2009-07-04 Sat - Dunwich Dynamo 2009

Oliver: You ride 24 spoke wheels on an audax bike and don't carry spares? Audax fail. ;)

I don't have an Audax bike--I have a single GDB fairly cheap road bike that I ride on all long rides, be they Audax or whatever. But the fail was still entirely my fault--I should have realised after the first spoke break a few weeks ago that (a) the wheels are getting a bit knackered, being five years old, and (b) that I have probably changed a bit as a rider, in the good sense--I have been working on improving my climbing and putting more power into each climb, as climbing has always been one of my weaknesses.

Both spoke breaks happened in the same way--climbing a small, moderately steep rise, out of the saddle, with a much more powerful climbing pedal stroke than I would have managed a few years ago. Before the first spoke break, I didn't know that there were too few spokes to permit continuing to ride with one breakage. After this, I did know and I should have taken more action than having the spoke replaced, so yes, that was definitely a fail.

If I had the slightest idea how to replace the spoke nipple in case of a breakdown, I would probably carry spares. Perhaps a fellow rider might know, but I'm so unmechanical that that thought never once occurred to me. I'll certaionly consider that in the future. It's all useful experience.

Still annoyed at letting Daniel down and not being able to ride all the way back, but it can't be helped.

+1

Don't understand people who can't read from/don't know how to use a cue sheet.

Take junction - pull out route sheet - read next junction details - put sheet back in pocket - take junction - pull out route sheet - repeat to fade

And have a way of tracking your mileage, i.e. ideally computer and head torch that enables you to see it.

I forgot to mention that my batteries began to die in all four sets of lights just as it was getting dark. Luckily the petrol station at Ealing had some spares.

+1

Don't understand people who can't read from/don't know how to use a cue sheet.

As someone above said, there are a very large number of talentless people out on a grand adventure. I spotted lots of people with routesheets in holders on the handlebars but no way of reading them in the dark. Night-ride-think fail (ok, so I may have been there myself years ago). They obviously weren't happy with holding it in front of their front light whilst on the move which meant stopping at every junction to faff around and look inept.

I use a Petzl Tikka head torch, which is also useful for night time repairs as it doesn't take up a hand pointing it in the right direction. I've also had to use it as an emergency front light when an old Cateye bounced out of its bracket made of cheese and shattered on the road.

The GPS, however, is far far far better than a cue sheet. No wondering if you're at the right junction or not, simply follow the arrow and watch the "distance to next point" count down to a few meters and the arrow swing over. I made it tricky coming back by not making a separate route, so some junctions weren't as obvious on the way back, plus I needed to reverse all of the instructions (L becomes R but, confusingly, Left-Immediate-Right stays the same) which was interesting, especially with a tired brain.

Lessons Learned from my first Dunwich ride

1. Bringing long sleeve base layer and waterproof jacket was a good idea despite the baking sunshine when I set off. I used them all and could have done with knee warmers/tights.
   
2. Camelback and full waterbottle was a perfectly adequate amount of water.
   
3. The big queue at the feed station is for food. There is a smaller queue inside for tea.
   
4. Pick your group. I stuck with people I knew for the company. However, I'm now regretting it because their average speed was pretty slow. (Geared sportive riders, pah!)
   
5. Bring lots of food. Bananas, flapjacks, fruit gums in a jersey pocket so you can snack while riding etc. SIS gels are awesome. Had a caffine one 45minutes outside Dunwich and felt great.
   
6. Getting picked up by my lovely girlfriend at 8am with food, beer and dry clothes was amazing!
   
7. The distance isn't a problem. Sleep depravation hurt me far more on Sunday.
   
8. Doing it on a cracked and sagging saddle is a very, very bad idea. Fortunately I went numb after 80 miles.
   
   

All in all it was actually far easier than I thought it would be. If you can do London Brighton, you can easily do Dunwich. I reckon the most important thing is bringing enough food, drink and spares.

I'll never forget the trail of blinking lights as you go down the lanes. Definitely doing it next year.

Right, 13 hours of sleep after being a wake for 36 hours and riding 153 miles is just what the doc ordered.

I'd like to thank everyone I got to ride with. I had a good time last year but this year just seemed a little bit more fun, the only thing I would have changed would have been the riding 20 miles or so along the A12 back to Ipswich(that is a shit road to ride on). Well done to everyone who made it and I look forward to actually making it back all the way next year.

I'd just like to say thank you to Object, I dont think I could have ridden that far and had so much fun with many other people if anyone. Cheers buddy.

Awsome ride people. Was great riding with Noel, Alb, Sarah, Dave, Fred an others. We were going at quite a pace but had to many stops. I really need to sort out a decent sadle as that was one of the reasons we had to stop so much. I could manage about 5 to 10 miles before the agony was to much and I needed to rest my arse. I was looking forward to the hills as an opotunity to stand up. Gears next year.

I forgot to mention that my batteries began to die in all four sets of lights just as it was getting dark. Luckily the petrol station at Ealing had some spares.

