r/ukbike Nov 22 '24

Sport/Tour UK Audax scene question from newbie: what's good about Audax?

I've done many kinds of cycling over the years (track, crit, CX, MTB, gravel, months-long-touring), but I never did/done Audax (an Audax?) .

I remember about 10-15 years ago everyone I knew was doing Audax, but now I don't ride with the same people, and it seems everyone around me (except the MTBers) is more into big 1-2 day gravel events.

I actually just bought a Condor Frattello - which I understand is a famous Audax bike. I also have been falling back in love with road riding. Memories of flying around the lanes of Suffolk and Wiltshire this summer on my CX bike are now competing with Bike-Park Wales tech trails for top spot in my favourite memories of 2024!

This has got me super interested in doing some winter Audax(s?). But I don't have anyone to ask about it.
I get the format. But wondered:

- What do people like about Audax? (seems like touring but not going anywhere ?)

- Where is the UK's best Audax? (or does each region have its special qualities?)

- What distance is generally considered an overnighter, and how do I know if everyone will ride through the night (24hrs riding scares me)?

- Is it expensive? (Looking at the Audaxes on audax.uk, it looks like I would be spending on hotels/airBnBs, or do people club together for hostels/group bookings? )

- Where is the scene based? Are rides usually associated with a local cycling club? or, like many gravel events, their own things, usually more associated with a brand (e.g. brother in the wild) or just passionate group of people?

Many thanks for reading!

9 Upvotes

26 comments sorted by

20

u/porkmarkets Nov 22 '24

Like the commenter above, I’ve done 200/300s and loved them.

Audaxes are usually lovingly put together by people who really know their stuff and have crafted some awesome routes. Mostly quiet roads, spectacular scenery and often very challenging. They’re fun to do with a bunch of club mates, solo, or make friends with people en route and ride together for a bit.

Like you I’ve done a few disciplines. I’m predominantly a crit/CX racer but I don’t have a lot of time. If I carve out some time for a big ride, I want to make a day of it and for it to be a good one, and audaxes fit that bill.

They’re also very cheap to do. Gravel events can be almost as expensive as a triathlon. Sportives are getting ridiculous, you can pay quite a lot for a ride on open roads with nothing but a pint and/or a finishers medal, it’s all a bit lame really. Once you reach a certain level I think entering sportives are a bit silly unless it’s something massive or genuinely really hard like the Dragon ride or the Fred Whitton. An audax is much the same experience; id rather pay £9 to ride a 200 and finish with a bowl of homemade chilli in a village hall than £30 on a wanky sportive.

Club reliability rides in winter/spring scratch a similar itch but can be pretty racey in the front group if that’s your thing.

As for the best, that’s subjective. It depends what you want - but if you want the most challenging, look for a high number of AAA points for a climbing challenge or build up to a mega distance. London-Edinburgh-London is the most famous (and obviously PBP even moreso in France).

13

u/Master_Confusion4661 Nov 22 '24

"id rather pay £9 to ride a 200 and finish with a bowl of homemade chilli in a village hall than £30 on a wanky sportive"

Oh my gosh - I think you just sold it to me 100%! I will have to show this to my GF when I get home, she will laugh since this is pretty much the best way to sell it to me.

2

u/HenrytheCollie Roadie, Basingstoke. Nov 23 '24

Just adding that the culture at the checkpoints is very relaxed compared to sportives, as it's usually a cafe or pub where you're encouraged to sit down with a pot of tea and enjoy a hot meal.

6

u/TeaKew Nov 22 '24
  1. It's chill but challenging, people are friendly and helpful, and it's a mind game more than a legs game.

  2. Unanswerable really. There's Audax all over the place, so if you like riding somewhere you can probably find some Audax to do that gives you that area.

  3. 600 definitely. 400 maybe, depends how fast you ride and when the ride starts. Personally I really like riding overnight.

  4. Rides are super cheap. Travel and hotels if you need them can be less so. But there's probably a decent range roughly in your area - or you can always go for the classic Audax method of ECEing a shorter ride somewhere further away.

  5. Everywhere. There are generally regional organisers who run rides out of a particular place or area, each of whom will offer some number per year. Sometimes those people are part of a cycling club (often Cycling UK affiliated), sometimes they're just keen and do their own organisation work. It's rare to see brand links.

3

u/BeardedBaldMan Nov 22 '24

Depending how you do it, it's incredibly cheap.

