Acts of kindness encountered whilst audaxing.

[caerau]

I was on a 200k DIY today in fairly brutal heat.  On the taff trail up from Pontypridd to Abercynon I started to run seriously out of water and was bonking a little bit so I sat on the pavement in the shade and tried to shove some sweets down my neck.  I decided to let it digest for a few minutes so lay on my back for a bit.
Whilst I was doing this a white van rolled up beside me and stopped.  I thought he was just going to check if I was OK but instead I got "Want some water mate?"


"Oh DO I!" I exclaimed and so he went into his van and pulled me out two bottles of mineral water.   He also refuse to accept payment for them.
Soon after I found a garage and got some more but it really saved me from a bad patch.


So thanks Mr White Van Man - you are a proper star.  May Karma do you a good deed some day. 


Anyone else encountered such a random act of kindness whilst out on an Audax?

[T42]

On a 400k some years ago a lorry driver (parked) got interested and gave us a couple of puddings.  On a 600 some firemen invited us into their station at 5 am for coffee. And on PBP people who live along the route will sometimes set up stands and give away cake & coffee to riders. Wonderful.

[mattc]

I often let other audaxers win.

[Bobby]

I had the same thing as you Caerau - obviously seeing our dismay that the garage we'd arrived at ~3am was not 24hr a van driver pulled over & gave us a bottle of 7up.  Neither of us had seen a drink for 1.5 hours & wouldn't see one for another hour so this was VERY helpful - he also refused payment.

white van men can be good

[jogler]

white van men can be good

Yes indeed.
Several years ago.
Not an audax ride but my first longish ride on fixed.I overestimated my own ability & was in some sisdress
at the roadside.
WVM stopped,put my bike in his Mercedes Sprinter & ferried me to York station.

There is a place not far from Pocklington now known to 2 or 3  yacfers as WhiteVanMan Corner.

[Justin(e)]

May Karma do you a good deed some day. 

No need for Karma.  It is up to you to pass it on. 

Preferably with interest.

[Rimnod]

My first attempt at  a 300km in 2013  I joined many others and looked forward to finishing the Snow Roads and winning the right to eat my Bridie.  After many hours baking in 26 degrees of highland sunshine I found myself sitting in a lay-by at the bottom of The Lecht in a bit of a distressed state.

Dehydrated, undernourished and very, very tired a couple who had been mountain biking in the local area, stopped and insisted that I should really be taken to a place of safety.  So they loaded me into their car, secured my bike on the rack and took me miles out of their way to the control at Breamar.

Many lessons learned.

[Bairdy]

Last season during a 200K DIY I ground to a halt with 30km to go, vomiting, severe abdominal pain.
A couple stopped and took good care of me, called my wife and directed her to our location.

They initially wanted to drive me to hospital but I wasn't having any of that, I thought I had food poisoning.
I wound up in hospital later on, it turned out to be kidney stones.

I wish I'd got their number, so I could have thanked them properly and let them know I was O.K.
My garmin connect file is brilliant. An alarming top speed (down the M5 as my wife whisked me off home) but as I'd been stationary for so long my average overall speed looks quite normal.

[rabbit]

Yes!  Good thread Careau! 

On Saturday's DIY I had several....

At Chepstow 24 hour Tesco at 3 am in the morning the lady on the till was happy for me to wheel the bike around the store.

At Cheddar I was sat on the floor at 6:30 am outside the mini-Tesco changing batteries and pondering what to do as the store didn't open until 7 and, although I could control with the cash point (I was DIY GPSing but always get receipts as well in case the GPS dies or corrupts!) I really needed liquid.  A guy over the road came over and asked "are you ok", "yes" I say, "but do you know where I can get some water", "ah I'll fill them up for you"....he came back with two full bottles of water, plus ice cubes - what a star 

At Bideford the lady in Cafe again filled my bottles for free

Numerous drivers stopped and waited patiently for me when I was climbing the tiny narrow lanes and the tractor driver who kept smiling when the only way we could both fit was for him to wait whilst I clambered up into the verge with the bike.

At Tintagel the lovely man in the Chipshop came out to ask me about the bike and the ride whilst I was trying to unsuccessfully force in some solid food.  I had to give in and had a load of chips and an empty can of coke to put in the bin (of which there wasn't one in view), but he immediately offered to dispose of it for me.  Such a simple thing, but he really didn't have to sort out my rubbish for me.

That thing about the bike being a great leveller is very true, especially when riding solo.  I had so many people ask me where I had come from and where I was riding to. 

The number of nice people on the ride vastly outweighed the number of aggressive drivers.  Maybe people are just more chilled in the South West?

[Kim]

The number of nice people on the ride vastly outweighed the number of aggressive drivers.  Maybe people are just more chilled in the South West?

It's all about the distance from London, I reckon.

[Moultonaught]

my first ever 100k. about 5k from the finish.  I was clearly struggling when a group of lovely 'older ladies' ^TM  from Winchester(I think) CTC went past me apace, with a cheery

 "not far now dear, we'll make sure there's a cup of tea waiting for you at the finish -  you look like you need it."

and at the finish said cup of tea was indeed waiting for me. 

