Audax Bike Ride

The ride itself turned into an exploration of the breaking capacity of my own personal envelope, essentially a three-day time vs distance equation, could I ride 1,017km in 75 hours?

The answer to this turned out to be “Yes”, but only just. 

I managed to complete the event at 00:46 on Sunday morning with 14 minutes to spare. 
Overall, I rode for 56 out of 72 hours and probably accumulated about 8 hours sleep between Wednesday morning and finishing. The lack of sleep didn’t help, nor did the heat, but at least it didn’t rain.

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Day 1

Registration, a bit more food and we are off into the night, and it’s still closer to 30 degrees than 20, even though it is 10pm.

We stream out of London, too quickly. soon we are past Shepperton studies and headed north-ish. I settle into my own pace, then through Henley -  just as hundreds of people stagger out of a black tie do, past the Mini factory in Cowley, through the centre of Oxford at 2am which is full of revellers, past a couple of people running a red light on a mobility scooter and we arrive at our first refuelling stop.

This is what is called an ‘X-Rated’ event, meaning you are fending for yourselves. All night garages are your new best friend. Stocking up with carbs and coffee we press on. About 5am I realise I’ve been awake for 25 hours and am in the process of nodding off so elect to fall off the back of our group before I fall off the bike. Half an hour snooze in a hedge and I’m feeling vaguely human and press on, this time on my own.

Soon I make it to Haye-on-Wye for the best cheese and ham sandwich ever, then on into Wales, up to Builth Wells and through the Elan Valley in the heat of the day. Tiredness overcomes me and I elect to take a siesta next to the road with my bike beside me. Clearly, I closely resemble a road traffic accident since I am awoken by a kind man in a van asking if I’m OK. Soon I am closing in on my destination for the evening, Machynlleth.

I find my lodgings for the evening. A quick shower and bed by 10pm. 390km ridden, over 4000m climbed and it has taken me 23 hours. 

Day 2

Up at 03:30, fresh shorts, as much food as I can lay my hands on and we are off, before it gets hot. The destination today is Welshpool, a mere 50km or so, unless you go via Anglesey in which case it is slightly further. I faff too much and end up with a 04:15 start on a route that initially took me up the Welsh coast, then inland to Harlech, the amazing climb over the Pen-Y Pass with views of Snowdon, in fact you could pretty much see our house from up there.

Then on to the Menai Straits before crossing to Anglesey via the suspension bridge.

After stocking up on the island, I headed down to Porthmadog which is the staging point before heading across Snowdonia to my hotel for the night. This traverse was 'just' 100km which would normally take about 4 hours at home. However, I now had 600km in my legs and it was 7pm..... Needless to say, it didn't take 4 hours, I eventually arrived at 01:45 for a quick shower and crashed into bed..... 310km, 4,200m of climbing and on the road for 22 hours.

Day 3

2 hours sleep is never enough, even if it is Sunday afternoon on the sofa. In a baking hot hotel room, it was far from enough. But not to worry, it is a flatter 310km to the finish than yesterday and starting at 4am gives me plenty of time……However, fatigue compounds in an exponential manner, meaning I struggle to make progress at the rate desired. This was despite a couple of powernaps beneath shady trees and hanging onto the back of a much faster group for an hour or so.

I pass through Ludlow, past Carnarvon castle and eventually I find myself in Henley for the final stage, somewhat later than planned.
Actually, it is 10pm meaning I have 3 hours to complete the remaining 60km or miss the time-cut. Leaving to a firework display for the world cup semi-final kick-off, and dreading a DNF, it was head down to the finish. Luckily, I picked up 3 other riders in a similar predicament around Staines and we worked together to get to the end, finishing with 14 minutes in hand. Tighter than comfortable, but better than being 14 minutes over.

Reflecting on the ride after a week or so, whilst it was exceedingly tough, not least due to the UK’s second heat wave of the summer, it was also a massive mental reset. No time to worry about life, work and the wider world. Rather, it was 3 days of mental arithmetic based around time vs distance, complemented by a small rotation of thoughts: I’m hungry; I’m thirsty; Christ that sun’s hot; my arse hurts. 

Along the way I had an extended conversation with various people spread over 3 days. Our rates of travel varied, as did the duration of our stops, meaning we regularly tripped over one another.

Still smiling about it 😉

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