Poor Student, 07/01/2017

[mattc]

Besides who hasn't got the friend who always likes to outbid you in whatever you've accomplished?

I've got at least two.

[citoyen]

Besides who hasn't got the friend who always likes to outbid you in whatever you've accomplished?

I've got at least two.

 

[JBB]

The Poor Student was a great event. Many thanks for organising.

The mudguard debate: I only realised afterwards that my clip-on mudguard without flap was great for keeping the mud off me but not so great for those riding behind me. Male-female is of no relevance in the mudguard debate. It just comes down to how you normally use your bike (eg not permitted for race), how often you ride in groups etc. I will add a flap for the next muddy one, but generally it isn't a problem as I mostly ride solo, like to ride fast and tend to finish early.

As to the 'why don't more women ride these events'? Watts are irrelevant. It is about endurance and women can be just as bloody minded as men. It is certainly about confidence. While that applies to new riders or both sexes, I think women tend to feel more confident when they know other women are doing the same event. Initiatives such as the Adventure Syndicate and Emily Chappell's talks on long distance cycling at Rapha clubs around the country over winter are a great example of how things are starting to change. Organisers can help with preferential entry for women and fellow riders can help with dropping innuendo (which by the way I have never experienced at an event... on the contrary, people have been most welcoming and even helping with punctures etc).

I'm not to sure why watts are irrelevant when it comes to completing a physical task within a time limit. Of course we can be as bloody minded as the chaps and we are generally reckoned to be OK at endurance. However the sheer power to go faster means you have a greater buffer and therefore less need for the other 2 attributes! I'm quite happy not to have preferential entry and to be towards (at?) the back of the field. It does mean it's less of a relaxing ride though when you always have to keep an eye on the time. I don't think I've ever experienced anyone being patronising, a bit gauche perhaps but that's cyclists for you!

Julia

[LiamFitz]

As to the 'why don't more women ride these events'? Watts are irrelevant. It is about endurance and women can be just as bloody minded as men. It is certainly about confidence. While that applies to new riders or both sexes, I think women tend to feel more confident when they know other women are doing the same event. Initiatives such as the Adventure Syndicate and Emily Chappell's talks on long distance cycling at Rapha clubs around the country over winter are a great example of how things are starting to change. Organisers can help with preferential entry for women and fellow riders can help with dropping innuendo (which by the way I have never experienced at an event... on the contrary, people have been most welcoming and even helping with punctures etc).

Emily had a good post on her blog about this - http://thatemilychappell.com/

FWIW I think Audax has long suffered from a general lack of diversity - not just gender imbalance.  I have little evidence for this but have always felt that most rides tended to attract a particular sort of man in large numbers (myself included).  I'll leave others to fill in the stereotype but anything we can do to broaden out the family would be welcomed by me.

On London Wales London I've tried to attract a slightly more mixed crowd... I'll know on April how successful I've been.

[Rumps]

In my experience , confidence is the biggest issue -followed by route finding.
I ride quite a bit with my wife and her mates and they are nervous before EVERY ride . We then proceed to do 50 or more miles often round the North Downs and including the climb of Coombe Bottom which is pretty tough but they are terrified each time.
Then at the end of it they all say what a great time they had.
A week later -it is the same all over again. These are middle aged women who have only started riding a bike in the last 5 years . They do ride for 4-7 days each year , unsupported carrying all of their stuff, through France doing 100- 120kms a day.
My point is they can all ride a bike, usually not with a fast average speed, it is just they lack confidence .
I am determined to get them to do a 100kms audax this year . But it will not be the Tour of the Surrey Hills ( for those who don't know is 2100m of ascent in 100kms)! I am confident that they would be made to feel very welcome.
Would a women's only audax be allowed under the rules?? They all did Davina MCall's women only sportive a couple of years ago and loved the atmosphere of that.

PS
Phil do not let Nicola mention she can run a marathon in 3.20 in the article in Arrivee!! She is clearly an athlete of no little ability and that will not help persuade less fit riders ( of either sex )!

[Jack_P]

I wouldn't want a return to the obsessive M rule of the old days, but at this time of year it can't be too hard to attach a pair of clip-on mudguards to most frames, surely?

