Natasha and I joined over 250 other cyclists and triathletes in the Audax Randonneurs Philippines 200km Brevet Ride in the early hours of Saturday the 24th of January. The ride was from Subic to Masinloc and back and was a hoot.

The event was summed up perfectly by Basta Masaya when he said: “Chilly morning, hot midday, strong winds, great participants, new friends, HEROES all.”

6 Reasons to Join Audax Rides

For sure there are more than 6 reasons but here we go….

1. Meet New Friends

What can be better than meeting new friends and catching up with old ones? It was a pleasure to meet Carmela and also see our trail running buddy Joanne Plumbley riding with Team David’s Salon (who are also a sponsor of Audax rdies). Joanne then joined NAGT triathlon the following day and got top place on the podium. Amazing effort.

Picture with Carmela Patricia S. Pearson post race.

Picture thanks to Jola Gonzales with Kriska Sto Domingo, Annie Fallorin Abdon, Nognog Krog, Marita Lucas, Sherwina Lozada, Orange Claudio, Joanne Plumbley, Pebrero Dos, Vany Bandoy Hans and Carmela Patricia S. Pearson.

2. Great Scenery

The portion before the 50km check-in was familiar to me because of my Whiterock tri where I cracked the 6 hour mark for the first time in 70.3 triathlon. The sunrise and scenery were beautiful.

3. You Learn About Pacing, Drafting and Road Safety

The Audax rides are a great way to learn from the strong riders.

Starting off and biking for one hour in the dark requires intense concentration and awareness. The strong headwinds, sand storms and 200km plus distance mean that you must pace yourself properly and have good nutrition so as to make the whole distance without requiring to be driven some of the way home!

Next Audax race we will ride with our Sante Barley teammate Jeric San Agustin and try drafting so we can learn that skill and hopefully get stronger on the bike.

Fabulous picture thanks to Maynard Choi Mateo Degollacion.

It can be dangerous on the road with buses, jeepneys and other vehicles driving erratically. You must be fully aware at all times so you learn very quickly how to better handle your bike.

4. Nutrition Practice

With our Melbourne Ironman coming up in late March I want to practice my swimming, biking, running and nutrition. Nutrition is the 4th discipline of triathlon and the most important aspect in my opinion. Without it you will not have the energy to train let alone race.

Also, with poor nutrition you will have greater inflammation and your recovery will be slower from your workouts. See here for what is the Primed Lifestyle for optimal nutrition and reduced inflammation.

For this 200km bike ride I did not carbo load beforehand but had 4 boiled eggs, cheese and nuts for dinner. Breakfast at 3am was simply 2 saba bananas and an iced coffee made with enriching coconut milk. Sarap.

With this fuel in my body (coupled with already being a fat burner) I was able to ride for 100km with no food and only water and a little EFS electrolyte drink.

At the 100km turn around I consumed 2 saba bananas (my carbohydrates), my delicious Home-made Primed Gel and some beef jerky.

I rode the remaining 100km with more home-made gel, dried fruits and nuts. I was able to ride the last 30km stronger than my first 30km and was recovered 100% from the ride by Monday morning.

5. Recovery is Key

Because of my satiating and satisfying food consumption on the 200km bike ride I was not hungry for dinner and had a simple fried egg with cheese for dinner. Also a delicious Primed Chocolate Fruit Ball with the recipe to be posted this week.

Imagine the cyclist who biked and consumed the sugar gels, sugar sports drinks, sugar “energy” bars, had a soft drink along the way and then ate a bowl of pasta/noodles (hopefully never fried junk food) or pizza after the ride.

The pasta/pizza is recognized as sugar by your body and this ultimately causes increased inflammation, weight gain from the sugar/carbo loading and they are worse off than if they did not ride! That just doesn’t make sense. They would have been better off health wise to stay in bed.

6. Ten Hours of Thinking Time

The Audax ride is great socially but also allows you to enjoy the scenery and be at peace with your own thoughts. I took the opportunity to educate myself further on nutrition and exercise by listening to my favorite podcasts. One of my favorite is by the author of Grain Brain, a respected researcher, author and Neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter. Click here to listen and be amazed.

Because safety is a major consideration I only listened to the podcast on low volume and in my right ear. I also unplugged when going through the towns and in dangerous stretches.

Natasha and I Loved It

This was our 200km bike for our 20th wedding anniversary! I love you Natasha.

Here was our route:

We had a check point to get our Audax card’s stamped every 50km. Thanks to David’s Triathlon team for sharing their cold water with us.

Who Rides Audax?

These cool dudes pictured above are from Team PMI and are Marvin, Ernan, Gerard and Czar. Great job guys.

It was cool to see these tandem riders complete the whole 200 plus kilometers. Fantastic effort. Picture thanks to Kyla ChubbyChoco Hortaleza‎.

Audax 2015 CALENDAR OF RIDES FOR 2015

Jan 24 – Subic 200km
Mar 28 – Subic 200km and 300km
Apr 18 – Subic 200km and 400km
May 9 – Subic 600km
Jun 20 – Subic 200km and 300km
Aug 16-20 – Paris-Brest-Paris 1200km

AUDAX-IOUS RIDES AROUND THE GLOBE (that we dream of participating in!)

Paris-Brest-Paris (1200 km)
London-Edinburgh-London (1200 km)
Perth-Albany-Perth (1200 km)
Race Across America (3000 miles or 4828 km)

Audax Randonneurs Philippines is the Audax Club Parisien-approved brevet coordinating organization for the Philippines. The group promotes randonneuring or a style of bicycle riding that requires covering long-distances over an unmarked course of challenging terrain within a generously allotted time period of almost continuous riding. Riders are not to compete against their fellow cyclists, but to compete only against their own personal best. Skills in self-sufficiency, bicycle mechanics, night-riding and endurance are all valued over ability to cycle at racing speeds or with racing strategies.

The group organize brevet rides of 200km, 300km,400km and 600km distances especially during the Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) year. The PBP only happens every 4 years and it is happening in August 2015! PBP is a 1200km cycling challenge from Paris to Brest and back with a cut-off time of 90 hours.

Randonneuring is perfect for those who would like to test their physical and mental endurance in this AUDAX-IOUS sport of cycling!