yestdy had a go at my first audax ride, “spring into seymour 200k”, ran from seymour to michelltown, nagambie, murchison, tatura, rushworth and back.
there were a few suprises for me in there…
first came between tatura and rushworth when were about 90 or km in and cranking along at 35km/h… made chasing after the regualtion JP loo stops v difficult. so the speed was a suprise, and there were some ladies in there speeding along without a hint of discomfort.
the second, and more painful suprise was between rushworth and murch on the way back when a couple of guys “kept the pace up”, which meant 38-40km/h. i hung with the two of them back through murch, until aroud 150km and then, as the two fo them (one confirmed at 47yo, the other looking somewhere between 60 and 65yo) were riding side by side, chatting, i just could not hold on anymore. 39 x 12 wasnt enough and they just rode away. Without trying to pump up my on tyres, i cant remember ever being dropped like that, and certainly not by men like that.
so, 50km from the finish, I’m floundering, blown to pieces and struggling for any forward movement. another guy, between 55 and 60 (on the nicest Ti serotta that I’ve seen) comes along and we roll along together (he was knackered too cos he hadnt been riding much) to the finish.
so audax, there are guys there that “eat pieces of shit like you (and me) for breakfast”… and yes, they do eat pieces of shit for breakfast.
one side note is that there werent many nice bikes there. lots of new, aluminium and/or carbon bikes but i reckon there was less than 10% steel. there were a couple of SENsational rivendells, a surly, an “abbotsford” and i dont even remember any others.
so, overall, get into it! it was worthwhile
