 200k tootle for our Audax pack at the beginning of September - haven't got a route yet but I know the restaurant for lunch already - and there's the Diagonalistes' concentration in Bourg mid-September - I might ride down from here and come back by train. It's all up in the air, though: right now I've got that back-in-the-cowshed feeling.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #32 on: 16 August, 2014, 07:28:59 am »
I only started in April this year, but have managed to do 100, 140 and 200k rides and a night ride. If you had told me in March when I bought the bike that I would go out all day and enjoy it I would have thought and probably said "don't be ridiculous"
I have had a lot of pleasure out of the rides and some pain. The general plan now is to build on fitness and hill climbing and try to get at least one 200k in a month. Plus I would like to aim for a 400 or 600 next year.
Anyway next ride is a perm through new forest and Wiltshire in 2 weeks. First perm so I will have to see if I can do this on my own. Although won't be different to calendar events as I usually LR them.
Life is good even in a cockle shell.

Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #33 on: 16 August, 2014, 07:48:07 am »
Never done an audax until this year. Entered the Seaham Sircular and a couple of 200s to keep me motivated whilst training for a Pyreneean C2C.
That training saw me get down to the same weight I was at 18 years old. I really enjoyed the events so I'm planning a full year of events starting from now, including some of the longer distances.
I'm a little concerned about night riding though, having failed on a FNRttC through utter boredom. I get a lot of pleasure from moving through ever changing scenery and at night it just doesn't change. Well, it does but you just can't see it.
Hear all, see all, say nowt

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #34 on: 16 August, 2014, 08:24:49 am »
For me there's been a clear difference between years of progress, and of plateau!

You can see this here; the veterans have found or decided their limits, and just choose which rides (and how many) appeal. The 'improvers' will change their ambitions every year, so don't yet have much of a pattern.

I'm trying to do different things each year, but I'm inherently more cautious than most, and tend to gravitate back to old favourite s quite a lot. I need to be shoved into new stuff.
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #35 on: 16 August, 2014, 09:47:02 am »

I'm trying to do different things each year, ................... .................... ............... I need to be shoved into new stuff.
Funny you shold mention that Matt, I have somethng lined-up for you :demon:
where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.

TimC

  • Old blerk sometimes onabike.
Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #36 on: 16 August, 2014, 10:24:41 am »
Plans are for other people. I have to be opportunist and ride what's near me when days off without children and rides coincide. So I've managed just a couple of BPs this year (so far), plus a couple of sportives, and might get a 200 next week. But that's more than last year!

Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #37 on: 16 August, 2014, 10:28:40 am »

I'm trying to do different things each year, ................... .................... ............... I need to be shoved into new stuff.
Funny you shold mention that Matt, I have somethng lined-up for you :demon:

Last time I thought I should try something new and different I ended up riding a ludicrous 600* through the scoggiest, most vertical lanes in Wales.

*Thoroughly enjoyable, but don't tell the organiser.

Hummers

  • It is all about the taste.
Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #38 on: 16 August, 2014, 11:40:21 am »
Four of the last five years have been excellent and while this year started off well, it sadly went a bit pear shaped after the Bryan Chapman due to Real Life stuff.  :facepalm:

Still, I now have a green light for PBP 2015 so there is something to look forwards to.

H

mcshroom

  • Mushroom
Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #39 on: 16 August, 2014, 11:47:02 am »
Audaxing is secondary to touring for me, and to be honest my minimum target is just to do at least one 200 a season, so I tend to just pick rides a few weeks out when I know there's space in the calendar, pick rides in places I really fancy riding, or pick rides that friends are riding.

2013 I did plan out a year to try and get to LEL, and though having a plan in advance got me to ride further than I have ever done before, I'm not sure I enjoyed the longer rides as much as the BPs and 200s.

That being said, PBP year will have many more longer distance rides than other years, an they are more likely to be before peak hayfever period, so I may just have a shot at an SR next year :facepalm:
Climbs like a sprinter, sprints like a climber!

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #40 on: 16 August, 2014, 02:29:21 pm »
My audaxing plans have been going swimmingly for a few years now. I have planned to do no audax and stuck to those plans assiduously.

I'd like to do more touring though.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #41 on: 16 August, 2014, 04:17:07 pm »
I go for the "Randonneur once a year" approach - i.e. one 200 a year. :P

I like that.  Sounds deliberate rather than disappointing.  I suppose it means I should attempt the Tamworth 200 in September...

rob

Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #42 on: 16 August, 2014, 04:32:55 pm »
The last 3 years have been great with a double SR and a 1200+ ride each year.   This year I've only done a handful of events as I've focused on other things.   Next year will be an SR and PBP.   After that I may change direction a bit, it's taken up over 20 years of my life.

Re: How would you sum up your audax riding year approach?
« Reply #43 on: 17 August, 2014, 01:30:12 pm »
I understand that WCW is down for 20th June next year.