I'm thinking of giving it up

[yello]

Regular readers of my waffles may have realised I have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with distances over 200km. Tbh, I think it all a little bit silly!

Don't get me wrong, I love riding. And I have no problem with taking days over a long distance (e.g. touring, though it's been several years now since I last toured). Equally, I love riding at night - in fact, it is about the only thing I look forward too on the 300/400+ audax.

But, yes, silly. You ride to time constraints to get to places to get a stamp on a bit of cardboard. (Sorry, I worded that harshly not to be critical of anyone or anything but to make a personal point! I deliberately over dramatised) I like my focus, such that I can be focused - not a strong point of mine - to be self defined and flexible. With the longer audax events, I feel I'm on a mission and this detracts from riding for me.

I'll do PBP for the experience of the event (it's the same reason that I'll ride the occasional sportive, just to take part) but I think that'll be the end of it for me. I'm going to look at doing the diagonals here in France next year. If they have the same time constraints as audax, then I'll do them free style. More as a randonneur or 'flâneur' (I love that word!) than an audaxer.

 

[frank9755]

Andrew, I'm sure you're not the only one to think that immediately after having done a 600!

I thought something similar after I did mine last month (and during the ride). What I found hardest was not the tough climbs but the grinding out of 220km on the second day when the back of the ride was broken but it was still far from finished.

Thankfully, no-one is asking you to make a commitment to do another one just yet, so see how you feel when you have fully processed the experience. It may be that you do decide that the long stuff is not for you, and that is obviously a perfectly reasonable decision to make!

 

[MacB]

You could always try a bit of an attitude change, not easy but can be liberating. Maybe do one without bothering to get your card stamped, after all it's only really you that cares and you'll know what you've done and haven't done. You could also consider the route and bail out points, say to yourself, I'll do XYZ but if I'm tired/not enjoying it then I'll give it til the next bailout point and make a decision there. Make up a series of DIY rides with the focus on a particular destination, could be a bar, a restaurant or an attraction, and forget about the distances, if the food or drink are really good then get a train home. Make up some challenges for yourself, like getting a large scale map of your local area and committing to riding every road, that's legal, within 50 miles of home. If you haven't already sort out a bike that can go properly offroad and try doing some mixed surface routes. Again start locally and just set off down randaom tracks and trails, wors that can happen is you have to backtrack(or you get savaged by a pack of property defensive dogs ). Don't bother with a computer for some rides and just go for a pootle.

I don't know how sociable you want to be riding wise but there's always the option to get involved in local groups, maybe try to encourage some youngsters and beginners.

 

[yello]

I've thought it for some time tbh, maybe the 600 just brought it to the fore!

What I found hardest was not the tough climbs but the grinding out of 220km on the second day when the back of the ride was broken but it was still far from finished.

Oddly, I quite like the final section. The section when I know I've got it done. It seems the pressure is off me. My transmission started making odd noises with 100km to go, sounded terminal but I couldn't see the cause (one of my tasks for the week!) I ascertained that it seemed to occur mainly in certain gears - so I simply didn't ride in those gears! The reason I mention it is because it didn't dampen my spirits. I wasn't panicked. I knew I'd got time on my side and I'd get back some way or another, even if I had to scoot! My frame of mind was so relaxed and positive at that time that pretty much nothing would have phased me.

Make up a series of DIY rides with the focus on a particular destination, could be a bar, a restaurant or an attraction, and forget about the distances

You've made a lot of really really good suggestions there, cheers MacB! I particularly like the above. Maybe defining my own objective and allowing myself to deviate from it as and when is the key. Clearly, nobody has to ride audax even if they do like riding a bicycle. I wonder why part of me feels obliged to?

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Maybe defining my own objective

My dad did a similar thing years ago - the objective was to visit every pub in Oxfordshire. One per ride that is, not all at the same time.

 

[Baggy]

You ride to time constraints to get to places to get a stamp on a bit of cardboard. (Sorry, I worded that harshly not to be critical of anyone or anything but to make a personal point! I deliberately over dramatised) I like my focus, such that I can be focused - not a strong point of mine - to be self defined and flexible. With the longer audax events, I feel I'm on a mission and this detracts from riding for me.

Clearly, nobody has to ride audax even if they do like riding a bicycle. I wonder why part of me feels obliged to?

Because it's there! With any activity you get to points where there are aspects we really enjoy and aspects you don’t and sometime you need to have a break. Maybe it’s the feeling that you know you can do the distance and know you can make it round in time but it’s overshadowed by the fact that with longer distances the enjoyment doesn’t really come from the ride itself (although there are always high points), but from the sense of completion, and actually, even though getting around is something you're good at, you’d rather enjoy the ride.

Maybe the obligation comes from a hope that one day something will click and suddenly the whole ride will be more enjoyable, so you decide to enter just one more...

Although I'm not exactly in the same league distance-wise the description of being “on a mission” struck a chord. For me, Audax is attractive because it gives a framework to ride in, gives the motivation to get out of bed and get on the bike – but I end up focusing too much on the time aspect. I'll happily take on a like the Dun Run or Exmouth Exodus and get round comfortably within what would be a BR time limit, but struggle mentally when I know there's a control out there somewhere that I have to get to. My confidence and enjoyment of the ride just evaporate, and my perspective is that I’m grovelling round playing catch-up.

Hopefully this is something that I’ll come to terms with over time. At the moment I feel that I have something to prove to myself – but if it turns out that I’m not destined to be a mighty randonneur, well, MacB has made some great suggestions and there are loads of other cycling disciplines out there.

