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Dunwich Dynamo Saturday 4th July 09
Is anybody else up for this?
My plan(?) is to catch the train to London Saturday early evening, do the overnight pedal to Dunwich (114miles ish!), catch a couple of hours sleep on the beach, pedal over to stowmarket (about 30 miles) in the morning, catch train to cambridge, pedal home from cambridge - simple!
I have got my lights charged and my rack pack fitted and have even printed out the map!!
www.southwarkcyclists.org.uk/dunwichfaqs.htm
Phil
My plan(?) is to catch the train to London Saturday early evening, do the overnight pedal to Dunwich (114miles ish!), catch a couple of hours sleep on the beach, pedal over to stowmarket (about 30 miles) in the morning, catch train to cambridge, pedal home from cambridge - simple!
I have got my lights charged and my rack pack fitted and have even printed out the map!!
www.southwarkcyclists.org.uk/dunwichfaqs.htm
Phil
Comments
Caught the train to Kings Cross and pedalled over to London Fields via Essex Road where like bees to a hive bikes of all shapes & sizes were heading in the warm evening sun. I was fortunate enough to bump into fellow CCA member David S who was there to take on the 120 mile Dun Run with a mate of his.
At about 8pm riders gradually started to depart - there is no official start time my logic was to time the ride so I would be on the beach for sunrise and by 8.15pm I could wait no longer and off we went into the traffic filled streets of east London, across a few footpaths and over a couple of parks and we were on Lea Bridge Road heading east though Woodford and into Epping Forest and Epping by now lights were on and the stream of blinking red LEDs ahead was impressive. After Epping the dark had truly set in and I had become separated from David (we were on different schedules I felt more comfortable at a quicker pace) and following the route card was becoming more of a challenge so I decided to do what everyone else was probably doing and follow those who looked like they knew which way to go! A couple of junctions had some tell-tale night lights in jam jars but the logic was keep the moon on my right and the wind behind me and I must be going the correct way.
The 4 miles on the dead straight B184 into Great Dunmow was memorable as a group of about 40 swarmed along at a very healthy pace and onto Castle Headingham through numerous villages being greeted with very merry cheers from the locals outside their locals!
Sudbury was an experience and after negotiating the one-way system and the late night revellers in the road (w*****s) we arrived at the 62 mile feedstop at Great Waldingfield at half past midnight bikes everwhere! Filled with hot soup, bread rolls, tea and bananas I set off into the night again and it wasnt long before a solid group of about 20 of us were rolling comfortably through Monks Eleigh, Bildeston and Nedging Tye and negotiating regular little hills, some sharper than others, that always arrived as a little surprise in the dark!. By Needham Market our group had been caught by some trendy single speed courier types on their Condors and Pearsons sporting more Rapha than Skelders could ever dream of and it was just before Framsden that, with speed being king, we missed our turning! which we didnt find out about until a couple of miles later a short detour brought us back into Cretingham where the pace went back up and took us in and out of Framlingham after which Team Rapha left us.
The light was now returning and there was a welcoming glow over towards our destination and another missed turning the map review concluded we carry on the same way until we hit the A12 which at 3.30am would be quiet and we could Team Time Trial up to the Dunwich turn which in my opinion was a great move flat, smooth, deserted tarmac, with the wind behind us probably the fastest 4 miles of the night.
And then we saw it Dunwich 5 miles the sign post read and there was me thinking it would be all downhill that was a long last 5 miles, but timed to perfection with the sun creeping up and a not too long queue for the café arrived at 4.15am so I dumped the bike had myself a bacon roll and lots of tea in the friendly warmth of the café and then went out for a sleep on the beach.
Spotted David at about 6am after I had got in a few zeds and we compared notes. They had the luxury of a car to take them home whilst I reviewed the map and hoped the train station at Stowmarket had moved a bit closer to Dunwich overnight rather than the 32 miles it actually was. Pedalling out of Dunwich there was still a constant stream of bikers nearing their goal some with a cheery wave and hello and some openmouthed and unblinking - it became apparent that our A12 diversion the night before had been a better move than originally thought, the lanes we had missed were similar to one of Maxs alternative routes - and then it started to rain .heavily for about 10 miles.
I arrived in Stowmarket station at about 9.25am, the previous train went at 9.20am but by now the sun was out so I dried my socks and shoes in the sun on the platform ignoring the strange looks from the other travellers and waited for the 10.07 train. A couple of hours and a couple of connections later I got off the train at Ashwell and rolled into the village to be greeted by Geoff and Martin outside the post office discussing important CCA matters - a brief chat with them and I was home in Biggleswade at 1pm on the dot. The stats are 162 miles overall average speed 15.4mph.