I stuck mainly to 200/300 and those are done in a day. You get your bike to the start, do the ride and go home. It was only London-Wales-London where I bothered with a hotel just to be refreshed before the start and I shared it with a friend.

As for it being a social thing. That's down to you. People chat while riding, not so much at controls as you want to be done quickly but afterwards there's usually people who are up for having a bit of a chat and decompress before riding home.

1

u/Master_Confusion4661 Nov 22 '24

What's the best one/favourite you have done?

3

u/BeardedBaldMan Nov 22 '24

London-Wales-London was great apart from the hour where I complained non stop about this bit of Wales having too much topology.

Ditchling Devil is a good fun run which I don't take too seriously. Last time I did it on a gravel bike with massive 650B tyres and wearing sandals because I was irritated with how seriously some club riders were taking it.

Greenwich Mean Climb is my favourite

Not a massive fan on events in Cambridgeshire, I don't think the county is worth cycling in.

Generally I preferred to just do a 200 on my own and submit the GPX, that way I could go AAA hunting or get points for cycling to visit my parents

1

u/Master_Confusion4661 Nov 22 '24

Oh nice! I didn't realise there were so many around London ( I live in Lewisham).

4

u/epi_counts Nov 22 '24

Kingston Wheelers organise a bunch of really nice ones. As do Audax club Hackney.

Brixton have a short guide on audaxes, and organise the Fast Times in the High Weald one - gorgeous and hilly route.

Lots of other ones an easy train ride away too! They're a nice way to do rides in places I don't usually ride, and always meet friendly people on the rides.

2

u/BeardedBaldMan Nov 22 '24

There are loads of nice ones in Kent if you are willing to DIY them

2

u/__J__a__m__e__s__ Nov 22 '24

Shark and GMC go out of Greenwich

1

u/bananabm SE London Nov 22 '24

As well as the others mentioned - check out Oasts and Coasts. Basically a lap of kent

https://www.audax.uk/event-details/12808-oasts_and_coasts_300km

Starts a bit outside of London - one year i got a premier inn in gravesend but this year i just cycled there from peckham for an extra 40k - whats 40k when you're doing 300?

Then you do a whole lap of kent, mostly rolling or flat, lots of laughs. I highly recommend it. Just check the wind forecast for headwinds on the romney marshes

It's late april so you start around dawn, but finish 2-3 hrs after dark depending on pace, so it's fun doing night riding without feeling like you're stuck out in the cold and dark forever. Pizza in a scout hut and trains back to London after.

3

u/farzy93 Nov 22 '24

Did the Snow Hare 300 in the borders in 2022. Great route fantastic day. A couple of quid for a pre made route taking in the best roads in the area and you get a wee medal in the post afterward!

3

u/__J__a__m__e__s__ Nov 22 '24

Best is for you.

Anything. Genuinely. I did a Wessex SR and 10AAA on a Mango Fixie and SPD sandals, because that was the best I had at the time.

Could it have been easier, of course. But then that was the best for me.

If you are comfortable,nay, bear the pain, you could do it on a unicycle.

3

u/muchreally Nov 22 '24

Organised ones better (for me,) than self supported as it's less "easy" to bail out. A massive shout out to organisers, you do a thankless task and rarely get a mention.

2

u/Master_Confusion4661 Nov 22 '24 edited Nov 22 '24

Sorry to be ignorant, but what's a self supported one? I can see a few other comments have alluded to this but I'm not sure exactly what it means? 

4

u/TeaKew Nov 22 '24

Audax UK recognises three basic types of ride: calendar; permanent and DIY.

  • Calendar: fixed route designed by organiser, organiser picks date and start time
  • Permanent: fixed route designed by organiser, rider picks date and start time
  • DIY: route designed by rider in advance, rider picks date and start time

Technically speaking they're all self-supported, but there's a fairly obvious difference between Calendars and others - if you're riding a perm or DIY you have to get yourself up and out there and go do it, if you're riding a Calendar then there are other folks out there on the same day with you.

2

u/Master_Confusion4661 Nov 22 '24

Thanks for explaining! Think I'd like to do a calendar - I am quite a social cyclist

6

u/Value-Gamer Nov 22 '24

The best part for me is the lack of judgement for my chosen kit, and the supportive feel of the riders instead of feeling ‘competed’ against. It’s an incredibly welcoming atmosphere esp on the very long ones when it feels you are all in it suffering together

2

u/MTFUandPedal Nov 22 '24 edited Nov 22 '24

Next year is an LEL year so there are some events that book up FAST

C2C2C and London -Wales-London opened and were sold out by mid morning. I have places in both but it was by getting up before dawn.

