What is Audax?

Audax, also called randonneuring, is long-distance cycling on a set route, at your own pace, inside a time limit. Nobody is ranked: everyone who finishes in time has done it.

What a ride is like

A 200 usually starts early, often in the dark in winter, with a few riders gathered in a car park or outside a community hall while the organiser checks names off a list. After a short briefing you're away, and the group soon spreads out along the road.

The routes are planned by local riders who know the quiet roads and want to show off their part of the country: mountain passes, coast roads, bog roads, and villages you'd never otherwise pass through. Controls are usually a shop, a café or a filling station, where you post your photo to the ride's WhatsApp group, buy something to eat and move on. Food is mostly up to you, though the organiser will often suggest good places to stop, and you soon learn which villages have a shop that's open on a Sunday.

Riders drift into small groups and apart again, and the conversations at controls are half of it. On a 400 or a 600 you ride on into the night, through towns that have gone to bed, and a control can be a shop forecourt at midnight, 370 km in. Irish weather plays its part too.

At the finish there's no podium, just the organiser, maybe a cup of tea, and the quiet satisfaction of having done it.

You look after yourself

You find your own way, carry what you need and fix what breaks. Other riders will help, and friends can meet you at a control, just not out on the road. The rules have the detail.

The people

Irish audax is a small crowd, and a friendly one. Groups form and drift apart through the day, someone always waits for a rider with a puncture, and the talk at controls is half the reason people come back. Between rides it carries on in the club’s WhatsApp group and on Strava.

Your first ride

1. Pick a ride on the calendar. Several distances often start together, so you can ride with others either way.
2. Enter on Eventmaster with a Cycling Ireland licence. Entering an event covers each step.
3. Bring a roadworthy bike, a helmet, lights, and reflective clothing for the dark. The first-ride checklist and the gear guide cover the rest.

After your first ride, the free Audax.ie tracker keeps your rides and shows which awards they count towards. There’s nothing to add until you’ve ridden one.