 

[yello]

Maybe it’s the feeling that you know you can do the distance and know you can make it round in time but it’s overshadowed by the fact that with longer distances the enjoyment doesn’t really come from the ride itself (although there are always high points), but from the sense of completion, and actually, even though getting around is something you're good at, you’d rather enjoy the ride.

I think that's pretty darned close to the truth! Why it rings true is that I actually don't have much of a sense of achievement when I've finished... and that's exactly because I tell myself (baring breaking a leg or frame collapsing!) that I'm going to get around. I need that type of motivation to see me through. I tell myself I can do it, that eases my nerves, and so it comes as no surprise when I do. But it is a catch 22. I kill my own sense of achievement!

And more; not only do I rob myself of feeling that I've achieved something, I also don't enjoy the ride itself. The framework of riding a route to a time schedule (however achievable) makes me question who I'm riding for. I don't feeling I'm doing something for my enjoyment but for

The more I think of it, the more I realise MacB's suggestion of my own rides is the answer. Perhaps I should do my own equivalent of the FNRttC! Though, in my case, the nearest coast is some 300km away so it's just become an excuse for a weekend away!

 

[MacB]

The more I think of it, the more I realise MacB's suggestion of my own rides is the answer. Perhaps I should do my own equivalent of the FNRttC! Though, in my case, the nearest coast is some 300km away so it's just become an excuse for a weekend away!

well, there's your answer Yello, you're a nutter plain and simple

Pick a bar 5 miles away, cycle to it, have a dozen beers, 'cycle' home and got o bed...in the morning you'll feel like you've done 300k, assuming you make it home!

 

[dan_bo]

I don't know how you do it in the first place to be honest- my head falls off after five or six hours on the bike anyway. Go and do some cyclocross.

 

[fossyant]

I don't know how you do it in the first place to be honest- my head falls off after five or six hours on the bike anyway. Go and do some cyclocross.

Same here - A few Sportives are as far as I'll do - 100 miles and about 5-6 hours. I get bored !

Training I'll do up to 45/60 on my own.

 

[Greenbank]

I don't know whether I enjoy actually riding long Audaxes or whether I just enjoy having completed them.

But then I had fewer low points on the recent 600 than I normally have despite it being quite hilly. I guess this is just the build up to PBP.

After PBP I'll probably take a break from long rides, sticking to local rides of 200km or less for a few years, at least until Baby GB is a bit older.

 

[Fiona N]

I do get the 'why bother' with respect to getting cards stamped etc. When I did my LeJOG, I started under Audax 'conditions' getting receipts and whatnot along the way. But on the second day I began to wonder what am I doing this for? To prove to other people that I can do LeJOG? I mean, for me it was never in doubt, even under the fairly tight time restrictions (?105 hours) so any collecting of 'stamps' was purely for the 'proof'. So I stopped and just rode it.

But I have been asked if I could prove that I'd done a particular route (not LEJOG - rather more exotically, the Manali-Leh route in Spring 1988). When I said no (I'd even left my camera with a friend so that if I was caught riding illegally on the 'closed road', it would be less likely I could be accused of spying - at the time the road was a military highway, close to the border with China, and closed to most other traffic - rather different to the current situation), as far as he was concerned that meant I hadn't done it. Such an odd attitude but it hasn't made me any more particular about obtaining 'proof' as the rides are solely for me enjoyment - and if I can tell a few anecdotes afterwards, so much the better, but you won't get photographic or any other sort of proof

So I reckon you make your own 'rules' according to what you want to get out of your ride.

Just as I posted that I go through a bad patch in long rides at about one third distance, the corollary is that I really enjoy the last 100km as I nearly always feel so good. My pain sensors seem to switch off - or maybe it's the overload of endorphins - and I feel strong and the cycling nearly effortless. On the other hand, I'm not sure that I'd get out at 6am on damp mornings with the prospect of 300 or more km to do if it wasn't for the Audax organisers. I feel that if they've gone to the effort of organising the event, I'll do them the courtesy of turning out to ride. So then I also feel that I ought to take part properly and get the stamps and receipts. I sort of think it must give the organisers some satisfaction to have riders complete their events or being able to say they have x certified finishers adds to their reputations. Maybe those qualified to comment could do so

 

[pubrunner]

My dad did a similar thing years ago - the objective was to visit every pub in Oxfordshire. One per ride that is, not all at the same time.

I like the sound of your dad - what an admirable objective !

 

[Albert]

What a good thread!

Background: I took up cycling after having a heart attack 4 years ago. I had been a heavy smoker and, from a sporting perspective, professional couch potato for the best part of 40 years.
I have since, according to my Garmin, done 11,000 miles and over half a million feet of climbing. I have joined AUK and National Clarion and have done a few Sportives and, so far, a grand total of ONE Audax.

My Take: Riding towards mileage goals is about as pointless an activity as any person could possibly devise. When completed, you have made no money; gained no fame (outside of a small clique of fellow loonies); contributed nothing to the betterment of your fellows. You have, however, avoided - mowing the lawn; spending hours with tedious relatives; going to garden centres/supermarkets.

This activity is pure self indulgence masquerading as high achievement. It is at worst harmless and at best jolly good fun as well as giving one a sense of personal satisfaction. BUT, like all pointless pursuits it will eventually become boring through repetition.

When boredom sets in move on................. For myself, I've got lots more to aim for.

 

[yello]

This activity is pure self indulgence masquerading as high achievement.

I like that. May I use it?

It is at worst harmless and at best jolly good fun as well as giving one a sense of personal satisfaction. BUT, like all pointless pursuits it will eventually become boring through repetition.
When boredom sets in move on................. For myself, I've got lots more to aim for.

Albert, you are 100% right. I am moving on.