Tell us about your weekend ride

Not quite the week-end yet, but I did the Daytime Dynamo today. I'd been meaning to do it for weeks but had an annoying virus, so always had to put it off. As I haven't been able to do the proper ride for a few years, this was some small recompense. As it's a great route, it's still lovely in the daytime, although of course not as magical.

Apart from my own lack of fitness, almost everything about the ride was just perfect. No punctures and only two small mechanicals. One was losing the mudguard screw that I'd only put on recently, clearly not very well. Fortunately, there's the excellent Flitch Bikes in Great Dunmow now. A bit later, one of my (cheap shit) bottle cages broke, but it was still possible to carry bottles in it.

I'd looked at the weather forecast for once and tomorrow was promised to be extremely hot, so I dropped everything and decided to ride today. This had the added advantage that shops were open everywhere. I bought just the right amount of food for the ride.

As ever, lots of sights and impressions along the ride; a lucky escape after Wethersfield, where it was clearly imminent for highway engineers to put gravel down on a newly-resurfaced long section of road, including one of my least favourite little hills. Perhaps they're waiting for the week-end. I hate riding on chipped roads and only encountered one a while later in Needham Market, where it was busy enough for most of the gravel to have disappeared, even though it had clearly been put there very recently. I was surprised they did this in a town, but you live and learn.

Lots of roadkill, as usual, which I always find disgusting. Lots of harvesting going on and enormous agricultural machinery being moved along the lanes; a combine harvester, dozens of extremely large tractors, and various other large vehicles, one with tank-type chains. Hardly anyone else on bikes, and when there were, they were riding fat-tyred mountain bikes very slowly. First lots of cars with bikes on top near the coast, and then about half a dozen with bikes on the back. Generally good driving everywhere, no silly overtakes or anything.

I didn't do any major lunch stop but stopped occasionally as the need arose. I'd expected to be very slow owing to the aforementioned lack of fitness but only took about 7 1/2 hours riding time. I've done London-Dunwich in about six hours, but that was at night with much better fitness and without the traffic queues due to roadworks; at Epping, after Leaden Roding, and in a few other places. So, I was very happy with that time. As usual, towards the end I became incredibly slow up the hills but still quick enough along the flat bits.

I had taken a route sheet, but didn't look at it once, as I know the route by heart, and navigation is obviously a lot easier during the day than at night. However, I was not best pleased to find that someone had taken it upon themselves to paint direction arrows on the road in the last part of the ride, starting with the first left turn after Framlingham. It stole my thunder a bit. :)

I didn't look at the time at all until Peasenhall and one of the best things was just that feeling of being in a timeless bubble. When I got to Peasenhall, I was surprised that I'd only taken slightly under seven hours to get there. I'd somehow imagined it must have got much later.

Most of the day had been overcast, which had been ideal, but by that time the sun had come out and never went away again. And while the ride itself was really enjoyable, my favourite bit is always jumping into the sea. Well, it was more a gradual edging in this time, as I was a lot warmer after the ride than usually when I arrive in the early-ish morning. There was no point in risking some kind of shock, but (surprise, surprise) the water was lovely. I swam/doggy-paddled for about half an hour. The weather on the beach was simply unbeatable, hardly any clouds in sight. I tell myself every year that I should get beach shoes (pebbly beach), and one of these days I'll remember to actually do it.

After I'd finished, I was surprised that the café had already closed, but on a weekday it was all a bit dead. It wasn't a problem, as I wasn't hungry, anyway. I rode to Darsham Station and had to wait twenty minutes for a train, with the connection in Ipswich coming after six minutes. However, if I do it again I'll ride back, as (a) I want to, anyway, and (b) £38.40 for a single fare to London is just daylight robbery. I've always hated that you have to pay the same for a single fare as for a return fare.

Anyway, minor gripes. Overall, a near-perfect ride, would ride again. 11/10