Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy

I don't know of any randonneuring clubs in the US which practice audax riding. I've never heard of one anyway. I know some folks call it that because it's French and thus Exotic. In the US, randonneuring clubs put on brevets, populaires, flèches, and post lists of Permanents which can be ridden solo or in a small group. I think most clubs post finishing times for brevets and populaires. That does encourage a bit of competition. Audax riding was devised specifically to eliminate any competition, which is probably why it is seldom practiced in the USA. So that's one thing.

The other thing is that randonneuring, at least at 300k and up, is all about endurance. Like when you flat on a gravel road in the rain at 2am and haven't seen a car in 2 hours and all you want to do sit in a ditch and cry. Or when you hit that long 10% grade with 30,000' of climbing in your legs.

What all that comes down to is that many very experienced randonneurs are not particularly light, but they still get to the top of the last pass somewhere up in the standings just because they are so strong. So sure, lose fat, though many randonneurs carry a good bit extra, from all the eating on long rides, trying to keep the energy up. Like what you do instead of crying in a ditch is eat. Don't worry about your legs being strong. You'll need them.