Diary of a Randonneur

[composite]

I've decided to go big on randonneuring, as I'm really enjoying the format and for some reason riding on the road. The season starts in October a there are a bunch of awards I'm aiming for. I'll post up the goals in due course, however, one is the round the year award, so I'm doing my own BAM challenge: Brevet A Month. From October I'm going to document what I'm getting up to with vlogs but between now and then I'll be blogging my excursions. I'll post up the entries in this thread instead of making new ones and build up a diary of a randonneur.

I'll also keep a running total of how the goals are fairing in this post.

Goal Progress

Super Randonneur
Do a 200km, 300km, 400km and 600km in a single season (Oct - Sept.) Add a 1000km for Super Randonneur 2500.

• 200km - Autumn South Salopian
• 300km - Moonrakers and Sunseekers
• 400km -
• 600km -
• 1000km -

Randonneur 5,000
Do 5000km in a single season, rides must be 200km or larger.

Running total - 3219km


Randonneur Round the Year
Do at least a 200km for 12 consecutive calendar months (can cross seasons)


Current streak - 9 months

• July - The Kidderminster Killer
• August - Mildenhall Cycling Festival Randonee 200
• September - Brum200: X-Rated
• October - Autumn South Salopian, The Cambridge Autumnal 200
• November - Monmouth Meander, Moonrakers and Sunseekers, 2 x 200km DIY
• December - Kings, Castles, Priests and Churches
• January - The Magnificent Seven of Gloucestershire Extended (DIY)
• February - The Broadway Deli 200 (DIY), Up and Down Like A Yo-Yo
• March - Grassy Knoll (DIY), Grit, Mac and Cheese 1, 2, 3, 4 (DIY)
• April - Season suspended
• May - Season suspended
• June - Season suspended
  

[composite]

Brevet 1

The Kidderminster Killer (214km)- https://www.composite-projects.co.uk/20 ... ler-214km/

Picture of me looking like a right jummy.


Completed brevet card

[composite]

Brevet 2

Mildenhall Cycling Festival Randonee 200 (202km) - https://www.composite-projects.co.uk/20 ... donee-200/

A bacon sandwich.


The beautiful Suffolk country side.

[Taylor]

[ton]

cracking idea. I love a good audax.
done a lot over the years, and as I get older I think that would be my way forward again.
a good audax bike that will get used rather than a good mtb that wont get used.

I will keep a eye on your progress.

[Charliecres]

I’ll be watching. I’m definitely audax-curious

[composite]

Brevet 3

Brum200: X-Rated Randonee (255km) - https://www.composite-projects.co.uk/20 ... -randonee/

Gathering for the start


Lunch in Iron Bridge

[In Reverse]

Enjoyed the write-ups Neil.

Decent pace on those ride too!

[Chew]

If you ECE the route then you'd be able to claim the additional mileage from home to the start of the event, as 5000k in a year is a lot.

Putting some faster tyres on will help you alot.

If you're doing a 200 easily then the step-up to a 300 isnt too big.
Its similar, just a bigger day out.

Getting to a 400, is another matter (personally think a 600 is easier)

[jamiep]

Phew. Aiming for a randonneur 5000 in your first full year doing these does seem ambitious.

Doing the sums, I think that doing 300, 400, 600, 1000 and ECEing all of the remaining eight 200s to instead be 300 will get the standard Randonneur and RRTY .... but you'd STILL be 100 shy of 5000. Sounds tough. In order to do less than at least a 300 every month, you'd need to be doing multiple 600 or 1000.

This is my first audax season. I've done up to 600 and I am on track for RRTY. Next year I intend to repeat that but also add 1000 or maybe 1400. But I think that would be about my limit

[Dyffers]

50+ points isn't too arduous if you have lots of weekends free; a 200 a month gets you half way there, a 300/400/600 for a SR series gets you another 13 points, then you're fit enough to enjoy a 1000+ so why not

Nowadays I find I get the bug to smash a few audaxes out between February and May, get an SR done then get bored and do other things in the summer (PBP this year notwithstanding). I also tend to travel for 400+ rides as I've done enough laps of my local roads in the South West, Wales the usual destination as a) it isn't too far away from me b) has much less traffic and c) has some proper scenery.

Best of luck with it all, and maybe see you on the Brizzle 300 in November (the worst start time and wrong time of year to try your first 300! )

[Chew]

I also tend to travel for 400+ rides as I've done enough laps of my local roads in the South West, Wales the usual destination as a) it isn't too far away from me b) has much less traffic and c) has some proper scenery

Come up and do the Old 240

[Dyffers]

Come up and do the Old 240

Would love to! Come down and do the Wessex series

[slarge]

Excellent stuff Neil, You've piqued my interest in these, just wondering about the night ride in November...... Should be interesting!

[composite]

If you ECE the route then you'd be able to claim the additional mileage from home to the start of the event, as 5000k in a year is a lot.

For this one specifically it won't count as this is the end of the previous season, but point taken. I'll remember that for any future ones.

Phew. Aiming for a randonneur 5000 in your first full year doing these does seem ambitious.

