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No mention of a sea swim at the end? Tsk, tsk. :)
Come and help at the feed stop, Paul. We can always do with more volunteers.
Oliver Schick-
Ah, forgot that part - possibly because, despite once having taken a towel, I've never braved the cold waters of Dunwich for fear of getting my feet tangled in the bellropes of the sunken church belfries.
And I'm afraid I'm not able to help at the food stop as I'm now caught up in Luddlet #1's 21 birthday celebrations that weekend. Is it at Sible Hedigham again? I have somewhere on my computer at home a nice stereo recording of the assembled throngs outside the food stop the other year when the power went down. Must post it on soundcloud with some suitably sparse grime backing.
Ludd
Here's what I said when asked about this the other day. It's just my subjective take on the ride, other people may have a completely different and perfectly valid take on it and I may have given in to the temptation to engage in some unjustified mud-slinging.
Sorry if I sounded a bit negative - I'm sure it'll still be a really fun ride, but I've seen it change from a really laid back and co-operative ride of a few hundred people into something less appealing. Just a few examples:
(a) riders stopping without warning (no signal, no calling out, no looking over the shoulder) to get an energy gel out of their bag before we've even reached the M25;
(b) riders not paying attention and slamming into my back wheel when I've done an emergency stop because of (a) above;
(c) riders littering the verges with gel wrappers,
(d) riders peeing in people's front gardens,
(e) riders stopping at every junction because they can't be bothered to read the route sheet or look out for the arrows,
(f) riders following you when you deliberately take a diversion to Cretingham to avoid the crowds,
(g) riders stopping in huge crowds in the middle of the road outside the pubs in Moreton and Fyfield and blocking the road for other riders and for motorists,
(h) riders generally disrupting the peace of the night, and in particular stopping outside people's houses at 4am and having loud discussions about directions without thinking about the people they're waking up/keeping awake or about the other riders who might otherwise be enjoying the peace of the ride,
(i) groups of club riders hurtling past too close for comfort and then crashing spectacularly when one of them drops their bike light,
(j) riders with lights that replace night with day and take away half the magic of night riding,
(k) the queue for breakfast at Dunwich.
But there are still fantastic bits:
(l) pausing with another rider while he fixes a puncture, and a barn owl swoops past us to have a look at what's going on,
(m) the candles in jars as you approach the food stop,
(n) families who set out their chairs in their front gardens to watch us go by and cheer us on,
(o) yoofs in cars in Epping who ask us where we're going, and are genuinely speechless when we tell them we're going to the seaside,
(p) those magical last few miles over the heathland between Darsham and Dunwich as it's getting light,
(q) the occasional penny farthing, unicycle etc
(r) being able to stop for a pint of Adnams at the pub in Finchingfield and watch the ride swooping round the village green and up the one tiny steep slope of the whole ride,
(s) having the freedom to wander off route for peace and quiet from time to time,
(t) sharing the experience with a constantly changing mixture of friends and strangers,
(u) lying on the beach at Dunwich and listening to the peaceful chatter of tired riders, the waves on the shingle and the calls of seabirds,
(v) being taken out for a pub lunch by your partner and then driven home.