The Beacon Message Board

Whats an Audax, What do you do, How do you Qualify for one?

Many people have mentioned it to me but not to an extent its going to stay in my head!

From my limited experience, I'd say it can be best characterised as an event where you pay several pounds to eat lots of cake. Unfortunately the cake is spread out so you have to cycle to get to it - sometimes up hills if the organiser is particularly evil.

There's quite a good explanation here and some FAQs here.

Thanks that helped a lot now i fully understand it
Sounds a bit like orienteering

Nice one Laurence great definition of Audax. On the very long ones there is a breakfast and quick kip on the floor of a village hall thrown in.

I enjoy them Harry because I find them challenging but not so great a challenge that they're an ordeal. They're not competitive and there's normally an eclectic mix of ages and types of riders, generally there's a relaxed friendly atmosphere. I enjoy the freedom to ride at my own pace, riding with a bit of company sometimes but alone when necessary. Most of all, I enjoy them because they tend to use quiet country lanes in scenic areas that I probably wouldn't otherwise visit and I treat them as a day out on the bike so I'm not in a hurry to finish.

So see a plus point of riding at your own pace but you wont be in a group and if something happens and you need others to help then your screwed !

Harry, you likened audaxes to orienteering. That is quite a good description on how they work. In reality, along with 12h and 24h time trials, audaxes are endurance cycling events. The minimum 'proper' audax for purists is 200km, but many shorter events are available and very popular with people setting out on this type of event (see our Snowdrop and Sunrise Express/From Clee to Heaven & Cotswold Outings). 'Proper' Audaxes tend to come in varying lengths such as 200, 300, 400, 600, 1000 and 1400km length events whilst the shorter events are typically 100, 120 or 160km in length. On the 400km+ events, riders will ride continuously minus a few short cat naps for sleep.

Just to correct Steve, they are competitive but not in the sense of a road race. No person wins or is ranked at an individual event. Instead, serious audaxers compete for annual points competitions organised by Audax UK or PeakAudax. These are typically characterised as distance and climbing competitions. So for example, the person to have gained the maximum number of altitude award points (climbing in other words) over a year, or to have ridden the greatest number of long distance events. There are also some seriously strange competitions such most distance ridden on a trike or fixed wheel. A few years ago a Beacon RCC member, Danial Webb, gained 145 altitude points and won the national trophy - in normal speak that equals 145,000m of ascent in one year. I have already exceeded the target for being listed for one of the distance awards for riders competing several 200km events. Eddie Sumner has completed the international and mother of all audaxes, the 1400km Paris-Brest-Paris Ultra Randonee.

Competitions may also be based at club level. Earlier this year, the Beacon RCC Club Committee approved the launch of a new trophy for audaxes based upon the greatest distance covered in one year.

For less serious audaxers, the events are about:
- not paying a fortune for a sportive but riding something very similar in nature
- eating cake at one of several cafes
- following a nice route
- benefiting from the sense that they are participating in an event
- enjoying the view

For serious long distance audaxes (400km+), they are about:
- battling with the psychological elements of very long distance riding
- hallucinating through lack of sleep
- fighting to replenish one's energy
- pain and anquish
- answering the question, "how far?"

This is bad news for Kidderminster Killer riders, but your event was at the easy end of the audax spectrum!

Harry, BBC recently filmed an audax event which will be shown on television in the near future. Once broadcasted, I will post the BBC i-player link here.

Cheers Phillip great help but im not sure whether ill be serious or just for fun yet as i want to get into road racing mainly but id like to get involved with every event as much as possible

is their an age limit to enter an event?

HAZBRO wrote:is their an age limit to enter an event?

Actual age or mental age.....?

Upper or lower limit?! You might need to get a parental consent form signed if you're under 18 but that's about it. I'm fairly sure you'll be the youngest entrant in most Audaxes - I must have been close to being that in the two I've done so far, and I'm 30.

You just need parental consent your entry form.

Harry, you'll find lots of info about this topic and other related topics on our own club website. (For a lot of us, it's very easy to forget that the message board is only one part of the club's on-line presence.)

http://www.beaconrcc.org.uk/other_activ ... audax.html

http://www.beaconrcc.org.uk/other_activ ... index.html

HAZBRO wrote:So see a plus point of riding at your own pace but you wont be in a group and if something happens and you need others to help then your screwed !

There's an element of self-sufficiency involved - ideally you should be able to navigate the route on your own (if necessary) using the route card and carry tools, tube, pump etc. so you can fix minor breakdowns. That doesn't mean you have to cycle alone, nor does it mean that people won't help if they see you in trouble (they usually will).

laurence_cooley wrote:From my limited experience, I'd say it can be best characterised as an event where you pay several pounds to eat lots of cake. Unfortunately the cake is spread out so you have to cycle to get to it - sometimes up hills if the organiser is particularly evil.

That is superb, I'm going to write that down.
Harry, if you ride one of the Beacon audaxes, there will be a ready made group to ride with; I've found audaxes to be very friendly events though and you get talking to, and riding with, complete strangers, and that's a good thing. I also like the self-sufficiency of riding a long route with one or two people, or even on my own.
I recommend the Clee to Heaven if it's not already full.

All sounds good, since making this thread, I am now self sufficient enough to ride a bike and not fall off and change an inner tube, That is what you call fast learning!

I am accustomed to the 'audax' event! I rode my first in June, on the Cotswold one!