I'm sitting at home too - feeling a bit jet-lagged!
My first Dunwich Dynamo and it surpassed my expectations. Excellent company and organisation played apart as did a great route and perfect weather conditions. I said I'd put up an account - apologies for errors and omissions
I joined the growing CC group in London Fields just after 7. There was a wonderful relaxed party atmosphere in the lead up to the start. Lots of people milling around the pub, the park and ajoining streets and enjoying themselves, with bicycles everywhere! It was good to put faces, names and forum aliases to each other. After a couple of energy drinks from the pub, we set off at about 8 and wove our way through the lanes and the East London badlands.
At Epping Forest we had a re-group stop at a busy petrol station. The early puncture casualty caught us up and Alan was able to fix his loose mudguard with a magic cable tie. From the stop, I particularly remember Des, who had arrived fresh from Brighton to accompany us on this first stage, telling a lady driver who blew her horn at him that he didn’t think there was any point in him moving out of her way as he wasn’t confident she could get her car through her intended gap!
Suitably re-grouped, we headed onto the open roads, passing the slower cyclists as we went. As ever on a big ride there were a few who had tarted up their bikes. Therewas a tandem with a sound system, another lit up a like a Christmas tree, a solo which had wheel lights with lights which made them look like they were on fire, and a cargo bike with a medium-sized dog in the front basket!
Another re-group by a roundabout at Great Baddow allowed us to eat, and to do more cyclist-watching, then we were back out onto the really open country, on empty roads, heading forour own CycleChat café support vehicle in Sudbury. Big thanks to Steve and also to Roxy and Greg, for the back-up, not least for feeding us at half-way. The soup was just what we needed and it was great to miss the queues! Some of us sat and chatted but Rinas showed his Audax experience by fitting in a power nap in the grass verge!
I mostly rode round with Dan/Coruskate, Alan, Biscuit and, when he was not answering emergency calls, Steve. We bowled along for mile after mile at a good pace (average riding speed was 17mph when we were moving), overtaking countless other riders as we went (some three times over due to our lengthy stops!). Alan and Biscuit were riding single speed sotended to push up the hills quicker, while I was climbing a bit slower so sometimes had to put in some work at the top of the hill to regain contact!
I particularly enjoyed the first hour after our mid-way stop. This is a crucial stage in a night ride, right in the middle of the night when it can be very difficult if tiredness sets in and there is still a long way to go. We rode for perhaps 10 miles with a group in Ilford club kit, who seemed a well-drilled outfit who were safe to follow, and who also had some pretty powerful lights on the front of their group. When I was in the front all I could see was my own shadow illuminated by my puny Cat Eyes. I enjoyed riding with them so it was a shame that we had to drop them when we upped our pace as the first signs of dawn started to appear!
Route-finding mostly went smoothly. I quickly realised that, in the dark, I was going to struggle to follow my route sheet as I couldn’t see it! Mostly I followed others in the manner of a sheep – sheer weight of numbers giving confidence. There was a bit of comedy around the half-way point where, because of the feeding station, there were cyclists heading in various different directions. At one point Dan and I waited at one silent junction trying to decide where to go. We had just decided to go right, when about 20 cyclists sped in front of us from right to left, looking like a Benny Hill chase scene!
Dan and I finished around 6:30. A little snooze on the beach was followed by breakfast - slightly later than planned as the support vehicle had gone back to rescue Tynan with a spare wheel (pro-team back-up or what!)
The low point was probably the return. I had entertained thoughts of riding all the way back. But I enjoyed breakfast too much, drank too much beer and sat around bantering for too long. I pretended not to notice when Rinas set off for his return journey, and decided I'd ride to Ipswich. Without the benefit of the tail-wind and with tiredness having set in, cycling was much more of an effort and I felt sluggish, and the 32 miles to Ipswich took over 2.5 hours. But the train journey from there was smooth, with more opportunity to chat to other cyclists, and, in my case, to nod off in mid-conversation!
Edit - crossed posts with redflight and redjedi. Glad I wasn't the only one who found it hard going back to Ipswich!
your family could not have been more supportive and decent, I'd ahve been understanding if they ploitely told me no, given they were at Dunwich already and setting up for receiving everyone, Tynan gvies them 5/5 with a merit
