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Audax Rides

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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,098 ✭✭✭NamelessPhil


    I did the Leinster Centenary 200 today. I was last (wo)man leaving the start due to not breaking the habit of lifetime of arriving late, my only excuse is that I rode 22km out to start from home.

    I had the route to myself for the first 70km and made good progress because the weather was great with no wind and partially sunny. I caught up with a couple of regulars on the way into Carnew and caught up on the news as far as the burrito van in Clonegal. Who knew that burritos are great Audax food?

    The route was slightly different on the way back to Bray, small roads with plenty of climbing and scruffy surfaces. It was mostly R roads between Shillelagh and Rathdrum and the final control before the finish. The last 40km avoiding the main roads around the back of Ashford and NewtownMountKennedy leaves no climb unridden. A final slog out of Delgany and the back of Bray Head them the descent into Beat and a warm welcome in the clubhouse. Great organisation, friendly faces and good weather combined to make a really good day on the bike since the Before Times.

    https://strava.app.link/101A0b8ytjb



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,565 ✭✭✭thebouldwhacker


    200km closer to Paris.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 487 ✭✭selwyn froggitt


    I'll second that, thanks so much to the organiser who had his 'stamp' all over this route, he never let's us down!

    A really great day for it as well, little wind and no rain. Great to catch up with a few people I hadn't seen in an age, so glad to have all the Audax events up and running again after all the turmoil of late. The appetite is definitely out there and a large turnout of riders. Well done to everyone who took part.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 195 ✭✭Fugs!!


    Myself and my mate did the Killeshin 200 on Sept 4th. It was super. 57 people took part which was great. Tough enough route but very enjoyable.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 487 ✭✭selwyn froggitt


    Completed the Pink Elephant Audax 200 on Saturday, starting and finishing in Ballincollig.

    Rolled out just after 7.30 after receiving my Brevet card and route plan, a misty and drizzly start to the day but the weather improved massively into the late morning and by the time I rolled back into the finish at just after half past four it was 18 degrees C 😊

    I've lost count the amount of times I've done this event now, what with the event proper and tagging along on organisers rides, but it's a fantastic route and impossible to tire of, some beautiful quiet stretches of road and just over 2000 metres of ascent.

    A full field of riders and a few taking part in their first ever Audax, well done to everyone who completed this, and a big thank you to MH of DRVCCC for all his time and effort in putting this together.



    :)




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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,098 ✭✭✭NamelessPhil


    I cycled the North Leinster Riviera 200 Permanent today. Great day to be on a bike in the middle of November, warm enough, light winds and only the odd sprinkling of drizzle.

    The route starts and finishes in Clontarf. The navigation is pretty easy, follow the coast roads to Annagassan in Louth, turn around and ride mostly the same route back with a deviation after Skerries. Keep the sea on your right on the way up and on your left on the way down. The route is pretty scenic but sea fog and low cloud concealed the Mourne Mountains. Its pretty flat for an Irish 200km, only 800m ascent.

    I was one my own for the day but that's normal for most of my rides. My average speed for the first 120km was 25.3 and after 230km once I got home it was 23.2.

    Id recommended the route. It's not particularly technical and mostly avoids the R132 apart from the stretch between Swords and Blake's cross.

    https://strava.app.link/y4qic8FHblb



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,459 ✭✭✭Large bottle small glass


    I presume the road bowling is an import from Armagh?

    I've never seen anything like it for

    *its gambling culture and the snakes that go with that

    *the pressure on when throwing a bowl is incredible; almost everyone there will have money on and in my experience are not slow or shy with their blunt "advice".

