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• #1052
So what exactly was in all your bags.. apart from the kitchen sink?
it would be quicker to make a list of what wasn't in his bags.
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• #1053
Well done everybody who completed it.
+1 scott not scot - nice attitude
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• #1054
+1 for most of this for me too, as a first timer.
Thanks too to Braker, **Aroogah and Soul **for getting me there from Hammersmith,
Fixed. Good to meet you man and glad that you had a good time. Come to west beers soon.
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• #1055
Oliver, I'm so sorry for almost taking you out head on, 10km from dunwich as you were on your return journey. I was bonking out / falling asleep on the bike, and your hearty shout woke me up / got me out of the way!
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• #1056
i certainly don't think they deserve to be labeled as 'Talentless people'.
Heh. It was a throwaway comment copied from someone upthread but it does sum up some of my thoughts of the ride. I thought we were allowed/supposed/encouraged to be rude here, it's not Cyclechat FFS.
I'm not fast so I probably didn't ride with the same people you rode with who probably have more of a clue how to ride in groups on the road. General riding standards were on the poor side of good. Some group riding standards (from people who obviously don't often ride in a group, but did on this ride) were sometimes shocking.
(Don't get me wrong, I didn't have any problems with 99% of the experienced club cyclists riding in packs, you could hear the shouts/signals being passed down, and when I passed one group that stopped they were all over to the side of the road out of the way. My only complaint about them is that they sometimes pass other cyclists too close. They may be happy with bumping shoulders and handlebars but it can be very disconcerting for someone who isn't to be overtaken at 10mph more with inches to spare. I get this all the time in Richmond Park, a little wobble when they're a few yards behind my back wheel usually makes them give me more room.)
I'm no fan of group riding anyway, I tend to prefer riding alone, or at least off the back of a bunch, but at least I do simple things like look behind me before changing road position, signalling my intentions (not just my actions), or not screeching to a stop with no signal and standing 4-a-breast over the width of the road whilst checking a routesheet and a map.
And some people may be able to get by with wholly inadequate lighting but it makes it a nightmare for others. I had one guy who had a flickering candle for a front light sit right up my chuff for 15 minutes, I don't mind people wheelsucking me (they must be fucked if they're going slower than me, and they're more than welcome) but for a while he was overlapping my back wheel with not much spare space. One wobble from me to miss a pothole or wildlife and he'd be toast (possibly taking out me too). When I did pull out and drop back along side him to talk to him he stopped to replace the batteries in his light. He would have done it earlier but "couldn't be arsed".
Yes, well done to everyone who completed it, I wasn't trying to take away any of their glory, but let's not ignore the numptiness. Any bigger and I fear it'll start becoming like the nightmare that is London2Brighton. Just imagine every hill after Finchingfield being like Ditchling, awash with zombies with no spatial awareness.
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• #1057
Oliver, I'm so sorry for almost taking you out head on, 10km from dunwich as you were on your return journey. I was bonking out / falling asleep on the bike, and your hearty shout woke me up / got me out of the way!
Haha, I thought that was funny. It took me a moment to register who you were, but you looked great all colour-co-ordinated in black and white. My first thought was: 'There's a London-based fixed rider out in the sticks if I've ever seen one.' :)
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• #1058
ps - a couple of big thanks:
Plum - for coming round my condo on saturday afternoon and cooking up some lovely chilli pasta, the remains of which i was doubly grateful for last night.
Sam - for being the man with the plan.
No worries, dude. It was almost* perfect.
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• #1059
I had an absolute blast. I love this ride.
+1, Oliver, i swear it gets better every year, even though we were so slow we kept missing the food cos there was so many folks along! Sounds like you would have gone by in a blur - you were undoubtedly there and (almost) back before we reached the beach! I was pretty much static going uphill - only caught up with other recumbents loading into the buses at the end!
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• #1060
I won't quote you due to the length of post.
Everything you just said only goes to prove my point....you see them as 'Talentless people'....i see them as 'Novice cyclists'...there's a big difference.The way people become better cyclists is by gaining experience in rides like this.
If the same people do the ride next year i'm pretty sure their preparation and ability will be far greater due to experience gained this time.The Dunwich dynamo just like London to Brighton isn't an audax or any kind of race...it's the kind of ride that creates cycling enthusiasts due to the sheer sense of achievement they feel upon completion...let's not take that feeling away by making them feel like 'talentless people' simply because of their lack of experience.
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• #1061
Amazing ride, and apart from fatigue and nasty bum chaffing I'm suprisingly unscathed.
Thanks to Vee, Jay, Radius, Spag 'Mr Ipswich' Hoops,Wibble, Fiddy for some excellent riding.
Memorable bits for me.
