Audax. anyone ride em ?

[ton]

looking for a cleaner way of keeping fit this winter.
spent last winter on the fatbike, which was fun downhill, but crap the rest of the time.
so thinking of getting some warmer winter clothing and putting some narrower tyres on the fargo.
manage a 300km 15 or so years ago. would love to get up to that again. slowly mind.

[johnnystorm]

Haven't done one for ages but have done a good few. Plenty of routes that you can do solo and claim later. I found that a good motivator to get out and ride. Who doesn't love collecting patches?!

[Rob S]

Done a couple,only 100Km though. Definitely prefer them to the couple of sportives I've done.

[redefined_cycles]

Hey up Ton... I'm up for this if you fancy a partner.

[ton]

Hey up Ton... I'm up for this if you fancy a partner.

Shaf, ok mate. i will have a look at the events list and let you know.

[Johnallan]

I enjoy them. The calendar events always have a great atmosphere, a million miles away from sportives etc. and offer great value.

Probably my favourite type of riding if I'm honest.

[Dyffers]

Hundreds of them over the years, love 'em. First 200km in 2006, 600km in 2007 - done 11 years of "Super Randonneur" in the last 15 - and reasonable selection of 1000km+ including two or three Paris-Brest-Paris over the years too. I can't think of a more inclusive cycling niche; I've certainly ridden my rigid 29er on more than one winter 100km when the lanes were going to be particularly shitty. Go for it.

[Boab]

Composite had a thread going for their Audax adventures, with links to videos and what not. Might provide some inspiration - Diary of a Randonneur

[Blackhound]

I have done a number as well, great motivation to just get out. Aim for a 100km or 200km once a month. Besides the calendar events you can go diy from your front door.

[kvragu]

Done a few, keen on getting back to it, there's a 200 next month near me in the Scottish midlands. I love the game, but got a bit turned off because of having to be in traffic, especially when the drowsiness hits.

[GregMay]

Yes, up to 600s, but mostly riding 200s these days.

They vary, from short and hilly, to long and hilly :)

Generally great people, quite basic events, not much fuss.

Go do one.

[woodsmith]

I like the idea of them, the non-competitive nature beyond the personal achievement etc, I just really don't enjoy riding riding on the road any more. I find I'm flogging myself in order to get to the next bit of off-road in order to get away from the traffic. It'd be great if there were off-road audax ( does it have a plural form?). Yes i know there are events like this weekend's Calder Divide, but having some kind of umberella organisation where you could find out about them would help.

[NewRetroTom]

I did a few in 2019 in order to qualify for PBP and then did that. I was kind of astonished how many folks are out there doing this kind of thing all the time and not making any fuss about it.
Makes you realise that the old geezer who trundles past might be on a 600km ride rather than just a local 2 hour loop which I would have assumed previously.
PBP itself was incredibly international. A definite thing that has to be experienced at least once for any real cyclist.

[Leerowe76]

Like mentioned they seem good value for money, If I can find the love for the road bike again I'd love to get a few of these done

[Alexinthepeaks]

Audax was where i first started WRT long distance multi day stuff. This later transcended into bikepacking with the MTB.

I have done plenty of 200's but the ones that really stood out as been my favourate were:

Pendle 600
Inverness 1200
Offas Dyke 600
Millie Cymru 1000
Knock Ventoux 300

These are all incredible routes (bar some fast A roads on the inverness 1200). I really need to get back into some of these again, but even a 200 just swallows a whole day, and its hard to find the time with a young family now.

[thenorthwind]

Paid upi member here. I've done quite a few, mainly 200s. As people have said, generally really nice friendly events - I'm not a big "events" person, wouldn't even think to do a sportive, but sometimes it's nice to have a date in the calendar and a route planned out (though I've done a few DIYs in a Covid-truncated attempt to Randonneur Round the Year [Audax-a-Month basically]). Rarely very expensive, and always good value as you often get fed and watered and the end, or even during. My local organiser donates any extra to the Air Ambulance anyway.

This year I had a go at longer ones - did a 300 and a 400. Particularly enjoyed the 300, but I have a feeling that once I've done a 600 (sadly didn't manage to squeeze it in while the long days were here, maybe next year), I might be satisfied with having done it once but not feel the need to repeat it, at least for a bit. Kudos to those doing the big distances repeatedly. As Alex says, it gets time-consuming. Even a 200 basically swallows a weekend for me: I'll spend Friday night preparing, up early Saturday, basically all day riding, and then I know I'll be pretty useless Sunday. And that's ones local enough I can ride to the start.

