Okay chaps. Those of you who are cycling into London, may I suggest meeting at mine to leave at 4pm. Whisper me for my address if you need it.
I'm not entirely sure who's actually doing this bit of the ride, but I'll be chomping away on a big bowl of chicken couscous around 3ish. I can make loads if people want to join me and watch the end of the tour?
So who's going to be doing what? My aim is to do the whole thing, but am aware of bailing points...
Please make sure your lights will last for a few hours of darkness and that you have plenty of food for the ride and cash to pick up anything spare. There are a couple of food stops on the route, but you will need cash for them.
There's quite a bit of grotty riding involved in the first leg, we're not taking a picturesque route into London and till we get to Epping forest, it will be pretty grim London cycling. You have been warned!
Aside from that, I was just chatting to a mate who did it last year and it sounds amazing! Constant stream of red flashing lights, couple of thousand cyclists expected this year. Watching the sunrise over the beach... Sounds good, no?
After catching the end of the racing in France yesterday afternoon, Shaun and I set out to trundle down into London to have a crack at the Dynamo. 35 miles or so into Hackney, asking a random chap on a bike (what, you mean you talked to somebody at the traffic lights in London? Isn't that against the rules?) where London Fields was, he took us there, turns out he was riding too.
Even at 7pm the place was full of cyclists of all sorts... People who must have taken a serious amount of time to do the ride (and possibly in a serious amount of discomfort) and the usual lycra clad riders too. Catching up with a mate who was doing it for the 3rd time, we grabbed some nachos at a little bar round the corner and then went and sat at the starting pub watching riders chug beers for a while before setting off. I think we left around 9.15, taking it easy through London before upping the pace to warm up a bit through Epping forest. The trail of constantly blinking red lights was amazing, bizarrely beautiful and seemingly never ending, we passed possibly a thousand riders as we started to pace ourselves up to a steady speed. Occasionally getting in small groups but mainly just the two of us passing others and being passed by some people who were in a hurry to get there!
I'm not sure quite how he managed it, but Shaun seemed to have got the sun on his handlebars, as we passed riders to shouts of "car back!" before realising it was just Shaun's nuclear powered front lights attracting moths, bats, pigeons and other assorted wildlife. Brilliant for the descents though, whenever I was on the front I didn't even need my light on. We passed through 2 busy pub stops, the roads full of cyclists grabbing their last beers before carrying on. Totally missed the main food stop and carried on going, where a strong bunch of riders caught us up and we joined their train for a bit. A guy from Iceni Velo told me that they'd cycled from Norwich to London in the morning, then over to Dunwich, then they were heading back up to Norwich, a round trip of 300 miles or so. All of this he was managing with just 1 lung. Good work!
We left them to go off at their own pace as they picked it up a notch (funnily enough, they arrived after us at Dunwich, must have got lost!) and peeled off at the next bacon butty stop at around 80 miles from London. A couple of rolls and cups of tea later and everything felt a lot more human. We got into a good rhythm and had a very pleasant 40 miles to Dunwich, watching the sky start to lighten as we neared the beach. One of the reasons that this ride could have dragged on so much was that people seemed to stop a lot, there were plenty of little stalls set up en route selling bits of food and cups of tea, it would have been easy to make take a lot of time over the ride.
We arrived at Dunwich at 4.30am, the sky overcast but brighter, wind very cold and beach not the most enticing of places to be. I can see how it could feel great to have reached the seaside, but the impending journey home was leaving me a little worried about whether I would be able to keep up and get there. Shaun had done the majority of the work on the front so far and set a great pace, steady and predictable, perfect to follow. Tea, fry up, coffee, coke. Back on the bike, point it at stowmarket and off we went, leaving the beach at 6am.
From then on, it was all a little bit of a haze. Plenty of people still rolling in going the other way, giving us bemused looks and looking pretty knackered, we were still passing people 50k out from the beach, looking lost and pretty dazed! My friend who was taking it easy arrived at 9.30am, and said that people were still rocking up by midday!
Stowmarket provided us with a newsagents at 8am, Clare provided us with an excellent cafe that seemed very used to cyclists, Saffron Walden gave us good milkshakes and a rather huge lump of apple pie. My body wasn't dealing with the food particularly well, in that as soon as I got back on the bike my eyes were closing and I had to have a caffeine and sugar hit to keep me awake, failing at multitasking past the 200 mile marker.
