Reflecting on 2007
Leaves falling from the trees and the crunch of frost underfoot means that the audax season has just ended. Perhaps you will indulge me if I reflect on the ups and downs of the past 12 months or so.
My audax season really began in March, having returned to the bike after 5 months of little or no riding. My indulgence in beer and good food over winter meant I was packing some extra pounds, something that was commented on in early spring club runs....
My goal for the year was the 1200km ride from Paris to Brest and back. This was scheduled for late August and so I had plenty time to prepare. I had also decided to focus my time on longer rides (300km or more) rather than do lots of rides, mainly to avoid doing too much too soon with the danger of demotivating myself. A haphazard schedule of rides was drawn up.
A couple of local rides were followed by a trip up to Scotland and the North East of England. The borders are a cracking part of the country to cycle in, both north and south, with a good mixture of "proper" hills (none of the namby pamby Surrey grunters) and scenic views. By far the most beautiful scenery I saw all year was in County Durham - if you get the chance to cycle in Weardale (around Allenheads) I recommend it.
The scheduled rides were being ticked off, by which I mean I was completing the requisite rides for PBP qualification (you have to do a complete SR series, meaning at least one each of a 200, 300, 400 and 600km rides) in specified timeframes. My 400 was on the May bank holiday weekend - a ride going from Chalfont St Peter (west London) to Chepstow and back. I'd done the same ride two years ago and was amazed at how much easier I found it. Previously I'd been shattered at the end, but this time felt fresh and unhurried (to the extent that I had 3 hours sleep under a survivial blanket in a covered bus shelter in the middle of Oxfordshire - hardly 5 star, but it did the job, despite the far off hollering of drunks rolling out of the local taverns).
Most of the rides I did were plagued with rain of various hardness. You might remember that the summer was slightly damp! By far the most consistently sodden, though, was "the Beast from the East" which went from Waltham Abbey (north London) to Taunton (strictly speaking the service station on the M5 - audax does visit some of the most glamorous places in the UK, honest). The first day was breezy and drizzle flecked my lycra. The second day (it was a 600km ride, where most people take 36-40hrs to get around) was drenched. I have rarely felt so miserable on a ride, particularly as the worst of the weather coincided with the toughest (ie lumpiest) part of the route around the Wiltshire downs (Shaftesbury and the like). Still, got around it with 5 minutes to spare (phew, that was close, as I didn't have a back up plan for the 600km qualifier!)
Some filler rides passed the time over the summer, although one deserves special mention. If you feel inspired to do a 300km ride then do think of entering Wrekin to Sea. It is a glorious route - Durham might have had the single most attractive bit of cycling, but Wrekin (near Shrewsbury) to Sea (the Sea being over the Welsh mountains to Borth on the coast) had the most glorious route. Coming off the mountains with the panorama of a the sun speckled Cardigan Bay really is something.
And then to August, where my sole focus was PBP. This event attracts around 5,000 entrants from all over the world. Name a country and there was someone mad enough to start in Paris and cycle 600km to the coast and 600km back again. It really is a special ride, whether it is the sight of a 10km snaking line of red tail lights winding its way through the first night or the crowds of wellwishers, accordian players, oompah loompah bands, children handing out hot drinks and so on that appear in each village on the route (even in the worst weather). I won't forget this event and could write a novelette on the experience of cycling pretty much non-stop for 86 hours. I won't though - but will be happy to inspire you with tales of derring do if you catch me out in the lanes of Surrey. Whether it is the sheer logistics of riding so far, hiding in a bus shelter whilst the heaviest rain I've ever seen beat down, miming for saddle sore cream in a French pharmacist, or the feeling of succeeding where so many others failed (around 1,500 people dropped out on the route) I'm sure there is a tale to enchant you all!
And then the rest of the year to the end of October was spent doing odds and sods here and there, including some rediculously hilly rides in the north of England (I don't think I've ever been so tired as at the end of a day cycling over every bloody bump in Lancashire!)
All in all a good year, with a great variety of rides across the UK and into France. A rough calculation suggest I racked up around 5-6000 km doing audax events. I probably walked about 10km of those though due to some NASTY hills, particularly in South Wales.
And so, now the leaves are falling and the crunch of frost is underfoot. It can only mean one thing - a new audax season has begun and this year I am hoping to do bigger, better and bolder things. Including the equivalent of PBP but over the Rocky Mountain (gulp). But I'll still be faithful to local audax events - hope to see you at some of them.
Billy Weir