Relatively confident I've got at least some chance of making it round. Have gone for durations approaching that before, although admittedly the last time I was fueled by a desparation to get off the Isle of Lewis.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Events, rides etc.
Audax 2012
(472 posts)-
Posted 12 years ago #
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I'm thinking about the Schiehallion Sunride too, but its way off in August so I'll wait until Moss Trooper before I book the ride. On the Deeside loop I rode with Neil for a wee while. He was trying to convince me to sign up for the ride, saying things like, 'you have a Dynamo, a nice bike and big Caradice, why don't you enter'. Aye right - I'll see how I get on with a 300 first.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Surely a well known fact that all you need to ride long distances is a Carradice and a dynamo!
With such equipment I can manage many miles even reaching more than 10. :D
Posted 12 years ago # -
PMSL!!!
Posted 12 years ago # -
Surely a well known fact that all you need to ride long distances is a Carradice and a dynamo!
Oh well that's me in for the next 600K then! Not.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Bummer, my cycle mate has stuffed his knee and doens't want to do the Moss Trooper 300 so rather than ride it myself with no GPS, I'm canning it too.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I'm doing the Potter For Tea 100k out of Kirriemuir on Saturday. Anyone else going on that or the Snow Roads 300k? Met a chap on my (brief) sojourn with Portovelo this morning who is doing Snow Roads...
I'm aiming to cycle up from Perth on Friday, then after the event cycle the 30 miles or so back to Perth to catch a train. So I'll have a bit of a tour of Tayside.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I take it that's a "no", then?
Looks like I'll have to rely on determination instead of conversation to get round the route...
Posted 12 years ago # -
Apparently BBC Scotland's Dougie Vipond is in training to ride the Snow Roads 300k on 2 June. He'll be bringing a TV crew with him as they're doing a feature for the "Aventure Show".
Will Audax riding become the new Triathlon with lots of sporty/outdoorsy types suddenly taking an interest? Or will it remain largely the preserve of club riders and bearded chaps with vintage Carradice saddlebags...
Posted 12 years ago # -
...Or will it remain largely the preserve of club riders and bearded chaps with vintage Carradice Saddlebags ...
Oi!! I ressemble that remark!! ;-)
I was down for the Snow Roads but had to withdraw due to a double booking.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Or will it remain largely the preserve of club riders
My experience of Audax is that it is largely the preserve of Audax riders...
Posted 12 years ago # -
Don't you get roadies using Audax as a fancy training ride? Or is that sportives?
Posted 12 years ago # -
I would say that audaxes are a type of roadie. For the short rides you tend to get a wide range of riders than the longer rides.
Sportives are quie similar to audaxes, except:
- food stops are shorter
- they cost more
- no need to navigate
- speeds generally higher
- timing is usually more important
- distances usually less than 200kmIf there were more audaxes at 200km or less, there would be demand. However because since audaxing seems to be aimed at eventually longer distances, it seems that these "short" distances rides tend to occur in the spring and autumn.
I am happy to go along on whoever's ride as long as the route is nice etc. I am very glad that folk on CCE are taking the iniative - last weekend's ride was fab. But I also like to do the timed events as a personal challenge.
Posted 12 years ago # -
"I am very glad that folk on CCE are taking the initiative"
Not just the long rides.
There have been some great shorter meanders involving birds, bricks, chimneys and re-creating old photos!
Posted 12 years ago # -
Techically speaking anything under 200k is a Brevet Populaire rather than Brevet de Randonneur and in the UK we generally mis-use the term audax to describe the latter.
My take ont he matter is that in a Sportive, you're paying to have someone else take away a bit of the responsibility for organisation, navigation and self-sufficiency away from you so you can concentrate on (as Cycling Plus always puts it ) your "BEST SPORTIVE EVER!" (their emphasis). In Audaxing/Randonneuring, part of the challenge is not how fast you get round (no prizes for being first) it's getting round largely on your own (or with your buddies).
Sportives rarely seem to exceed much more over 100miles, where as this is slightly below the entry-level for audax, so there's always going to be a speed differential there.
