Cafes as Audax controls

[PH]

... and BPs are supposed to be a pleasant day out (or step toward 200+); so if you find 100 very easy, you have the option of stopping for longer, which you might want to spread over 2 café stops. I don't really see "too may cafes" as a pressing issue for AUK to address

Audax has always attracted a diverse range of riders for an equally diverse lot of reasons. A 100 can be anything from a family outing to a road clubs training ride and everything in between, all within the rules and all should be treated the same. The highlighted issue isn't the number of cafes, but the length of time a rider may have to spend there due to the queues. For someone against the bottom end of the time limit, that's time they don't have. For those club riders who want to get round as fast as they can and have no interest in any food stuff that isn't in a back pocket,that's time off the bike that might spoil the ride for them.
I'm not convinced it's much of an issue, it isn't something that's ever troubled me, I think organisers are aware that people have their own agenda and plan accordingly.

[drossall]

I'm not sure it's an issue though? The control has to be somewhere and, as long as enough riders buy food to justify the cafe's support, everyone seems to be happy.

[ANTONISH]

... and BPs are supposed to be a pleasant day out (or step toward 200+); so if you find 100 very easy, you have the option of stopping for longer, which you might want to spread over 2 café stops. I don't really see "too may cafes" as a pressing issue for AUK to address

Audax has always attracted a diverse range of riders for an equally diverse lot of reasons. A 100 can be anything from a family outing to a road clubs training ride and everything in between, all within the rules and all should be treated the same. The highlighted issue isn't the number of cafes, but the length of time a rider may have to spend there due to the queues. For someone against the bottom end of the time limit, that's time they don't have. For those club riders who want to get round as fast as they can and have no interest in any food stuff that isn't in a back pocket,that's time off the bike that might spoil the ride for them.
I'm not convinced it's much of an issue, it isn't something that's ever troubled me, I think organisers are aware that people have their own agenda and plan accordingly.

As I've got older and slower the time spent in a cafe control has created a problem for getting round in the time limit.
Generally I won't enter a 100k if there are two cafe controls.
Self service cafes aren't too bad but if it's waited service it's just too time consuming - besides which on a ride of that length I don't need to eat a great deal.

[Vorpal]

In Norway, for unmanned controls, the rider is supposed to take a picture of the control point upon arrival, and immediately send it to a phone number given out by the organiser. I don't know what a person can do without a photo-capable phone.