Audax Explained
The 1200Km Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) race first took place in 1891 and was part of the professional calendar, every 10 years, until 1951. At this point the professionals decided there must be an easier way of making a living and dropped out. Subsequently, the Audax Club Parisien (ACP) has run the event for amateurs. It takes place every four years and has to be completed in 90 hours. Doing so involves competitors in riding through the night, sleeping in ditches and on village-hall floors and acquiring numbness in parts that other rides cannot reach. Incidentally, despite the A in ACP, these rides are what the French call "randonées" - an "audax" being ridden as a regimented group behind a team captain. Naturally that does not stop us using the wrong name in the UK.
My knowledge of these horrors comes solely (I am pleased to say) from reading about them in Arrivée, the magazine of Audax UK (AUK), in which writers pretend to have enjoyed the event. Qualification for the PBP requires demonstration of commitment and mental instability by riding "brevets" of 200, 300, 400 and 600 Km. It is for the certification of these rides that AUK exists. PBP aficionados only grudgingly class 200Km as a “long-distance ride”. To me, though, it is around the limit of the feasible, by which I mean I can do it and still be capable of drinking a pint before falling into bed. Fortunately, there are others like me and AUK has come to organise many 200, 100 and 50 Km events, even in non-PBP years. These are basically just for fun; you select your event from the AUK website, pay your entry fee (~£10) and download the route. Routes are chosen to represent the best of local roads – they are not signed. Most riders rely on GPX routes, though printed turn-by-turn instructions are generally available. At the start you are given a “brevet card” which must be stamped at the various controls (or contrôles - we audaxers like to pretend we are in France). Controls are at 20-30 mile intervals and generally involve cake. However some are “information controls” where a question must be answered as proof of passage (“Name of pub at junction etc.”). Gradually things are moving towards electronic validation with riders submitting a GPX track or using a brevet card app to prove they have completed the ride. Maximum and minimum average speeds are set, usually 15-30 Km/h (the maximum serves to distinguish an audax ride from a race in the eyes of the police).
You might think of an audax as a sportive without the hype or as an extended club run - though with an ever changing, (sometimes disappearing), set of companions. You will find super-fit riders on £5000 racing bikes and ancient warriors on touring bikes they bought in the 1970s ladened down with giant saddle bags. Often I find myself hanging on to a fairly fast group until the first control. After that, small groups of similar riders tend to form. Occasionally, though, I have ridden long stretches on my own.
You will find plenty of audax rides available within easy reach of East Herts. Something to try?