Audax

[Bonefishblues]

Ok fatal may have been a bit overkill, but it did result in a considerable detour on a major A road.

I see what you did there.

Not to worry, we had a lethal hill the other week

[Tilley]

Hi (XAP)Bob The gearing is currently 44,32,22 chain ring and 11-34 cassette which was actually fine I just did as you have suggested select the lowest gear and keep those pedals turning and progress is made just very slowly.

[nigelnightmare]

Well done Tilley.

[deryck]

Just done my first "armchair" audax - the gridiron 100 in the new forest. Thanks go to squeaker and Kevin at dtek who helped me an awful lot, and the wessex ctc team.

Photos are here:


https://www.flickr.com/photos/145844545 ... 719156214/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/145844545 ... /lightbox/

[Tilley]

Well done
Deryck

[UpWrong]

Well done. I keep forgetting about the Gridiron. I must put in in my diary next year.

[deryck]

Was really lucky with the weather, made me realise, when looking through earlier gridiron photos- those new forest fords look like they would add a whole new dimension to bent riding...

[Tilley]

I recently completed the Jack and Grace Cotton memorial audax and whilst there were no actual Ford's there was a section of standing water near the end of the route. Fortunately it's depth at the crown of the road was no more than a couple of inches and there was no other traffic on the road. The whole route was fairly filthy, but at least it didn't rain. I was the last rider to finish but I did get there just within the overall timescale.

[Geoff.D]

Hi Tilley. Congratulations on your events.

I did my very first sportive in Scotland (The Cairn O'Mount) in May 2015. It was about 90 miles with plenty of climbing, with he Cairn itself being 3 miles long with 1300ft ascent, at 20% in one section. I did it on my trike.
But, I had a surprise. I knew I was quite capable of the distance, because I was doing 100 mile days (I'm retired!) around the Cotswolds with plenty of climbing. I was generally averaging 10 mph. without worrying. However, on the sportive my average dropped to about 9 mph. I can't explain it. It's possible that I was being overly cautious on my first sportive. But, I was disappointed to miss the cut-off by 10 minutes.

How have your speeds compared (general riding vs addax riding)?

[Tilley]

Hi Geof.
Unfortunately so far I haven't been able to get any tracking app to map the whole of my audax routes. However I have learnt a very useful lesson. On the first audax I made sure I had plenty to eat and drink but my navigation was thwarted by the persistent rain. On the second audax I chose to press on rather than stop for food and drink until later in the ride and I'm sure it made the return leg harder. Given that the return leg was harder anyway this was a very poor decision. My average speed is around 11mph up to 30 miles.