A thousand miles from comfort - the road to P-B-P

NamelessPhil

This will be a sporadic log of my attempt at qualifying for and riding the 18th Edition of Paris-Brest-Paris in 2015.

In 2014 I rode a Super-Randonneur series of audax events, comprising rides of 200km, 300km, 400km and 600km. This allows me to pre-register for PBP next year and then I will have to ride the same distances again before the middle of June next year.

I intend to complete these rides in Ireland, I'll be seeing boreens that nobody bar the locals knew existed. I'll ride through the night, develop an unhealthy love of Centra sausage rolls and pray that the battery on the Garmin holds out (I have an external battery pack).

Qualification rides begin any date after 1st November 2014, to that end I'll be riding the Faceless Monk 200 on 22nd November 2014.

I intend to write up a ride report and link to my strava account. I've never trained specifically for anything like this before, I've just turned up and ridden the events with few problems. If anyone has questions or suggestions I would welcome all input.

jimm

One suggestion NP. Get to bed early and stop posting at quarter to one in the morning.


......I'll get my coat....

NamelessPhil

jimm wrote: »

One suggestion NP. Get to bed early and stop posting at quarter to one in the morning.

That's just part of my training to cope with sleep deprivation!

ford2600

Best of luck with it. Not sure if I will do PBP or not but will do something as equally or more stupid:)

On training, you know what works for you to do 600, so you probably know enough.

If you get fatigued, rest, sleep and eat a little better is as complicated as my training gets.

Having said that, I've seen guys you ride long distance do so by not riding a whole lot of long distance, but do a lot medium to high intensity training rather than munching miles. I might try that and see how it goes; could be a sorry boy half way around Priest's Leap 300 in April:eek:

I might see you on the road at one of those audax spins

smacl

ford2600 wrote: »

Having said that, I've seen guys you ride long distance....

:eek:

cdaly_

NamelessPhil wrote: »

That's just part of my training to cope with sleep deprivation!

One thing that got me on the Red Line Red Lane 600 was lack of sleep. I rode out with the intention of getting back to Bray after 420k before sleeping. Too much time at stops left me at around 380k at 6 in the morning with too much time lost and I ended up quitting when I got back to Bray.

On the subsequent Flatlands 600 (the hint is in the title...), I stopped for about 2.5 hours of solid sleep at 377k (much earlier, around 3 am). The following day was grand after that rest.

Of course, I did manage to stay with a group throughout the Flatlands while I rode around 200k of RLRL solo...

pprendeville

How many calories would you consume/burn in 600k.

ford2600

pprendeville wrote: »

How many calories would you consume/burn in 600k.

12,000 plus or minus?

A lot of variables; average speed, elevation, limiting acceleration/deceleration, total weight,
efficiency of rider.

Lewotsil

Thanks NP - look forward to your diary.

Hope this isnt take things off-topic but does anyone have a cue sheet for Faceless Monk Saturday? - I did the Dying cow and Dying Light as my first audax and I printed and formatted the cue sheet to suit my top-bar bag that has a transparent top.


Also out of curiosity;

What is the story with sleeping on a 600 - is there a hostel/community centre organised (at 400k approx) to throw down the bag of bones or is it kip wherever you can and lock the bike to your ankle ??

NamelessPhil

There is a link for the GPS track on the Faceless Monk page. You can print out the cue sheet from that link. It won't contain the organiser's instructions for the information controls. You will get a cue sheet anyway on the morning.

Regarding the 600, it depends. The one I did, the Red Line/ Red Lane 600, started and finished in Bray Wheelers clubhouse and I managed to get a couple of hours sleep there on the floor of the women's toilets! (I'm really doing this sport for the glamour, comfort and 5 star hotels :rolleyes:)

Some people do sleep in ditches, on benches, bus shelters or in a McDonalds. There will be a point when you cannot function without sleep and you'll sleep anywhere.

fat bloke

Is there an element of danger involved in cycling with such sleep deprivation? Serious question. Considering driving tired is rated on a par with driving inebriated.

