LEL 2025

[GedBen]

It is a great shame that the ride had to be cut short, however I do understand that some riders had made Edinburgh before they were all stopped from about 13:30 Hrs on Monday.

There has been a huge amount of effort made by some very experienced Audax organisers to put on this top class randonnee, all on a part time voluntary basis.

It is a great shame that some have been very critical of the decision to cut the event short, some being exceptionally rude on Facebook.

One thing that has become clear is that many participants do not know who Audax UK are, and what a randonnee actually is, this has lead to some very harsh words on Facebook, and arguments about whether it is a race. Racing on open roads is illegal in UK, anyone who takes part in a randonnee is not competing against anyone else, they do it for the interest and personal satisfaction.

This event does not need any pre-qualification , therefore some people have signed up for it with no experience and very little preparation. The lack of experience has lead to a large amount of very basic questions for the organisers to answer, adding to the already heavy workload.

I do hope that the event can run again in 2029 and the weather is more kind than this year. I understand that the good old British weather has also been unkind in previous editions of this very popular international event.

Leading up to this years LEL, there has been very little interest shown on this forum, which is a great shame, as Audax UK has close ties with the old CTC. Many CTC members graduated from club rides to Audax. (including myself) Although the Cycling UK website has a section about Audax and LEL, the LEL information is out of date and needs amending.

I hope those who are interested in this type of cycling will spread the word, whether they are still riding randonnee's or previously participated .

Point of order: cycle racing on the roads is not illegal in the UK. Massed-start racing requires police permission; time trials merely have to be notified to the police.

[Mtb tourer]

PBP required set of qualify rides. LEL could revert to the early ninties rules . Mudguards saddle bag and a dose of self-sufficiency, no bag drops . That would put off a few. Something different could attract the non sportive riders . Nothing wrong with sportives as long as it's on mainland Europe as you have no issues with people objecting to road closures for a few hours. Did Audax uk committee decide let's go full on commercialized.
LEL/PBP never appealed to me as I always thought why should I travel to do the 600 km chester audax. Back then I could spend a month south of Lyon cycling with the money I save not traveling t
South to Audax rides.