2014-07-12 Dunwich Dynamo XXII

garmin was in the bag obviously ..

No Garmin merch:
http://norules.bigcartel.com

And cars r coffins here:
http://carsrcoffins.com

Cheers. I have a friend who'll appreciate that. He nearly threw his into a ditch on our last ride after it navigated us wrong a fourth time.

Haha thanks everyone.
I obviously had one mounted ironically above the stem ;)

Great shots man! I especially like the lightsaber kid having a great time and the tandem fam.

first DD and furthest distance for me.
enjoyed it much more than anticipated and much less suffering too.
great riding group - OLC, Branwen, howradmichello, ian (conker) and Ralph not-on-here, with the occasional addition notably Mike From Newcastle who we lost maybe a third of the way through and then saw a few miles from the end heading in the other direction presumably for the train.
set off late, was generally quiet, we only saw crowds at the major stops. there weren't always blinkies to follow but Branwen made sure we stayed on track.
unexpectedly perfect weather - warm, sometimes light drizzle, atmospheric mist rolling over fields and best of all that sweet sweet tailwind.
no pothole incidents or other calamities.
4 punctures in all, 1 of mine, 3 of OLCs, bit of waiting around (but hey it was warm).
vastly underestimated arrival time - last 30 miles cue me asking "are we nearly there yet?" at every opportunity, swearing at every uphill, but still happy and the sun was coming through the clouds by the time we got in the sea which was very nice. carried my camera the whole way took zero photos.
eager to do it again, only concern is that it might not be as good next time!

Another great night and day in the saddle, 4 down and counting.

Me and my brother gaffed around then had to detour to pick up coach tickets and batteries, so didn't hit Lea Bridge Road till well after 9pm. The going was so good we absolutely canned the first 60 miles, huge mistake. A combination of leaving late and not taking it easy meant the last 30/40 were pretty tough going, verging on miserable in places.

I did, however, learn that SIS cola gel with caffeine is like rocket fuel, will definitely be taking my max allocation next year and just riding that wave.

The other thing about leaving late is that you spend less time razzing through the night, absolutely laffin' yer head aff, and more time chugging along in the morning light. In my head, when it's light, you're nearly there, and when you're not, it has a big affect on your motivation.

Recommended to all who haven't; GET IN THAT SEA! It was SO sweet to wash the night off my body and out of my head, then just dry off on the pebbles.

9/10, same time next year.

No Garmin merch:
http://norules.bigcartel.com

And cars r coffins here:
http://carsrcoffins.com

#latfh

Fantastic shots Ollie :)

I saw someone with a "no garmin no rules" patch on his bag during the ride too.

The bag at the top of this page?

Also, pm me your paypal so I can send that £10 over

So this was my first Dynamo and I ended up doing it on a wildly impractical track bike with rizla clearance on the front, we set off just before 8 in an attempt to beat the crowds but ended up getting to dunwich at 4:20 am to see that that the sky was too cloudy and the air too foggy to see much of a sunrise.

My group was really great and I loved every minute of the ride despite having my saddle slip like mad during the last 1/2. As far as I can remember we only stopped 3 times: First was at a pub about 40 miles in because we were all tired from the fast pace that chung led us out with ;) I tried to get them to sell me a whole carton of OJ but they wouldn’t so just filled up the Bidons with IPA and got on with it.
Our second stop was a ½ way tea stop and I was very glad to have brought the aeropress with me, good coffee was such a blessing at this point, managed to finish off the beer so filled up the bottle with water and nuun, not surprisingly it tasted like watered down shandy…
3rd stop was for our only puncture of the ride and for 7 hours and 8 people I guess this was pretty good going, we were moving again soon after and it was fun to have music at this point :P

Highlights include: Coffee, not being caught in the rain while riding, having fantastic riding mates with garmins to follow, not crashing, paddle on the beach, reciting grime lyrics at 2am with Levi, having music, not puncturing, being the fastest fixed group and just the pure fun of cycling through country lanes at night ☺ and of course seeing how hilariously drunk a certain person was by 10 am.

Worst bits were: losing Darren, arriving soooo early to the beach, waiting for 8 hours for my coach and having the Pendle scratched in the minivan, nearly crashing due to my stupid clearance twice.

Next time I hope to do it on a more sensible bike while carrying just as much unnecessary but fun stuff in a more comfortable way and make sure that I leave a lot later or cycle back.

Such a brilliant ride and massive shout outs to Caz and Chris for not getting us lost, to Nabil for being the only one to crash and to Clarence for organising a coach that didn’t require me to sit in the line for 2 hours to get on.

http://www.strava.com/activities/165398983

Had a 17 hour sleep today and still too tired to type properly!

sunset a 4:20am?

dear dog...