    In saying all that it a pretty unique thing and as Irish as hurling

    As an aside in 2015 there was three 200km routes in Munster, now including events there are 12 with a few more in the pipeline. Makes life an bit more interesting for riders doing a RTTY



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 54,771 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    not sure if a previous draft got somehow thrown in there?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,140 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    I'd say it's a reference to the pics in Nameless Phil's Strava upload of the audax she did yesterday where she encountered road bowling outside Drogheda.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,098 ✭✭✭NamelessPhil


    I did a bit of Googling and found road bowling is played in Louth and there are international championships involving players from The Netherlands and north-western Germany. So it's not just an Irish pastime



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,558 ✭✭✭ratracer


    0047B7B8-BDBD-4BA1-8B2F-15692EE41E44.jpeg

    I might be tempted to become an Audax-er after listening to Joe on Wednesday!

    All welcome, it’s the Clayton Hotel in Galway.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,098 ✭✭✭NamelessPhil


    Yeah. But Joe has full support team behind him. Audaxers rely on their bike, their wits and whatever food they can scavenge along the way. Joe's version is the luxury version of endurance cycling.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,558 ✭✭✭ratracer


    Sorry, first time posting in this thread, won’t make that mistake again! My bad!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,140 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    ....and Joe is a 'racer'. He'd probably struggle to keep his average below 30km/h.

    (Probably not a popular thing to say but I can't imagine Joe giving a talk or whatever he doing in the Clayton. His achievements are very impressive but he doesn't have a 'personality' as such).



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,459 ✭✭✭Large bottle small glass


    Make it long enough and take away the support and he wouldn't be struggling for long.

    The mentality to deal with all the unknowns in long distance riding solo are very different to riding faster when supported. A rider who excels at one might not necessarily excel at the other.

    It's not to knock one over the other, but I'd have a preference for Mike Hall types over Strasser etc.

    They are all fcuking mad mind



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,098 ✭✭✭NamelessPhil


    Ah now, you're grand. It's just a very different form of endurance riding. You'd be more than welcome to come along to any Audax ride.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 5,282 ✭✭✭nilhg


    It's an interesting discussion though, I've been watching Strasser for a long time and he's one of the only people I know of whom I genuinely think there is no one else in the world who could do what he does, I'd love to see him branch out to something like Trans AM or TCR in Europe just to see how he would get on. The self supported ultra cycling world nowadays is very interesting, so many strong riders with great personalities, so many strong female athletes going head to toe with the men and handing out beatings and so much fine coverage of all of them.

    Sorry NP for diverting discussion from pure Audax matters, I promise I'll do one shortly and report back here.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,459 ✭✭✭Large bottle small glass


    It would be interesting, the man is a freak of nature and his record and records speak for themselves.

    When he set the RAAM record he averaged 633km a day for 7.5 days.

    He has a huge crew and everything is taken care; change his clothes, IV lines for hydration etc etc.

    I'd love to see how he would handle the pressures of racing similar distances solo with the unknowns racing 4000km solo must bring.

    The winners of the transcontinental and similar races seem to average around 400km per day which seems like a chasm when compared to Strasser's RAAM speeds but my money would be on him being a temperamental thoroughbred having a meltdown somewhere in Macedonia wet hungry and lost and trying to remember how to fix a puncture full of indignation at having to apply his own assos cream.

    It's no surprise the women to well, you see the same with ultra running, once its long enough power doesn't matter and its all about stamina, resolve, strategy etc etc



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 195 ✭✭Fugs!!


    Has anyone ever done the quite man 300? It looks wonderfull. All around Mayo in June. Having done 2, 200km Audax spins its time for longer and it looks pretty flat. Less climbing than the 2, 200kms I've done.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,098 ✭✭✭NamelessPhil


    I haven't done that route but there's little something called a headwind that can make the smallest hills feel like mountains. It's fairly prevalent in the west of Ireland.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,459 ✭✭✭Large bottle small glass


    Got to ride a new Munster 200 permanent yesterday with the organiser which should be available soon to ride.

    Starts in Mitchelstown and visits some small villages in Cork, Limerick and Tipp including Glanworth (with Irelands oldest unmodified bridge), , Bruree (and passes Dev's house), Effin, Meanus (endless fun with those two names), Lough Gur and its nearby stone circle, the two Pallas villages, Donohill and Golden.