Combine that with dusk and evening traffic and one could wander out under the wheels of a truck or tractor on a quiet bog road...

NamelessPhil

Some people get what's known as "the noddies" when they will hallucinate or fall asleep on the bike. Of course there's an element of risk which is why you will have to prepare to stop and sleep in any conditions. Some people bring a bivvy bag on the bike and try and find a sheltered spot. As with driving there is an element of personal responsibility for your own safety and the time limits are usually generous enough to permit some rest.

The point of audax is that you're self-sufficient so that's why many riders look like snails with half their houses on the back of the bike. In Ireland it's not too much of a problem as you're never to far from civilisation. Tomorrow I will bring a small saddle bag with spare tubes and multitool and a pump. I won't be bringing a rack bag. Everything else will fit into my pockets. It'll be like an extra long club spin.

NamelessPhil

Up at 5:30 to find that the overnight rain had stopped and the stars were gleaming. I'd packed the bike the night before, I just had to fill water bottles and make sure all the batteries were charged. My next bike will have a dynamo hub and I'll be very happy.

Stuffed breakfast into me and bananas into my pockets. I left my house without waking my husband and daughter and had to cover the the 13km to Whitehall in under half an hour. One of these days I'll leave in plenty of time; it also explains why I have a string of Strava QOMs on the way out to Whitehall!

Arrived with a couple of minutes to sign on and greet the rest of the motley bunch who had decided to ride 200km at the end of November. Some familiar faces and some people doing it for the first time. I'm not sure if there were any other women but well done to everyone who turned up and got round. There were about 20 participants.

The course could be described as "mostly flat", no major hills and just drags with the odd sharp slope. The road surfaces varied from smooth tarmac R - roads to boreens that last saw resurfacing during the Famine. It meant that I added another hour onto my overall time because of going slower than expected. Well, that and the fact that I haven't done another long spin since the Dying Light in October.

We rode out of Dublin in a large group, the initial pace was steady but not too fast, plenty of breath to hold a conversation. There were at least four people on fixies. The sun rose as we left St. Margaret's and the shouts of "surface!", "water!", "holes!" indicated the ravages of the recent rain. Passing Ashbourne, the smell of frying spuds from the Tayto factory greeted us. It made me want to eat a second breakfast there and then.

The small drags and the descending rain split the bunch as people got dropped or stopped to put on jackets. A small group of us rode as far as the first control at Kilmessan where I stocked up on tea and of course, sausage rolls. The first information control was at Bective abbey where we met the Faceless Monk. The rain stopped and the sun came out. I left on my own but was soon joined by another three riders and we stayed in this formation for most of the rest of the day.

Into Kells and the next control, only 89km done and not even midday. Out of Kells, through the Meath Gaeltacht and onto the hills near Collon on the way to Ardee. I was feeling ok, not brilliant, I've had better days on a bike. My feet were wet from earlier on but it wasn't cold and there was little wind. On the steepest climb of the day we were met by water flowing all over the road and a man and his dog trying to shovel the scattered stones from his drive back onto his property.

Ardee and another stop for more food and tea. It was 75km back to Dublin with two more information controls and another control at Duleek. Even by 2:30pm you knew that nightfall was only two hours away. We completed the last controls at the monasteries and on to Duleek. Some of the roads were unsigned and difficult to find, there were a few points when we had to double back to take the correct turn. The routesheet was fine though and if you kept track of the distance between turns it was easy to stay on track without going seriously off course. Although the state of the roads led to much cursing in the group!

The route back to Dublin is over a series of ridges, out of the Boyne Valley, over the hills to Ardcath and Garristown. In the last of light we could see the Dublin mountains on the horizon. By now it was just myself and one other rider, as night descended we rode back into Dublin where we met one other participant. We certainly weren't the first back and definitely not the last.

It was nice to meet ror 74 and the two guys from Dublin bus. As ever an interesting route from Ronnie the organiser, even if some of the roads had no surface whatsoever.

