I got a taste for long distance cycling with Audax UK towards the end of 1994, and in the following year I found myself doing more and more rides of ever greater distance. In these pages you can read my reports for some of the rides.
Most people want to know what is meant by "Audax" and "long distance". Audax is a particular style of non-competitive cycling in which riders have to cover a set distance within a certain time. Most Audax rides are 200km events which have to be completed in no more than 13 hours and 20 minutes. (There is also a minumum time of 6 hours 40 minutes to deter racing.)
The first Audax cycling organisation was Audax Club Parisien, founded in 1904. Now many countries have their own Audax organisations. The club I belong to is Audax UK or AUK which has about 4,000 members. Follow the link for more ride reports, photos, lists of rides, membership information and links to other Audax-related information.
The minimum distance for an Audax ride is usually 200km (125 miles). There is no maximum distance, although there are a number of regularly organised rides of 1200km (768 miles) for which riders are given 90 hours to complete. (Rides over 1000km have a slightly lower minimum average speed). Longer rides exist however: the Calais-Brindisi ride is 2800km.
The minumum speed/maximum times for Audax rides include all stops for rest (or sleep when needed) which are usually taken at organised "controls". A control is usually a café or somebody's kitchen, but sometimes it is simply the back of a volunteer's car where cakes and orange squash are being served to the weary. Occasionally - on a very long ride - riders will catch some sleep anywhere that seems handy and/or inviting at the time. Such places typically include bus shelters and telephone boxes. In extreme circumstances a rider will simply crash out on the pavement wrapped up in a space blanket.
Most people think this sounds insane! Well, it is of course, but it is also very sociable, not at all competitive (AUK never publishes finishing times/speeds), a terrific way to see the country, and there are significant challenges and rewards including regular semi-lethal endorphine highs.
OK - enough of the advertising - you are more than welcome to contact me if you want more info. My ride reports follow, but please bear in mind that they are roughly-edited emails that I used to post to a friend on the day following a ride. Often these were typed with me slumped half-asleep at the computer, occasionally waking up with my side of my face stuck to the monitor - so please forgive the stream-of-consciousness style.
I have tried to edit out Audax/cycling jargon as far as possible. Terms that remain are:
© Kilgore's Enterprises February 1997