Merry_Wanderer wrote:Audax67, It's not the saddle that's the problem with me, the Brooks Imperial is the best one that I have ever had. Great comfort and my backside was fine after 72 miles whereas the 78 miles I had done 2 years ago on a different bike left me crippled! I have only done a handful of 60+ mile rides and neither by brain or body would cope with the extra time on the bike at the moment. I need to work on my food intake too as I ran out of energy at 52 miles. That said, I will be doing some longer audaxes in 2015 with the aim of doing a 200 (120 miles in real money) by next autumn. Maybe as time progresses and my fitness and stamina improve I could look seriously at LEL or PBP. Right now the prospect of a 300 would seem bonkers!
Ah... I forgot about having the right bike. My main bike has been perfect for the last 10 years and I've been on the same saddle since 2000. The shorts are what makes the difference for me: a bad pair can turn a pleasurable ride into hell. Last year our club brought out new shorts that were wonderful for the first two rides, and on the third the stitching left red railway tracks where no train should run. It was a 300k and the damage made itself felt from 100 on...
When I was organizing UAF Audaxes (everyone rides in a single peloton with road captains) I planned 20 minutes for snack/coffee every 50 km and a meal every 100 to 150, the exception being the 100k (which we considered an introduction to our style of ride and didn't count as a real Audax) where we had breaks every 30-odd. We aimed at an overall rolling average of 22.5 kph, which means in practice 24-26 kph on the flat, falling as low as 12 on the climbs. If we arrived late at a break we either took it off the allotted time or split the difference with the following break.
That sort of planning is useful at first because you learn to budget effort, rest and refuelling. I started riding 100k's & 200k's with a local UAF-Audax club, and learnt with them that I could do the longer distances.
Unfortunately, I don't think there are any UAF Audax clubs in the UK. Doesn't stop you planning, though.