Dunwich Dynamo 19th July 2008

[BentMikey]

Tynan and anyone else, gissa shout if you see me there! I'm so excited I can't have my usual afternoon nap.

I'll be on the black recumbent, mega tailbox, and blue/white LondonSkaters Speed Team strip with LSMike on the back.

 

[Tynan]

aye aye captain

rear wheel trued, second bottle fitted

chain cleaned and oiled, brakes tweaked

tyres checked and pumped

snacks lying around waiting to be packed, clothes all over the house

that wind has backed to blow eastwards, get in!

tynan is on a red fratello with red ortlieb, white helmet

 

[tdr1nka]

Cycling home from Marylebone this evening I rode from Marble Arch to Victoria with a guy who was on his way to catch the train down to the start.

Always good to meet another friendly cyclist!

Sadly I too will not be there(maybe next year?)but to all who are going, have a great time!

 

[longers]

Have you finished yet?

 

[Will1985]

Yes I got back an hour ago - and I cycled 29 miles home into a headwind too, so that makes it just about 150 miles for me.

I was with Tynan for the first 70 miles until the stop at Lavenham and then I stayed there for 2 hours which included a much needed nap. Soloed the next 20 at a good pace and then found a chap on a singlespeed to go all the way to Dunwich with.

We had no rain and the wind was favourable.

 

[Tynan]

I wrote a long witty review but somehow lost it, bah

Will is a gent and a bit bloody rapid

long dark tiring and at times grim ride

rode onto Ipswich with a charming man called erm, forget, 30 miles and two hours into the headwind to just catch the 8.45

exactly 12 hours with at least 10 hours in the saddle, with the Ipswich jaunt, 152.something miles (sorry Will)

worn out

Tynan out

 

[4F]

Well done boys, glad the weather held out for you. Gutted I was unable to make it.

 

[Keith Oates]

A good performance and you all now deserve a rest, well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BentMikey]

/Mikey says a big sorry to Tynan and his ride mate. Misled them on my GPS, and by the time I'd found out, 500m later, Tynan and co had disappeared uphill much faster than I could go on my bike, and I couldn't catch you to stop you.

I did AirZound a few times, but to no avail, and chased to the next turnoff to recover the route.

 

[Tynan]

pish mikey, my apologies to you for being so brief with you, I rather followed my legs all night so either you were tearing past me or me creeping past you

I think I went wrong perhaps three times all night but every time me or the bloke with me at the time realised the problem and sorted it

there was one where me and some guy picked up a long straight downhill and went for it to both just barely hear a howl in the distance of 'LEFT' that saved our arses big time

a good time with good people, I feel remarkably straight today, been out to a fete, a bit loose legged and a bit tired, gawd am I going to be wrong tomorrow, there were two separate long stretches yesterday where my back, arms and thighs were aching a lot and I just kept going regardless, that's going to bite for sure

for the first time that dreadful contraption of yours looked sensible last night Mikey, I had a good look into the cockpit and saw the dashboard and the interior light, uphills didn't look good though, granted it was a bloody bat going downhills

 

[BentMikey]

Hehehe, if I got a proper light bent, and got rid of all the crap I was carrying, I could be 15kg lighter. That would make uphills a lot faster, since that's a significant % of my bodyweight.

 

[Tynan]

I rather liked the limo look, it did bite you on the hills though it seemed

Mind you, as a larger rider with a very heavy pannier I was tearing down hills myself, freewheeling past people pedalling is always strange

 

[BentMikey]

Yep, still 3-5km/hour faster average speed on my commute though. Maybe next year I'll have the dosh to buy a proper fast one, and the fitness to really make use of it.

 

[BentMikey]

Wow, that was a great DD for me! Some of the highlights were:

Meeting up at the pub in London Fields, and saying hello to so many old friends!

Spending so much of the ride with LSST (LSCT really) and Chris N, what a pleasure! Crikey Ray, you've done far more mileage than I have this year, no wonder you were going so fast!!!

My lights - 2 x Fenix P3D were so bright that they lit up the entire road. I remember descending several dark lanes at 30mph and still having plenty of light. Chris N and I had somewhat similar lighting power, riding together was just awesome lighting power, almost as good as a cars!

Meeting several forumites I hadn't met before - Tynan, Will1985, Adamski, Chris N, Sergeant Pluck, etc.

My GPS with Chris's route. Awesome, though I got it wrong twice, once because I'd inadvertently scrolled, and thus couldn't see the upcoming turn, and once because I misread it. Ended up taking Chris and Tynan off course, oops! Oh, actually went wrong a third time on the way to Hailsworth. The beauty of the GPS is that you see very quickly when you've taken a wrong turning, and corrections are easy to make. Knowledge is power, or rather lots of saved effort!!!

Just being let on the train at Hailsworth, and feeling very bad about the 75-odd cyclists at Darsham, none of whom were let on. This is why I cycled the extra distance to the more northerly station. I can't see this working next time, I will probably ride the 30 plus miles back to Ipswich directly instead. We did have to do a speed wheel removal of the 3 uprights and stand my bent vertically on the tailbox before the guard was happy to let us stay on, not obscuring the exits.

The last blast into Dunwich, that was exhilarating blasting past all the upright cyclists!!! Recumbents are funny, they have a completely different rhythm from uprights, a little slower uphill, and much faster downhill. Going with the flow makes for much less effort and faster progress, trying to stick with the uprights just leads to slowness and pain. I would certainly have been a lot faster had I had a proper lightweight bent, instead of 25kg of bike and too much crap in the tailbox.

Getting into the beach at 06:05!!

Seeing the beautiful moonlight, made the scenery much more interesting! And dawn and the subsequent sunshine was just lovely!!! That has to be one of the best rides I've yet done.

 

[BentMikey]

Not quite 150 mate, more like 143. I think the ride itself was 112 miles. Add to that a mile or two for unplanned detours, and the mileage to and from the event, and it's easy to do a lot more.

I must admit I was totally surprised by how strong I felt after the ride, I was quite prepared to ride into Ipswich or Diss if we hadn't been allowed onto the train at Halesworth. The first year and the last time I did it in 2005, I was completely cream crackered and barely able to ride anywhere. I was very lucky in getting onto Aunty Charlotte's bus that year too, thanks to Zipperhead selling me his spare ticket.