Audax Rides

First audax length spin in a long time on Sunday, close to 3 years. 200km out of Cork city, wander through east Cork, coastal route to Ring.

Back road route following Blackwater valley from Dungarvan to Fermoy , before heading southish on a lovely route through Castlelyons,Knockraha and back to Cork.

I don't think Van Zandt ever did much audax but this seemed appropriate

Days, up and down they come
Like rain on a conga drum
Forget most, remember some
But don't turn none away
Everything is not enough
And nothin' is too much to bear
Where you been is good and gone
All you keep is the getting there

To live is to fly
Low and high
So shake the dust off of your wings
And the sleep out of your eyes

There was an event on in each province today to celebrate the Audax Club Parisien centenary.

I got to ride the Munster one, a 205km route starting and finishing in Ballincollig. Really lovely route, the necessary evil of regional roads kept to a minimum and with almost endless magical stretches of quite lanes, especially

*Blarney to Mallow

*Most of Mallow to Buttevant

*Most of Buttevant to Kanturk

*The highlight was probably the Millstreet to Macroom, the highest point of day; a lovely climb and an even better descent

*Although The section from southern side of Bandon river a few km outside Dunmanway to Cloghduv on southern side of Lee valley was top drawer.

A really great route and the result of many a long meandering winter rides and evenings plotting.

Thanks to the organiser and all the riders

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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!😀

Open for guaranteed and ballot entries, LEL August 2022

https://londonedinburghlondon.com/

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!