It’s my natural, pessimistic attitude to life. Madly, no punctures today!
2 Likes
Forgot to say, I’m a Wahoo convert. Great bit of kit.
2 Likes
Just looked at the route… you rode past my parents house!
Which, now that I’ve typed it, doesn’t seem like it was necessarily worth writing, but conveniently they’re at about the 1/2 way point, so maybe I’ll do it later in the year and spread it over a weekend. 
Or at least set off early and stop there for lunch.
2 Likes
Just thought regarding being able to maintain position surely bikepacking on a TT bike with lots of chances to adjust position and relax, plus short stops throughout the day is probably easier than an aggressive 12hr TT?
@TROSaracen - how’s your experience the day after? Does it leave you incredibly sore needing a break or not too bad?
1 Like
I think managing yourself carefully is true on any bike when cycling long, consecutive days. Balancing the need to stretch/relax with making the distance is the challenge and there’s more than one way of solving it.
The last 10 miles of the day can be very tough, especially if there’s an unexpected challenge such as a steep hill or route finding problem. I doubt that would be any different with different set-ups. However, overnight recovery might be
2 Likes
For me, it’s all about the contact points. I got quite bad ‘hot foot’ on the longer audax rides, so with experience, I became a lot more careful to take my shoes off at stops, not overtighten my shoe straps etc. I’ve ridden 2 12hr TT’s and was generally very comfortable with my contact points but HR had been much higher for longer, and my neck was starting to grumble towards the end. The 400 and 600 audax rides, it’s just about staying awake and not hitting pot holes.
6 Likes
I’ve signed up to do a self-supported 300km audax, next Wednesday. It’s the London Orbital route, which I had a go at a few years ago but the navigation went wrong at Tilbury. Also signed up for the KWCC 400km Dauntsey Dawdle audax in May.
10 Likes
@wheezy What are your top tips after the audax you mention above. Did you do it in the end, i can’t quite recall sorry.
Plannign is getting a bit more serious for our one now. I booked train tickets to London for the 3 of us, including spaces for our bikes! We’re just going to head off from Waterloo instead of messing about trying to get to Greenwich, for the sake of 10 km or whatever.
The route is looking to be pretty much bang on 300km at the mo, but we need to go over it together on Komoot and smooth out any silly sections etc. Maybe use Strava and Garmin heatmaps to identify the best roads and routes. I’m assuming that by the time you add in a few detours for food/water etc, you’ll always end up a bit over. If we’re under 300km by the time we get home i’d like to think i’d be up for riding past my house and topping it up!!
I’m going to go over the Garmin thread again for battery saving tips. All 3 of us have the Edge 530 (all under 2 years old), so i’m hoping that’ll be just about enough to carry us through. If space allows, i’ll take a small power bank and charge when we stop for food.
a few questions bubbling in my head:
1 - What is a sensible speed that we could expect do you reckon? It’s 300km but only 2k of climbing. A decent chunk of that will all be getting over the Blackdown hills about in the last 50km! So what to expect from a moving average and total average?
2 - how are you planning your food stops? Is it worth scheduling sit down food - breakfast and lunch - at decent sized towns to force you to stop and eat properly? Or are things too dynamic, and if you’re feeling good, a quick Tescoeses Express raid will suffice?
3 - Put up with traffic on larger roads that are more direct and quicker, or get off the beaten track a bit more?
4 - any other tips?
I looked back over my ride history. I did 4 x rides over 100k (101 - 113) in 2020 and 2 in 2021 (one of which was my Cotswold tri/du where i went the wrong way and added 10km!! 
). None in 2022, biggest would’ve been Cotswolds race in July.
This year i’ve managed a 71, 76 and a 90k so far. Hoping to get at least one in the three figures.
So i’m not exactly approaching this in particularly prepared form. But, and please correct me if i’m wrong, it’ll be such low intensity that aerobically and muscularly it’s going to be pretty easy. It’ll be the aching hands, wrists, back, neck, arse and feet that are going to be the issue?
ta
2 Likes
Hi mate,
Didn’t do it in the end. I’m meant to do a 400km this weekend, but I’m going to dns. Just not got enough in the tank, at the moment.
To answer most of your questions.
I didn’t worry about speed, as such. I just made sure that I started conservatively and I was going at a pace that allowed me to eat and digest food comfortably. Like all long events, I had bad patches but with some good food I’d usually snap out of it. Looks like hills are not much of an issue, but don’t be afraid to get it into the small ring early, to spare your legs for later on.
