It’s been a while since I ventured into the murky world of Audax riding but when this came onto my radar (care of club mates, one of whom then buggered off to do something else instead) I was inevitably drawn to it. The bike training has been ramping up so the distance and the timing seemed an ideal culmination before my A race in September.

Audax is basically a low key organised ride with a planned route & control points to prove you got to key points along the route. Aside from the controls you are unsupported and expected to be self sufficient, that said where there are controls they’re usually welcomingly stocked with cake & food, this one would not disappoint in that respect.

We had a brief conflab on the Thursday night to discuss kit & the plan, I was self confessedly blase about the whole thing, something Clare no longer believed when I pulled out the spreadsheet. Really I’d done this just to get my head around what was being asked of us and as usual (for me) had 3 schedules; A was decent pace with minimal but sensible rest and came in at about 20hrs, B was sensible early pace, slowing through the night with increasingly long stops to allow for fatigue coming in a little over 24hrs whilst C was cranking things down further and allowing for a potential 2hr sleep stop to come in before the 27hr cut off.

With a 7am start I hadn’t really considered logistics too much, leaving the option of a silly early start to get there or paying for a hotel room / b&b that you’re basically going to lay in for 6 hours. So it was at 4:30am I was eating peanut butter on toast & collecting Clare and her bike.
Aside from getting a little lost round Derby we got to the start a bit after 6, collected our Brevet cards and got the bikes ready.

Peak Audax National 400 page…. all the info you could ever need !

After admiring the range of beards & bike weaponry on show and after a brief intro we were free to roam…

A Nice Peaky Introduction

This first stage took us ominously northward further into the Peak District and inevitably plenty of long climbs, rewarded however with great scenery and nice views. Our first point of note was an Info Control before dropping down to Buxton, rather than manning a checkpoint you just have to note something down on your card to prove you were there

[Axe Edge 20km 08:08, C-Plan: 07:57].

After passing through Buxton and enduring a truck stuck behind us on the A6 we turned off to join the Monsal Trail through to Bakewell. Mostly hard packed gravel this choice of route was well worth taking as it follows an old rail line through cuttings and tunnels (may have got a little over-excited by the tunnels at this stage) leaving you with regular views of green valleys & rolling hills.
Just where we left the trail (also left) was our first manned checkpoint, and it seemed that we turned up at rush hour as we joined a queue of riders waiting along the platform to get their card stickered!

[Thornbridge 40.3km 09:00, C-Plan: 08:55]

After that the route followed mostly quiet roads out of the Peak District to the next Control at Carsington Water. Here was our first encounter with the van of dreams, back open displaying a range of traybakes as we queued again to get our cards marked. The tea wasn’t brewed and I was a little concerned how slow the early hills had made us so we opted to head on (after cake of course).

[Carsington Water 64.8km 10:20, C-Plan: 10:05, Planned break 10min Actual 19min]

This next section took us on to Anslow Control just North of Burton on Trent, I was hopeful of an easier ride and given that I don’t remember anything remarkable here I guess we got one.

This control was typical of what was to come, a village hall with card stamping followed by choice of soup / pasta / corn beef hash / sarnies…. oh and of course that now long overdue cup of tea that we had foregone at Carsington. I should introduce now a 3rd player in this tale (Clare was doing fine by the way and not thinking too hard about how far we still had to go) who we re-sighted at this control; a rider we’d passed on the climb before Buxton who caught us again as we stopped at a red light coming into the town, they skirted past us through the red light and proceeded to turn right in front of a truck coming the other way on a green light. That confirmed our suspicions and our nemesis for the ride was decided.
By the time we left they had disappeared, not to worry, we’re playing a long game here!
I also recall at this control finding out there was a 100km option sharing this control, which no one told me about when entering! (yes ok I’d always choose the longest option by default and 100km is clearly way too short).

[Anslow 96.7km 11:57, C-Plan: 11:47, Planned break 30min Actual 24min]
Part 1 Garmin Trace

The Long & Winding Road to Upton Magna

The next section took us through Rugeley and past Cannock to the next control just short of Telford, from a sneaky look at the profile the day before I saw that the main ascent here was getting over Cannock chase, a bit of a grind but one I’d done before.
Again not much to note here, I suspect we had a tailwind and progress was good. One thing I’m still not clear on in Audax is drafting protocol and to be honest, pacing; we were rarely sat in a bunch but frequently at the front. I didn’t begrudge it particularly altho’ at one point I suggested Clare drop back to collect the fares from the train of a dozen riders we’d been dragging along for the last 10km. More bizarre though was repeatedly catching, towing and then being passed by the same riders, I felt we were keeping a pretty even effort whilst these other riders (possibly aided by the tow) were yo-yoing back & forth with us.