[atk]

It'd be great if there were off-road audax

Organise one then

There are a handful of events with some off-road sections and a thread usually pops up on YACF about it every couple of years (e.g. https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=122924.0). I've ridden the Pit Ponies 100 that's mentioned and it was very well organised. Would quite like to do their "Don't Keep To The Road" route next time it runs.

I started working on a "gritty grimpeur" last year, based mostly around the Dark Peak, and a flatter route skirting south manchester/cheshire with the intention of putting these on as audax events at some point. Haven't been in the mood to ride much this year though, so they're still very much in a draft state. Will probably pop something up here if they ever see the light of day.

[woodsmith]

It'd be great if there were off-road audax

Organise one then

I wrote post a year or two ago about what did people look for in an event etc and the general tone of the answers was " you'll end up in court / jail if anyone gets so much as a puncture" even if it was just an informal meet-up that I'd organised.

[atk]

I wrote post a year or two ago about what did people look for in an event etc and the general tone of the answers was " you'll end up in court / jail if anyone gets so much as a puncture" even if it was just an informal meet-up that I'd organised.

That was just a light-hearted comment (be the change you want to see etc.), but if you were to go run it officially (as an Audax UK member/organiser and under their rules + regs) you're covered by their public and employer’s liability insurance and whatever T&Cs riders agree to when they sign up for the ride. I'm sure it's not bulletproof, but I haven't heard of any one ending up in court since I started riding events maybe 10 years ago.

[thenorthwind]

It'd be great if there were off-road audax

Not entirely (or even mainly) off-road, but Dean Clementson organises occasional "gravel"/mixed brevets in the north east/North Yorkshire.
https://audaxdarleaux.wordpress.com/

He used to do one calles Moor Gravel Forever on the NYM which was great when I did it a few years ago. Apart from not being afraid to use unsurfaced routes, he also tends to choose the quietest lanes, whereas often audaxes use busier roads I wouldn't normally use to keep average speeds up.

[Johnallan]

Dean's 'Steele Roads and Woolly Hills' 400km is pretty good. Mostly road but some decent off-road bits including Cam High Road.

Bristol Glasgow Bristol (1600km) also includes some good off-road - Cam High Road, Salter Fell, Kielder, Galloway forest, Rooley moor etc. but still predominantly (minor) roads

[ton]

years ago, late or mid 90's there was a Yorkshire dales offroad 100. not sure if it was a 100km or miles.
it was organised by Sean Flynn i seem to remember.
it started at the campsite in Appletreewick. i rode it with 2 other blokes and i think there were only 10 riding it. it was a proper tough bastard of a route. and not much road was used.

[ton]

just found this post from STW a few years ago. the route is this.

ton
Full Member
once did a offroad 130 km audax from appletreewick.

route was roughly,
apletreewick, skyreholme, pockstones moor, west end, blubberhouse quarry, kex gill bw, storiths, bolton abbey, middle hare head,lumb gill head, rylestone, hetton, moor lane, the weets, goredale, malhame, malham cove road, fair sleets gate, kirkby fell, stockdale lane, settle, feizor thwaite, feizor, austwick, thwaite lane, long lane, long scar, sulber nick, selside road, horton, helwith, long lane, churn milk hole, dawson close,litton, arnecliffe, arncliffe cote, lee gate moor, street gate, mastilles lane, mastilles gate, bordley, fleets, cracoe, thorpe lane, thorpe, wharfe suspension bridge, hartlington, appletreewick.

it is a toughie,but it is a great summer route. good pubs and cafes available all the way round.

[Leerowe76]

Dean's 'Steele Roads and Woolly Hills' 400km is pretty good. Mostly road but some decent off-road bits including Cam High Road.

Bristol Glasgow Bristol (1600km) also includes some good off-road - Cam High Road, Salter Fell, Kielder, Galloway forest, Rooley moor etc. but still predominantly (minor) roads

Guessing that would mean buying a proper gravelly kinda bike tho for a little off-road

[Johnallan]

Guessing that would mean buying a proper gravelly kinda bike tho for a little off-road

I managed to squeeze some 35mm G-one Speeds in my touring/audax bike. Worked well enough and offered a bit of added comfort. Others were riding 25mm road tyres but I'd imagine it took the enjoyment away from the best bits.