- Getting to the feed station and being really grumpy with Jay because I hadnt eaten.
- It starting to get light - really lifted my mood
- the music - kept me going in the dark times, I'll never forget 'Together in Electric Dreams' coming on the ipod as I rode down to the beach.
- Feeding wine gums and flapjacks to Radius as he bonked out after 80 miles, then revitalised after half a bagel.
- The fucking Garmins getting us lost, and the cheer that went up when we found the main group again
- The bloody rain about 20 miles from the end, thank god it cleared up at the beach.
- The two glugs of beer I got from Aroogah and Steff who welcomed me when I arrived- truly the best beer I'd ever drunk
- Spaghoops trip to Ipswich, and him passing me twice - when I never passed him - I'm still laughing.
- Seeing Jonny coming back just as I was about to enter Dunwich - really cheered me up dude
- The wrath of a tired French Lady on a fuckwit of a car driver in Clapham
And special thanks to MOC for feeding me with Chinese takeway, running me a bath and putting me to bed when I got in - I love that man.
off to buy mudguards for the Rourke now..
LFGSS Team bus next year FTW!
- Getting to the feed station and being really grumpy with Jay because I hadnt eaten.
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• #1062
+1, Oliver, i swear it gets better every year, even though we were so slow we kept missing the food cos there was so many folks along! Sounds like you would have gone by in a blur - you were undoubtedly there and (almost) back before we reached the beach! I was pretty much static going uphill - only caught up with other recumbents loading into the buses at the end!
How come you were so slow when you were so fast on the EE?
Anyway, you were probably just doing the DD right--enjoy it and savour it, as it's over much too quickly otherwise. I've always done it fast and hope one day to acquire the necessary maturity to bumble along at the slowest pace, socialising all the time.
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• #1063
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/Big thanks also to MJS for this photo, the ones you took with my phone didn't come out :P .
Had a great time coming in with that group at the end even if we did get a little lost :) It was a good blast in and helped keep the spirits up!
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• #1064
I'm going to call that my last DD for now, in favour of it's smaller imitations. There's the Exmouth Exodus and I've heard of one ending up around Bournemouth.
The Exmouth Exodus is a wonderful ride. I've done it twice now, both in appalling weather, in 2007 and 2009, and loved both editions. I can't wait to do it in nice weather, which, if history is anything to go by, should happen next year as in every even year. :)
Do keep us posted on the Bournemouth one--I haven't heard about that one yet.
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• #1065
I won't quote you due to the length of post.
Everything you just said only goes to prove my point....you see them as 'Talentless people'....i see them as 'Novice cyclists'...there's a big difference.The way people become better cyclists is by gaining experience in rides like this.
If the same people do the ride next year i'm pretty sure their preparation and ability will be far greater due to experience gained this time.The Dunwich dynamo just like London to Brighton isn't an audax or any kind of race...it's the kind of ride that creates cycling enthusiasts due to the sheer sense of achievement they feel upon completion...let's not take that feeling away by making them feel like 'talentless people' simply because of their lack of experience.
You're absolutely right Scott - last year we were a couple of "Talentless people" having never ridden fixed for more than 40 miles or so. Took us a good 9.5 hours and we lost our way on a couple of occasions - even with a GPS and the turn sheet.
This year we ramped up the training with some long distance rides, realised that we didn't need to carry half the workshop and 16l of water with us and managed to shave off a good hour and a half.
Next year hoping to get better still after putting a few more rides under our belts...
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• #1066
Anyway, you were probably just doing the DD right--enjoy it and savour it, as it's over much too quickly otherwise. I've always done it fast and hope one day to acquire the necessary maturity to bumble along at the slowest pace, socialising all the time.
hahahaha - it's not maturity - it's need! My friend used my road bike, cos hers was stolen the same time as my track bike - so i fixed up the recumbent, but haven't ridden it for aaaaages and forgot you need a whole different set of muscles, and some kind of reinforced knees that i don't possess, and the whole undulating hill riding thing, actually slower than walking pace at some points, was pretty comedy - but was sooooo great though, and my friend is a new convert to night riding!
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• #1067
My first dynamo, and very happy to have been a clueless rider on a big adventure. I was mostly riding on my own, drifting forwards through the groups of riders around me, then getting nervous when i ran out of tail-lights to follow. I enjoyed learning to read a route card, but I need a better solution than carrying it in my waterbottle cages.
Riding into the dawn was magical, and for a while i turned off my front lights to enjoy it more. I love how everyone got more friendly and chatty as the sun came up. I caught up with dropout and bunch of other forumengers with about 10 miles to go, but soon ran out of energy and lost them again.
