An Audax ride, known internationally as a Randonnée, is a cycle ride that has to be completed within a set time limit, including any stops to eat or rest. In most cases, riders have to maintain a minimum speed of 15km/h (some particularly long or hilly rides have a slightly lower minimum speed) and importantly a maximum speed of 30km/h. That’s a little under 10mph and 20mph in Imperial measures.
It’s not a race and individual riders’ times are not normally published unless it’s the really big events like Paris-BrestParis; normally, if you finish within the time limit, you’ve succeeded.
Riders are expected to be self-sufficient. That doesn’t mean that you have to ride alone or that you can’t call on the services of a village blacksmith to help weld your frame back together, should the worst happen, but you navigate for yourself and if you do have any mechanical problems along the way, it’s down to you to sort them or get yourself home.
Some rides offer food along the way; more often, you’ll be finding your own sources of fuel, from cafes and pubs to village shops and service stations.
Throw in the hills, the British weather and distances ranging from 50km to 1400km and what might have sounded like a simple bike ride becomes more of a challenge and one that is appealing to increasing numbers of cyclists year on year.
Are you up for it? Penge has a growing number of devoted Audaxers who ride distances between 200km and 1400km. As well as riding an organised event, you can log your own DIY events and still get official Audax recognition if you follow the simple procedures.
In 2018, the club amassed 140 points, putting us into 34th place out of the 364 clubs in the Audax annual league tables. Expect 2019 to be even better.
You can find all the latest organised Audax rides at Audax UK.
Keep an eye out on the Penge Facebook group where our DIY events are normally listed by riders.
The first ever PengeCC audax rides
Breaking news. The club is planning our own audax events in 2021. Further details to follow.