# Getting a DIY Audax Brevet card proof.



## Banjo (13 Jan 2012)

I have used a small village (Combwich) near Cannington Bridgewater as a destination and control for a DIY 200. Googleing tells me the village has a shop pub and church so I should find some way of validating the card but what would you do if you arrived there and nothing was opened?


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## ColinJ (13 Jan 2012)

If you use GPS, you might be able to use your tracklog - details here.


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## Banjo (13 Jan 2012)

I dont have GPS , dont really want to go that way if I can help it .


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## ColinJ (13 Jan 2012)

Banjo said:


> I dont have GPS , dont really want to go that way if I can help it .


That's a shame - it's brilliant!

I noticed today that my GPS has logged just shy of 10,000 km of audax, sportive and forum rides since I bought it in 2006. Apart from a couple of rides where it played up for some reason, it has been a totally reliable way of navigating. I enjoy riding new roads much more now the stress of finding my way has been removed.


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## the snail (13 Jan 2012)

Might be worth phoning the pub/shop and checking the opening hours. In an emergency you could get photographic evidence that you were there, maybe apprehend a local and get them to sign/time your card?


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## Banjo (13 Jan 2012)

It would take away some of the challenge for me. Have been times when one would have saved me some bonus miles though


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## Banjo (13 Jan 2012)

the snail said:


> Might be worth phoning the pub/shop and checking the opening hours. In an emergency you could get photographic evidence that you were there, maybe apprehend a local and get them to sign/time your card?


 Phoning ahead could be a good plan.


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## ColinJ (13 Jan 2012)

Banjo said:


> It would take away some of the challenge for me. Have been times when one would have saved me some bonus miles though


Hmm ... I enjoy the physical challenge of an audax, not the challenge of navigating. I only did a few audax events using route sheets and I found that I got lost unless I concentrated on navigating which meant that I wasn't really taking in the actual cycling and the scenery. I got back from a 200 in the glorious Yorkshire Dales and most of what I could remember of that ride was what was printed on the route sheet!

I know some extremely experienced audax riders and even they sometimes get lost and go round in circles working from route sheets. Not my thing really, so my cheap Garmin Etrex was a big hit with me from the first ride.


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## Banjo (13 Jan 2012)

I wouldnt rule out a GPS in the future , on a couple of rides I have been lucky when someone behind has shouted that I am about to pedal off the wrong way , passed a group of riders going the opposite way through Brecon once luckilly I recognised one of them and realised they were on the same ride as me.Still not sure how I managed that one.

I am 3 rides into a RRTY now , would like to do the 12 rides without GPS then possibly I will think again. never say never ,in a perverse way I get some satisfacxtion from following the route sheet. Have just submitted an entry for a Feb DIY, I make DIYs so simple theres no real navigating involved.


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## Camrider (13 Jan 2012)

> It would take away some of the challenge for me. Have been times when one would have saved me some bonus miles though


 
Not if you use a basic one just to log the route taken.


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## PpPete (14 Jan 2012)

Banjo said:


> I have used a small village (Combwich) near Cannington Bridgewater as a destination and control for a DIY 200. Googleing tells me the village has a shop pub and church so I should find some way of validating the card but what would you do if you arrived there and nothing was opened?


 
My preference is also GPS but I think most DIY organisers will, in extremis, accept a photo with a time-stamp, especially if all your other "proofs of passage" for the ride are good, and you also get a receipt or ATM slip from the next available point, and write them a grovelling explanatory letter to accompany the Brevet card.


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## yello (14 Jan 2012)

It's a question for the organiser. It's up to them what they'll accept so you're better off checking with them.

Here in France, they'll accept photos of the town sign/known feature, or even a postcard sent from the control town.


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## Lien Sdrawde (19 Jan 2012)

[quote="ColinJ]my cheap Garmin Etrex was a big hit with me from the first ride.[/quote]

Which one do you use now? - i'm thinking of getting one.