As one of the rather filthy people my experience was that clip on mudguards did very little for stopping mud hitting people behind them. I noticed a huge difference in following people with additional rear flaps and will have to invest in some for my mudguards

Had a really enjoyable ride once I had gotten over the foggy and damp ride in from Northants. It was great to introduce 4 Audax newbies (including the two ladies above)  to the joy of these events and they will certainly be back.

Infact on the subject of more ladies, Katherine above hadn't done 200k before and has set a target of doing an SR this year already and has a commission from a women's health magazine to write an article about Audaxing. 

[Jack_P]

Oh and without going back through the posts my very gratefull thanks for the alternative route into Oxford on the cycle path. Once found and out in the open it is a superb way to finish the ride, so much calmer than the manic section in Oxford done many times before.

Isn't this worth modifying the routes finishing at Peartree to officially adopt this. I won't be riding through Oxford again now it's in the databanks

[Wycombewheeler]

Oh and without going back through the posts my very gratefull thanks for the alternative route into Oxford on the cycle path. Once found and out in the open it is a superb way to finish the ride, so much calmer than the manic section in Oxford done many times before.

Isn't this worth modifying the routes finishing at Peartree to officially adopt this. I won't be riding through Oxford again now it's in the databanks

I thought there must be a better way. How do you get onto it?

[Jack_P]

Oh and without going back through the posts my very gratefull thanks for the alternative route into Oxford on the cycle path. Once found and out in the open it is a superb way to finish the ride, so much calmer than the manic section in Oxford done many times before.

Isn't this worth modifying the routes finishing at Peartree to officially adopt this. I won't be riding through Oxford again now it's in the databanks

I thought there must be a better way. How do you get onto it?

Left off the West way onto a narrow cycle path here, just before the bypass bridge. Then the path and quiet road skirts the bypass to Wytham
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.7525072,-1.2968264,3a,73.7y,8.9h,89.41t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sLlcBeh3FY_0HXEp7-6Zu7A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[Wycombewheeler]

thanks, I'll remember that for the Dean. Also think I prefer the Severn across route from Stow on the Wold to Winchcombe, than the Dean route, fewer steep descents as I recall.

[iddu]

Pat, is it too early to ask if you got my envelope safely?

Maybe- currently working through a pile of 100...

I'll come back in an hour then

Processed...

[jochta]

Oh and without going back through the posts my very gratefull thanks for the alternative route into Oxford on the cycle path. Once found and out in the open it is a superb way to finish the ride, so much calmer than the manic section in Oxford done many times before.

Isn't this worth modifying the routes finishing at Peartree to officially adopt this. I won't be riding through Oxford again now it's in the databanks

I thought there must be a better way. How do you get onto it?

I posted it earlier in the thread. Immediately before the A34 overbridge in Botley at the traffic lights there is a cycle path that runs alongside the A34 off ramp and takes you up to Botley Interchange. You can then use the traffic light controlled crossings to get across to the path alongside the A34 on ramp which goes through the hedge onto the road to Wytham. See... https://ridewithgps.com/routes/18358698

[longflaps]

She has finished her first audax greatly encouraged and remarked how friendly it all was but shame more women weren't riding.

Great write up Phil and good to read that Nicola now has finished her first audax. Two years ago The Poor Student was my first audax too and I often think back to it as one of those life-changing moments.

I actually noticed quite a few female riders (and also before Christmas on the Upper Thames); and particularly on some of the rides out of London. As I mentioned in my own account of the ride above I met one other New Zealand female rider or her first 200k audax too which means that there were quite a few audax virgins on The Poor Student [o dear, now I'm really in trouble].

From experience I think that female riders can be concerned about how to handle mechanicals and get a little anxious about going off-route (which is understandable given how many routes are way out in the back of beyond [and scandi-noir such a dominant genre in print and on the small screen]). I think that the articles that Nicola and Katherine plan to write will do a great deal to shatter some of the myths that are out there about audax riding (and I know plenty of guys who are uncomfortable with the idea of doing a 200k audax too - even though they're experienced riders who will happily do a club ride).

