Dunwich Dynamo 2007 - July 28/29

TheBrick(Tommy)
Build, brett, matt, MAK3, Hippy and forgot you name guy with the really short risers thanks fot the company and moral boosting.
Nice to meet you Scott no Scot well done on doing a wet long ride like that breakless.
Stompy thanks for the fags.

jonnywilkinson was the guy with the cut risers, little brown(?) bike, blue trousers. Him and I rode to the finish together (who were the other two guys with us on gearies jonny? You were talking about sprinting with..)

Scott is mad. Case closed. :) I dunno how you can walk after riding that dude!

Cheers for the zip-tie Stompy. My headset made it. :)

MA3K Tommy that was heal not build,
build was not on that ride.

Ta, I am confussed.

TheBrick(Tommy)

Is that almost a fscking smile on my face??! Nah.. must just be chewing something ;)

Wow! That was some crazy shit!!

My front light fell off in Clapton and then got run over by a car! Luckly my friend had one of those head strap lights, the thought of doing the whole thing in the dark seemed far to dawnting!!

We got lost about five miles before the feeding station following a bunch of red lights into the darkness only to have them turn into white lights about 40 mins later when they turned back! Our fault for following like sheep rather than checking the route I suppose.

The first glimse of light on the second leg had to be one of the greatest moments of the ride it felt like you had already done it, the coffee and power bars took effect and for the next 30-40 miles you felt like a new person.

3 THINGS

1. I have never been that cold
   
2. Never been that wet
   
3. Never been this tired!!
   
   
   

Cant wait till the next one!!! Well done to everyone!!

Wow... well done all!!

Well that was fun. I left before pretty much everyone having joined the ACF "Team Speed", mostly because a friend was in it and I was keen to have someone leading who knew the way. Because of rain, TS turned out to be only 6 people, and after a 27kph spin out of London our illustrious leader pulled away to go to the nearest B+B.

Another guy left, down to 4, then I got 2 punctures and it was just my friend and I heading to the feeding station. Arrived about 1ish. Two coffees, then off again, and for the next few hours I was just following any tail light I could find. Got separated again and just trailed anyone who knew the route. I didn't have a route sheet and my map had pulped itself so had no idea where to go...

Ended up steaming into Dunwich at 5.30am. 9 /12 hours start to finish, with about an hours stopping. Never ridden so hard in my life, I was just pumping all the way to stay warm and keep up with anyone who knew the way. Didn't get any food at the feeding station so survived the whole thing on 2 lucozade sport, a pack of jelly babies and 4 of my magic biscuits (secret recipe :)). Odd, mad, and strangely awesome.

Saw a couple of you at the end, sounds like everyone had a good time.

Ed, the geared rider who I rode with to Bethnal Green tube, just emailed saying he was with the first bunch in at 4:30am. Then he rode to Shotley. :)

Sounds you all had a good time! I'll do it next year. I haven't really done any long rides before, I only ride in 20 min sprints to work pretty much, haha.

hippy Ed, the geared rider who I rode with to Bethnal Green tube, just emailed saying he was with the first bunch in at 4:30am. Then he rode to Shotley. :)

Blimey!

An observation. There were more girls/women on the Dynamo than I had expected. I stopped at one point and spoke with a group with two girls on fixies...and among others a guy wearing a kilt. Anyone from here?

In contrast and very different but the British Cyclosportive was probably 99% men.

The sportive was a competitive event whereas this was "fun" :)

Oh yes...I forgot about the "fun" bit!

great ride guys, wouldn't have been the same with lovely weather - too easy. great to ride most of the second half with londonfgss crew after going it with just maek (and jason) and alex for a while in that fast first half. am with maek on going for the first section quick as, get the soup in before the masses arrive. got in 15 mins after him after stopping with jason with thankfully the only puncture of the night.

lowest moment had to be coming out into the freezing night after a long stop at the soup kitchen. but good to be in a peloton as the the sun came up.

good pictures hippy, cheers for those. the two geared guys we rolled along with at the end were jason (who i did the whole 114 with) and his mate who i think was called Ali. it was good to finish strong like that.

strangely only my achilles tendons feel a bit achey. stretched. have rewarded myself with a day off work and just one day out of the saddle.

good to meet all of those that you did. a sound lot. and will catch you again soon.

nice one.

