Neutralised night sections over longer distances?

[marcusjb]

Just make sure there's no shinty matches going on when you organise this tour (or you get the wrath of a road-building pressure group):

http://road.cc/content/news/128775-cycling-madness%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%93-highland-road-safety-campaigners-warn-chaos-due-event-clash

(I am now not going to ride the RAB - there's Cracknell involvement!)

[Euan Uzami]

One way of thinking is that dorset coast and hardboiled is 2 rides but the bryan chapman no matter how many days you take over it is one. Mille cymru is obviously three. A point-to-point is one, and a single loop is one - but multiple loops ending in the same place can't be one!

Hmmmm...   http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/14-19/

This ride is these rides are ...
FTFY 

[bikey-mikey]

OK I just found this thread....

Firstly I'm 61 years old and 200 kms is hardly enough to keep me occupied for 24 hours... What on earth do I do with the rest of the day??  (14 or 15 hours....). Of course when you first start it takes time and effort to get fit enough to do longer stuff on a daily basis, but you can work up to it if you try!! Just don't shortcut it by making it so easy anyone can do it without all that 'training' palaver.... 

I like riding at night.... If you have not done it, how can you say you don't like it? You see all sorts of animals like deer and foxes and badgers, and lots of owls etc. which you do not see in the day. Rivers and lakes, fields and woods look great under moonlight, and the motons avoid roads at night when nobody can see them driving their status symbols!!!

To do audaxes you need to be fit (shock horror) and you need to buy proper lights (double shock horror - what's wrong with my tiny blinky winky?) Do most sportive riders actually have proper lights or tools, and are they actually fit for more than one short quick blast   ? ? (Of course, I acknowledge that some are very fast and hugely fit, but in the rare minority...)

As to this particular discussion, it seems that the idea is to dumb it down so people can say they've done longer distances, in AUK events, by adding together multiple separate rides and pretending they are one single ride.  In reality they haven't and can't....

My solution? How about making it more like football?

I'm thinking that those of us who regularly ride 600s in well under 40 hours could do the usual events, and maybe 5,000,000 people who can't could watch us on the telly from their sofas, and buy jerseys just like ours, and boast to their mates how 'we' (which includes themselves) rode a 600 that weekend, just like they currently say 'we' beat Liverpool / Man U / Hacklethwaite Juniors on Saturday.. 

There is always the CTC who organise easier rides....

[Euan Uzami]

I'm thinking that those of us who regularly ride 600s in well under 40 hours could do the usual events, and maybe 5,000,000 people who can't could watch us on the telly from their sofas, and buy jerseys just like ours, and boast to their mates how 'we' (which includes themselves) rode a 600 that weekend, just like they currently say 'we' beat Liverpool / Man U / Hacklethwaite Juniors on Saturday.. 

There is always the CTC who organise easier rides....

I like this idea.
But it's more like, the people that want to ride 600 in 40 hours are like the premiership, but the ones doing 200 a day tours are like the minor outlying sunday league teams like Widnes Waverers, etc, that play on pitches where you can see the houses in the background.

Not sure it would be too popular with families though. Women up and down the land would be slightly amenable saturday morning, but come sunday evening they would be driven to despair when their husband and his mates, having got through about 800 cans, are still watching audax.
But good for tv manufacturers though - with PBP next year it should send sales of flatscreen sony xperias and 62" samsungs through the roof.

[Manotea]

...Not sure it would be too popular with families though. Women up and down the land would be slightly amenable saturday morning, but come sunday evening they would be driven to despair when their husband and his mates, having got through about 800 cans, are still watching audax.

Not sure I follow this... with a regular 600, riders are done and dusted in 40hrs so mostly home on Sunday night, but your little leaguers will still be at it till Monday evening, by which time they will have supped 1200 cans, hic!

[Cycling Daddy]

As a spectator sport I think Audax might leave a bit to be desired (although there is Test Match cricket).  High point might be a puncture with some hapless rider effect ting repairs no doubt 'assisted' by three 'friends' giving plenty of advice. 

[bikey-mikey]

As a spectator sport I think Audax might leave a bit to be desired (although there is Test Match cricket).  High point might be a puncture with some hapless rider effect ting repairs no doubt 'assisted' by three 'friends' giving plenty of advice. 

Yebbut it would still beat football 

I can just hear the commentators on BBC News telling everybody how 'xyz rider' must have inadvertently woken the fairies by using the P word....

Remember if we fell off we would all have to learn to roll around in 'agony' until we got our 'fwee kick(stand)', and then miraculously recover, like some sort of miracle.... 

[Tewdric]

It's probably not going to be too long before someone streams a live video feed from their helmet cam, so proper armchair audax will indeed be possible.  Gets my vote.

[Martin]

back to the OP; apparently 7500 are doing this (although only about 600, only) are doing the whole ride (and shelling out about 2 grand for it)

http://www.rideacrossbritain.com/

no market? 

[Veloman]

http://www.rideacrossbritain.com/

no market? 

Yes there is a market.

But do AUK wish to enter that market?

[marcusjb]

No one is denying a market exists (I think!) - RAB, Tour of Wessex, Rat Race Road Trip etc all seem to attract the numbers.

The question is whether any one wants to organise something similar and whether they want to wrestle it to work with AUK regs.

[frankly frankie]

I like riding at night.... If you have not done it, how can you say you don't like it? You see all sorts of animals like deer and foxes and badgers, and lots of owls etc.

This is indeed the point that a lot of people simply miss.  Night-riding is what it's all about.  All the rest is just the necessary hard yards you have to do to get to that zen-like state.

