Looking Ahead ~~ The Audax Ride

In the Spring of the year, we’ll do my annual Audax Ride. It is this ride that gives this blog its name.

Audax is a riding style not often found in the United States. The features of an Audax tour are pretty constant. It’s a group ride, where the group stays together. There is a group leader who is responsible for setting the pace. There is a predetermined route. There are reservations at the major stops for meals and lodging. It is a self-supported tour. The group carries what is needed to accomplish the tour. If a member of the group has a difficulty, the entire group stops and works as a team to fix the problem, be it mechanical, a flat, or other issue.

You find these in Europe a lot. There are clubs, and organizations of these things all over the continent. Some Audax events are long, multi-day affairs.

The ride we do is a 200K. That’s about 125 miles. We do it in one day. There are several rest stops along the way, and one really good lunch stop, with a full, sit-down meal. There is a large “snack” at the end of the ride. The usual tone of the ride is one of laughing chatter all day long. In short, it’s a lot of fun.

Getting ready for the ride. Doing 125 miles in one day can sound intimidating. Oddly, a fair number of riders who have done this one, have never gone farther than 65 miles at one time before ride day. It’s entirely “doable.” Preparation begins with simply getting on the bike. Gradually build time and capacity. The goal is to be doing 10 to 12 hours per week, by late March. Here’s a recipe. Start with our Spin Class, that gives you two hours per week. Be sure you are getting in a two to three hour, low effort, “integration ride.” Each week. That’s a total of about five hours. To this add another relatively short ride of an hour or so. See, you’re already doing six hours.

Gradually increase the times on both of your outside rides, until, by the end of January, you are doing a two hour ride and a four to five hour ride every week. That’s four training sessions a week, totaling eight to nine hours.

In February, add another short ride, of about an hour. This one should include a 15 minute warm up section, about a half hour of hill repeats at moderate intensity, and a 15 minute cool down. Then, near the end of the month, add another hour, either as a separate ride at low intensity, or by extending one of the other four or five rides.

Along about that time, I’ll start doing Audax Tune Up Rides.

The Tune Ups. Look for these rides in March and April. We do three of them. Two are about 45 miles long, and the last one is about 65 miles. We do these for several reasons. The first and most important, is to give us all a chance to practice riding in this group-stays-together-controled-pace style of riding. The second is to act as an assurance that each individual will be able to accomplish the goal. The routes for the Tune Ups are deliberately more hilly and challenging than the overall route of the Audax Ride.

Words about pacing. I’m often asked about the pace of these rides. The intent of this question is always, “Will I be able to do this thing?” It’s an honest question, but a simple and straight forward answer is often misleading. So first we must discuss averages. (Sorry, but this really is necessary.)

Averages Defined. Most cycle computers have an average speed function. This usually does not record unless the bike is moving! That means that this is a rolling or moving average speed. Unfortunately this is misleading in two ways. First off, rolling average does not get you to the end of the ride. It is your over-all average that gets you to the finish. Very few bicycle computers will deliver an over-all average. Second, being able to maintain a high average for a shorter distance, does not necessarily translate to a sustained lesser over-all average.

Here’s the straight story on the Audax Ride. The over-all average will be close to 12 mph. To do this a rolling average of about 14.5 mph is necessary. This is a bit harder than it may seem. Simple arithmetic tells the tale. To deliver a 14.5 mph average for over eight and a half hours, requires that one must be going faster than that for most of that time. Bear in mind, there are plenty of hills and one mountain on the Audax Ride Route.

Can you do it? The best way to answer that question is to start training, and then do the Tune Ups. By the end of the three Tune Up Rides, you and I will both know what your chances of a successful completion are. Be ready to chat with me about that during and after the Tune Ups. I’m pretty good at judging a rider’s ability, and I will not pull any punches.

Why on Earth should I want to do this? Like mountain climbers say, “Because it’s there!” The sense of accomplishment after meeting a challenge is enormous. The camaraderie on these things is great. They are, in a word, fun! And the Monday morning bragging rights are pretty good too.