Started about 8:45, feed station by 1:15, departed there 2:45, Dunwich by 6:10. Quick dip in the sea, then joined breakfast queue, and was just going in the door as the rain started. After the rain stopped i slept on the beach and got a bit sun-burned.
The cafe was an amazing operation, all the staff so cheerful and efficient early in the morning, and still the same when i went back for lunch. Disapointed that the postcards only show the view north...
Not sure when i left Dunwich, maybe as late as 2. The chaos of the coaches had soured the atmosphere at Dunwich a little: with all removal vans full there where about 200 bikes still to be loaded, and there was a long wait for an extra removal van to arrive and a lot of dark muttering about what should be done about people who'd loaded their bike without a ticket, hoping to blag a place on the coaches, or whether it was just inadequate packing density. I felt really bad for the organisers - trying to do something nice and having mess it up. Hope those with tickets eventually got back to London and re-united with their bikes.
Similarly; to those complaining about the food at the feed stop: you just don't get it.
I followed the route to Ipswich on the front of the route card. As i cycled south i was overtaken by coaches full of zombies. By that time i felt like a zombie too. Iced coffee and carrot cake in Woodbridge, Ipswich station by 5:15. Train at 5:42, on which i met some riders i'd been chatting to just before leaveing Dunwich - they'd taken a train north from Darsham to Lowestoft to beat the chaos southbound at Darsham.
I'm impressed by everyone who did it absurdly quickly and then rode back or to ipswich without a rest, but i'm more impressed by the ordinaryenger.
Awesome ride.
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• #1068
You're absolutely right Scott - last year we were a couple of "Talentless people" having never ridden fixed for more than 40 miles or so. Took us a good 9.5 hours and we lost our way on a couple of occasions - even with a GPS and the turn sheet.
This year we ramped up the training with some long distance rides, realised that we didn't need to carry half the workshop and 16l of water with us and managed to shave off a good hour and a half.
Next year hoping to get better still after putting a few more rides under our belts...
Agree here with you both. No point putting peeps down just because they weren't prepared properly. As Scot says only way people get better is through experience.
I didn't have a light for my routecard, got lost and had to stop at junctions to work out where to go, but surely that's all part of the fun not a fail! Still managed to do it in 6.20. Maybe next year if I get a light I'll be better...
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• #1069
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).
+1
i had the misfortune of making a break from the group i was with, to do the last 40 miles solo.... got a bit lost about 10 miles from Dunwich , asked a farmer for directions, followed his directions for about 8 miles, found the A12, and also found a sign that said 'Ipswich - 2 miles'.at this point i had a little hissy-fit, cursed all farmers everywhere, and contemplated just going to Ipswich and getting a train, but i couldn't bring myself to it, and ended up riding the 20 miles to Dunwich along the A12 on my own in the pissing rain.
those 20 miles really sucked.
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• #1070
My first dynamo, and very happy to have been a clueless rider on a big adventure. I was mostly riding on my own, flitting from group to group like a moth, then getting nervous when i ran out of tail-lights to follow.
Fixed. ;)
Not sure when i left Dunwich, maybe as late as 2. The chaos of the coaches had soured the atmosphere at Dunwich a little: with all removal vans full there where about 200 bikes still to be loaded, and there was a long wait for an extra removal van to arrive and a lot of dark muttering about what should be done about people who'd loaded their bike without a ticket, hoping to blag a place on the coaches, or whether it was just inadequate packing density. I felt really bad for the organisers - trying to do something nice and having mess it up. Hope those with tickets eventually got back to London and re-united with their bikes.
You may already have seen Barry's long post on Southwark Cyclists that was linked to upthread--apparently, it wasn't that people had been freeloading, but that the van company had misunderestimated the size of one of the vans by 200 bikes.
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• #1071
Jesus! Bad luck, spaghoops.
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• #1072
Agree here with you both. No point putting peeps down just because they weren't prepared properly. As Scot says only way people get better is through experience.
Scott is absolutely right in what he says, but I do think that there is a level of being so unprepared that it really isn't in one's interest to do the ride. The point about learning from experience is true, too, but compare it to an educational context--it is possible to either really encourage people to learn and get hungry for more, or to set them up to fail so badly that they never go near a book again. The people who are set up to fail by the demands of the ride compared to their own preparation and ability may well have been discouraged from long rides, or night rides, but as it's all bike nuts on here, we probably won't hear too much from them.
Also, as experienced riders we should help novices and point them in the right direction.
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• #1073
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.
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• #1074
Haha, never seen that before!
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• #1075
Is there an Arrospok version, BMMF?
ps - a couple of big thanks:
Plum - for coming round my condo on saturday afternoon and cooking up some lovely chilli pasta, the remains of which i was doubly grateful for last night.
Sam - for being the man with the plan.