Seeing first light at around Framsden was a moment I won’t forget. Unfortunately that was last year and on a road bike with gears. This year the weather forecast and family put me off, so I set off at 10:30 and rode a route of roughly the same distance (I’ve driven it to check) from East Finchley via Hertford, Bishop’s Stortford, Thaxted and joining the DD course at Castle Headingham before stopping at our house in Peasenhall at 6 pm.

I had a bright sunny day (got through a litre of Go Electrolyte and nearly 2 litres of water) and spent 30 mins off the bike fixing a broken seat mounted bottle cage and buying drinks. In all - really happy with the time (using tri-bars on my track bike and pushing a 90” gear (15t x 50t) – which hurt a lot between Potters Bar and Newgate Street and at castle Headingham.

I did really miss the atmosphere though, so I wandered down to the junction of Bruisyard Road and the A1120 in Peasenhall at around 7:30 on Sunday and saw a bunch of guys on fixed wheels all looking like they had suffered. I asked one if it had been a wet night and he gave me a “You can’t possibly know what we’ve just been through...” look, which I guess is true.

I’ll do it next year though.

Top tip - I did the route in reverse on a 76” geared fixed wheel last August when coming to London for a stag do. The bike had a heavy Columbus tubing frame and if anything, seemed harder work. Consequently I got severe cramp in the glutes from the relentless peddling but managed to sort it by rubbing on a tube of Ibrobufen gel just south of the Rodings.

JimmyP An observation. There were more girls/women on the Dynamo than I had expected. I stopped at one point and spoke with a group with two girls on fixies...and among others a guy wearing a kilt. Anyone from here?

In contrast and very different but the British Cyclosportive was probably 99% men.

That would have been Andy in the kilt and most likely Charlotte, Liz and Emilia with him all from ACF all seasoned Dun Runners

Good guys...one of em goes "someones got a puncture"...me"oh yeah thats me, fuck ...oh well the tyres still quite hard" They just looked at me like i was a nutter!

I rode 50 miles on that slow puncture...pumped it up once. Had two flats by the time I got back to Liverpool street.

I know some of us saw an ambulance around 7am.

It was nothing worse than a cut face. Somebody was trying to adjust their mudguard while moving and riding a fixed wheel. Went over the handlebars.

As far as anyone knows, that was the worst casualty of the night.

I, however, survived Dunwich. Cleaned my bike last night, and then promptly gashed my elbow trying to track-stand outside my house.

What about that poor guy who arrived at 9 or later, pulled up in front of the cafe/everyone and fell over. That has to suck after 200KMs.

MA3K What about that poor guy who arrived at 9 or later, pulled up in front of the cafe/everyone and fell over. That has to suck after 200KMs.

I loved the way he bounced straight back up with a smile on his face, though.

Give that man a cigar.

A cigar and a crash mat.

i got a ride back with some riders who had arranged transport through Tower Hamlets or something (they hired a minibus that was fully kitted out for Hen nights and it was 80s disco all the way, but that's another thing), and one of their number had had to be taken to hospital out there due to exposure. they were riding in t-shirt, shorts, and trainers. v silly, though i wouldn't have minded a bit of waterproofing myself

Amazed you Jason and Nelson didn't end up hypothermic.

Jeez.. did they not notice the impending doom closing in before the start? Ouch!

I didn't put my rain jacket or gore-pants on until arriving at the feed station, spent most of the rest stop shivering uncontrollably.

MA3K Amazed you Jason and Nelson didn't end up hypothermic.

hairy chest dude