The Midlands Mesh - ride anytime!
The Midlands Mesh is a useful Audax tool to enable you to devise your own Audax rides with minimum preparation.
How does it work?
The mesh runs between towns and villages in the Midlands, East, South East and South West of the United Kingdom. The Mesh Map provides you with a map of all the places the mesh runs through.
To use the mesh, pick a start point, then build your ride by travelling from node to node, keeping a note of the distance between nodes. Then when you have finished, simply add up all the distances given on the mesh to work out the total distance. You can ride any distance from 50km to 600km using the Midlands Mesh.
When you've devised your ride, you can enter using Paypal below. Brevet cards are priced:
- £3 for 1 card
- £7 for 3 cards
- £11 for 6 cards
I'll then be in touch to confirm your entry, and to confirm that your route is OK.
When you get your brevet card, you'll need to take it on your ride with you. You need to get proof of passage at the start and finish, as well as at each node you pass through. This could be a stamp and signature from a post office or shop, a till recipt or an ATM receipt. If you can't find any of these, then use your initiative!
Can I start or finish from home or a place not on the mesh?
Yes you can. To do this, you need to calculate the shortest distance from where you want to start or finish, to or from the node on the map you either visited first or last. I use Autoroute to do this, though any map will do.
My ride was a lot longer than the Mesh distance. Why?
Distances between nodes are calculated using the shortest possible distance. This is often, but not always, a main road. If you've chosen another, more scenic route, the distance may well be longer.
Click here for the full MESH MAP.