[drossall]

I put the drive wheel of my trike down a cavern in the road in Essex. Almost needed ropes to get it back out. The axle housing tube broke, and the machine was unrideable. I pushed it for two or three miles, before some other trikies caught up with me. One asked a local resident for help - he took my trike in, and lent me his bike to get back to the start and fetch my car. The other two rode back with me. Part way back, the organiser turned up in his car as well, having been alerted by other riders, but by that stage I was already sorted of course.

[Bairdy]

I only just remembered this one today!

Last years National 400, I was maybe less than 10km from the finish and really trashed.
I asked a couple, who were out walking their dog for directions.
I must have looked battered and when we got to the usual, "How far?, in 24 hrs?" conversation they invited me to their house for a cooked breakfast. 

Although I'd been riding in a bonked state for 30km I thanked them for their generosity and declined.
I might have got too comfy and finished the ride out of time.

[caerau]

Yet you still managed to finish before me     I recall seeing you standing there as I staggered in - iirc you didn't do the official route and so managed to avoid the village poised on top the Everest towards the end.  That was a nice walk

[Jonah]

On Helfire last year I asked the bloke behind the Costa Coffee stand in Taunton Dean services if I could have a kip under one of his tables.  He said 'yeah no worries, after a chat I laid down and pulled my cap over my eyes whilst he went outside for a fag.  On his way back inside he took off his jacket and laid it over me.  And when I got up about 45m later, he gave me some free flap jack for my journey. 

[Bairdy]

Yet you still managed to finish before me     I recall seeing you standing there as I staggered in - iirc you didn't do the official route and so managed to avoid the village poised on top the Everest towards the end.  That was a nice walk

I thought you got back before me, you were certainly ahead of me earlier on, riding with Mikey and leaving the controls as I was arriving.

I don't remember missing any hills, if I did, I'm very glad.
I think I went a bit wrong towards the end due to a slight error on the route sheet, this might have been were I missed the Tibetan plateau village in Devon.

For some reason, that is the worst shape I've ever finished a ride in, probably didn't eat enough.

[caerau]

Sadly not - that ride was also my worst bonk ever (horrendous) I walked a good proportion of the last 30k. I tried to 'win' that ride at first and paid for it big time 

[Dave_C]

On Wednesday mid way through the Highlands, 10 miles north of Ullapool stuck fixing multiple spoke failures a dutch camper van pulled in, and the lady in the passenger seat came out with 3 bottles of cold water for us to drink. The heat was oppresive and we had no shade. Things like this make it all seem worth it.

[EGO-Maniac]

I find many of the volunteers go well beyond the expectations when it comes to assisting riders at controls, so I won't use them as a particular example - but I was recently taken aback during a 200km ride when I had stopped at a pub for a refill of water. The lady had asked if I wanted ice put into my bottle and Camelbak bladder. It was a blazing hot day and although I'd never before considered doing something like that it was one of the best ideas I'd heard in a long time and it worked surprisingly well...

[wwatts]

I was doing a 1200K in the southwest corner of France, La Ronde Alienor d'Aquitaine, earlier this month.  It's largely an unsupported ride, and on Sunday, the second day of the ride, I was having trouble finding food.  (French food stores keep erratic hours, and close altogether on Sundays).  As I was riding through the Dodogne region, an American who spends his summers there was out for a ride and joined me for several miles.  He asked me how it was going, and I described my difficulties in finding food.  He rode home, put together a bag of food for me, got in his car, and drove to where he thought I would be on the course to give me the food.  It was really an extraordinary thing, and it helped me a whole lot.

[bikey-mikey]

A couple of years ago, roughly, I had broken my left hand and almost immediately borrowed Auntie Helens 'spare' Trice Q recumbent trike. Somewhere on a 200 I had attempted to ride up a steep hill covered in wet cow poo, and the rear wheel just would not grip, and I could not get off the trike due to my injuries, the steepness slipperiness and the deep gully perilously behind me to me left.

A posh Land Rover 4x4 came down the hill, and I thought 'now I'm for it', but I wasn't. He stopped and asked if I was OK. When I explained, he got out of his car, despite the poo, and hauled the trice sideways and then got me out of it. He also gave me a bottle of water, since I was way beyond my meagre supply....

He was a cyclist, of course !!

[caerau]

Yes, my helpful chap did comment that 'he used to do this so he knows what it's like' - that does help.

[Ningishzidda]

On several occasions, I have been told there is a cycle track in the vicinity which will get me off the road.

[T42]

On a UAF Audax I organized some years ago rider lost his card.  A passing motorist noticed it and (glory be) recognized it.  A friend of his was prez of a local cycling club so he took it to him. The prez then drove with it to the next control and caught us before we left.

[Dave_C]

A very very nice man once picked up some really smelly cycling kit I left at a Weatherspoons in Saltcoats after a particulaly easy bimble round Scotland in late July 2104  . This lovely chap, then posted my kit back to me and instead of asking for p&p, asked me to donate to a very worthy cause listed below.  This great guy normally has a whiney rep on YACF  , so it was doubley nice to find in person he is, just like his online monier

Please, if you like this post splash a little cash on this chap's Justgiving page, I was pointed to by the thoroughly nice YACF member (copywrite) (who shall remain nameless):

https://www.justgiving.com/Duncan-O-Reilly

You know who you are man!