When I ride the next 200km in December I will have ridden at least one Audax event in every month this year. On to the next one...

Faceless Monk 200

NamelessPhil

The last offical audax event of the year was the Gheimhridh 200 on Saturday 6th December.

It started from Stamullen at 8:00am and luckily there was a clubmate who also thought it would be a good idea to ride 200km in December so he kindly gave me a lift to the start. Otherwise it would have been a nice 44km warm up ride!

There was a sense of ordered calm at the start as the riders collected, checking bikes and lights. The weather was cold and dry with no frost. Four of us were completing the Randonneur Round The Year when a rider completes an audax ride of at least 200km in every calendar month. I started in January with the Angel of Mons and having completed that ride in the sleat and dark I was determined to ride every month because nothing could be worse than that ride.

Our mini-peloton of about 17 riders left Stamullen just after 8:00am and faced into the rising sun before turning west across the hills to Naul. The hills took their toll and a group of eight of us rode together into the greying skies towards Dunsany and Trim. Even though it never rained the roads were damp and muddy with every kind of agricultural byproduct spread all over them. By the time we reached Trim we looked like hi-vis wearing Dalmations. It was a case of riding up the front and staying away from the worst of it or keeping your gob shut!

The route took us cross-country out of Meath and into the bog roads of Westmeath, There was a tricky 10km stretch of lumpy, pot-holed, gravelly bog road with bonus tractor. All it needed was some pavé and it would be perfect training for Paris-Roubaix. We could see one of our group up the road on his fixie but it took us at least 15km to catch him, he was like a will-o'the-wisp bouncing over the roads.

Past Michael O'Leary's estate, no time to stop for a cup of tea and on through Crookedwood and to Multyfarnham. It seems cruel to call a retirement home Lír because nobody lives for 900 years in reality. The soup, tea and various refreshments provided by Marc and his helpers from the back of a car revived us.

We were making reasonable time, nothing spectacular but a nice 25.6km average for the first 100. The group took off at a good pace and I hung on for the next 10km before the hills kicked in and I decided to ride at my own pace (aka got dropped) . There's no point in chasing wheels if you're going to blow with 80km still to go.

Myself and my clubmate joined forces over the esker ridges and around the drumlins of northern Meath. Soon we were back on familiar roads over Crossakeel and into Kells for the seventh time this year. The greyness of the day had never lifted and the light slowly faded between Kells and Slane.

We rode out of Slane over nice small roads into Duleek and then skirting Bellewstown we had a tailwind on the last 10km back to Stamullen. By now it was totally dark and I had dropped my clubmate and caught up with Pat on his fixie again.

Marc the organiser had invited us back to his house and he kindly let a bunch of filthy cyclists scoff his food and dirty up his kitchen. That was the nicest bacon butty in the world. There is photographic evidence on the Audax Ireland facebook page of our grubbiness. Back into the car and home to my family.

We were lucky with the weather. It wasn't overly cold. there was no rain and certianly no frost even after nightfall. The route was good, not particularly tough and perfectly suited to a winter 200. Thanks a lot to Marc and the Audax Ireland guys, I've seen a lot of them over the last year and they've been very good company.

Ole Rodrigo

Great pics NP, congrats on the RRTY !

NamelessPhil

The winter sun inched its way out of the sea and over Bray Head, turning the clear sky from blue to gold. The headwind hit my face at the same time as the sun hit my eyes, "Feck this for the next 100km!" I thought as the bike coasted down the descent.

9:00am on the 2nd of January is not the best time of year to be riding a 200, but I'm going to have to do six times that distance in August so I might as well suck up some suffering.The ride was supposed to take place on the 1st of January and I woke at 6:30, dressed in my kit and sat downstairs eating breakfast, listening to the rising wind and watching the ominous rain radar on the Met.ie site. By 7:30 I was back in the comfort of my bed having wimped out of the ride because of the weather. Better to do it a day later and still be intact than blown into the side of a ditch.