Altogether a brilliant ride, amazing to know that your body can carry you for such a distance and that something as simple as a bicycle can take you over those miles fairly easily! No dramas, no punctures, a few chain drops (nothing to do with my shoddy bike building skills, honest) but other than that, all just easy steady riding.
I will definitely be having a look at a few Audax rides after doing this, maybe not this year, but with Paris-Brest-Paris in a couple of years time, maybe then. Now, that would be a long old ride...
oh, and we bumped into Jon Chapman's neighbour in the pub in Dunwich, said he saw a couple of other blue shirts on the way up... who else did the ride?
My memories? What am I doing riding a bike into London? (It wasn't too bad); cyclists and bicycles of all shapes and sizes in London Fields for the start; passing hundreds of cyclists early on thinking they've got a long ride ahead of them at that speed; flashing red light syndrome; the guy on the penny-farthing; fantastic bacon sandwiches at 2am; the anti-climax of Dunwich; feeling cold (not happened recently); relaxing after breakfast but realising we've got to ride 100 miles home yet; gradually knocking off the last few miles v. tired but content with the effort put in.
Dan Pedder, Jonny Marriage and I (David Marriage) along with two (non-CCA) friends rode this on Saturday night. We caught the train from Royston to Kings Cross with our bikes and then rode to London Fields following the crowds of cyclists. After picking up the route instructions we set off at 8.00 pm. After the customary slow first hour, we began to pick up the pace and by-passed the pubs at Moreton, for once, and made the feedstop at midnight. It was surprisingly quiet when we entered and was packed when we left thirty minutes later. We then pressed on to Needham Market services to meet a pre-arranged van with food and coffee. After another 30 minute break we set out for the coast arriving at the seaside at just after 5.00 am. After a quick swim by two of us, we loaded the bikes on said van and were home for tea and medals before 8.30 am.
It was a great ride. Fast, empty, warm and unique. We had no punctures, one road "incident", one missed turn (soon recovered) and no problems. Thanks to Charlie for driving the van. Only gripe, no moon or sunrise due to the cloudy conditions.
What...not only do you ride all night ( when, as ive pointed out before you should be asleep) but you get there at some ungodly hour in the morning and then go for a swim?!! in the north sea?!!
Comments
Going to come.
Please tell me there are a few takers for the full english?
this is bonkers
Do you need to sign up to the dunwich dynamo part...or do you just show up?
£1 donation for a map
so the full english is currently looking like
will
me
jon
possible:
shaun
phil
dan pedder
ellis
not sure what the others ^ are doing?
If we can get all those possibles ^ on board it's going to be one awesome weekend
Shame, I've been looking for the motivation to go o a long one.
Good luck guys
that way it's fun like it's supposed to be, not spending all night thinking about pacing and "still got 150 miles" and all that rubbish
Shouldn't need to take much more than on a normal ride. Couple of tubes, small toolkit, emergency rations, gilet, arm warmers... oh and lights.
I'll have a look at the return route for the garmin when I have time later.
I'm not entirely sure who's actually doing this bit of the ride, but I'll be chomping away on a big bowl of chicken couscous around 3ish. I can make loads if people want to join me and watch the end of the tour?
So who's going to be doing what? My aim is to do the whole thing, but am aware of bailing points...
Please make sure your lights will last for a few hours of darkness and that you have plenty of food for the ride and cash to pick up anything spare. There are a couple of food stops on the route, but you will need cash for them.
There's quite a bit of grotty riding involved in the first leg, we're not taking a picturesque route into London and till we get to Epping forest, it will be pretty grim London cycling. You have been warned!
Aside from that, I was just chatting to a mate who did it last year and it sounds amazing! Constant stream of red flashing lights, couple of thousand cyclists expected this year. Watching the sunrise over the beach... Sounds good, no?
just a heads up, not riding down. hopefully will ride the dynamo though
HaveFUN!
"My aim is to do the whole thing, but am aware of bailing points..."
I laughed at that bit...
home safe and sound, amazing experience all round, really.
Paris-Brest-Paris 2015 next.
But, for now, bed.
