Hi, well I might as well add my 2p as my first audax was in January this year (2013). I didn't bother with the 100 k stuff as I'd already done that on my own in training and had done a 100 mile ride in December as peace of mind training so that I knew I could do a 200 k before I started. This sort of thing is invaluable for self confidence - at least for me.
So I knew I could do the distance but mechanical issues were my main issue along with little clue about nutrition along the way. The latter I now think isn't all that important on a 200 k randonnee (it's
very important on long randonnees however). As longs as you eat *something* and you keep hydrated with electrolytes you should be fine provided you are fit enough. My main issue was with mechanical stuff as I've said. I only started cycling at all really six months earlier (May 2012 - leaving aside a couple of years of cycling 20 years ago and of course roving around on a raleigh as a kid in the 70s/80s) so I wasn't at all confident dealing with mechanical issues and I was naive in my equipment choice.
I turned up to Dr Foster's Winter Warmer in January with my spangly new roadbike sans mudguards and some pretty ropey kit in my saddlebag and pockets and as I now know to be over the top - a handlebar bag. I had too much kit too - mostly caused by a bad experience earlier in 2012 when I'd been stranded by a very bad puncture miles from anywhere. So I had a spare tyre in the bar bag along with other things - this is unnecessary on a 200 in my current opinion.
Bad kit - 1. bar bag - cost me about £8 on ebay. It was pish and no mistake - it held stuff but constantly drooped onto the front wheel causing friction. This took away a lot of enjoyment as I was forced to wrap the handle around my hands and prevent this thereby focussing attention away from stuff like enjoying the view - braking - steering etc. 2. No mudguards in winter. In principle not a problem but this caused indirectly a near ride ending experience... 3. CO2 pump. In my saddlebag I'd had, for some time, a CO2 pump. With no mudguards this had been sprayed and had rusted - I only found this out when I had a puncture about as far out from home as you can be (naturally). I was also lost at this point as my newly acquired Garmin had gotten confused and I was off route and at the back of the field - so no help was coming. The rust prevented it from piercing any of the CO2 cannisters so it was utterly useless.
Of course, I wasn't *that* naive - I had a back up pump. One that had cost me about £3 in Tesco. It was shit but it did help enough to save the ride. I had a several inner tubes and one that had been repaired turned out to be a liability but I managed to get one pumped up just enough that I managed to limp 12 miles to the next control town (Monmouth) where I was fortunate enough to find an open bike shop. The credit card came out and a shiny new CO2 pump and new inner tubes were purchased and I was saved.
I used a list of villages we were passing through I'd constructed on my iphone to get me out of the Garmin issue (it ran out of battery too in the end - it was too new and the battery wasn't up to speed yet).
So I finished my first 200 km as the second to last rider home and with many lessons learned. Ride leaner (i.e. less kit) - ride with good kit. The shite pump got binned and replaced with a good one (topeak minimorph), crudguard mk2's were fitted to the roadbike and rustable kit now gets stored in ziplock bags.
I have (eventually) replaced the handlebar bag but only when I started doing really long randonnees (400 k and 600 k).
Utlimately the lesson learned was don't use false economy with kit. You need *reliable* kit to ensure you finish.
Audax 2
The only populaire I've ridden. My early audaxing career was seen originally by me as training for a very hilly Sportive I'd booked so I signed up for The Gospel Pass 150 k in February 2013 which is a AAA points grimpeur. The lesson learned in this one was DON'T FETTLE TOO CLOSE TO THE EVENT, especially if, like me, you're still learning to do the bike mechanics yourself. The week before this I'd been recommended on this site to buy a chain wear gauge to check, well, on chain wear. I learned to my horror that both my bikes had horribly worn chains. So I replaced both but was not good enough at gear indexing to do this properly on my roadbike and I had no spare cables - so I lost my roadbike to the event and instead was left with the albeit lower geared Trek Hybrid I'd bought as my first bike. I only really discovered this on the morning of the ride however and trying the bike out I discovered horrendous skipping going on with the chain on most of the gears. A bit of twiddling improved but did not eliminate this and so everyone who heard the skipping knew who was behind them on the road that day.
I had very nearly zero bikes to ride an hour before I drove up to the start line.
Nevertheless I did make it round (buying a new cassette afterwards) although I did discover that day just how hard an audax can be as this was really hilly and I'm a big chap which doesn't help. If you've got people above telling you your planned ride is tough then be prepared for it to be TOUGH! These rides can be stunningly arduous if you're not used to it.
So that' the first two - the rest of my rides have also involved lessons but mostly of the nutritional sense. My third audax was to be The Dean 300 k in March but this was the scene of a biblical snow storm and so I DNS'd that like nearly everyone else - it turned out to be the 2Battles ride from Tamworth in April. I was much fitter and confident by now and stormed around that as the first finisher
After that the distances stepped up. I rode a perm 300 k to replace the Dean in my by now planned SR series. This was the Cambrian series 3A - a real stonkingly tough ride with several extremely evil climbs involved. I managed it but used the wrong bike - I wanted the panniers of my hybrid to carry stuff - this made the bike heavy and I had to walk the nastiest of the climbs on that ride. But again I did manage it and the lesson was plan more effectively. I'd started at 2 am to get the night riding out of the way when I was fresh (my 400 k later taught me that this was a good plan!) but this meant that no decent shops were open for the first seven hours of the ride so I was struggling for food for quite a while and just as the shops opened the ride went into the desolated wastelands (aka beautiful scenery
) of Ceredigion in Wales where you are struggling to find a house, let alone a shop. I've now in the last two months ridden a 400 km and 600 km ride to complete my SR series and I'll save lessons learned there for another time as you're only starting out. Suffice to say that after my 600 km ride I have learned to start doing abdominal exercises as leaning on the bars has left both my hands with nerve problems (carpal tunnel on one and ulnal nerve swelling on both) and maybe get a bike fit. Also I learned that I have come a long way in bike maintenance and I will now service my bike myself before big rides since I am very annoyed with the bodge job Evans have done with the gear cables on my roadbike. Plus part of their service appeared to be to remove my nice hand friendly Bar Phaat tape and gel pads with their thinnest own-branded tape - I do not believe this helped my hands.
I will agree with others that a 600 km is actually slightly easier than a 400 km audax. It's the sleep y'see. The 400 km ride I did along with the 300 km perm nearly broke my soul - these were tough tough rides. Very hard psychologically.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do anyway
