I'm tempted to have a go at some Audax events but I don't think I could stand to do such distances on my 1998 Giant TCR2 road bike from a comfort point of view. I'm wondering if a weight weenie 29er mountain bike with slicks on would do the job. Any thoughts? Cheers.
No problems whatsover. Why not stick bigger tyres on the road bike? What distances are you talking about?
Know a few folk that have done audax's on full mtb, no slicks.
Works fine, just more of a work out really
Gonna be my choice of weapon for sportive next year.
Best of both worlds - you get the speed from using some nice slicks (just found out my 29er wheels should take 24/25c tyres) and low gearing for those tricky hills where you can just pootle over them rather than being a 'man' on a road bike and either killing yourself trying/getting off and pushing.
Only real disadvantage I would suggest is probably less comfort up front - always nice on road bars with the different hand positions you can use, limited a little with flat/riser bars. Though I'm sure some bar ends would help.
No way would I be riding an mtb on an audax if I had a road bike in the garage.
comfort point of view
have you had it fitted? this made a huge difference to my road bike.
Cheers guys. I'm not likely to be doing the crazy distance routes, thinking more 100 - 200km. The road bike was originally fitted for me when I bought it 12 years ago, though I guess it might not have been accurate. It's possible I just need to get used to riding a road bike again, but I basically feel like I'm bent forward too much on it & my back would not survive a full day in the saddle. I've raised the bars up a bit, which has helped somewhat, though it looks a bit odd now! Knowing **** all about road stuff, is it likely I'd be able to get mudguards on this thing, as I understand that's a pre-req for a number of these event?
It's more or less the same as this one...
[img] 
[/img]
Not full length mudguards, those rubbish clip on ones maybe.
I have used an mtb with slicks for a couple of audaxes up to 200 but would recommend your road bike. A lot less effort and that Giant would be a nice one. Perhaps get a good local shop to look at it for you - unlikely to cost more than a stem or bars or something to sort out.
What's the difference between an audax and a sportive?
[i]rather than being a 'man' on a road bike and either killing yourself trying/getting off and pushing[/i]
Or just be fit enough to ride up them using road gearing.
Anyway go with whatever you are comfortable on, road bike would probably be fater though and ability to alter your hand position will help a great deal on a long distance.
What's the difference between an audax and a sportive?
About £30 and you have to carry your own flapjack to eat halfway round on an Audax. Signposting is uncommon on Audax's, you follow a set of directions.
Audax's also tend to be longer (there are some silly ones, and multi day ones).
Think of sportives as non competative 1 day races.
Think of audax's as 1 day touring.
Quick note, don't get hung up on the "it's a racing bike I can't do sportives/audax on it", just look at the TDF, they're doing bigger distanced day after day for 3 weeks! Its marketing BS. The only things I wouldnt do on my road bike are;
a)tour, its got no pannier/low rider mounts
b)commute, its too shiny and would get nicked
Back in the day when things broke they were refered to as reliability trials, nowadays you're unlucky to get a puncture on a modern bike.
Audax a lot more self reliance is required. This is the extreme end of Audax but it can be very tough.
Think of audax's as 1 day touring.
haha - tell that to the folk i do em with 😉 300k and 5k meters climbing in 13hrs ... we do 2 or 300k audaxes at 20mph plus average - carrying only what you can fit in your pockets !
Audax - 1 day touring. Funniest thing I've heard in years. Unless of course you mean doing a whole weeks tour in one day.
Think of them as more like getting your arse handed to you on a plate by old pros and some of the strongest riders in the country.
aye one guy riding with me exclaimed how he had ridden in an international stage race over the same roads 40 years previous with half the field walking ..... he rode a 600k audax to celebrate his 65th birthday
of course they were riding fixed wheels !
Don't forget the beards.
You can do them at your own pace can you not?
Or do you have to be a superhero? 🙄
more than 15kph .... not too dissimilar to a sportif
brooks saddles and carradice are without a doubt a necessity !
I've not an Audax for a few years, but a MTB with slicks would be fine.
Just make sure you fit some bars with multiple handholds.
tri bars are a godsend when riding in the wind on your own ....
use them ANYWHERE other than the front of a group when group riding and youll get told off the first time - do it again and youll wake up in a ditch !
So, a 29er mountainbike with really narrow slicks and multiple hand positions, just use the roadbike!
300k and 5k meters climbing in 13hrs ... we do 2 or 300k audaxes at 20mph plus average
That looks more like 14.5mph average to me. Anyway, doesn't the 30km/h max speed cause you problems with your 20mph average?
i had it explained this way:
sportive; many folk riding and pretending it's a race.
audax; many folk riding, pretending that it isn't!
shhhhh, don't let the facts get in the way of a good willy wave!
did i say that particular one ? maybe ive done more than one ?
nope because the guys that run them are not as stuffy and old fashioned as folk make out.
dont let the real facts get in the way of a good blatently made up "fact" either though TINAS ....
sockpuppets got the idea
sockpuppet has it in one.