Yeah this is the target that I felt was the properly challenging one. One ride a month for RRtY seems fairly sensible, and Super Randonnuerr is only 4 rides in a year and with aiming to do the Audax LEJOG next year I thought that the 2500 version would sort of get done on its own. 5000km in a season felt like the genuinely hard one though and for me thats the point. I wanted something that would really challenge me. I'm under no illusion that it's ambitious and I might fail to do it.

Best of luck with it all, and maybe see you on the Brizzle 300 in November (the worst start time and wrong time of year to try your first 300! )

Yeah, I thought it would be a bit of a comedy one to have a go at. In terms of the 300km thats only 45km more than I did last weekend and I have done much longer rides in terms of duration so I think it will be fine, challenging but fine. I also like night riding so it appealed.

[composite]

Excellent stuff Neil, You've piqued my interest in these, just wondering about the night ride in November...... Should be interesting!

The event is the Moonrakers & Sunseekers https://www.audax.uk/event-details?eventId=7570 If you fancy it I would love some company tbh!

Best of luck with it all, and maybe see you on the Brizzle 300 in November (the worst start time and wrong time of year to try your first 300! )

If you are doing it Dyffers, and want the company then I would happy to ride with someone else. :)

[jamiep]

Have you signed up for LEJOG yet? I am have a hard think about it and keep going back to its thread on YACF. Start and finish logistics are putting me off though

[composite]

Have you signed up for LEJOG yet? I am have a hard think about it and keep going back to its thread on YACF. Start and finish logistics are putting me off though

No not yet, I suppose I was waiting for next pay day as I have signed up for quite a lot this month.

My girl friends parents live in Devon so we (AKA I...) was planning to stay at theirs and then drive down to Turo the day before and doing a travel lodge, with my mrs dropping me off in the morning for the start.

For the end I was planing on taking some time to tour it back to Birmingham, maybe 4-5 days.. ish. I might even get a ferry to some of the islands... maybe.

Where are you based? If you need a lift to start we could look at possibly working something out?

EDIT: hmmmm OK not that I wouldn't be into helping out a fellow boner but just thought if I don't have a van by then (T5 is in the plan) then actually I would only have 2 seats on the car... I have all the good intentions in the world but it's certainly possible I won't actually be able to follow through on that.

[ZeroDarkBivi]

I find the rules and points system of Audax incredibly confusing.

How is randonee different?

[darbeze]

Sounds interesting. There is a night event round these parts called the Dartmoor devil (or ghost)I have been thinking of having a go at for some years...

Si

[PaulB2]

I find the rules and points system of Audax incredibly confusing.

How is randonee different?

Wikepedia has the answer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audax_(cycling)

TL;DR: In most countries the terms are used interchangeably to mean Randonneuring. In some countries they differentiate between a group paced ride (Audax) and riding individually at your own pace (Randonneuring).

[PaulB]

Excellent Composite. A big challenge and inspiring, your giving me some confidence to get out there and give it a go. I am happy to do 250 plus km on the mtb but that as an audax is making me nervous, bloody strange chimp.

Good luck and look forward to reading more.

[composite]

I find the rules and points system of Audax incredibly confusing.

General Audax points are just 1 point per 100km.

The AAA points for altitude though are something else. Whilst it basically works out as 1 point per 1000m of climbing (round to the closest 0.25) there seems to be some black magic involved in working out if a ride is worthy of the altitude points in the first place. So for instance I did a 200km with 3700m climbing and got 3.75points. I also did a 200km with 2000m of climbing but got zero AAA points. There is some rule about it being calculated in 100km sections but I haven't looked at it too much tbh. I guess if I start doing more DIY's then I will look into it as it is probably worth understanding it more then. At this point I'm doing calendar events and if they tell me it's worth points then great and if not then great.

Sounds interesting. There is a night event round these parts called the Dartmoor devil (or ghost)I have been thinking of having a go at for some years...

Si

I'm doing a 300km night one in November which I'm really looking forward to. Starts in Bristol, breakfast in Pool on the Dorset coast then back to Bristol for lunch.

I find the rules and points system of Audax incredibly confusing.

How is randonee different?

Wikepedia has the answer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audax_(cycling)

TL;DR: In most countries the terms are used interchangeably to mean Randonneuring. In some countries they differentiate between a group paced ride (Audax) and riding individually at your own pace (Randonneuring).

I tend to use the terms Audax, randonee and brevet interchangeably for the ride type. Randonneuring being the act of riding and a randonneur is the person doing it.

Excellent Composite. A big challenge and inspiring, your giving me some confidence to get out there and give it a go. I am happy to do 250 plus km on the mtb but that as an audax is making me nervous, bloody strange chimp.

Good luck and look forward to reading more.

Great! That's always been why I blog and made lots of videos in the past was to share experiences, tell stories and see what positive things might come of that.

[composite]

Brevet 4

This is the first ride of the new season.

AUTUMN SOUTH SALOPIAN (247km) - https://www.composite-projects.co.uk/20 ... -randonee/

The most important meal of the day.


Whoops.

[BobCatMax]

Signing in for updates...also love audaxing but have only ever done 100km brevets so far due to family time constraints.

Following with interest and jealousy