I knew the route of the Ardattin 200 from before, it takes place in early April and is usually a nice Spring gallop with not much climbing (about 1800m). It usually takes me under eight hours. The ride was not going to be that fast this day, firstly I was on my own and secondly I haven't been on the bike since the 8th of December. Some health issues kept me off the bike for the rest of December.

The day stayed dry and bright with great views over south Wicklow and across to Carlow, the wind was in my face all the way to Carnew only slackening as dusk fell. Even though it was very cold the wind kept the frost away. I never got physically cold but I definitely didn't eat enough to take the cold into account. I bonked on the way into Carnew and sat down in the petrol station and cleared out the contents of the hot deli counter at lunchtime. The mystery meat pasty was quite good accompanied by spicy wedges and a large tea.

On a familiar route, you notice the changes of the time of year. The flow of Friday commuters against you through the coastal towns in the early morning. Chancing on slowed traffic in Wicklow because of a gaggle of sombre mourners following a hearse to the sound of a tolling bell. A girl in a smart winter coat scooting on her new heely shoes down the main street of a village. Wary cats eyeing you from hedges. A dog soundlessly bounding along a hedge before exploding in a flurry of barking as you pass the end of his territory. A welcome nod from a fellow cyclist passing in the other direction.

As dusk fell in the later afternoon I disturbed scavenging pheasants in the fields near Coolattin. The sound of rooks wheeling as they settled in skeleton trees. Christmas lights flickered on in houses illuminating previously hidden properties on the edges of hills. Past Aughrim, over the crest of Ballinaclash, down into Rathdrum, along the smooth road to Glenealy under a clouding moon. Through an elegantly festive Ashford and on to the noise of the N11 and back into Bray.

As I lay on the ground outside Bray Wheelers clubhouse, my breath visible in the light of my bike, it was hard to contemplate completing 1200km in the possible warmth of a French summer... on to the next ride.

Ardattin 200 (permanent) 2/01/2015

The actual total for the day is 247km, I forgot to start the Garmin when I left home!

ford2600

I can't vouch for whether HIIT intervals etc will work better than mile muching but this might interest you if time is an issue preparing for France


http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/hiit-vs-continuous-endurance-training-battle-of-the-aerobic-titans

NamelessPhil

Thanks for that. I did my first turbo session last weekend, Thunderbolt on TrainerRoad.

I'll certainly be working on my threshold power over the next few months. My plan is to do the Corkagh Park Crit League for fun. It'll give me some extra speed. I won't be doing open racing this year, too much conflict with distance riding.

Irony of ironies, my husband has been following a HFLC diet for the last year and is doing well on it. I've stuck to a normal balanced diet with a bit of everything and I'm due to have my gallbladder removed next month!

I'll be off the bike for a couple of weeks after the surgery but my plan is to ride a 200 early in February. The first possible qualifying 300 is at the end of March and I hope to be fit enough to complete that ride.

NamelessPhil

Ok, the first qualifying 300 is on this Sunday.

I had my gallbladder removed on 10th February and rode the King's Mountain 200 on 28th February. It turns out I did have a nice aggregated clump of small gallstones in my gallbladder and despite being mostly symptom free it was probably no harm to have them removed. I'm no longer carrying around a tiny bag of gravel, weight weenies FTW! I have some small scars on my abdomen, I look like someone's stuck a fork in me several times, my bikini days are long over anyway, but no lasting effects from the operation.

The King's Mountain 200 was my first ever audax in 2013 and it was my third time doing it this year. I like the route, there's usually a head wind on the way out to Loughcrew and a tailwind on the way home. It is also by audax standards "mostly flat". This time the wind was a near gale from the southwest and it made the last 70km back to Dublin very challenging as it formed a strong crosswind with sweeping showers of rain. I rode the first 90km with a nice bunch of strong lads but because of the operation and the fact that I hadn't really done anything on the bike for two weeks I dropped off at Clonmellon and rode on my own to Kells.