As for mudguard-less riders I think this is largely a generational thing - as in the younger generations seem not be be too bothered about what happens behind them (or to their own rear). Spray and mud aside, what I do worry about is that some of these fine cafes we all write so fondly about will stick up a sign in the window saying "Sorry, no cyclists!" which would be a great shame for all of us. As my name implies, I favour the hand-made extension to an all-encompassing full mudguard.

It has been said of me that I am an easy wheel to follow. This is probably as much to do with my slow but steady pace as much as the aforementioned crud deflectors.

[TigaSefi]

Pat, is it too early to ask if you got my envelope safely?

Maybe- currently working through a pile of 100...

I'll come back in an hour then

Processed...

Amazing work Pat! 

[htcboy]

Great ride, thanks for organising. No mishaps, and just one close call, for Derek who rode into a front wheel sized hole in Purton   , but managed to stay upright!    #skills

Maybe I should clarify that I wasn't 'riding' at the point this happened. A car had stopped in the road to turn right, with traffic coming the other way it was waiting. So I decided to unclip left foot and push along the pavement, the 'hole' was full of mud so not visible. In popped the wheel!! Still thanks to my saviour Reynard I was afforded a dismount befitting a queen and thus saving any damage to the wheel.

I will of course, recount this to my clubmates as 'Hit the hole at 20, flicked it out, bunny hopped the rider how came down in front and then went straight into a cobbled section... uphill'

[duracellbunnyonabike]

https://totalwomenscycling.com/road-cycling/technique/rookie-randonneur-diary-first-audax#kYL74tmYubbA8I5q.97

[Wycombewheeler]

https://totalwomenscycling.com/road-cycling/technique/rookie-randonneur-diary-first-audax#kYL74tmYubbA8I5q.97

there's a great point in there about it not being a race and enjoying the ride. On most of my audaxer,  my biggest regret is not pausing to take photos. 5 or even 10 minutes delay isn't going to make any difference to me, but there have been lots of fantastic views I wish I'd recorded.

[longflaps]

https://totalwomenscycling.com/road-cycling/technique/rookie-randonneur-diary-first-audax#kYL74tmYubbA8I5q.97

Great  write-up and some great advice. Sounds like Katherine has caught the Audax bug!

[iddu]

Hurrumph...

I've always taken it that part of the appeal of this event in its o!d skool form is the brutal honesty - you're required to do A to B to C, with no mollycoddling, working off the Xmas excesses, and proving via receipts you did indeed visit A, B & C.

If your opinion differs, please feel free to say so.

[Clemo]

I've always taken it that part of the appeal of this event in its o!d skool form is the brutal honesty - you're required to do A to B to C, with no mollycoddling, working off the Xmas excesses, and proving via receipts you did indeed visit A, B & C.

It is indeed its appeal Pat 

[Marmitegeoff]

I've always taken it that part of the appeal of this event in its o!d skool form is the brutal honesty - you're required to do A to B to C, with no mollycoddling, working off the Xmas excesses, and proving via receipts you did indeed visit A, B & C.

It is indeed its appeal Pat 

+1  do not change it.

[PAC]

I've always taken it that part of the appeal of this event in its o!d skool form is the brutal honesty - you're required to do A to B to C, with no mollycoddling, working off the Xmas excesses, and proving via receipts you did indeed visit A, B & C.

It is indeed its appeal Pat 

+1  do not change it.

It's fine Iddu...particularly anti clockwise

[Wycombewheeler]

Hurrumph...

I've always taken it that part of the appeal of this event in its o!d skool form is the brutal honesty - you're required to do A to B to C, with no mollycoddling, working off the Xmas excesses, and proving via receipts you did indeed visit A, B & C.

If your opinion differs, please feel free to say so.

Nope it was great two controls + the finish, no infos, reasonably spaced

[LiamFitz]

Hurrumph...

I've always taken it that part of the appeal of this event in its o!d skool form is the brutal honesty - you're required to do A to B to C, with no mollycoddling, working off the Xmas excesses, and proving via receipts you did indeed visit A, B & C.

If your opinion differs, please feel free to say so.

Not broke, no fix needed

[citoyen]

Terrible ride. The controls are awful, the route is shocking, entry fee is outrageously high, organiser is hopeless, and all the other riders who do it are idiots. No idea why I bothered to enter it to be honest.

(Not really.)