Posted 12 years ago # -
The two audaxes I have done ave been with the angus people. One was a mini snownroadswhich only did cairn o'mount once. The snow roads is a long long route with much cycling in the dark for me. They then sleep on the community centre floor and getup and do another one the next day. What larks.
Posted 12 years ago # -
The weather is looking great for Saturday, Crowriver. I hope you enjoy the tea and cakes run. I'll be on the Bethany Sportive - hopefully I'll be allowed to stuff my face on the return.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Thanks Amir, hope your sportive goes well. Apparently a complimentary bridie* at the finish is included in the entry fee for both the Potter For Tea and the Snow Roads. Something to look forward to!
* macaroni pie for veggies
Posted 12 years ago # -
The Snow Roads would be some ride. I can see a possible mini version (110 miles) through Royal Deeside. Is the Snow Roads a permanent?
Posted 12 years ago # -
The Snow Roads is allegedly the toughest 300k in the UK. Certainly I'm not ready for all those climbs, maybe Dougie Vipond is though. Don't think it's a permanent but there are others available.
A Potter For Tea only shares a teensy part of the same route. I think there's an audax called the Deeside Loop which may share some more features of the Snow Roads.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Kaputnik My take ont he matter is that in a Sportive, you're paying to have someone else take away a bit of the responsibility for organisation, navigation and self-sufficiency away from you so you can concentrate on (as Cycling Plus always puts it ) your "BEST SPORTIVE EVER!"
Very much so. Had a rare sportive experience on Sunday. Robert Millar one organised with Glasgow Wheelers and Braveheart Robert Millar Sportive
A customer suggested we did it on the 'wrong type' of bikes of course. Comparing notes after the event I concluded that we were paying for event support to help out the economics and also bear witness to the fact that there are cyclists ten times better/faster out there that just keep the head down and cycle through the pain barrier. You are participant and audience as events like this only attract a couple of hundred at most. We stopped too long and chatted with folk at the Fintry stop - was pretty hot.
The route included the Tak Me Doon climb which is steepish. The fast riders went 95 miles. We did the soft cycling 47 mile option and stayed with some others lured into this 'fun run'. Was really good though.Posted 12 years ago # -
DaveC did the Deeside Loop. I think that there is a sportive sometime following a similar route.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Aye I did that ride. I found the end easier than the ~200 I did with Adrian, Tom, Bruce, Dougie and Andy last Saturday. I consider this was due to my missing a cooked breakfast at 9am (felt hungry from 11am) and missed an evening meal at 17.30 when we had a wee break in Garvald. I should have eaten there as I started to die as we approached Pencaitland on our (modified) flatter route back.
Here is that Deeside Loop:
Posted 12 years ago # -
"
...I found the end easier than the ~200 I did with Adrian, Tom, Bruce, Dougie and Andy last Saturday.
"Hang on, did you guys inadvertently invent something novel, and FREE, called "Going Cycling with your Mates"? I think there may be a market for this?
Posted 12 years ago # -
Aye, but you'll struggle commercialise it.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Aye, but then there's no potential for collecting unusual brevet card stamps, randonneur badges, and getting you name printed in lists in newsletters, is there?
Posted 12 years ago # -
DaveC, thanks for that Tayside Loop map. I know what you mean about Saturday. I had that insistent voice in my head telling me I needed to eat something substantial. If I hadn't been a few downhill miles from home I'd have been looking for a cafe or a shop.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Snow roads for comparison:
http://www.mapmyride.com/s/routes/view/bike-ride-map/kirriemuir/970907
Deeside loop just chops off the northernmost bits...
Posted 12 years ago # -
@baldcyclist. Audax rides are not comercial. The rides are usually in the region of a tenner and for that you get shelter at the start and finish - usually a local church hall or community centre with toilets and kitchen facilities, which from are produced a light breakfast and then after the ride a meal to see you home. Any extra costs like fuel to drive to stops along the way for card marking or cakes use up the rest.
That said I did like the ride on Saturday and will do another in the future.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I have had an unreasonable desire to do the Snow Roads ever since I first heard of it... I'd want to do some 200kms first, though, and maybe start with a 100 just to get used to the process! And somehow there's always something else that I want to do, and I know how much training something like that needs... especially when it is a long bike.
Posted 12 years ago #
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