At Kells a small group of us formed that would carry on to Dublin, forming and reforming with people riding up ahead or slowing down as fatigue grew or they felt better. Riding an audax is a bit like the worst and best bits of a club spin, there's all kinds of abilities. Audax is an individual sport and everyone rides to their own pace, there's no obligation to maintain a group and you might have company for the whole spin or be riding on your own with the wind and the birds for company. Using Strava's fly-by option is really interesting on an audax route as you can really see where people lose time and where they catch up again.

It was my first time on my purpose built audax bike that my husband built for me. He finishes it late the night before and it was my first time on the bike that morning. It's certainly one way to test a bike by taking it for a 200km ride over the rough roads of north-west Meath.I had no problems with the bike, nothing went ping!

It's a titanium Lynskey frame with dynamo hub and lights, disc brakes, ultegra groupset and a second hand saddle bought on Boards! It weighs about 10.8kg but it has everything an audaxer could wish for, full mudguards, the ability to recharge a Garmin and a pannier rack. For the first time I'm riding a compact, being able to spin up a hill instead of mashing up in 39x25 is nice. My other bike is an aluminium Rose and the difference in comfort is amazing. The new bike absorbs road buzz much better. I used the same saddle, bar tape etc on the Rose and I've ridden the same route before, so objectively I can say that the dead roads of Meath were much more comfortable to ride.

The Midlands 300 is on Sunday morning I'll be taking it handy. It's going to be a long day in the saddle.

ford2600

Your not doing a Fleche so?

Signed up for Sunday, but still haven't shaken of my first cold in a long time so will probably skip it.

Did you get Lynskey on CRC?

Charging on the go, B+M Luxos U or something else?

NamelessPhil

No flèche, I did it last year though. The 300 will be hard enough work. I'm not sure where he bought the frame. This bike has been planned for the last year and was supposed to be ready in September. It was well worth the wait, he built everything including the wheels.

It's a SON 28 dynamo.

NamelessPhil

Midlands 300 Sunday 29th March 2015

Four seasons in a day for sure! I left my house with the dawn chorus in full voice around me. The clocks had gone back an hour overnight which meant losing an extra hours sleep, not great when you've got 300km ahead of you. The rain was just beginning and I was fairly damp when I got to a well-lit Joe Daly's in Dundrum. A quick sign on and greeting of the usual suspects and a few new faces. There were originally 40 participants but only 27 signed on. The weather forecast was enough to deter anyone except the determined and foolhardy.

Rolling out in a peloton through rain washed dark streets of south Dublin and across to the hill out of Rathcoole. It was dark for the first hour and when dawn broke behind us the rising sun didn't cut through the gloom. By the time we reached Naas a few people had abandoned. We were soaked to the skin and the full might of the south-westerly wind bit into us on the road to Portlaoise. The Curragh leaves nowhere to shelter but the group was moving at a fair clip. I was struggling to hold a wheel even in the middle of the group and the spray from un-mudguarded wheels meant that seeing obstacles was tricky. Eventually I decided to fall out of the group and ride on my own well before Portlaoise.

I rode with my own thoughts for company, no-one ahead and no-one visible behind. This was the part when I questioned WHY I was doing this and could I really complete a 400 and 600. I reasoned that I had plenty of time and no mechanicals so I might as well continue. I met a lost Mayo man in the roundabout hell of Portlaoise and guided him through and we rode together as far as the first control in Mountrath. The rain stopped but the wind didn't. From Mountrath to Birr via Kinnitty (38km that took two hours) I fell in and out of company with Conor from Mullingar. You couldn't see the tops of the Slieve Blooms and the wind was blowing intermittent showers across the mountains.

Passing through parishes, boundaries demarcated by bunting of different colours, black and amber changes to blue and red with green and white in between. At the top of the climb of the Wolftrap needle-sharp rain blew into my face. Clouds to the left of me, rain to my right, here I am stuck in the middle on a bike. The wind continued to impede progress on the descent and the flat road to Birr. At times I'd calculate the distance to the next shelter belt of trees before the wind would hit me. It was slow going.

