Permanents

A permanent is an approved Audax route you ride on a day of your choosing, alone or with a few friends. No start line, no date on the calendar: you tell the route’s organiser, ride it, and send them your track. They’re the easiest way to fit Audax around the rest of your life.

Riding a permanent

1. 1
   Choose a route

   The permanents catalogue lists every route, with a map, its distance, and the counties it passes through.
2. 2
   Send the entry form

   Download it from Audax Ireland’s permanents page and send it to the route’s organiser before each ride. It’s free for members and €5 otherwise. You need an annual Cycling Ireland licence, and riders under 18 need a parent’s consent.
3. 3
   Get the route

   The organiser emails you the GPS route and route sheet, with anything specific about the controls. Ask if you’d like a brevet card by post.
4. 4
   Ride it

   On your day, usually starting from any control; some routes can be ridden either way round. The time limit is the same as a calendar ride of that distance, and there’s no support except at controls.
5. 5
   Send your proof

   Email the organiser a link to your Strava activity or GPX file. Some also accept a photo of you at each control, or shop receipts.
6. 6
   It’s validated

   The organiser checks your ride and logs it with Audax Ireland’s permanents co-ordinator. There’s no ACP number. An Audax Ireland medal is €5 if you’d like one.

What it counts towards

Permanents count for Audax Ireland’s awards:

• RRTY, a ride a month for twelve months, for rides of 200 km or more, and RRTY 100 for rides of 100 km or more.
• Brevet 2000 and 5000, for rides of 200 km or more.
• 4 Provinces, for one of the four provinces, and not your home province.

They don’t count for ACP’s awards, such as Super Randonneur and Randonneur 5000, and can’t qualify you for Paris-Brest-Paris: those need calendar BRMs. Ireland’s one Super Randonnée, The Rocky Road to Dublin, is itself a permanent; see SR600s.

Before you go

• Check the route is on. A few routes only run in some seasons, and roadworks can close one for a while. The organiser will tell you.
• Mind the daylight. Winter days are short, so plan your lights, and carry reflective clothing on anything that runs into the dark.
• Carry food. Some routes cross long stretches with no shop.
• Have a fallback. Keep two or three routes in mind in case the weather or the roads change your plans. Whether to ride in bad weather is your call.

The rules are the same as on any ride: finish inside the time limit, reach the controls, and ride it yourself.

In the tracker

Every route has its own page, with the map, a GPX download and the time limit. Signed in, you can plan it from there: the name, distance and organiser are filled in, and you choose the date and the county you’ll start from. Import the ride from Strava afterwards and the tracker recognises the route. The managing rides guide has the detail.