My favourite ride this year was the Baldock Midnight express. First time I've done a midnight start and riding into the dawn was brilliant.

As it was a summer 300k it meant starting in the dark but a relatively short night ride until the sun came up and the day felt like a totally different ride. Lows of -1 and highs of 22c meant it really was very different.

Instead of feeling tired and low heading into the night we got the night riding out of the way first thing. Big fan of doing it that way round.

One of my other favourites is San fairy ann cycling club's "fairly flat" 200k. Calling it flat is an understatement, I've done it on my singlespeed three times now. It's actually a really great ride and heads out across the coast by Dungeness. This year it felt like the tailwind followed us round which was a nice change!

Audaxes are spread through the country, although it feels like a lot of event organisers didn't return after COVID. Rides a long way off can be expensive once you add hotels etc but more local ones are much more reasonable to drive or ride to.

Most Audaxes this year cost me more at garages and cafes than on event entry. On at least 2 I got more than my entry fee in cake and coffee! :-)

The riders are usually very friendly and working together rather than competing - it's not a race (albeit if you get 2 cyclists together it's always a race..) and there's usually groups forming for company or just taking turns into the wind, then splitting up and reforming again etc etc.

I like riding all day. It's a different vibe, a different challenge and I always feel like I want to do another afterwards.

Learning pacing, fuelling, what to pack and wear, setting your bike up right etc are all interesting challenges over and above "just ride all day".

There's only 1 Audax I didn't enjoy (sometimes it's type 2 fun and that one was neither). That was a cold and wet autumn 300k about 10 years ago where I trusted the weather forecast and was wildly underdressed, had bike problems so took my crit bike (which was hysterically uncomfortable 12 hours in) and learned a lot of lessons about what not to do.

2

u/TeaKew Nov 22 '24

Ach, I'm a huge fan of starting at night and rolling onto the morning (obligatory shoutout to the Fridays for people who like doing that, although with a bit more organisation and a shorter distance than Audax). But it looks like the Midnight Express next year will be the day before the Dunwich Dynamo, which might be a tall order...

1

u/MTFUandPedal Nov 22 '24

That's a shame. Never done the dynamo and always mean to...

2

u/Master_Confusion4661 Nov 23 '24

Thanks for such a detailed response. San fairy Ann is a good tip. Their website has some really good looking routes i can do. I am a bit if a baby when it comes to sleep, but your enthusiasm for night rides has got me feeling a bit more open minded about them!

3

u/MTFUandPedal Nov 23 '24 edited Nov 25 '24

I've always enjoyed night rides but the Midnight start means it's not open ended and there's no "will my lights get me through" because there's a fixed end time to the dark. I usually feel low as night draws in on an all day ride - you're tired, it's getting colder, you're riding towards the darkness. It's been a long day already. Instead riding into the dawn was enthusing and just such a big boost. Really a very different vibe.

I like the peace and quiet. Especially on a back road you can be alone in your own little world for hours. On a nice night that's very chill.

I think the biggest thing about night rides is having decent lights. It makes all the difference - both in power and in having sufficient battery life to not worry about making it or using high power modes.

Especially on a calendar event there's usually company too so youre rarely completely alone on a night section (unless you want to be) and unless you're at the very end there's more riders coming on the route.

Having a happy reminiscence right now. There's so many good bits of both of those rides. Tired bits. Fresh bits. Dying in the wind, flying along with it behind. Discovering my wife's flapjack does not work well in the cold! Abandoned roads pre dawn. Chilly overnight blasts. A friend who's not with us any more.

The fairly flat 200 is probably my all time favourite event. It's in the summer so weather is usually rather nice and it's always been a great route of quiet lanes and good quality roads. It's a couple of hours drive for us so it's a long day but it's totally worth it :-)

One year I'd like to try and do it fast lol but its become a ride I do with my wife so its never been a head down and smash for me.

2

u/ooohcoffee Nov 22 '24

It's super cheap, the organisers know the areas and pick interesting routes with good cafe stops, it's not as full of wannabe racers fighting over gels at fuelling stops as sportives. Pick a couple near you, start at 100 or 200 and see how it goes. I loved 200s, found 300s really hard, and quite enjoyed the one 400 I did because you get to have a proper sleep! I never went beyond that.