2010-07-24 - Dunwich Dynamo DD18

Thanks for being a great crowd, despite sleep deprivation and some hard physical exhertion, you were really easy to work for and certainly made my job very easy. This has to be one of the best communities to be a part of and I consider myself lucky to be able to contribute.

Based on the relative success I'd suggest that we certainly could do this again, albeit with a better suited van for the job. Partly my fault for an optimistic guess at the capacity required for 50 bikes and partly the rental company's fault for telling me that they would have the van I asked for and one similar but smaller. Mind you, I wouldn't want to be driving a Luton around the narrow lanes if anyone needed picking up.

Sorry if for scaring you there CG. Mostly I was in a bit of a rush in the hope of getting a bit of a nap before having to do the drive back to London and I have to admit that I was a bit tired and my pre-emption/reaction times not quite what they usually are. Still, I stand by my record of never having crashed.

The main difficulty was getting out of Dunwich to the A12, too many cyclists and cars on a quiet, windy road. After that I saw quite a few people trundling their way towards Ipswich and have to admit to laughing at ill-prepared hipsters getting caught in a heavy rain shower and feeling very sorry for the one rider who had just turned onto the dual carriageway section and looked utterly distraught at the prospect of having to take it all the way to Ipswich.

I won't be doing this again next year (distance, time, might even be riding) but I'm happy to offer advice and experience to whichever good soul is prepared to help out.

to all who did it fixed, you are legends, and definitely heroic work. There is NO way at any pace I could have done it fixed.
not a single chance.

Fixed was the way to do it - I reckon I would have struggled on a geared bike. Got into a lovely rythmn, and reckoned it kept me awake. Every hill was an excuse to get out of the saddle and allow my 'nads to un-numb. Without fixed, I think I would have been crawling along in bottom 'ring, bottom cog at 2mph at times. The only place I'd have liked to have a freewheel was the long downhill into Sudbury, spinning at 150+rpm or something. And freewheels are so noisy at night!

Unless you have a silent clutch. You wouldn't hear me coming on my geared.

Booooooring ... do it with a routesheet next time! Much more fun! :)

Is using a routesheet the equivalent in navigation of being vegan?

If so, I am Garmin all the way. I presume that, even if lost, Oliver could not ask directions from a meat eating Garmin user.

do the ride a few times and memorise the route > garmin

I'm a filthy flesh muncher and I prefer to use free routesheets to expensive gps systems. I usually have the backup of some road atlas pages. The pro's here that I'm not dependant on batteries, good reception and neither routesheet or map revert to factory setings. Once gps's can do something that I need them to then I'll consider changing, until then, they don't seem worth the money.

The Whoooshing along was great, until you hit a bit of lane where the verge isn't clearly defined, and outside the range of you're lights you can't see if its left, right or straight on. Although it gives an added adrenaline boost!

Definitely up for a BBQ next year, although we might need truncheons etc. to fight off non-forumites.

Jeez, the GPS debate has kicked off now, and I helped to start it. Can we discuss helmet use as well please?

I had that invisible-upcoming-road-rollercoaster experience last year. certainly livens things up a bit. this year I'd borrowed lights from a former-forumer, and could see everything. glorious.

@pascalo, my helmet was a more than adequate place to mount the aforementioned light.

my light was awesome (thanks lolo!) Fluff spent many miles doing shadow hand puppets in the beam and generally being giant shadow lady.

I spent many miles blinding people every time i tried to talk to them :(

I prefer to use free routesheets

They were a pound!

My Hope V1 did the job, assuringly bright. Had to swap batteries around the 70 mile mark though.
Lost knog emergency light I had taken.

Guess I'll have to buy a new one and get my spoke fixed :/

Not if you use last years, which I understand to be scarcely different. On top of that using bikely and google streetview you can even write your own.

... and get my spoke fixed :/

You should have stopped at the van and asked, I would have tweaked your wheel back to usable with the brake.

oh, the brake worked somewhat, just had to undo the lever that narrows it down to the rim.
I saw this done in the TDF, felt like a right pro after that :p

6pt
i spent many miles blinding people every time i tried to talk to them :(

you!!

I am confused. But for all the blinding, I had the decency to have a soft rear light, nothing to dazzle those behind me unlike lots of others out there.

oh, the brake worked somewhat, just had to undo the lever that narrows it down to the rim.
I saw this done in the TDF, felt like a right pro after that :p

Searching for Nicholas Roche quote fail,
Along the lines of: wheel breaking, loosening back brake, then going over the top of the mountain and almost dieing on the first two turns when he forgot he had no back break.

Pro :)

I am confused. But for all the blinding, I had the decency to have a soft rear light, nothing to dazzle those behind me unlike lots of others out there.

oh my.. those horrid back lights some people had. another incentive to htfu

Branwen, I was a tad more careful than that, and as I said, it did work, but felt considerably softer than before. The hairy moment will be when it is repaired and brakes much sharper than I had memorized. Just like my trying-to-freewheel fail on my filmore this morning.

Did you guys pass the Dunlwich Paragon rider with the blue string of lights?

Also there was a guy cycling behind me for a while that had a ridiculous amount of led lights, some 700 lumens or so. Really annoying, he was a tad slower than I was, but when I passed him I'd cast a shadow that would cover the road in darkness, hence I couldn't see where I was going.
Fecking annoying.

@pascalo - We passed everyone ;) Quite liked the fairy-light helmet, and it's good to see the tandem with the light up wheels was out for another year. Went past a MTB with a front light set to some really high frequency strobe which gave me a proper headache though.

Did you guys pass the Dunlwich Paragon rider with the blue string of lights?

Yep, and another with a string of white ones. And two guys with illuminated spokes :)
Was expecting more Christmas trees tbh, but those were fun

6pt, stop boasting! We know you did it in lightspeed, and us mere mortals will never get that fast.
Still, Nick wins the HTFU contest here.

Still, Nick wins the HTFU contest here.

By about 112 miles. Epic.

(just to re-inforce the awe)