Break the ride into chunks on your Garmin. It’s easier to think I’ve got 70km to the next stop rather then ‘I’m still 150km from the end.’
In audax, there are usually pre-determined stops at a cafe, petrol station etc. Try not to hang around too much, particulalry towards the latter stages of the ride. It’s really easy to lose a couple of hours at a few stops, just sitting on a bag of charcoal outside a petrol station eating ice creams. That said, if you go past a newsagents etc and need to stop, do; just don’t take too long. I know it’s not a race, but the time can really add up, if you’re not careful. I favour short stops eating a quick snack, rather than sitting down for a big lunch, dinner.
At stops, I got into the habit of getting my helmet and shoes off. This really helped to cool me down and to stop or at least delay getting hot foot. Don’t spare on lubing up the contact points / Vaseline on your feet etc.
Take neurofen! You’ll probably get all sorts of aches and pains.
Make sure your phone, wallet etc are easy to hand, in your jersey, top tube bag etc.
I’d definitely take a spare gear cable, chain link and chain tool. If it looks like it could be wet, I’d also take some chain lube for later in the ride. Would be worth one of you having a folding tyre as a spare, so if you get a bad gash you can carry on.
Deffo try to get off the beaten track, you’ll probably enjoy the ride more. That’s what I’ve really enjoyed about audax, is how picturesque the routes are.
I think that’s most things. Let me know if there’s anything else.
3 Likes
Cheers dude, i’ll pass this on and reflect on the points.
It’s not an official Audax, just something we came up with ourselves and are doing unsupported. So time/location/stops are completely within our gift. It’s a one way so we’re just wanting to get home as soon as we can really.
Would 25kph moving average be reasonable to assume/achieve? Or is that a bit unrealistic?
1 Like
I’ve only done one long long ride - turns out I think it was just shy of 300km.
HAHA - this’ll annoy half the forum;
I was in miles - so obvs didn’t care
I rode out with a group to halfway - then home solo. Wind was VERY kind.
Top tip - what day are you doing it? If its a Sunday - be aware of shops and other places NOT being open, especially in rural places.
5 Likes
Haha, look at that!!! Jeez how flat was the route?! I thought my route was flat, but that’s half again!!!
We’re getting the late train to London on the Friday night, arriving at around midnight. Then we’ll have a last snack and a coffee, and get on our way. Should only have 4 hrs of darkness; well night time, as i’m guessing the first few hours will be pretty much lit the whole way anyway! Sunrise is like 4.42, but dawn will break closer to 0400.
So we’ll be riding on the Sat. Downside is roads will be busier. Upside is everything should be open.
We had breakfast planned in - which took about 2 hours ffs. Far too long. I planned to eat at halfway but didnt fancy much.
On the return solo leg I had a number of stop options - could stop here; or if not here; if neither then definitely here. With a variety of garages and chippies - tho it was the chippy that caught me out being shut. Thankfully it was scorching and an ice cream was better suited .
2 Likes
That’s what i’m thinking at the mo. Make note of the various towns etc, so we know where our options are.
None of us know the route/areas at all until the last 50/60km, so it’ll all be google map recce job.
Almost 1km of vertical what you on about
We went on one busy road going out - HATED it. Too much stress. I’d pick a nicer route where you can relax, ride abreast and enjoy it.
2 Likes
It’s not musculary easy!
I got massive cramps and my legs were in bits at 220km.
You’ll be fine with your hands 
Feet are shit, buy bigger shoes, I got a 47 for these longer rides and just wear thicker socks otherwise.
Then thin socks on the longer rides.
No point taking any spares you don’t know how to use.
Take your bike in and get it fettled the week or two before, then just do a few shakedown rides on it.
Average speed probably 25kmh moving.
Take some spare chamois cream, Butt’r comes in little serving sachets 
Garages are ace for a quick nip in and out, but a proper meal stop is an absolute must (this is coming from me, who won’t stop on rides of less than five hours )
Don’t get anything spicy - just something simple and easy. Mainly beige. Preferably with cheese and pig. And a fizzy pop.
If your mate stops for a piss, you should also force one out. Nobody wants to be stopping again five minutes later. Same goes for eating and taking on/off clothes. Do it all in one stop, not in eighty-fucking-six different stages 
2 Likes
I’d say 25km/hr would be realistic, for a flattish route.
Here’s 3 of my audax rides at various distances, for comparison.
7 Likes
Guessing that’s the Skeggy ride?
1 Like
Yup
3 Likes
Parts of the A52 and A46 
No wonder you didn’t like it