I passed you pulling in there, and for sure it wasnt Hippy's Ealing.

Plusses on this ride: no aches or pains at all, learning to be happy riding normally without fear with just a blinking light in total darkness.

Awsome ride people. Was great riding with Noel, Alb, Sarah, Dave, Fred an others. We were going at quite a pace but had to many stops. I really need to sort out a decent sadle as that was one of the reasons we had to stop so much. I could manage about 5 to 10 miles before the agony was to much and I needed to rest my arse. I was looking forward to the hills as an opotunity to stand up. Gears next year.

Fizik FTW!

Fizik FTW!

+1

Why did I fall asleep on the beach? I now have two bright red legs.

But worth it: swimming in the sea as the sun rose about 4:15. And a great pack from a bit after the feed station - I think 3 fixed (one in black rapha) and the rest of of geared.

Def. should have rode back. Kudos to those that did.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/booksnake/sets/72157620861691087/

ha ha - that's me in the fireflies jersey! thanks for the photo.

there were five of us - two fixed, one ss.

lovely to see so many at the start - jonny, clint, object and hillbilly, fiddy. sorry not to ride socially especially as i gave a bit of chat. once we cranked up though, our little grupetto smashed through it... 185km at 29.8kph, 6hrs 25 mins on 86" gear ftw!

great to catch up with a larger group towards the end - nice to pick the pace up on the final 5 miles after getting a bit lost.

agree that the swim was lovely, hope to ride again with you all soon

My GPS route was based on this one: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Dunwich-Dynamo-route-UK

Ah, yes. That probably meant that you jumped ahead of us through Peasenhall, then we probably 'overtook' you again (on our different route) before Framlingham, staying ahead to Sudbury, where we had a near two-hour lunch stop, during which you would have jumped ahead of us before you stopped at Great Dunmow and Daniel overtook you again.

there are plans afoot to have a londonfgss team coach to rival the dulwich paragon team bus

Booking privately cost no more than the 'official' coaches and it saves hanging around for hours, waiting for the main coaches - or running the risk of arsey train conductors (sorry to hear about the hassle).

Great event though. Good to see a few familiar faces from the 50 Fixed ride the other Sunday, sorry I didn't say hello (bit too shell-shocked had a knee the size of a balloon) and was too busy trying to stay on the back of the blue train the rest of the time.

Opi.

+1

Don't understand people who can't read from/don't know how to use a cue sheet.

Take junction - pull out route sheet - read next junction details - put sheet back in pocket - take junction - pull out route sheet - repeat to fade

Screw Sat Nav, ride with Sam and get Sam Nav.

Sam > Sat Nav

and you can yell instructions to the other (mostly grateful) riders.

One had the temerity to disagree with Sam though. Really.

Another year and another great ride... 3 things worth noting:

• don't allow anyone riding with you who is a "local" to suggest he knows where he's going. Yes, you get there in the end, but it would have been nice to see some other cyclists
  
• If you're not hard enough to ride it, Avenue taxis in Ipswich were amazingly accommodating and picked 3 tired and slightly drunk chaps plus 3 dismantled bikes up from Peasenhall at 8am and waited for us at the other end while we put them back together and then gave us wet wipes to clean our hands with.
  
• Staff at Ipswich station were incredibly friendly, even offering to fill up our water bottles as WHSmith had run out.
  
  

Roll on next year.

Some people were in for a long night/day. The last people I saw on the road (who weren't just random people out cycling) were passing Wattisham Airfield at about 10.30am with about 65km to go.

I'd just like to say thank you to Object, I dont think I could have ridden that far and had so much fun with many other people if anyone. Cheers buddy.
Word. Had a blast. I've said it before, even in this thread, I love riding with you.

When's the next one?

Word. Had a blast. I've said it before, even in this thread, I love riding with you.

When's the next one?

In a years time I do believe. But we could go for a ride before that?

another long post - DD demands it though.

a lovely DD - a game of three halves for me.

1. riding out with TNRC regulars - BMMF, Claus, clintsmoker, Texas, Polkinghorn with the addition of Soul for most of the first half up to the foodstop. Though at The Stag in Moreton we lost Claus as we stopped for a swift one and to wait for Texas and Polkinghorn who started late. Texas of course really pushed the pace up and with BMMF on the ticket was probably the fastest stage. dropped off a bit when my camelback started pissing all over me.

2. with those fast boys deciding to turn round at the food stop and get the miles in mirror style i joined an exquisite little group led by Sam with aroogah, braker, bigfatal, and Soul still. we saw our way to the Beach in a tight little group. great memories of cruising along whilst the sun came up.

