Bike Set Up For Audax Riding?

You'll only ever know by going out and riding those distances! You'll find out all sort of interesting things. Here's what I have found...

I don't like steel frames. They may be comfy but I find 18 hours feeling that I am wasting energy - I don't like that much!

Against all fashion and good sense I ride an alloy frame with a steel fork - all my 'power' gets to the back and the steel fork softens up the front (I suffer from numb hands). On a really long ride (400+) I reverse the stem tilt the bars up a little.

However this year I am going to switch out to a carbon 'sportive' bike just to see what's that like. Add raceblade longs, a cadmium 17 and a carradice saddlebag and I am done.

I did once carry a whole spare saddle when trying out a new one, just in case the new one didn't work out.

The only thing I would say is that as you are generally riding slower a race position is uncomfortable. However there are Audax riders on Cannondale Super 6s, flat backed and all.

See? All trial and error. Get out, it's good fun. And when it's not good fun at least you have good company. See you out there.

A

If you can ride a century with no issues, then why would you mess with the setup of your bike including your saddle? You are already well beyond casual riding range. I ride more upright than I probably need to but like you I have no issues on long rides so I don't "fix" what isn't broken.

I would invest in my shorts, shoes, and gloves -- the soft points of contact -- though.

Saddle and shorts are important choices.

Yes, flip your stem and see if you like it, it's a 5minute job to put it back. Have you asked the bikefit person who set it up? You might be tensing your back and shoulders for some reason without realising.

Lots of excellent info at https://audaxing.wordpress.com/

I would say if you can do 100 miles with your current setup, you should be fine on longer rides if you build up. 100 miles up to a 200k isn't a big jump, maybe another couple of hours so you should be fine, I wouldn't try anything specific unless you actually find your position uncomfortable.

I find that my shoulders start to hurt when starting longer distances but you get more used to it. My feet gave me the most problem, wearing SPDs, I changed to my normal road cleats and shoes and found it much better. The other thing I have done is adding a gel pad under the bar tape and wrapping the bar to cushion your hands in the place you normally rest them (the tops for me).

Other than that, comfy saddle and shorts can make a difference too although their pretty subjective so it's hard to say what would work.

Good luck!