Dales Divide - not doing the full 600km route, as I can’t spare 3 days. But will aim for 325km or 440km, depending on my mood!
The official shortcut is north after York, up to Osmotherly, making it 440km .
But I’ve got an unofficial one from Patterley Bridge up to Leyburn, which should get me to a bothy by 9pm 
I’m not fussed on a time,.or even doing the full route. Just a good excuse to get out for an overnighter.
I bailed. Again
Exactly the same place as last year, but for totally different reasons.
Great first 2.5hrs, then the wind started. And the rain. And the hail. And the “feels like” 2⁰ temperature. The climb up to Whernside was just a push, as none of the path would grip, just slippy, then the bog across the top was just madness. All in the aforementioned “wintry mix”
I’ve never been wetter on a ride. And I’ve only been colder twice in my life (Rother Valley Tri; Turned blue and had to get a foil blanket and sit in a St Johns. Summer Lockdown Ride; Rain and wind about 100km from home in the middle of the Peaks. Descending a hill and was so cold, I thought of urinating on my hands just to warm them up!)
Just couldn’t bear to do another 9 hours in that, then 8 hours the next day.
Went the road way back to Ingleton, then the back roads back to Milnthorpe. 45km took just shy of two hours with the wind 
Managed 105km in a smidge over 7 hours, to give you an idea on how hard it was!
Looking at Dot watcher, 15% DNF rate already, and Ali Brownlee is still in the lead, averaging 18kmh. I was going for 16kmh based on what I did last year. Managed 13kmh yesterday!
Sorry to hear that @Poet . However, with ‘Dave’ on the way up there, you may be glad of your decision.
A few we know who started have all bailed. So definitely not a good weekend for it. Now you can enjoy the rest of the weekend 
What’s the go-to technology for bike lights these days for long night time riding where there’s obviously no way to recharge a battery? Are lights with old school batteries still a thing? Not going to consider a dynamo set up. Asking for a friend…
Exposure are top dog for lights. Personaly thoufh I prefere something that takes 18650 batteries so I can carry spares.
I’ve got an Anker something battery pack and just run a cable to my phone, Garmin and light. Works a treat.
EDIT: it’s a Belkin Boost charge Power bank 20000mAH. Model BPB012.
I did my 300k audax yesterday, and unfortunately, it didn’t go to plan. From the start my stomach was unsettled and I went through the cycle I’ve had before, of eating cautiously / feeling rubbish for a couple of hours and soft pedalling while my stomach slowly works / feeling good for an hour after my stomach’s settled / needing to eat again / repeat. In prep for this ride I did a couple a quite hard 100 milers and felt really good, and the 200k last month went really well.
I’ve been trying to reflect on what might be going wrong and I can only think it’s one or more of these factors;
Event stress- just getting a bit worked up about doing an event and wanting to do well planning it, sorting stuff out. It’s only a £20 local audax, ffs, not a £750 international IM, but I think it’s a bit psychosomatic and I’m just getting a bit worked up.
Life stress- yes, play me the world’s smallest violin as I’m going back to work after a great Easter break, but doing some diy / stressing about work / sorting stuff for the ride the day before didn’t help.
Heat stress- I started feeling off almost right away, when it was quite cold, but as the day got warmer, this probably wasn’t helping.
Anyway, all this basically means I’ve got to have a long hard think about the Bryan Chapman audax and PBP qualification. It’s one thing feeling rubbish for 12 hours, but the thought of starting PBP and in the first hour knowing I’ve got 3 days of trying to keep food down, well it doesn’t bear thinking about.
Sorry to hear that.
Do you think cycling slower might help at all?
Or do you think it’s all in the head?
As Audax is cheap, I’d say just keep plugging away and the dam will break. I know the definition of insanity is to do the same thing and expect something different, so maybe something needs tweaking; but it doesn’t sound like you’ve tried Plan A enough yet for that to be the case? Perhaps simply a case of breaking down the anxiety barrier through repetition.
Especially if you’re managing 100-200km fine, but feel like you’re faltering from the start in a 300. I can’t think of a physical reason for struggling from the start if your prep and event start times etc are similar?
How hard are you working, like what HR were you at?
What are you eating?
I know you’ve talked about this issue before but I don’t remember the details. Have you tried not having solid food? I realise it’s a long event & food is nicer but liquid is much easier on the stomach than solid food.
Are you pushing too hard because that’s how you’re programmed to think in triathlon terms? (you mention riding 100 miles hard in training). An Audax should just be a pootle if it’s your longest ever ride. I only ate solids on the 400, stopped twice for a proper hot meal. there were people ‘racing’ it, but I let them go after about 40km and took an alternative route with more sensible & experienced people.
I remember joining an Audax forum beforehand to get some info/tips. One guy said "if you can race 180km you can ride 400" as it turns out purely by chance I found myself riding the ‘last’ 350 km with him!
That’s a shame mate. Were you riding with anyone? riding alone for long distances is good in one sense but does leave you alone with your own thoughts and with no distractions, that can sometimes downward spiral.
Do you need to invite a few of us along with you next year? Instil a bit of southern Sisu.
Send me the link.
Thanks for all the comments; much appreciated.
No, I’m not pushing hard during them, but I can usually keep a steady pace where I’m able to talk quite comfortably. This is definitely the fourth time that this has happened and it’s never happened on my Sunday cafe rides, which usually have some faster riding. It just seems so random. I eat normal food that I’m used to, again, what I have before setting out on a Sunday ride with my mates. @Doka yes, usually eating solids, although it was after drinking a pint of banana milk at the last control stop, that I started to feel better. I just don’t think I could stand 2-3 days of energy drinks etc.
I thought that was the Kanzo Adv, but actually is it the ASTR?
@wheezy did you do Bryan Chapman last weekend? Had a few mates do it and it sounded a bit miserable on the Saturday
Hi mate. No, decided against it as I just couldn’t face having a dodgy stomach after my 300 went bad.
No idea, sorry S/H ebay purchase. I think its an older model.