3. having done the DD a couple of times before there was no way i was waiting for the Coach. so Sam had a lovely little plan and after a quick breakie we set off to Diss - put another 30 miles in (with a little diversion) but was so worth it to get on a train two stops ahead of stopping in Ipswich.

lots of bright times and happy faces. cheers to shin, gina g, miss socks and others who were all at the beginning to see us off. way to many forumengers hello'd and chapeau'd to on the ride. jung, good to ride with you dude - even if it was just riding the rails back to london.

so glad to get back home and in the bath before 1300. 159 miles in the legs. only 1 mile short of my fixed record. that could be regarded as a fail, but it doesn't feel like it.

needless to say i will spend a bit longer than usual in goal later when i play football.

well done all for getting the DD done, particularly plagiarist who i know sorely missed it last year - and big respect to those who did there and back.

also, just a quick note to remember those who i rode the last couple with who couldn't make it this year - hippy, brett, stompy and tommy (the brick) - you were missed fellas.

My bike being unloaded, good pic MJS :)

As someone above said, there are a very large number of talentless people out on a grand adventure. I spotted lots of people with routesheets in holders on the handlebars but no way of reading them in the dark. Night-ride-think fail (ok, so I may have been there myself years ago). They obviously weren't happy with holding it in front of their front light whilst on the move which meant stopping at every junction to faff around and look inept.

I don't mean to sound pissy here, but this post comes across as really rude and a bit elitist.
To label riders as 'talentless people out on a great adventure' is really out of order.
The Dunwich dynamo attracts so many different kinds of people...you see super fit club riders, right down to early teens out with their folks....you can tell that some of these people have never ridden more than 30 miles in their lives, let alone 120.
Not everybody thinks to take something to use to be able to read the route sheets, some of them barely even had working lights...but that's because they don't know what to expect.
Reading a cue sheet isn't always easy either...it doesn't label every single road sign from London to Dunwich, so if someone misses a sign on the sheet, it's very possible that when they come to the next sign it's not even mentioned on it, so then they have to guess the way and before they know it they're going in the wrong direction.
I saw riders of all abilities standing at junctions having gone the wrong way trying to figure out how to get back on track.

Personally i think everybody who completes the DD deserves huge respect, regardless of how many wrong turns they took, how long it took them, or how many mistakes they made regarding what to bring....i certainly don't think they deserve to be labeled as 'Talentless people'.

Well done everybody who completed it.

left at 8.50 and got there 4.40 in the morning just to see the sun rise; was quite a pace.

apparently six and a half hours actual riding time without stops.
After that stop in the cafe halfway the pace was up to something like 22-23mph, even uphills. Don't think we were ever overtaken at this point.
Brought the average speed over the entire ride (including slowly moving out of london) to 18.9pmh average :) Must've gone through about 2l of energy drinks and 3l of water

riding 30 more miles to ipswich in the rain in the morning wasn't exactly a treat.

73.3GI, brakeless fun fun fun. Makes it that much more exciting

Well done everybody who completed it.

Major +1... anyone who even attempts this ride instead of sitting in front of the telly for another night deserves a pat on the back.

Lessons Learned from my first Dunwich ride

1. Bringing long sleeve base layer and waterproof jacket was a good idea despite the baking sunshine when I set off. I used them all and could have done with knee warmers/tights.
   
2. Camelback and full waterbottle was a perfectly adequate amount of water.
   
3. The big queue at the feed station is for food. There is a smaller queue inside for tea.
   
4. Pick your group. I stuck with people I knew for the company. However, I'm now regretting it because their average speed was pretty slow. (Geared sportive riders, pah!)
   
5. Bring lots of food. Bananas, flapjacks, fruit gums in a jersey pocket so you can snack while riding etc. SIS gels are awesome. Had a caffine one 45minutes outside Dunwich and felt great.
   
6. Getting picked up by my lovely girlfriend at 8am with food, beer and dry clothes was amazing!
   
7. The distance isn't a problem. Sleep depravation hurt me far more on Sunday.
   
8. Doing it on a cracked and sagging saddle is a very, very bad idea. Fortunately I went numb after 80 miles.
   
   

All in all it was actually far easier than I thought it would be. If you can do London Brighton, you can easily do Dunwich. I reckon the most important thing is bringing enough food, drink and spares.

I'll never forget the trail of blinking lights as you go down the lanes. Definitely doing it next year.

+1 for most of this for me too, as a first timer.

Thanks too to Braker, Chris and Tim (don't know your forum names) for getting me there from Hammersmith, also met Fiddy, Aroogah and BigFatAl, plus a few others I've already forgotten the names of. Managed only one wrong turn, thanks to Exposure head torch and lots of kind riders shouting or pointing, cheers!

I really think we could manage to organise both transport and food options to avoid the obvious issues with both - I'd be happy to leave a bit earlier and cook up some breakfasts out of the back of a van when we get there!

Oh yeah, and my tri bars got nicknamed 'the bridge' as they were perfect at allowing me to catch up with groups of riders who were a long way down the road...i could drop onto them and fly down the road with minimum effort and join the next group...

I've already researched buying a pair for next year! So awesome. Gears next year tho, to hell with 200km fixed

And yes, superb riding with you and Tricity, and PinkGotti and crew, and then with Spaghettihoops. I flitted between you like a cheap whore but you were all excellent to ride with.