On the way to this control we were overtaken by the van of dreams, which I thought strange as I was expecting that to be the control, I guess we weren’t too far behind schedule then. Once more to the van parked up on the grass at a junction and a lovely oatie chocolate traybake, it was still light and a lovely day, more tea was drunk and all was mostly well (can’t tell you what Clare was thinking at this point!). I think perhaps my good humour was by now, if not running out, then turning to the somewhat darker side as Clare had previously observed happens as the miles roll on… it was all just good banter… honest!

[Ryton 159.5km 15:04, B-Plan: 14:58, Planned break 30min Actual 19min]

From here we headed to the next Control at Upton Magna, one we’d be visiting twice. We debated the merits of losing time for a photo at Ironbridge but since we weren’t planning on coming back anytime soon braved the tourists for a quick snap.

[Ironbridge 168.3km 15:53, B-Plan: 15:53]

Some more good going after that as we mostly followed the river valley. Clare was having a few problems getting into her big ring (“I want big cog!”) which lead to us again catching a couple of riders on the gentle climbs, dragging them along for a bit and then getting passed by them whilst she faffed about looking for a bigger gear, hey ho.
I seem to recall that we passed the nemesis on this stage since they arrived at the next control a little after us.

Edited to add: I just recalled also that along here somewhere Clare had what from then on became known as “the crotch issue” when a friendly local bee decided to sting her somewhere in that region. Being the gentleman that I am I didn’t enquire too much further, my most useful suggestion was the antihistamines I had in my first aid pack, the other suggestions were less useful, none were taken up.

More food at the Upton Magna control, I was munching away happily although I’m not sure Clare was used to eating quite so much the whole way through. Nemesis duly arrived, we exchanged glances and wordlessly filled our bottles and set off on our way. It was still light and I was hopeful to get to the Llangollen control with daylight to spare, mentally that was half way although in reality it would be a good 30miles over that when we got there.

[Upton Magna 188.9km 16:43, B-Plan: 16:52, Planned break 30min Actual 18min]
Part 2 Garmin Trace

Llangollen Loop

This section saw us wiggling through Shrewsbury and heading up through Oswestry (with a quick comfort break at Sainsbury), then to Chirk and the out & back along the A5 to Llangollen. Here we had a bit of a headwind but I was feeling pretty happy with things and we again ended up towing a small number of riders a good way in. I’d been monitoring my Garmin battery along the way and had hoped I’d make it to this control, with a few miles to go it chirped up a low battery warning and showed 10% when I checked, less than 5 minutes later it just powered down taking the last few hours of data with it, doh!

Here I’d allowed for a longer stop and some time to put on an extra layer for the coming night section, the forecast for the night time temperature had still been double figures so little cause for concern right? More tea, a couple of rounds of cheese & potato “pie” with some beans, and of course cake for dessert.
My power bank seemed to be charging my garmin nicely too as we ate so we were good to go as and when. As if to prevent us dithering any further, nemesis arrived and we duly left!

[Llangollen 251.6km 20:33, B-Plan: 20:37, Planned break 45min Actual 45min]

Going was good on the out & back section returning to Chirk and I finally felt part of the event as riders going in opposing directions smiled and acknowledged each other and their mutual mental and physical efforts to get this far, possibly also acknowledging what was to come through the night.
By the time we got back through Chirk it was really lighting up time and we didn’t really know what to expect, joining the A528 after Ellesmere seemed an interesting choice but at that time of night the traffic was light and easy to spot coming, likewise we were easy to spot in the full beams and easy to pass with a wide berth. More of a hazard was locals on the way back from the pub, almost stepping into the road not expecting near silent cyclists to be whizzing (I may exaggerate) past, plenty of bemused looks on faces.

The end of this section dragged a little as we returned to Upton Magna. We had stopped in the lights of a pub to put on an extra layer and even though the occasional climb helped warm us it was quickly lost on the descents and by this stage we weren’t really working hard enough to stay warm. The temperature was dropping much more than we expected and we were pleased to see the lights of the checkpoint again.

