In praise of… the audax
Riding hundreds of kilometres to sleep in a lavatory may seem abnormal to many cyclists, but there is a nobility in the audaxer’s pursuit
n the face of it, a photograph of a group of rosy-cheeked, middle-aged men in cycling helmets huddled together in a public convenience is hardly the most glamorous advert for the joys of audax. Yet behind it is a tale of camaraderie, suffering and Little Chef ‘Two-for-one’ meal vouchers that combine to make most other forms of cycling look like desk jobs.
Loosely translated, ‘audax’ is the Latin word for ‘brave’, and became associated with endurance feats in Italy at the end of the 19th century in which runners, walkers, swimmers and cyclists were required to complete a set distance between sunrise and sunset. In the case of cycling, it was 200km.
While it might seem every Tom, Dick and Steve Abraham is attempting some sort of endurance record these days, audax remains the preserve of the relative few and protagonists are a distinctly stoic breed.
Just like dogs, you can’t teach an old audaxer new tricks, no matter how hard the marketing departments of assorted bike brands might try.
Take the ‘new’ fads of bikepacking and gravel riding, for instance. Audaxers of a certain age will remember their original incarnations as ‘touring’ and ‘rough stuff’ riding. In the 1920s and 30s, Liverpool’s ‘Wayfarer’ and Scotland’s ‘Highway Man’ were writing regular newspaper columns about their exploits ‘rough-stuffing’ their bikes up assorted mountains with panniers and saddlebags, long before an advertising whizzkid came up with the idea of remarketing it as a brand new form of cycling requiring expenditure on a brand new bike and accessories.
Ditto for ‘endurance’ riding. The likes of Mark Beaumont and Emily Chappell may garner all the headlines with their transcontinental escapades, but those gents shivering in the public convenience were riding events such as Paris-brest-paris or LondonEdinburgh-london long before the term ‘ultra-endurance race’ became a USP for retailers of high-end merino wool jerseys.
‘Sportives are for riders who like to pretend they are racing’ is an oft-heard mantra among audaxers. ‘Audaxes are for riders who like to pretend they’re not.’
Until recently, audaxers were unfairly pushed to the margins of our sport, regarded with the kind of sympathetic looks normally reserved for older, cardigan-wearing relatives grappling with email on their smartphones. But with endurance riders like Abraham, who rode his first audax aged 17, Amanda Coker, who broke the Highest Annual Mileage Record (HAMR) earlier this year, and Beaumont, currently attempting to ride around the world in 80 days, making long-distance cycling popular again, audaxers are suddenly sexy. That even applies to legendary stalwarts such as George Berwick, aka ‘Mcnasty’, who once completed a wet event with a bread bag on his head and rarely rides anywhere without the aforementioned Little Chef meal voucher in his saddlebag.
Berwick, now in his seventies and still riding, is a member of the Rough Stuff Fellowship and a veteran of more than 50 24-hour races and several Paris-brest-paris events. He is revered as ‘the James Bond of audax’ by some, with fellow endurance rider Angela Dixon telling me, ‘The best cycling slideshow I’ve been to was given by George. It included photos of some of the caves he used to take his wife to on her birthday.’
This no-nonsense approach is an audax trademark. You can compare notes about mileages and brevets (the cards you get stamped at controls to prove you completed the route in the set time) if you want, but audaxers usually prefer discussing customised mudguard flaps, cheap cafes, hub dynamos or bus shelters that are suitable for a few hours’ kip.
Abraham, currently in the middle of his second attempt at the HAMR, tells me, ‘So many people do audax for different reasons. Audax covers near enough everything – you can really test yourself or just have a nice day out. I’m a tourist really, but want to feel like I’ve done something at the end of a tour.
‘One of hardest I’ve done was a 1,000km audax on a fixed. It was hard, but that’s just what it is. On another ride I got the knock, but I thought “it’s only for 12 hours”, and so I quite enjoyed it. Another time I fell asleep and off the saddle while climbing up a hill.’
Yes, he did just use the words ‘1,000km’ and ‘fixed’ in the same sentence. Being an audax, it will also have involved him having to complete the distance unsupported, relying on his own navigational skills and in a set time that, although based on a modest average speed, includes all stops for food and rest.
On longer events, some time will be set aside for sleeping. Unless a village hall has been booked by organisers at a halfway point, this will invariably involve riders finding warmth and shelter wherever they can. Churches and bus shelters are popular, though members of Audax Ecosse north of the border are made of sterner stuff. A recent thread on their Facebook page concerned the pros and cons of sleeping in polytunnels.
They also covet one piece of equipment above all others – a Radar key, which grants access to more than 9,000 disabled toilets throughout the UK. Which brings us to that photograph…
‘In Scotland we are much more about the public toilet,’ says Kevin Rae, the photograph’s owner. ‘They’re warmer, with facilities on hand and just a bit more civilised.
‘That’s the thing about audaxers. They’re people who you can share the beauty and the pain of a difficult and challenging ride with. They’re people you can cosy up to in a remote public convenience in the middle of the night and still respect in the morning.’ For more information about the joys of audax, visit aukweb.net
‘Sportives are for riders who like to pretend they are racing’ is a mantra among audaxers. ‘Audaxes are for riders who like to pretend they’re not’