A DNF on a 200km audax permanent

djrikki
djrikki Posts: 83
edited November 2018 in Sportives/audaxes/training rides
Failed on a 200km audax permanent audax this weekend after falling off my bike. Took a bend rather too quickly :(

My thumb may not be greatest after my fall, but if you like my video please give it the thumbs up :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VfpAP1BrXg

Comments

  • ilko
    ilko Posts: 1
    Don't worry, my first two Audax-es were failure. One due to injury, second due to exhausture.
    Keep on :)
  • dstev55
    dstev55 Posts: 742
    Where's the crash!?
  • djrikki
    djrikki Posts: 83
    My GoPro wasn't turned on at the time. I don't record entire rides.

    The long story is I selectively record parts of the rides depending on what I see or what I have to say. No-one wants to watch hours worth of footage and I don't want to spend ages trawling through it editing the footage into something meaningful. So by the end of the ride I'll end up with multiple clips across the day which I can easily manipulate in software and strip back further to create the highlights.

    It was simply the case that I had turned it off having collected a receipt from Hatfield a few minutes earlier.
  • dstev55
    dstev55 Posts: 742
    djrikki wrote:
    My GoPro wasn't turned on at the time. I don't record entire rides.

    The long story is I selectively record parts of the rides depending on what I see or what I have to say. No-one wants to watch hours worth of footage and I don't want to spend ages trawling through it editing the footage into something meaningful. So by the end of the ride I'll end up with multiple clips across the day which I can easily manipulate in software and strip back further to create the highlights.

    It was simply the case that I had turned it off having collected a receipt from Hatfield a few minutes earlier.

    Disappointing but a fair point. :lol:

    In all seriousness though I think your video does highlight the mental torment of enduring long rides. It often really is a case of mental strength rather than physical strength on the really long rides.
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,313
    Looks like an old fashioned "main road" type of Brevet.
    left the forum March 2023
  • djrikki
    djrikki Posts: 83
    @ugo.santalucia It definitely felt that way, mainly due to the lack of controls, note to self: pick one with plenty of controls in future to improve the likelihood of an increase in a variety of roads.
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,313
    djrikki wrote:
    @ugo.santalucia It definitely felt that way, mainly due to the lack of controls, note to self: pick one with plenty of controls in future to improve the likelihood of an increase in a variety of roads.

    I am not a big fan of permanents for the opposite reason... way too many controls. I have picked up a card for a perm which runs as a calendar event with 3 controls, but as a perm it has 6. It means I need to pick up 8 receipts, including start and finish! It's a ballache and a lot of money.

    I prefer to run DIY based on GPX validation, so I stop when and where I want and don't have to bother with receipts. Validation is done submitting your GPX track file or FIT.
    I can shamelessly use someone else's permanent route and do it as a DIY with GPX... if they really wanted me to ride it as a Perm and therefore pocket a quid or two, then they should offer GPX validation, if they don't, then I don't bother.

    More generally, I prefer to ride calendar events...
    left the forum March 2023
  • djrikki
    djrikki Posts: 83
    Yes, be careful how many control points there are with perms - yes definitely can be too many if not careful. That was actually my first perm so still learning.

    As for DIYs, I've done a single one so far and enjoyed it because mainly on quiet roads, got another one coming up soon, a hilly alternative - again mostly quiet roads.

    I've done a couple of ECEs so far this season with defined control points and despite being straight lines between points on the map I have (so far) managed to keep main-roads to a bare minimum.
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,313
    djrikki wrote:
    Yes, be careful how many control points there are with perms - yes definitely can be too many if not careful. That was actually my first perm so still learning.

    As for DIYs, I've done a single one so far and enjoyed it because mainly on quiet roads, got another one coming up soon, a hilly alternative - again mostly quiet roads.

    I've done a couple of ECEs so far this season with defined control points and despite being straight lines between points on the map I have (so far) managed to keep main-roads to a bare minimum.

    As an organiser, the problem with designing a route for an Audax (or a permanent) is that the minimum possible distance between control points still needs to be good for validation. So for instance if your route is 207 km, but in theory it is possible to go around without missing any of the controls in 190, then the route cannot be used for audax purposes. This means that in some areas you either follow A and B roads because they are the straightest between controls, OR you litter the route with info controls OR you build up enough over-distance to make it a very minimum of 200.

    It's a dogmatic and ofter annoying approach to route design, but it's the way Audax works.

    All these problems disappear in a DIY with GPX, which has a mandatory route which can be double checked from the file... simples
    left the forum March 2023
  • craigus89
    craigus89 Posts: 887
    Paulo, how have you found getting AAA points on DIY's? Rather than the RRTY this season I'm targeting AAA points.

    My local organiser doesn't seem keen on GPS validation on his perms, I'm doing a couple the old fashioned way anyway but would like to do one over Christmas when stuff is going to be shut so now way of getting receipts. A tthe moment I'm thinking I'll just do the exact 200K route but as a DIY with a different organiser, but I want the AAA points...?
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,313
    Craigus89 wrote:
    Paulo, how have you found getting AAA points on DIY's? Rather than the RRTY this season I'm targeting AAA points.

    My local organiser doesn't seem keen on GPS validation on his perms, I'm doing a couple the old fashioned way anyway but would like to do one over Christmas when stuff is going to be shut so now way of getting receipts. A tthe moment I'm thinking I'll just do the exact 200K route but as a DIY with a different organiser, but I want the AAA points...?

    You need to make sure you are well over 1500 mt per 100 km and the validator will pick it up... then the AAA secretary will assign the points. You don't have to do anything.
    To stay on the safe side, use Bikehike or RidewithGPS to map your rides, it's quite realistic, while Strava always exaggerates elevation
    left the forum March 2023

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