This time the hall was split with some sleeping space at one end. I munched away as usual, Clare found a radiator to hug and was looking increasingly worried. The next section was inconveniently (or perhaps I should say, most challengingly) the longest at 70km to the control in Alton.
On a normal day that would be nothing, in the dead of night with a relatively chill air things could get interesting. Clare put on her extra base layer and my full finger gloves whilst I went for the full waterproof (risking a boil in the bag scenario) and evil Castelli toe warmers, I don’t recall seeing nemesis but we set off into the night.

[Upton Magna 306.5km 23:47, B-Plan: 00:13, Planned break 30min Actual ??min]
Part of part 3 Garmin Trace!

On into the night (and on, and on, and on)

We struggled to warm up again and Clare sporting a bit less mass than me was having even more trouble. It all felt a bit like no mans land working our way through small villages to Newport & Eccleshall, especially for Clare having previously been reminiscing on home turf for the last few hours. Conversation was getting more and more sparse and my attempts to make any failed regularly.
I confess I was surprisingly lucid whilst she was worrying about her temperature and ability to continue through the night. My garmin switched off somewhere before Stone and had to be restarted so that’s another couple of hours of data lost, grrrrr.

I knew at Stone we’d pass the M6 services and a 24hr garage, one of the few opportunities for us to take a break at this stage. I think we both knew however that stopping at a garage would risk getting severely cold, and even in the services we’d lose a bit of time and still have to get going and warmed up again.
Besides, it was only 25km to the checkpoint….. and wow what a long 25km that was. Clare was pretty unresponsive aside from the occasional expletive, worried about it all going wrong (yes if one of us had punctured at that point things could have gone south quickly) and beating herself up about losing time having to sleep.
In the end though we had no choice but to just keep on moving, for some reason she was getting away from me on the hills (how rude!) and at one point when I caught her reported some slightly worrying hallucinations, I tried to stay closer after that!
She would whizz off on the descents only to have to slow and wait for my brighter headlight to show the way, if I’m honest I was keeping the speed down on the descents, if she was going to keel over I didn’t want it to happen at any great speed!

Due to the garmin death I had no real idea how far to the checkpoint, I’m sure I told her less than 10miles at least 3 times and it was almost never flat. We did stop a couple of times to spot check the route card for the a distance check.
Rounding a corner in what was probably a nice village Clare said something along the lines of “what…. is….. that….” my mind flicked up an image of the route card with the words “FORD” on it and not sure how she would react at this stage I remember just saying stop several times over.
After negotiating the ford on foot I could at least reassure that it was very very close to the control. Riding into Alton (yes, as in towers) we were on the look out for the control…. hmmmm a village hall with lights on and cars parked outside, probably not a yoga class so this will do!

Here we were in Alton finally. I suspect I wasn’t presenting as lucid as I thought, when offered food I thought I said I’d think about it. When I got back from the toilet food had appeared, I guess you get used to handling irrational people who don’t know what’s good for them! I dutifully ate it as I surveyed the scene of carnage, people sleeping across seats or on the airbeds at the stage in the hall.
I’d refused to discuss sleep with Clare on the way here, saying lets just get there and see. From experience I know two things: One that just closing your eyes for 5-10mins can make you feel ALOT better and two; if you can make it to sunrise things feel alot better and from somewhere you get some fresh energy.

I went to swap my light battery and sort the bike out as I really didn’t want to faff with it before heading out later whilst Clare found that yes she really could sleep sat upright in that chair (I have a photo to prove this but fear it would be unwise to share here). I propped myself in chair against the wall, covered my eyes with my buff and set my phone alarm for ten minutes time.
I never made it that far as after 8 minutes my wife messaged me to say well done or somesuch, may as well start moving then. Clare was looking better and as we got ready to go I noticed a slight greying outside as it was getting slightly lighter.

[Alton 376.5km 04:15, B-Plan: 04:21, Planned break 60min Actual 58min]
Part 4 some of first part Garmin Trace!