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## Gareth (19 Jan 2012)

For the Norwich AlleyCat Bicycle treasure hunts that I organise, I have started to use Silva oreinteering control card punches as proof of passage at some of the way points. We have found them to be particularily useful for the out run and the home run sections where the cyclists want a couple of opportuinties to pedal fast and furiously without the need to stop and take time solving a clue, and those who did the December Alleycat liked using the punches on these sections.

These orienteering punches have the advantage that I can discretely locate them out at a point on a cycle track or other location where it would be difficult to make up a clue for. Because each punch has a different pattern of pins it virtually impossible to cheat. At £32.24 and free P&P for a pack of 10 they are inexpensive. http://www.aboveandbeyond.co.uk/.Silva-Control-Punches-B-Box-of-10-_7318860117183.htm 
The Silva punches come with a set of holes in them for either attaching them to a length of cord; paracord is ideal, or they can be screwed to an object such as a wooden fence post etc.

The January Norwich AlleyCat, will be a bit of an experiment, as rather than a mixture of 20-25 clues and photos, it will be composed of just 7 clues to solve at various locations, and 7 punches to mark the task sheet at other locations, and only one photo this time. If this formula proves sucessful then I will continue to use it, and hopefully either the April or May Alleycat will be just a navigational challenge only using the clues to direct the entrants to the control point punches so they can mark their cards as proof of passage.


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## Gareth (19 Jan 2012)

Ahhh!

My Apologies! .... .... ..... I now know what a DIY Audax is ..... I originally thought you were organising an informal Audax for a group of individual riders.


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## ColinJ (19 Jan 2012)

Lien Sdrawde said:


> ColinJ! said:
> 
> 
> > my cheap Garmin Etrex was a big hit with me from the first ride.
> ...


Mine is the oldest and cheapest of the Etrex range - the yellow one. The design was improved and renamed the Etrex 'H' about a year after I bought mine (it's pretty much the same except that it but uses a far more sensitive chipset which tracks the satellites better). The old models have a black globe printed on the front, at the top, the 'H' model does not.

This range is now being replaced by new models but you can still buy them if you shop around. The Etrex H is available for about £60. You'd also need the proprietary serial lead and a USB-to-RS232 converter if your computer doesn't have an RS232 (serial) port. Handlebar mounts cost about £12. I'd advise you to get a decent pair of NiMH AA batteries too, which last about 24 hours per charge. You can do your route plotting online or download other people's routes. Total cost, about £90.

You might prefer to go for the new Etrex '10' which does have mapping capability. Shop around and get one for about £90. You'd need to buy a bar mount and AA batteries for this one too, but a USB lead is supplied as standard. I think the standard map is pretty poor so if you want to use the onboard mapping, you might have to budget extra for a better map on a memory card. You'd probably be looking at £120 - £140 total.

Pretty much everybody I know who has a GPS on their bike gets on really well with it. I didn't see the need to spend hundreds of pounds when my cheap model does the trick, but the upmarket models like the Garmin Edge 800 are very good - lots of people on my forum rides have them.


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## Banjo (19 Jan 2012)

Gareth said:


> Ahhh!
> 
> My Apologies! .... .... ..... I now know what a DIY Audax is ..... I originally thought you were organising an informal Audax for a group of individual riders.


 No worries I guessed that was the case. I did a bit of orienteering in my younger days and well remember the clippers tied to a tree or whatever.I think they could be used for a normal Audax in some circumstances but obviously not for a DIY.


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## Ian H (21 Jan 2012)

I may be qualified to answer this. Basically, if the rider has made the effort, found some kind of control, and everything else is in order, the ride is likely to be validated.

*Many years ago, before DIYs were invented, on the Tour of Kernow (an absolute bast*rd of a 400, not least because it's about 440km), We chased a milkman at dawn, to get him to sign our cards.


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## Banjo (22 Jan 2012)

Ian H said:


> I may be qualified to answer this. Basically, if the rider has made the effort, found some kind of control, and everything else is in order, the ride is likely to be validated.
> 
> *Many years ago, before DIYs were invented, on the Tour of Kernow (an absolute bast*rd of a 400, not least because it's about 440km), We chased a milkman at dawn, to get him to sign our cards.


 
I wonder what the milkman thought being chased by a pack of grim looking cyclists at dawn


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