Dunwich Dynamo (Sat 16th - SUn 17th July)

Who was out on the route taking photographs in the noisy white car? If anyone knows who it was can they let me know I need an "action " shot for a fundraising purposes for my Scout Group.

Word.

I gave a young lady and her boyfriend a jelly baby each ...

Are we talking hypothetically here?

Ride report DD19 with dogsx2

2 dogs, 120 miles and 1 night- all to raise £1200 (not there yet) to help fund the work of Maternity Worldwide especially in Ethiopia where their main base of operations are. To donate please go to www.justgiving.com/dunrun2011or text cris99 to 70070 to donate £10.

Some facts that might help you decide to donate, or just confirm the dogs have more sense than the owner:-

Total weight that went by pedal power to Dunwich: 154kg- made up of rider (82kg), (bike 21kg) Moppet (20kg) Peppa (8kg), front box (4kg), dogs stuff and dog food (4kg), Filibus spares and tools (8kg), my food and snacks (3kg), water (4kg)

Bike: Pretty standard Filibus Cargo bike, with seven speed Nexus Hub twined with a front triple (couldn’t afford a Rohloff but needed greater range)- 3,000 plus kms and still works well

Total time to get to Dunwich: 13hrs 10 minutes

Total time cycling: 10hrs 52minutes

Average speed to Dunwich: 16.75kms

Max speed to Dunwich: 55.10km

Dogs: Moppet (13yrs) & Peppa (a bouncy 13 weeks old puppy) both English Springer Spaniel

Best part of ride: watching the moon emerge from the torrential rain clouds and staying dry throughout

Worst part of ride: Missing out on the bacon butty, all sold out, 30km before Dunwich & Tigger, the spaniel who cycled DD18, still sulking 48hrs later for being left at home

PS: Maternity Worldwide is also organising their 5th Ethiopian charity ride, 2- 15 March 2012 from Addis to the hospital in Gimbie where their main projects are located see www.maternityworldwide.org for more details of their amazing work and how to join their ride.

Questions I get asked:-

q1: How do the dogs stay in the box?

a: From puppies they have always travelled by bike and they each have a dog car harness attached to the handlebar stem but so far only when another dog attacks the bike have any of them ever tried to jump out

q2: Don’t the dogs get bored?

a: They seem to love going for rides in their Filibus, getting especially excited when the cargo bike is wheeled out for trips to Hyde Park, charity rides and the odd long distance ride. They sleep a lot of the time but the dawn chorus, bats and roosters gets them reasonably excited

q3: Don’t they make the bike unstable?

a: Not really- the Filibus can take 50kg (or all three of my springer spaniels- well at least while Peppa is a puppy) in the front and 25kg on the rack at the back and the long wheel base makes it pretty stable

q4: Isn’t it slow up hills?

a: yes v slow, but having a triple on the front helps get the most out of the 7 speed Nexus hub and it really picks up speed going down hill

q5: Why take a the dogs on a bike?

a: It’s a lot of fun, lots of people speak to you, or more precisely speak to the dogs and then occasionally speak to me. It also helps get publicity and fundraising for charity.

Q6: And next year?

a: DD18 was with Tigger (we also cycled from London Berlin in May), DD19 was with Peppa and Moppet, so DD20- well anything is possible but it would mean having to adapt the back carrier to take one of the Springers and either saving up and buying a Rohloff or fitting an even smaller chain ring on the triple but I am not sure I could balance the bike and cycle much slower... but never say never

Had a great ride even after 4 punctures! Hit a stone just after the half way stop which sliced through my tyre and caused various clever and desperate patching attempts for the next 60 miles. Now no longer smile at those poor souls standing by the roadside and consider myself a master of the rear wheel puncture repair on a Brompton. Thankfully kept my sanity as I had joined up with Rupert the designer from Brompton when my problems started. Can not praise the virtues of a full english with coffee and a pint as offered by the pub more!

PS Delzegg, don't worry new tyres fitted today. Fingers crossed for Paris

Chrislov, welcome to CC. I have to say thank you for putting a smile on my face even when you said that we still had 40 miles to go. Just like last year you seemed always to be in front of us!

chrislov Sir, you are a hero

I shall donate straight away, especially as my little girl just loves your doggies

Not the woman I was thinking of, but that cap does remind me of another fixed gear rider.

you mean some inner London riders.

My ankle hurts. Maybe doing the ride stuffed with drugs to stop the pain wasn't such a great idea?

If the pain was a message to stop you inflicting more damage then no.

live for the day, as long as it gets better

On your headstone, or just general health advice, Tynan? It almost sounds like a load of carpe...

my advice to DD riders with gouty ankles

and rather late in the day, my solitary picture taken of a planned evening of reportage at every stop, before the phone succumbed to sweat, team erm cyclechat, kinda, look at will raring to go off like a rocket

me, Linton and Richard from my work, 4F and will

Tynan, that's not a bad shot actually from that antique camera

anything that I've ever owned takes a lovely picture as long as I let someone else do it, otherwise rubbish

no dissing the camera, I'm now instant messaging, facebooking and now a twitter feed of this Friday's pub crawl to let late arrival join as and when, and know what beers we've drunk as we drink them, crisps, peanuts etc as we eat them

yes, anyone that wants to be part of history is welcome to attend!

Tynan is @mickythehippo

I'm not sure tonight's spin class was a good idea with my 'DD and back' legs...... :-(

deedy, I ridden in the last two days with mixed feelings, legs weak but growing strobger, anything vaguely uphill defeat legs at once, bit sore especially what appears to be a small cluster of saddle sores that might need an absolute rest, hopedully Friday when I train in pre out on the lash

Heh heh. I was, actually, although now that you mention it there is some ignoble satisfaction to be had from noting that I have seen young men of the most enviable grace, souplesse and power on two wheels not only make a complete horlicks of a simple replacement/inflation task, but also rely for the purpose on equipment which they apparently don't have the faintest idea how to use. I name no names, and wouldn't dare to mention the Blackpool FNRttC...