The Dawning of the .. errrr … dawn

What I hadn’t noticed until we walked outside however was that it was also raining. Oh well, we’d been lucky so far and only 30km to go right ? I already had my waterproof (and evil Castelli toe warmers) on so no worries.
Through the rain we watched an intensely orange sunrise and soon it was light enough to switch the lights off. I started to recognise the route from a ride in Staffordshire last year and we were eventually passed an Info control and rolled into Ashbourne. We carefully followed the route instructions to get onto the Tissington Trail, every pedal revolution was now a countdown.

[Clifton 388.8km 05:59, B-Plan: 05:48]

The surface was ok but not great, not ideal after 200+miles anyway, for the first time in a while I checked the time. I then double checked the distance to go again and the time, and the distance, and concluded that actually under 24hrs was on the cards. We left the trail for a bit of climbing and main road riding, I guess just to keep the distance down.
Clare was still quiet and occasionally asking about distance but I think she finally knew we had this one in the bag.

I recognised this road from the drive to the start, so we were close, so close but also thinking of the very steep looking climb the way we drove in. Fortunately we rejoined the trail which took us over (maybe under?) the main road and through a cutting back to Biggin.

In the low key way that is Audax we parked our bikes, handed our cards in and joined the handful of other riders sat around. We drank tea and chatted a bit whilst I ate half a packet worth of custard creams.

[Biggin 406.7km 06:53, B-Plan: 06:54]
Part 4 2nd part Garmin Trace 🙂

Amazingly we had finished inside 24hrs which was even a little ahead of the B schedule, even fatigued our rolling speed had been reasonable at least until later in the night section, and a shorter than allowed second stop at Upton Magna meant that the overall average didn’t drop too much. To my amazement we very nearly did take the full hour I’d allowed at Alton, what with feeding and snoozing and faffing albeit by that stage it takes as long as it takes.

And there we have an epic ride and an awesome experience indeed. Very happy to have got a ride of this magnitude done before my race, hopefully the bike part of that will go a bit quicker.

And Clare, despite all her previous endeavours and achievements had decided that if she finished this Audax she would then feel like an “accomplished” cyclist, which, either way round, she is.

Thanks of course to the organisers & volunteers at controls along the way, it’s a massive undertaking for very little reward… all smiles, good humour & assistance along the way was much appreciated.

Kit & Kit Thoughts

Only when you come to do this do you realise the logistical effort of packing & carrying what you need, here’s a quick run down on my kit and thoughts:

Bike – My now much loved Genesis CdF Ti, spec’d with SRAM 1x groupset. Only other change was to a Fizik Antares saddle
Tyres – Worth mentioning I’ve been riding on the stock 35c cyclocross tyres but switched to Vittoria Randonneur Pro (32c) for a bit more free rolling.
Luggage – Bontrager rack I already had & 13litre alpkit drybag strapped to it. Not ideal in terms of packing & access, I removed it once at Llangollen for the kit change. I noticed their big saddlebags & bikepacking gear was popular. Also to mention my Alpkit “nosebag” on the bars which I kept topped up with bars and gels along the way.
Lights – With the bag obscuring my seatpost the Knogg blinder rear was no go so I bought a Cateye-TL-Rapid 3 & rack mount, this worked fine albeit with a slightly bizarre range of settings. Front lights I’ve been looking to upgrade for a while, I needed something with a decent size battery for through the night and Magicshine looked like a good mid-range option with some good reviews. I had great service from them and was really impressed with the performance of this light, it basically got through the night on the medium setting and I was able to mount it under the bars as space was a bit of a premium up top! (I should note that around dusk I used my Knogg blinder front light to be seen for about an hour before the Magicshine kicked in).
Navigation – I used my Garmin 810 with the route loaded in 4 parts, battery life was pretty good, albeit it’s usual glitchy self as noted in the report. Luckily it will charge & run off external power on the go and actually it managed both at the same time. I bought this power bank and a short right angle usb lead and it all sat happily with the powerbank in my nose bag. Not to forget of course the Audax route cards as a back up, ably held by my preferred solution of a bulldog clip zip tied to my handlebars, just a shame I couldn’t read them in the dark!

(Final edit to add: As you can see from the photos we took this incredibly seriously and with no humour whatsoever, that’s a joke by the way, life’s too short and I take very little seriously. Sad then that I have to clarify that the Nemesis thing was just a recurring joke throughout the event and not meant with any ill will. If you think it’s you and it offends you, seriously, don’t take yourself so seriously. Conversely, seriously… don’t run red lights it’s dickish and gives everyone a bad name)