Haha corrected!

sunriset? Where does it riset?

I should go back to bed.

oh the lolz

Oh and glad my ticket was of good use dude.

In my head, when it's light, you're nearly there, and when you're not, it has a big affect on your motivation.

even though I hadn't done it before, I see this. it was great to be behind the crowd and behind the rain, but I didn't like so much riding in the morning especially after the traffic started to pick up again. I loved riding in the dark being able to see any motor vehicles coming from bloody miles away. thinking of oncoming death machines I recall a frankly suicidal overtake on my part (in daylight) - apologies to anyone in the vicinity o_O

loved the moment when you realise you can not only see the countryside again, but see in colour.

Recommended to all who haven't; GET IN THAT SEA! It was SO sweet to wash the night off my body and out of my head, then just dry off on the pebbles.

it was perfect. wish I'd spent longer in the sea.

Saw a tall-ish dude with a big beard struggling with patching up a tube and tensioning a chain on a track bike at the feed-stop, must be someone on here, black bike

I guess it's all been said above. Loved it. On a single speed which IMO is a great choice for this ride for me. Everyone to his own huh? Best bit for me was the mist and the lights - what an eerie combination. Thanks to everyone who said Hi.

I guess it's all been said above. Loved it. On a single speed which IMO is a great choice for this ride for me. Everyone to his own huh? Best bit for me was the mist and the lights - what an eerie combination. Thanks to everyone who said Hi.

Hi Mel, great to catch in Moreton, hope the hip and other bits feel ok!

Glad I decided to do this after initalliy deciding to give it a miss due to the weather. Left at 8.30pm and managed to not get rained on at all. Soaked from road spray though.

Missed a kind offer from PQR for someone to ride with but found a mate at LMNH. Saw Indra at the start with that lush Pendle.

No pots holes, no Paragon fools. Nice fire work display at the first pub garden. Anyone on here ride a black Dolan with a white spok?

Convinced myself we were lost in the gloom about 3ish until we finally saw some lights and the dawn chorus announced the return of the day.

Managed to get a lift home with a guy who I happened to sit next to on the train down. He got in an hour or so before me, waited, drove me straight to my door saving me 2 hours on a train and refused to take any money. There are some very nice people out there.

Waiting for 2015 already.

especially after the traffic started to pick up again.

LOL. You should have been on the ride back today if you thought that 'traffic' was bad!

Really nice group of people to roll with, very atmospheric weather and glad that we managed to stay dry enough - except for that one stealth puddle!

First time swimming too which was actually lush, certainly the first time its been warm enough for that when I've hit the beach. Didn't find the daylight too demoralising, but I think I was probably more aware of how far the beach was than the rest of the group.

Rode back today, legs felt okay, but relentless headwind all of the way back killed me.

was officially the last off this year i suspect with princeperch from here - 11.20pm. took me a good 13 ish miles i'd say before i saw two people going incredibly slowly on recumbants.

had a bit of a hectic week (getting married) and only got back from honeymoon late friday night so had commitments with the inlaws for most of saturday. then realised late sat night that i left my road shoes round my folks home so had to take a 1.5hr round trip to collect them! anywaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay......

not sure what all this talk about energy gels and all that stuff is. did i miss the memo? it wasn't a race was it?

my overriding feeling was of sadness i must admit. seeing energy gels and various other chocolate bar wrappers littered all over the road from literally 20miles out right to the end. couldn't help me question why people were doing this. i just don't get it.

then the people wearing rucksacks. i couldn't help but feel sorry for them as well. i was just like whywhywhywhy WHY?!. putting yourself through that much discomfort to carry a rucksack is mental in my opinion. what was so important that couldn't fit in a jersey pocket? i just don't get that either.

next year i'll do the same as i did this year and just eat at some of the food stops.

oh and don't get me started on some of the riding i saw as well. some really interesting manoevers i must admit.

what was all that queing on the beach as well? this also had me going whywhywhywhywhy. what a fked up system. surely there's an easier way of organising that.

respect to the team who put the tea lights out. and the guys who put cones round the pot hole and for looking after the injured.

nice seeing conker, howrad, branwen, onelesscardigan at the hot dog stand by the lake and my then seeing teamraphacondorsharp (my heros) rodmunch and buffalobill smashing it home on the return leg. chapeaux.

why do people queue for ages at darsham as well? another whywhywhy.....

Dat trike!!!! ^^

Rode back today, legs felt okay, but relentless headwind all of the way back killed me.

You seemed to be holding up pretty well on Lea Bridge Road, and again at Hackney Rd!