Encountering MacMansions with manicured lawns and a view of rain-sodden mountains and the neighbours' decrepit barns. The midlands on a Sunday is not a attractive place. I spent my childhood in this area, so I'm very familiar with leaden skies and a wind that holds the promise of hail in its gusts. You become cloud obsessed, working out the time between showers and wind direction.

The road swings north at Birr and the headwind became a cross wind. A break for food and a chance to escape a shower and on through the bogs to Athlone. The sun came out and the showers receded and our speed went up. I had Conor for company to Athlone and the last control where we met John and when we turned for Dublin the wind blew us along. We left Athlone at 4pm and stopped for another break at Kinnegad and left into a vicious hail shower in Clonard. I had dried out but was re-soaked in that last shower. We reached Maynooth as the light was receding from the sky and I helped the lads through the last 30km from Celbridge and Newcastle as they weren't familiar with the roads. Through the nondescript suburbs of Firhouse, Ballycullen and Knocklyon and a series of roundabouts and T-junctions to bring us back to the start after 9pm.

Two qualifying events left, the 400 and 600 and that's all the qualifiers needed for P-B-P.

cdaly_

15 hours for a 300 in those conditions is pretty impressive. Also, lovely writeup, one for the audax ireland website...

NamelessPhil

I'm off to ride the Mick Byrne 200 as an audax permanent tomorrow. Just because I can...

NamelessPhil

... and I did. Mick Byrne 200 - permanent mostly solo

The next weekend I cycled to Athlone and back again the same day for a conference, another 257km in the legs.

On Tuesday night (5th May) I went racing for the craic. Orwell Women's Crit League held a road race on the ICL TT circuit out in Manor Kilbride. One hour sixteen minutes of chasing wheels. I even attempted a dig off the front for the laugh but the bunch caught me back within a hundred metres or so. I realised how much I miss racing.

Started in the B race ahead of the As and after a crash in our group on the second lap, three of us jumped on the back of the leading As when they went past and stayed in until the end. I didn't contest the sprint because I couldn't but finished third B on the night. 90km for the day between riding out and home again.Orwell Women's Crit League - Road race Thanks to Orwell for the organisation and special thanks to Jen for the excellent chocolate cheese cake.

I've pre-registered for Paris- Brest-Paris and now I need to complete the final qualifying rides, the 400km and 600km. I'll be riding the National 400 that starts on Friday evening at 7pm. I'll be going in search of all night garages and trying not hallucinate in the small hours between Waterford and Wexford. The weather forecast is mixed and I'm expecting to get rained on at some stage. I'll finish some time on Saturday afternoon.

NamelessPhil

Ok, the big day approaches rapidly. The bag and bike are packed and the miles are in my legs.

The National 400 was uneventful but wet and windy for the first 160km to Kilkenny. It started at 7pm on a Friday night and it was the first time I've started an evening audax with the intention of riding through the night. I had company from Clane to Portlaoise and rode solo to Kilkenny. I could see the lights of some comrades flickering in the distance.I reached Waterford at 4am. While riding to New Ross into the dawn I got a bad attack of "the noddies" and I even thought about turning myself into the Gardai in New Ross just to get a couple of hours sleep. I pressed on to Wexford and after the nicest breakfast roll in the early morning sunlight I recovered enough to head up the N80 to Bunclody. That was my first time tacking the hill out of the village on the road to Tullow and it's pretty nasty, the thought that I would have to climb it again on the National 600 two weeks later was grim. After a brief stop in Rathvilly (there's a nice wooden bench in the churchyard) I rode the last 60km on familiar roads.

nilhg

NamelessPhil wrote: »

Ok, the big day approaches rapidly. The bag and bike are packed and the miles are in my legs.

Best of luck NP, looking forward to a report when you get back, will be following your progress on the tracker.