Thats what I was getting at with my earlier comment, sportives are pretendingto be a race thats not a race, audax is from the opposite end of the spectrum but ends up being the same/similar.
I wasn't implying it was for people riding at 10mph with 4 full panniers of spares and clothes.
I would say that the people at he front of audaxes would also be at the front of sportives, if not off the front and half way down the road.
i rode a 200km audax 2 yrs ago.
on a slicked up on one 29r with rigid carbon forks and mary bars and bb7 discs.
loads comfier than most modern road bikes...........and really who cares, as long as you enjoy it.
i did............ 8)
I used my Giant XTC3 twice on a London to Southend ride
organised by bike-events.com
Just stick some Specalized Arildilo tyres on
Had taken me 4 hrs riding 45 miles and tuns of hills to climb
London to Southend, with tuns of hills?
a 29er mountainbike with really narrow slicks and multiple hand positions,
thats a hybrid 'shudders'
Can't imagine why you'd want to do a 200km road ride on a mountain bike, even if it is a slicked-up 29er.
I did it once years ago (when I was about 17) and knackered my knee big time. Done that sort of distance loads of times since on my road bike (a proper "racing" setup, not "Sportive" geometry or compact gearing) and it's SO much easier and faster.
Those Giant road bikes were renowned as being some of the most adjustable around, I'd suggest taking it to a decent roadie shop and getting your position checked.
can some of the ney sayers explain the differance from a slicked up carbon forked steel 29r to a steel mudguarded and racked tourer??????
Yer Brick you ride out from Victoria park through Chigwell
and onto Chelmsford and back through to near the Southend Airport.
You dont go down to Blackwall Tunnel then along the A13!
Its a dam lot harder than London to Brighton
Jeez when a "which bike for audax" gets to this level of chest puffing and BS it's a sad day for stw.
Don't you mean a normal day for STW?
Pretty much
cynic-al - what makes you think that it's chest puffing and not merely statement of fact?
London to Southend isn't particularly tough, just tedious for an hour or so until you get out of the burbs. We rode out from Chiswick to Southend on a 70s time trial tandem with a 53/21 bottom. Starting from a stop was the hardest bit, although winding it up on the flats out past Wickford was fun.
Just ride your road bike, I really have to laugh at those guys that think that a mtb is more comfortable.
Jeez when a "which bike for audax" gets to this level of chest puffing and BS it's a sad day for stw.
al...managed to ride to this spot on the very same bike just on week after riding the audax.
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
i love to puff my chest.............you c*ck... 8)
use a roadbike, road bikes are pretty good for the road, some would say made for the job. I did a 300k audax once years ago on a normal racing set up bike. It was fine, not sure I'd have finished yet if i'd used my mtb
Ton why do you think my comment was aimed at you? Like no one else has done road rides on mtbs. Arse 😎
Jimmy "ass handed on a plate" please.
and loads of people finished this year L.E.L on slicked up mtb's.
comfort is your friend over long distance.
the timing al........... 😉
cynic-al - admitting that you get your arse handed to you on a plate by a bunch of pensioners every time you do an audax is hardly chest puffing.
and loads of people finished this year L.E.L on slicked up mtb's.comfort is your friend over long distance.
He was talking about 200km audax, hardly the same thing.
ton, not sure what your point is, but I'm happy to keep trading insults with smilies if that's your thing 😐
jimmyshand - Member
cynic-al - [s]admitting[/s] bragging that you get your arse handed to you on a plate by a bunch of pensioners every time you do an audax is [s]hardly [/s]clearly chest puffing.
Indeed!
Might have guessed that a lawyer would try and misquote everything that people say. 🙄
[i]300k and 5k meters climbing in 13hrs ... we do 2 or 300k audaxes at 20mph plus average[/i]
That's not even a 15mph average, hardly chest puffing or willy waving to admit you ride so slowly.
And whats with the mixing mph/k thing, surely you think in one or the other. Then again the 300k/200k sounds more impressive than 190/125miles I suppose.
Gary_m - some of us can cope with both metric and imperial quite easily. Event distances are given in metric, but we are used to getting speeds in imperial - whats the problem.
Personally I think 190 miles and 16500 of ascent is a bloody good distance to do, no matter what time it takes.
If you think you can go and ride faster go and give it a go.
Jeez Jimmy, hardly deceitful! My point is that you are going on about how hard audaxes are, and by association how hard those are that do it.
My point: The Audaxes that I have done have all been harder than the Marmotte. People have a totally skewed view of Audaxes. Go and try one and you will find out that they are not as easy as you think they are.
[i]If you think you can go and ride faster go and give it a go. [/i]
Perhaps I already do, just don't have any desire to brag about it on here.
You haven't been to any of the difficult ones in Scotland in the last 3yrs . . . Small community you see.
It's a big world out there.
With a small community. Dont kid yourself.
BATTLE!!!
