Audacious Cycling

Audacious meaning bold. Now shortened to Audax and the type of cycle ride I am going to attempt tomorrow. Not the most extreme ride anyone has ever done but at around 250 km (155 miles including cycling to and from the start) this will be my longest and boldest ride by far. And while I normally just pootle at my own pace and decide when and where I will finish cycling that day this is a timed event and I must get proof of passage and completion at various points on the way. 

So, I am meeting a fellow Audax rider at 07.00 hrs tomorrow in Manchester and we are going to follow a circular route to Liverpool/Wirral and back to Manchester. He has done this before so I will be very much in his hands. The weather is looking great and the bike is ready. I'll aim for no alcohol this evening and an early night. Quite excited but just a little nervous.

If I can do this within the time limit and not be too knackered I will be well on my way to preparing for LEL 2013. The first physical and pyschological steps will have been taken and everything after will be easier because of that. If I struggle tomorrow I will have to reassess my goal to complete the LEL. I am hopeful it will not be too taxing. I have done rides of 145 km before with camping gear, found it pleasurable and was ready to do it all again the next day but perhaps that will be my upper limit. I suppose only time (and distance) will tell!

Audax Advice

I recently announced my intention on CycleChat to attempt the London-Edinburgh-London (LEL) in 2013 - a 1400 km endurance cycle ride over 116 hrs. I received some supportive replies and then Greenbank posted a very helpful one. Thanks Greenbank. I think it's a really useful framework and hope to use it a fair bit. These are my thoughts on it at present (Greenbank's text in blue). 

Picture credit to be added

For someone considering it in 2013 I'd suggest a minimum of:-

a) Start doing Audaxes now (if you're not already doing them). You can dip your toe in with a 100km if you like, everyone starts somewhere. Just start.

I am happy riding 85 miles (136 km) with camping gear at a nice pace. I plan to start with a 200 km ride at the end of September. Will be a more focused kind of riding but the 200 km doesn't faze me.

b) Ideally you'd work up to 200km rides within a few months and keep that going over the winter, there are some lovely winter 200s in the calendar. Don't worry too much if you don't, but you should be happily doing a 200km ride by Feb/March 2012.

See above.

Also don't worry if you finish close to the time limit on a winter ride. I'm near the back of the field usually and took ~13 hours for a winter 200 in the run up to LEL'09. Even at my fastest in the summer I'm still taking at least 10 hours for a 200. For the longer rides I've rarely finished with more than an hour to spare, and minimal sleep.

I hope to complete 200 km in 11 - 13 hrs (you have 13.5 hrs at this distance). I suppose I'll know soon enough.

c) Aim for an SR (200, 300, 400, 600km) in 2012. (an SR is short for Super Randonneur. Anyone completing an Audax of 200 km or over is entitled to call themselves a Randonneur. Someone doing a 200 km, 300, km, 400 km and 600 km events in one calendar year prefix this title with 'Super'. They have completed an SR). 

An SR in 2012 would be perfect, but not absolutely required, preparation. There are plenty of people that didn't do any long distance riding until 6 months before LEL 2009. 

Really? Did they do OK?

However, the more prepared you are the less likely you are to fail.

Roger.

What you almost might find is that night riding just isn't for you. If you're not fast enough to minimise it then you may find that rides longer than 300km just aren't for you (I know several people who've found this), but give it a few tries before deciding this.

Looking forward to trying the night riding. Have always been a night Owl. Shift work is in my blood!

The SR isn't just physical preparation, it's mental preparation. You need to get to know how you deal with sitting on the bike all day and, sometimes, all night. You need to know how you deal with sleep deprivation. You need to know whether you have the mental strength to keep going rather than just giving up when you reach an inevitable low point. You need to learn how to listen to your body, when it's hungry and needs food (almost always during an Audax), when you're dozy, when you're thirsty, etc. Learning how you deal with stuff never stops, so don't assume a single SR series and you've got it licked.

Sounds more than reasonable.

d) Aim for at least an SR in 2013 in the run up to LEL.

I'll try!

If you can go for hillier rides (with AAA points) then even better. Lots of bits of LEL are flat but the Northern section is quite hilly (but worth it for the scenery). 

I want to organise a DIY Audax (literally a Do It Yourself route) of 300 km over Yad Moss (a high road on the LEL). Will be good to know I have done this section if I actually get there on the LEL itself. Also planning on riding the 200 km Manchester Loop which I believe is quite hilly. 