NamelessPhil

As I will be riding an obscene amount of kilometres (1228) in 90 hours I thought I might as well try and raise some funds for a charitable cause. In this case it's my daughter's National School. It's a small school on the outskirts of Dublin and it's undergoing renovations at the moment, there's going to be a new classroom extension and a new rubberised playground surface.

I'll be trying to stay "rubber-side down" for the duration of the event and I'd like to raise some money for the school, for the playground and for other essential items such as special needs support. Any parent reading this will know the horrors of school fundraising, bag packing, sponsored walks and their ilk! I reckon I'll be riding this event anyway and even if we got a tenner it would be better than nothing.

If you would like to help you can donate directly to the school's PTA bank account.

IBAN IE58 AIBK 9332 9537 2070 79
BIC AIBKIE2D

Whitechurch National School PTA
Whitechurch National School
Whitechurch Road
Rathfarnham
Dublin 16


Thanks for any help, it'll be much appreciated.

smacl

Best of luck in France! What's your bike number so us mere mortals can follow your progress?

NamelessPhil

http://suivi.paris-brest-paris.org/K134.html

That's my number. It won't always update in real time. I am in Paris and it's bucketing rain. It might be a very Irish Audax!

NamelessPhil

I've registered at the Velodrome today. Got my frame number and timing chip.

Shed.

NamelessPhil wrote: »

Ok, the first qualifying 300 is on this Sunday.

I had my gallbladder removed on 10th February and rode the King's Mountain 200 on 28th February. It turns out I did have a nice aggregated clump of small gallstones in my gallbladder and despite being mostly symptom free it was probably no harm to have them removed. I'm no longer carrying around a tiny bag of gravel, weight weenies FTW! I have some small scars on my abdomen, I look like someone's stuck a fork in me several times, my bikini days are long over anyway, but no lasting effects from the operation.

The King's Mountain 200 was my first ever audax in 2013 and it was my third time doing it this year. I like the route, there's usually a head wind on the way out to Loughcrew and a tailwind on the way home. It is also by audax standards "mostly flat". This time the wind was a near gale from the southwest and it made the last 70km back to Dublin very challenging as it formed a strong crosswind with sweeping showers of rain. I rode the first 90km with a nice bunch of strong lads but because of the operation and the fact that I hadn't really done anything on the bike for two weeks I dropped off at Clonmellon and rode on my own to Kells.

At Kells a small group of us formed that would carry on to Dublin, forming and reforming with people riding up ahead or slowing down as fatigue grew or they felt better. Riding an audax is a bit like the worst and best bits of a club spin, there's all kinds of abilities. Audax is an individual sport and everyone rides to their own pace, there's no obligation to maintain a group and you might have company for the whole spin or be riding on your own with the wind and the birds for company. Using Strava's fly-by option is really interesting on an audax route as you can really see where people lose time and where they catch up again.

It was my first time on my purpose built audax bike that my husband built for me. He finishes it late the night before and it was my first time on the bike that morning. It's certainly one way to test a bike by taking it for a 200km ride over the rough roads of north-west Meath.I had no problems with the bike, nothing went ping!

It's a titanium Lynskey frame with dynamo hub and lights, disc brakes, ultegra groupset and a second hand saddle bought on Boards! It weighs about 10.8kg but it has everything an audaxer could wish for, full mudguards, the ability to recharge a Garmin and a pannier rack. For the first time I'm riding a compact, being able to spin up a hill instead of mashing up in 39x25 is nice. My other bike is an aluminium Rose and the difference in comfort is amazing. The new bike absorbs road buzz much better. I used the same saddle, bar tape etc on the Rose and I've ridden the same route before, so objectively I can say that the dead roads of Meath were much more comfortable to ride.

The Midlands 300 is on Sunday morning I'll be taking it handy. It's going to be a long day in the saddle.

How quickly were you back on the bike after the Gallbladder removal? Had mine out last week! Also did you have to change your diet long term?