Even at 7pm the place was full of cyclists of all sorts... People who must have taken a serious amount of time to do the ride (and possibly in a serious amount of discomfort) and the usual lycra clad riders too. Catching up with a mate who was doing it for the 3rd time, we grabbed some nachos at a little bar round the corner and then went and sat at the starting pub watching riders chug beers for a while before setting off. I think we left around 9.15, taking it easy through London before upping the pace to warm up a bit through Epping forest. The trail of constantly blinking red lights was amazing, bizarrely beautiful and seemingly never ending, we passed possibly a thousand riders as we started to pace ourselves up to a steady speed. Occasionally getting in small groups but mainly just the two of us passing others and being passed by some people who were in a hurry to get there!
I'm not sure quite how he managed it, but Shaun seemed to have got the sun on his handlebars, as we passed riders to shouts of "car back!" before realising it was just Shaun's nuclear powered front lights attracting moths, bats, pigeons and other assorted wildlife. Brilliant for the descents though, whenever I was on the front I didn't even need my light on. We passed through 2 busy pub stops, the roads full of cyclists grabbing their last beers before carrying on. Totally missed the main food stop and carried on going, where a strong bunch of riders caught us up and we joined their train for a bit. A guy from Iceni Velo told me that they'd cycled from Norwich to London in the morning, then over to Dunwich, then they were heading back up to Norwich, a round trip of 300 miles or so. All of this he was managing with just 1 lung. Good work!
We left them to go off at their own pace as they picked it up a notch (funnily enough, they arrived after us at Dunwich, must have got lost!) and peeled off at the next bacon butty stop at around 80 miles from London. A couple of rolls and cups of tea later and everything felt a lot more human. We got into a good rhythm and had a very pleasant 40 miles to Dunwich, watching the sky start to lighten as we neared the beach. One of the reasons that this ride could have dragged on so much was that people seemed to stop a lot, there were plenty of little stalls set up en route selling bits of food and cups of tea, it would have been easy to make take a lot of time over the ride.
We arrived at Dunwich at 4.30am, the sky overcast but brighter, wind very cold and beach not the most enticing of places to be. I can see how it could feel great to have reached the seaside, but the impending journey home was leaving me a little worried about whether I would be able to keep up and get there. Shaun had done the majority of the work on the front so far and set a great pace, steady and predictable, perfect to follow. Tea, fry up, coffee, coke. Back on the bike, point it at stowmarket and off we went, leaving the beach at 6am.
From then on, it was all a little bit of a haze. Plenty of people still rolling in going the other way, giving us bemused looks and looking pretty knackered, we were still passing people 50k out from the beach, looking lost and pretty dazed! My friend who was taking it easy arrived at 9.30am, and said that people were still rocking up by midday!
Stowmarket provided us with a newsagents at 8am, Clare provided us with an excellent cafe that seemed very used to cyclists, Saffron Walden gave us good milkshakes and a rather huge lump of apple pie. My body wasn't dealing with the food particularly well, in that as soon as I got back on the bike my eyes were closing and I had to have a caffeine and sugar hit to keep me awake, failing at multitasking past the 200 mile marker.
Altogether a brilliant ride, amazing to know that your body can carry you for such a distance and that something as simple as a bicycle can take you over those miles fairly easily! No dramas, no punctures, a few chain drops (nothing to do with my shoddy bike building skills, honest) but other than that, all just easy steady riding.
I will definitely be having a look at a few Audax rides after doing this, maybe not this year, but with Paris-Brest-Paris in a couple of years time, maybe then. Now, that would be a long old ride...
I wouldn't have stood a chance - there are no matchsticks sturdy enough to have kept my eyes open and my bike out of the ditches
Daniel
Daniel
My memories? What am I doing riding a bike into London? (It wasn't too bad); cyclists and bicycles of all shapes and sizes in London Fields for the start; passing hundreds of cyclists early on thinking they've got a long ride ahead of them at that speed; flashing red light syndrome; the guy on the penny-farthing; fantastic bacon sandwiches at 2am; the anti-climax of Dunwich; feeling cold (not happened recently); relaxing after breakfast but realising we've got to ride 100 miles home yet; gradually knocking off the last few miles v. tired but content with the effort put in.
We packed a lot into 21 hours.
It was a great ride. Fast, empty, warm and unique. We had no punctures, one road "incident", one missed turn (soon recovered) and no problems. Thanks to Charlie for driving the van. Only gripe, no moon or sunrise due to the cloudy conditions.
dear oh dear, madness.