Dunwich Dynamo 2016

[velovoice]

Lots of good advice up thread.

The closest there is to an official Dunwich Dynamo "presence" is the Facebook group here. (There is no website, as such.)

Lots of various groups organise coaches etc to transport people & bikes home afterwards. The 'traditional' provider is Southwark Cyclists. Andy Cawdell, the chairman, will post up in the FB group when tickets are ready to go on sale. He has already indicated ticket sales will likely start much earlier this year than in years past (which tended to be April ish).

Meanwhile, ride, relax, rinse and repeat.

 

[velovoice]

Is anyone planning on cycling home?

It is a Sunday so another 120 miles at a leisurely pace with plenty of pub stops would be a better option than the coach if the weather is good.

(I rode back from L2B, but my colleagues had plenty of horror stories about coach toilets... not helped by the fact that we had a few beers before heading back to London.)

Lots of people ride back. If you haven't made arrangements with a buddy beforehand, just see how you feel on the night, chat to people alongside you -- chances are, some of them will be cycling back and if you get on well, then you've got buddies for it.

 

[tatr]

Cheers, good to know

 

[jefmcg]

just see how you feel on the night

The problem with that is if you don't feel like riding back on the night, you might be stuck for transport. The buses usually sells out well in advance, and the local trains are enforcing bicycle limits. The train I caught in 2012 - with my folder - only allowed one bike to board as there were six on board already. I assume if you cycle as far as Ipswich, you can board a train from there.

 

[velovoice]

The problem with that is if you don't feel like riding back on the night, you might be stuck for transport. The buses usually sells out well in advance, and the local trains are enforcing bicycle limits. The train I caught in 2012 - with my folder - only allowed one bike to board as there were six on board already. I assume if you cycle as far as Ipswich, you can board a train from there.

Yes, that is the Big Risk with the DunRun, for many people every year. It always pays to plan ahead but so many don't seem to.

 

[mjr]

I assume if you cycle as far as Ipswich, you can board a train from there.

In 2015, in a shock reversal of the "do whatever we can to sell tickets" practices of 2014, you could only board at Ipswich if you had prebooked one of the 50 spaces on every other train: http://road.cc/content/news/151689-...train-company-bans-bikes-some-trains-severely - plus also there were widespread bike bans.

This is something that deters me from riding the event because I would be wanting to head back via Ely which seemed like it's either 4 bikes first-come-first-served on trains (usually Ipswich-Peterborough services take at least six before anyone bats an eyelid and sometimes more), or banned, depending who you asked. If I ride home, then it becomes a 200-mile ride

 

[robjh]

In 2015, in a shock reversal of the "do whatever we can to sell tickets" practices of 2014, you could only board at Ipswich if you had prebooked one of the 50 spaces on every other train: http://road.cc/content/news/151689-...train-company-bans-bikes-some-trains-severely - plus also there were widespread bike bans.

This is something that deters me from riding the event because I would be wanting to head back via Ely which seemed like it's either 4 bikes first-come-first-served on trains (usually Ipswich-Peterborough services take at least six before anyone bats an eyelid and sometimes more), or banned, depending who you asked. If I ride home, then it becomes a 200-mile ride

I'm reliably informed that the first Ipswich-Cambridge train of the Sunday had only 1 cyclist on it, and no problems. Mind you, to get that you had to leave the beach at about 7am.

 

[Flying Dodo]

There's always the option of a nice pleasant 30 mile ride to either Stowmarket or Diss to pick up the London bound train before everyone else gets on at Ipswich.

 

[tatr]

Of course that'll only work for a few fast people!

Sounds like riding back is the best thing to do.

 

[User10571]

First up im not a cycling snob. I have a friend that im going to be doing the dunrun with but my speed will be largely dictated by who else we meet up with.

Im not a racer. Im not going to sprint the whole 120 miles but i do want to push we i can and ease off where i cant.

Some wise words upthread....
If you are clocking 120 miles it is because you've got lost.
It's unusual to clock much more than ~112 miles to Dunwich from London Fields.
Any other mileages are folklore....
Or you got lost.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Ride it how you want to ride it.

If this is your first hundred mile ride then don't spoil it by thrashing yourself. Just my opinion, and from experience of trying to keep up with a Fixie crew half my age

If you've done a bunch of hundred mile rides beforehand then that's good prep.

The dun run is a bit like parenting, no advice will stick before you've tried it for yourself.

 

[Brains]

flag me up as soon as tickets are on sale, did it last year, came back with the Southwark Cyclists coaches and accoumaied lorries, and I'd like to do it again in 2016

 

[velovoice]

flag me up as soon as tickets are on sale, did it last year, came back with the Southwark Cyclists coaches and accoumaied lorries, and I'd like to do it again in 2016

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Pretty good summary

View attachment 109907

On the other hand, whatever the intentions of the planners, thousands of people are going to turn up with different motivations. That's the price of such a freestyle event.

Spoiler: trite but true

It is what we make it.

I like the freedom of approaching it any way you want. Sometimes it's fun to try to keep up with the racers.



Same here. 2015 was my most social DunRun, the first time I've been with the same people (strangers I met outside the Pub on the Park) for almost the entire ride out. Coming back was entirely different, a grueling test of an inzomniac'd body that has been in better shape… I thoroughly enjoyed both experiences. Previous years I took as an opportunity to just ride and ride and ride without worrying about directions, lost in thought and music and occasionally for real, having surreal or mundane conversations with whomever.

Pretty much sums up why I love the Dun Run!

 

[jefmcg]

I've posted this before, but a couple of years ago Strava decided to do a heat map of a typical Saturday. They thought is was broken because they got some funny data. Turns out it was the night of the DunRun. Sadly it ends a midnight.

Anyway, zoom into Essex then move the slider to right to see the DunRun

http://www.strava.com/saturday-heatmap#0|23|8|51.87060|-0.12647