2011-07-16/17 Sat/Sun - Dunwich Dynamo DD19

great write-up, centreofsomewhere

^^repped, that's impressive

I wish I was joking, but riding away from the front of your group, pacing it to the one in front so me + fotochap didn't get lost, then realising the group we were just chasing was you guys again really confused me.

i know mate, you told us at the time. i was playing along

my legs are surprisingly un-tired. I don't really understand people saying they can't remember most of it, it's all pretty vivid in my head.

I wanna check if this works

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150713267580277.705074.704550276
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150713284305277.705079.704550276
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150713776615277.705250.704550276

Hey jogger, nice to see you, albeit fleetingly.

Yeah, we were following Simon right? He was going 'like shit off a shovel', as they say in them parts! he lost me and i lost you :s

Good to meet some people on here, including chap with lovely Mercian who I spoke to at the accident outside Epping (get well soon, btw.)

This might have been me - did you freewheel past me with a cheerful "keep spinning!" before stopping for a chat?

For those of you that I spoke to about my school team- the girls placed 4th, 6th and 7th while we were sitting on the beach, came away with the team medal, so we're now National U10s TT champions!

Yeah, we were following Simon right? He was going 'like shit off a shovel', as they say in them parts! he lost me and i lost you :s

Yeah he was absolutely caning it, I decided to hang back and started enjoying it a lot more. In the end he only rolled home half an hour before us and we had a couple of rests and a puncture stop so I reckon he slowed down when no one was looking!

I wanna check if this works

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150713267580277.705074.704550276
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150713284305277.705079.704550276
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150713776615277.705250.704550276

Works for me, tagged a couple of myself and S/J

I said I would do this to accompany MissMouse, but sadly she was suffering from a respiratory infection so could not attend. My plans to leave latish were scuppered as my injured leg tends to swell a lot if I stand around for too long (the blood does not flow back up very well, and standing exacerbates this).

I was very glad to see a huge number of friendly fixie-twatters at the start, it was a great opportunity to catch up with so many people. At about 8.30 my impatience got the better of me, the leg was swelling up and I started to agitate to leave. Thankfully before this I decided to ask Jenny J for the route map to be pinged from her Garmin to mine. Later I realised how much MissMouse actually just wanted me to get lost on Saturday, the claimed "crib sheet" she gave me for the route was actually the directions from Dunwich to the Station at Ipswich, despite her having booked me onto the Southwark Cyclists coach.

So I set off with Skydancer, JennyJ and a few others, but again impatience got the better of me, the prospect of doing the whole journey at Bridges Ride pace, in the small ring on a compact crankset was making my brain bleed after about 2 minutes. Truth be told I have fuck all bike handling skills and always lost the slow bike race at school sports days, and nothing has improved. So I pulled off and started trundling along at a more manageable pace.

At the first of many of my natural breaks, I bumped into Middleofnowhere, and he and I decided to ride together. Overall we have a very similar riding pace, but this was probably due to me being geared and him fixed, so I tended to make up time on descents whilst he destroyed me on hills. Matt is one of those people who really proves it is not about the bike, he is just a quiet hard man, no bravado, just a great riding attitude and fortitude. We did indeed see the young "hippy in lampre kit" at the petrol station. Since when did anyone with a huge gut think bright pink and blue would be a slimming outfit? pot, kettle and nergitude (sic) come to mind

We were a terrible duo for chatting, making comments like "think we ought to take it a bit easier" and then 30 seconds later we would be back to our previous speed. I think I have been spending too much time doing club runs and now just settle into comfortable club ride pace. Ploughing along we would tend to see a few familiar faces, then my old man bladder would start to grumble, so we would stop and then get to see all the people we had just passed.

We passed the downed Dulwich rider, I found his cycling computer and handed it to one of his clubmates. Middleofnowhere and I were a little concerned that the "bystander effect" had been induced in us, and that we had just assumed that someone would actually be doing something useful to help, so it was a relief to read the rider is alive albeit a little broken.

Stopping at the pub for coffee, salty snacks and a pint for Matt was great. Though the after effect of ingesting too much food in one go led to a near bonk while the blood all went to my stomach and my sugar levels plummeted. It is so important to eat and drink before I think I need to do so, invariably if thirsty or hungry I am too late, so I forced myself to eat more regularly after that.