[img] 
[/img]
Audaxes are (generally) ridden by people who can pace themselves well, and who consider that kind of distance fairly normal, they're used to it. They do it for the craic and the social side of it. I suppose the nearest comparable thing is the Rough Stuff Fellowship vs "weekend warrior" MTBer.
Sportives are (generally) ridden by people who wouldn't normally consider that sort of distance, it's a challenge for them.
As a result, audax riders don't tend to brag about it, they just get on and do it. Not racing (in fact in most events you have to pace yourself between a min and max allowed average speed so if you try and average 20mph you'll be too quick). Sportive riders will post about how they achieved their goal of completing the event in a Gold standard time.
Horses for courses.
15mph average doesn't sound quick but you try doing that over 200km while mostly working out the route for yourself and taking care of your own food stops.
[i]With a small community. Dont kid yourself.[/i]
So when and where did I say I'd ridden an audax?
15mph over 125 miles really isn't a big deal no mater what name you give it. I get why people do it, but it's just not particularly impressive. I apologise for not being in awe of your achievements.
lister to red dwarf - we have an utter smeg head in our midst.
reads half a thread and then makes sarcastic comments
your right 15mph is not impressive over 125 miles ...but then i gave an arbitrary sample to try and show that audaxing is not all stiffs and slow folk out for a pootle. perhaps next time ill say "a mate does" instead .... or "i saw someone who did"
you must be great company down the pub - least i know cynic-als just having a laugh 😉
I am deadly serious 😡 and dull 😐
Seriously though I must try some Audaxing, it does appeal.
[i]least i know cynic-als just having a laugh[/i]
I'm having a laugh too, just at you rather than with you.
trail_rat you are amazing. Does that make you happier?
And as for 'reading half a thread' perhaps you should pay more attention at the back.
well if your up for a 300 i highly reccomend the durness duress - worst weather ive seen on a bike BUT the best ride ive done in a long time !
gary-m - if you havent ridden an audax then how come you are such an expert on them? May I suggest that you sign up for the Snow Roads 300k event next year and see how you get on.
I know the snow roads route well having lived in Aberdeen for quite some time, I am planning on riding the route with a mate later in the summer but setting off from Aberdeen city centre as I have a property there. I have no desire to 'sign up' to ride it.
How about Trail_rat and Gary_M have a race round the Snow Roads route?
Well put Crazy-legs.
My palmeres: probably a hundred 200km audaxes since 2005. SR (200, 300, 400 and 600k) every year since 2006. PBP. LEL. Blah blah blah.
I would happily ride 200k on my hardtail MTB with slicks on, but that's because I'm well adapted to riding those distances - both physically and mentally. Don't underestimate the mental challenge of being on the bike for 8 hours, potentially on your own.
The point is for the OP it'll be a trade-off: potentially more comfort on the MTB but slower so you'll spend longer on the bike. This probably means at the end of the day you'll finish in similar comfort on the road bike. If it was me I'd definately take the road bike as long as it was a nice day - audaxers are a funny bunch if you don't fall in line with a few of their rules, mudguards on wet days being one of them.
If you've never done 100km on a bike then I wouldn't leap straight into a 200. 100s can be much more social than 200s, and probably will have a larger number of entrants hence people to ride with.
[i]gary-m - if you havent ridden an audax then how come you are such an expert on them? [/i]
Yeah, gary, don't try and out-expert Smee/jimmyshand/Goan, the oracle on all things cycling or he'll make you eat his dust...
😉
[i]How about Trail_rat and Gary_M have a race round the Snow Roads route?[/i]
Then that wouldn't be an audax...
I know I'm treading on dangerous ground crazy-legs but I don't worship false gods. And it's been a while since smee got would up.
[i]How about Trail_rat and Gary_M have a race round the Snow Roads route?[/i]
Would we need to use full guards? And jimmyshand I guess you're suggesting you're too slow to take part.
hey have a go at me if you want - but continuing to promote audaxes as events only folk in there 60s with beards do is wrong - they are not. They represent a great way to get value for money road miles with plenty of other folk over routes you may not have thought about doing - generally on safe roads.
**** it - when i did my last audax it was at 12 mph with a bunch of stuffy old men with beards and brooks and caradice bags with panniers and we went really slowely and it was shit on shit roads with shit people .... or was that luptons ride round the radar sportive last year with folk on this thread im getting confused with ?
[img] 
[/img]
Do you need some help picking your toys up trail_rat?
crazy-legs - I am of the opinion that Gary_m is an asshat anyway. I met him once.
We started at the same time in a sportive last year. I boosted it off the start line so that I could get out of the ferocious and chilling wind then slowed down once I was into a more sheltered part of the valley. Gary_m came past and hurled a pile of abuse at me. Nice guy or complete and utter bell end - you make your mind up.
I appreciate the input from those who clearly know what they're talking about. I'm going to replace one of my regular mid-week early morning mtb rides with a road ride on the TCR for a while & see how I get on with it. I was donated the latest copy of Arrivée yesterday, which looks like it should help me get to sleep for a few nights :-).