    Linked together with lots of lovely quite roads in pretty countryside. Climbing is kept low for a Munster 200 with circa 1500m for the day, making it a good choice for a RTTY rider not looking to murder themselves.

    Lots of choice for audax riders in Munster and elsewhere now with some lads putting on a collection of lovely and interesting routes.

    I thought we had Munster's answer to Ronnie until he turned up with a rear hope light taken off the Internation Space station, a carbon effin bike and oval fcuking chainrings!😀



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,288 ✭✭✭Mefistofelino


    You were doing so well until the last line..

    Enemies.jpg




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 194 ✭✭WOT


    Open for guaranteed and ballot entries, LEL August 2022

    https://londonedinburghlondon.com/



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,459 ✭✭✭Large bottle small glass


    Nothing like a friend doing an RTTY to shame you into a bit of audax, even in winter.

    Crumbling Rocks 200 was up today. Route start is in Marlfield on western edge of Clonmel and follows primarily back roads on a meandering route around South Tipp and visits over 20 old rural graveyards.

    Tombstone tourism as a friend calls it 🙂.

    Route and description here

    www.audaxireland.org/events-calendar/gazetteer/200km-events/crumbling-rocks-200/

    Left house and joined route around 5.30 before meeting two lads about 54km in just before 7.45.

    In spite of 3 punctures between us and a slide off it was a really enjoyable day on quite roads in good company.

    Route well checked over last few years but first time riding it in one go; a mixture of mechanicals on previous attempt and a strong dose of lazycnutitis

    First spin since December 30 and a minor dose of Covid but went fine.

    Now to ride the gravel version of same route; about 165km "road" and 35km proper off road



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,288 ✭✭✭Mefistofelino


    Rode the route today with the organiser. A fantastic route offering a wide variety of road surfaces - from liquid sh!te to near perfect tarmac. Enough climbing to keep you honest but not too much. And the last 90 minutes spent scooting along farm roads in the dark.

    Well worth considering as part of a RRTY, but not one for narrow tyres!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 487 ✭✭selwyn froggitt


    Rode the Crumbling Rocks 200 Permanent on Saturday with one other, starting and finishing in Ballyporeen.

    A fabulous route, but not one for the faint of heart or anyone that doesn't like getting their bike and kit filthy dirty, an 'interesting' mix of surfaces from sh!te encrusted farm tracks to small gravel sections and an abundance of 'grass growing up the middle', to some half decent tarmac....I loved it!

    Based around the route creators fascination/obsession with abandoned and ruined churches/graveyards (and dead people 😀), we counted 20+ churches and even less cars, it was such a quiet route.

    Total ride time was eight and a half hours on the nail, and minimal short 10 minute stops in Fethard and Newcastle.

    A damp, drizzly and blustery start turned into a pretty good day in the end. Lucky enough to get away without puncturing for the day, rode it on 28's.

    As we rolled into Ardfinnan, an hour from Ballyporeen we had views of the Comeraghs/Galtees and Knockmealdowns in the setting sun, truly magic 😃

    Post edited by selwyn froggitt on


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,459 ✭✭✭Large bottle small glass


    Glad ye enjoyed it; that little road into Ardfinnan by Lady's Well church Abbey is one of my favourite roads around.

    Here's the gravel version since you are warmed up for south Tipp!




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,459 ✭✭✭Large bottle small glass


    EDIT, I just checked the gravel route shares only 70km or so with Saturday's route, so 135km new km.

    Including some lovely tarmac

    and one of the better ways to cross the wretched N24





  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,140 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    Big shout out to Paul O'D and crew for organising today's inaugural Miners' Cross 200. It was a fantastic event over many less travelled/forgotten roads and a suitable replacement for the Mick Byrne. Looking forward to next year already.

    https://www.strava.com/activities/7180999431



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 540 ✭✭✭mvt


    Yes, The Miners Cross is an instant classic,on a par with any audax I have done.

    Very enjoyable route with fantastic views & quite challenging with well over 3000m of climbing as my body can currently attest to.



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