I believe the Australians have a night 200 (it's cooler that way) and I think that's something AUK should explore, for the summer months (of course the FNRTTC are showing the way there - brilliantly by all accounts - but an AUK ride would offer the same experience but without the assigned TECs - so it wouldn't be anything like the same at all).  A 7pm start and finish in time for a hearty breakfast.

I used to have a 12 mile commute to work.  A couple of times per year, I would set off the evening before and insert a 100-mile loop ...

My favourite night encounters are with low-flying peacocks - you haven't lived until you've had a Close Encounter of the Bird Kind.

[BlackSheep]

.......................... and insert a 100-mile loop ...

That's standard insertion for some Willesden AUKs 


Neutralised night sections over longer distances? >>>>>

(click to show/hide)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPqhm36sjVE

[Arry-R]

Richard Harding experienced an encounter with a Buzzard and knew BLOODY well that the bird had won! !
             

[Arry-R]

   If a 200k night Audax were to be organised in West Kent in the summer of 2015 (providing it didn't clash with PBP qualifying events) how many would be likely to enter? ?

 

[citoyen]

I have ridden overnight to get to the start of several West Kent events, so you could probably count me in - I would just ride through the day to get to the start instead.

[citoyen]

No one is denying a market exists (I think!) - RAB, Tour of Wessex, Rat Race Road Trip etc all seem to attract the numbers.

The question is whether any one wants to organise something similar and whether they want to wrestle it to work with AUK regs.

Or indeed *why* they would want to do so. What would be the point of affiliating such an event to auk?

I was tempted to enter a London-Paris ride this year, organised along similar lines to what the op is suggesting - you ride in groups, according to ability, and even have support cars with mechanics and medics on hand. Unfortunately, the £650 entry fee put it out of my range. Anyway, the point of mentioning it is that it was no doubt a great event to take part in, and certainly requires an element of 'audacity', but as per mikey's comments, it's not audax.

[Fab Foodie]

I like riding at night.... If you have not done it, how can you say you don't like it? You see all sorts of animals like deer and foxes and badgers, and lots of owls etc.

This is indeed the point that a lot of people simply miss.  Night-riding is what it's all about.  All the rest is just the necessary hard yards you have to do to get to that zen-like state.

I believe the Australians have a night 200 (it's cooler that way) and I think that's something AUK should explore, for the summer months (of course the FNRTTC are showing the way there - brilliantly by all accounts - but an AUK ride would offer the same experience but without the assigned TECs - so it wouldn't be anything like the same at all).  A 7pm start and finish in time for a hearty breakfast.

I like this idea!  Having done a few FNRttC and FNRttS, I've become a fan of night riding.  A Friday evening start and Sat morning brekkie sounds good to me.

[rob]

  If a 200k night Audax were to be organised in West Kent in the summer of 2015 (providing it didn't clash with PBP qualifying events) how many would be likely to enter? ?

 

Possibly.....but next year's already looking a little busy

[Mike Conway]

I enjoy riding through the night, but not after riding 300km during the day... This is what separates SR wannabe's like me from those that are able to handle the long distance audaxes (400km and 600km + rides). I fully appreciate the ability of these sorts of riders and they have my respect - I would not want to make these rides easier for them as it takes away from what they're able to do.

For me 200k and 300k rides are plenty, and I'm happy enough to hang around this level with RRTY being my own personal objective every year. I've tried a 400km and didn't manage to complete it - I'm simply not cut out for it, and don't expect audaxing to work around to accommodate me.

[Mike Conway]

  If a 200k night Audax were to be organised in West Kent in the summer of 2015 (providing it didn't clash with PBP qualifying events) how many would be likely to enter? ?

 

I would, depending if there wasn't another cool audax close to London that didn't clash. Two of my most enjoyable rides were the Green and Yellow Fields 300km (midnight start) and Fairies Flattest Possibly 300 (2am start), though I think something like an 8pm start would be better for getting more night-time value.

[citoyen]

I'm one of those riders who really doesn't cope at all well with the sleep deprivation aspect of long rides, which is part of the reason I've only completed two out of the four 600s I've attempted, and have never attempted anything longer. But that aside, I share the view that riding through the night is a very special experience. All the better if you're riding eastwards into the dawn.

[mattc]

No one is denying a market exists (I think!) - RAB, Tour of Wessex, Rat Race Road Trip etc all seem to attract the numbers.

The question is whether any one wants to organise something similar and whether they want to wrestle it to work with AUK regs.

Or indeed *why* they would want to do so. What would be the point of affiliating such an event to auk?

So they could ride for days without scoring any points?

Also:
If i was interested in supporting people on these £2k-for-1000km type rides, I'd apply for a job at the companies running these things. And I haven't.

[Cudzoziemiec]

How about a night time series, resting during the day and leaving at dusk?

I like the overall idea of 'neutralised night (or day!) sections' as, simply, sleep is good and so is riding. Somebody mentioned upthread the 'original' style of audax as practised in France - riding in a group with a captain and taking prescribed stops together. I can see it as something similar. Not a supported tour, which implies leisure, sightseeing and taking it easy, but something with a more challenging but achievable distance and timescale. But who's it meant to be challenging for? Not those who already ride 600s etc, clearly. So those who would think about such distances? Or those who would happily ride a 200?

As for points, those who are riding for the points will be doing the conventional rides, surely? The sense of establishing this under AUK, afaics, is that there are many experienced organisers and to reduce costs compared to a commercial tour?

[Euan Uzami]

Even if you did get points for it the hardened points chasers wouldn't go for it as it's uneconomical in terms of points per day.