6 posts from July 2008

The Dunwich Dynamo has become quite a classic of the cycling world. Hundreds of cyclists assemble on London Fields / Pub on the Park in Hackney and head to the lost city of Dunwich on the Suffolk coast. The ride is semi-organised by Southwark cyclists and the London School of Cycling.

Tim and I rode "Ze Dynamo" back in 2006. Back then we were going to embark on our longest ever ride and through the night. It was an enjoyable ride not considering it rained for about two third of the way.

Forward the clock two years and here we are again.

I had contacted Tim to ask him whether he'd consider riding the Dunwich Dynamo again. He had been invited to attend the Truck festival but after a quick reflection he decided to do the Dun Run. Since moving up north, we have not had many opportunities to ride together. Tim kept a get out clause if the weather forecast was as terrible as in 2006. (It worked)

So... Saturday 19th of July 2008, I met up at Tim's place in Headington, we caught the Oxford Tube to Marble Arch. We were better prepared to make it accross London this time around as we knew where the rendez-vous point was and how it looked like. I also had printed some directions from the Transport for London website. We did not do too badly only getting lost 4-5 times along the way to London Fields.

Having completed the first milestone of our little adventure by getting to Hackney in one piece, we settled for a nice pint of ale. This time we had to do with a refreshing pint of Adnams, a very appropriate beverage for our final destination. This was complemented to superb shish kebab, Iron-bru and red bull.

We set off at about 20h30 as part of a little group. There was much confusion over the directions to take after the railway bridge but we made it and crossed what was labelled as "bandit territory" on the routesheet without any trouble. This is where Tim interjected say a number. I think he mumbled 27 and push on to make a very impressive pace (24-27mph!). We took turns in front and going well. Too well? I was thinking to myself that we would not be looking very pretty at Dunwich if we carried on at that pace. We stopped 20 miles into the ride for a p stop and adjust the wardrobe. Arm warmers had to go. We carried on at our steady high tempo for many miles overtaking many of the earlier starters.

We were now passed Epping and cruising along the Essex country lanes. Not much to write about except that there was very little traffic, it was a beautiful summer evening, the moon was showing up.

Fast forward to the feed stop, Lavenham. We arrived at 1am. No queue to speak of.  I was feeling rather sleepy by that time. My body and brain were basically shutting down. The stop was perfectly timed. We stayed for about 30-40' at the stop. A warm cup of minestrone soup and a nice plate of pasta were consumed. I then ate a caffeinated gel, filled my bottle with powder and water, changed the batteries for the front light and proceeded to get our bikes. Many people were queueing by that time. It was cold and drizzly. Waterproofs and off we went, plodding at a slower pace. We then caught a train of  experienced Audax riders. They were good. Steady pace, Safe and steady. Great. The chaps had completed a 600km audax the previous Sunday. Respect. Anyhow, the increased pace woke us up. We lost the fast Audax chaps after an unscheduled stop and loss of a chocolate bar in Tim's impressive rack bag. The night was still dark and to be honest it was difficult to make sense of the directions.

fast forward... Dawn. We missed a turn to Fiddler's Hall (Missing sign?) / Peasenhall. This was to be without any too serious consequences except for some head scratching and confusion. Despite some more missing sign posts and with a bit of early morning logic, we were soon back on track and on the last stretch of our journey to Dunwich. That last stretch came and went much faster than two years earlier. 5:11am. 16.3mph average over 120miles. Not bad and an all round superb performance by Tim who has yet to try SPDs. I could not imagine even considering a ride of 120 miles without clipless pedals.

A great ride only spoiled by the long wait for the coaches to turn up (not much to do on Dunwich beach!), a drag of a journey back to London, through London and then to Oxford, a sub standard Full english breakfast and the fact that it was too cold to swim. 

Fuel Stats:
- 1l of PSP22 Natural
- 3 Smart SIS gels
- 1 Full english
- 1 Large Shish kebab with garlic and chilli sauce
- 1 Iron Bru
- 1 red bull
- 1 Overstim tube
- Beans on toast
- Pasta salad
- 1 Cup of minestrone soup.