Dunwich Dynamo 2016

Re: wrong way.

He prefers it, train out in the afternoon, swim in the sea and feed up at the cafe. Bike to London trying to get to the pub in Finchinfield to see everyone going the other way. Then after a few hours when the roads start to clear, ride home to be in bed for Sunrise.

I said I'd join him the next time it was wind assisted.

chapeau for the coastal return route, was also making an easterly return loop, but was probably miles behind and most inland, Maldon was noteworthy for some delightful scenery, will check Strava for sight of your route just in case we're connected on that medium..

@Ramsaye, what happened to you?

waited at all the usual pub stops, same tables as last year, then looked for sight of the Union Jack swimmers at the beach, then the pub, did you go super-sprint this year on your DD-return, or was the absence of your riding partner @middleofnowhere just to much; ps., GWS @middleofnowhere, unless you're already well and simply resting/limbering-up, in which case, keenly await the next ThNRC route, :-)

ps., good idea about the coastal ferry route, hadn't even considered that, a girl rode the entire circumference of Blighty, as described in a book awaiting to be finished by my bedside, forget the name right now..

ahha, that explains it..., judging the timing of the lights heading the other way, reckon quite a few people were reverse-routing it this year..

ps. you could have DAS'ed quite a few people on the homeward leg..

reckon looping back a different route has its merits, for a future year, and to part alleviate your flies-fatigue thang mentioned in your Strava description!!

yup, after seeing @Velocio depict that sunrise moment, would also quite like to be there for that, but a question, is the sea warm enough - or have you heated up enough to compensate for the extra freshness!?

stopping to pick up a hedgehog crossing the road just after that stop

<3

feed up at the cafe

I said I'd join him the next time it was wind assisted.

Doesn't even need a punchline does it.

I like the sound of that, we should keep it in mind for next year. I assume we'd ride up there overnight on Friday to keep up our "there and back" tradition.

Ride there from Ipswich, swim, sun, scampi and ride back. Aim to be in Finchngfield for midnight to get some beers in, leave at closing time (I should have checked what time it was when they threw us out), ride home.

It means most of the route is ridden in daylight, the bit between Sudbury and Finchingfield would be where you pass the bulk of the riders going t'other way.

Hopefully people are better behaved with their front lights than some are with their back ones - there were some absolute whoppers out there. I know a line of little blinking lights looks quite appealing from afar but please, no max strobing lasers on full power!

a girl rode the entire circumference of Blighty, as described in a book awaiting to be finished by my bedside, forget the name right now.

Anna Hughes

or have you heated up enough to compensate for the extra freshness!?

You need to go in when you've just arrived. There's no point once you've cooled down inside. This year, it was so warm that there was hardly a need to adapt, but I've done it in conditions in which it was a real struggle, and it was still fine and extremely relaxing once you made the plunge. It's the best thing about arriving there, don't miss it.

Yes, I hate that, too. I always either fall back until they're out of sight or overtake them (but it usually seems to be people who are faster than me).

This return route sounds great, do you have a gpx to share?
and @radmich
https://www.lfgss.com/events/1998/#comment13103000

Just uploaded my timelapse video of the first bit, battery on my gopro ran out after that...

https://youtu.be/obCY_g5zVDY

I'm glad you had fun, but sorely disappointed I missed out this year......anyone up for a day ride there this week sometimes?

@Rod_Munch I rode it in reverse this year, had to take my daughter swimming, so couldn't sleep in on Sunday. It's fun watching all the cyclist heading to Dunwich but about 1am I saw the last person & was 40 miles from London & it suddenly becomes really dark and you feel very alone.

I quite enjoy the solitary feel but riding through endless tunnels of trees where it's almost pitch black isn't much fun on your own. I definitely prefer riding London to Dunwich but it was a bonus getting to sleep in my own bed without having to plan the return journey.

Very much up for doing the ride during the day, but can't do this week. Why don't you choose a date and post a thread?

So this was a ride I'd been looking forward to for a while. Firstly because I love rides out to the coast (feels like an achievement), and secondly because I had it earmarked as my long ride of the summer.

It didn't start particularly well. Rolled up far too late to meet any forumungers, so got a route sheet (the lady selling them split a 20!- thank you!) and set straight off. Fifteen minutes later got a puncture, and duly faffed around fixing it in one of the parks. Loads of folks asking if I was ok- nice.

Followed the twinkly reds out to the countryside, and ended up riding three hours before my first stop for a sarnie. Starting again and realised I had another puncture. Went to sit of a verge and kicked up the most amazing quantity of wildlife, insects, spiders, millipedes, moths and other moving stuff. Thank fully settled down pretty quickly, though found a field spider making a web on my bars a couple of hours later.

Only made one more stop after that, to get a much-needed bacon buttie, and rolled into the beach at 5am to an awesome sunrise. Spent an hour split between the cafe and beach, then got back on the bike and started riding back. Spent the next three hours smiling, waving, and pointing people down the right roads. Some seemed pretty cheerful, some were wrecked.

Made a pit-stop in Sudbury as things were starting to hurt, and immediately fell out with my Garmin which demanded a complete lap of a car park (?!?). I refused, and it got its revenge by taking me off route up 'sandly lane', so called because the bastard thing was covered in inches of sand. Managed to fall off half way, and spent five minutes shouting incoherently at the Garmin (I was a bit tired by this point).

Carried on and spent the rest of the ride getting gradually slower. Managed to jump onto a local chaingang which towed me most of the way into London, and then another bloke doing it both ways who got me to south Londonshire. Eventually fell into bed at 3pm and went straight to sleep for six hours. Woke up to find pizza waiting from a housemate :) .

Did you find anyone to ride with?

Woke up to find pizza waiting from a housemate :)

Result!

Talking of Garmin issues, did anyone else use both of Velocio's routes provided above, only to find that their garmin decided to overwrite the first one (going out) with the return one?
That was nice...

Had a blinder I must say, just under 7 hrs in the saddle, lovely swim on the beach, I have my complaints about the coaches home but I'll keep them to mesen

We saw someone with a really bright front light, flashing at a really low... frequency? Like off... on... off... on... off... on... how that didn't do his head in after about 3 seconds I don't know