Obviously, the more you can do in advance the better. Each training ride or each Audax means you'll suffer a little less on LEL itself (and hopefully not 'suffer' at all).

I've got time plus an understanding and supportive wife (are you reading this oh love of my life?). I'll do as much as I can fit around working full time and being an attentive and loving husband and father!

Going The Distance

I'm in a bit of a dilemma. It's not a terrible dilemma but even so I am torn and it is causing me lots to consider.

You see I have gone and committed myself to something I'm not sure I can do but I'm going to have a damn good go at even so. Following a CycleChat (CC) forum on Touring and Expedition cycling, someone I know via CC asked what bikes would be good for an Audax - specifically the London-Edinburgh-London (LEL) in 2013. I had no idea but really fancied the idea of an organised ride of this length at some distant, vague, future point. I checked and found the event runs from 26 July to 2 August 2013 and is a 1400 km event (Audax rides are international hence the metric). I worked out this would be an 850 mile ride over 8 days so a little over 100 miles/day. 

Easy peasy I thought. I comfortably manage 60-85 miles/day when cycle-camping, stop to take photos and video, set up camp, find the nearest pub for the evening and then repeat for 3-7 days. I'm quite sure with two years to prepare and no panniers to carry I could complete 8 consecutive 100+ mile rides. So I said "...can I come too? and the reply came "But of course!!". This was the start of my dilemma although I didn't know it at the time.

Audax riding, also known as Randonneuring, has a long history. It originated in Italy but really took shape in France and it is one of the great things to come from across the channel in my opinion*. The LEL is the flagship event of Audax UK and takes place every four years. It attracts hundred of entrants, or Randonneurs, from a multitude of countries but it is not the only UK event. There are many shorter one over distances of 100 km, 200 km, 300 km, 400 km and 600 km run all through the year. Riders do not compete against each other (at least in theory) but against the clock. They are expected to navigate between checkpoints where they gain a stamp to prove they have passed that way. At these checkpoints may be opportunity for food, water, rest and repair but in between each, the rider is expected to make their own arrangements. They are the Marathons of the cycle world. No sprint finishes nor points for hill climbs, no team tactics or chase vehicles. It is the rider and his or her machine. A test of physical and mental strength, fortitude, planning, resolve and of course mechanical reliability.

The more I read about Audax in general and the LEL in particular the more excited I became. Hand in hand with the stir of excitement that comes with a new challenge though came some worries. Reports of LEL 2009 said riders had 116 hrs to complete the event. That is 116 hrs for; cycling, sleeping, navigating, eating, toileting, mending, washing, dressing, conversing and so on. My new calculations brought me up short. To cover the distance succesfully a participant would need to cover just short of 176 miles per day for over 4.5 days (and that is assuming no wrong turns) and still somehow manage to squeeze in everything else required. 

Had I miscalculated originally? Well, it turns out I had done and big time too. I'd assumed the ride starts on 26 July and finishes 8 days later on the 2 August. Starts are actually staggered and 116 hrs is the total time allowed for any one individual. But this isn't my dilemma. I was already hooked, was planning when I could enter my first 200 km event and how I would kit out the Travelmaster for it. No, my dilemma is much more material than that.

I realised to partake in the LEL the Travelmaster was not the most suitable bike. I'd read up quite a bit by now, including an excellent account from a rider who completed LEL 2009 - ...Barring Mechanicals by Andy Allsop. Cycles for Audax rides need to be comfortable and reliable but also fast. While my touring bike handsomely meets the first two criteria it is not the fastest bike by any stretch of the imagination. An unladen weight of 18 kg and gearing set up for touring with panniers sees to that. As I am going to need every bit of help to complete this longer events a new bike seemed to be required. 

No problem about a new fast steed as I'm looking to get a CF road bike and they are certainly light and fast. Well yes, and they are comfortable (up to a point) and reliable too, but I am contemplating spending 20 hrs a day in the saddle for over 4 days and cycling through whatever the British weather chooses to throw my way. A razor saddle, drop bars, thin high pressure tyres and no mudguards again means this bike is not the one for the LEL. What I need is an Audax bike.

So my dilemma is this. Do I carry on trying out various CF speed machines with a view to getting one in a few months and then work on the OH to persuade her of my need for yet another bike or do I take the sensible approach. The approach that I can't have everything I want and compromise by getting an Audax bike only which, when all said and done, will still be a very nice, fast day touring bike for having fun on?

*The other one being Continental food