The first feed stop was a welcome break, though as a few others also said, we all appeared to be running a little ahead of schedule. It was nice to take an extended break, the Schick Soupburger was fantastically tasty, and I also polished off some fruit, coffee, flapjacks and raided Skydancers fruit and halva offerings. After sitting for too long i started to feel a little drowsy so went off for a 20 minute disconap/meditation, to try to unwind the synapses.

We then set off again with a bunch of forum riders, though their preferred rolling pace was higher than I wished so we dropped off the back and carried on, having added Ramaye to our merry trio. Ramaye and I were practicing synchronised pissing. There really is a telekinetic link between our bladders as we invariably called for natural breaks at the same times.

There was a point where we briefly got separated from Matt, and we followed the trail of lights, only to discover that the people at the head of that peleton of cyclists had taken a wrong turn. Moments like this made me very glad that I had delayed the start to get the data file from JennyJ, as the garmin could then show us where the route was again. The first of these errors separated the piss buddies from Middleofnowhere, and we made another off piste foray later in the night.

Ramaye and myself got separated as well at some point, so it was fun to have Sumo to natter to for a while. The night goes into a sleep deprived blur at some indistinct point. Luckily I was pulling up for another bladder relief and found Ramaye at the roadside!

Thankfully the Bacon stop allowed us to reunite with Middleofnowhere again, and we proceeded to pootle the rest of the way to Dunwich, the last few miles I was really starting to fade.

It was lovely to do the ride but afterwards my head crumpled. Having to wait many hours to catch a bus did little for my mood. I have always felt the best part of any sporting activity is taking off the dirty kit, having a shower and putting on fresh clothes. I had none of these luxuries prepared so proceeded to wallow in my own physical and mental mire, sorry to anyone who encountered my grumpy self at the end.

[ame]http://connect.garmin.com/activity/99910360[/ame]

@ spenceey. re: garmin trouble

you might be able to delete the first bunch of (incorrect) entries from your .tcx file using this app
then try uploading it again to GC. can be a bit fiddly, but should work. PM me if you want some help...

Great ride and good company. Drifted off to sleep with the sound of Watson the Wonderdog howling for his master's return.

Which roughly translated into "I'm waiting for my master to return so that I can piss on his bed again just as he's about to sleep in it"
:[

Nine hours on a train to Scotland and back today was really what my destroyed knees and pukey stomach needed. :[

I had 4 shits today each the size of a TdF peleton. Energy bars, bananas and about 2kg of pasta does baaaad things to you.

You farted enough on the way. I should know, I was downwind of that :/

Energy bars, bananas and about 2kg of pasta does baaaad things to you.

So does an overdose of painkillers...and a few drams of whiskey. :]

Which reminds me: how can I, having ridden to Dunwich in 8 hours and done the world's largest poo at the Flora (which was, incidentally, well supplied with paper!), be five pounds heavier than when I set off?

Oh and any idea why the hell my garmin did this? What the hell is that straight line all about? I got the train from Norwich to London (I know for a fact it was turned off. If I turned it on in Norwich then turned it off then turned it back on in London fields would that result in the big fucking straight line?

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/99757669

Here is your file trimmed

[ame]http://connect.garmin.com/activity/100131728[/ame]

This might have been me - did you freewheel past me with a cheerful "keep spinning!" before stopping for a chat?

yep, was you but I didn't say that I don't think....... asked you if it was a custom built frame.

Which reminds me: how can I, having ridden to Dunwich in 8 hours and done the world's largest poo at the Flora (which was, incidentally, well supplied with paper!), be five pounds heavier than when I set off?

That happened, I was half a stone heavier after doing 600km in 3 days, one week layers with lots of shitting and I'm a stone lighter than I was before the ride.

yep, was you but I didn't say that I don't think....... asked you if it was a custom built frame.

Probably - it all seems a bit hazy now I've had a decent kip. Nice chatting anyway!

^^
Not that I advise throwing yourself over the handlebars next year just to get the good drugs but the codeine and anti-inflams that Harlow A&E gave me means I haven't had a poo for two days.

In case anyone wanted to know.

Also - not in too much pain. That Bradley Wiggins is such a wuss....

you have left me all confused^ im not sure whether I should be quoting you for posterity, repping you or negging you...

that post has it all...