Author Topic: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021  (Read 10323 times)

Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« on: 30 July, 2020, 11:17:32 am »
I know, but I'm feeling positive and there's not much else to do but look ahead (and start a new topic) ;D

Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #1 on: 30 July, 2020, 11:43:47 am »
Touchy topic, but did many ride it this year?

I live out in N Essex, so did a 240k there-and-back on the Saturday picking up the route around Sudbury.  We had lunch at the Ship in Dunwich (which had just reopened) and the landlady there said it was the first time in 10 years that she wasn't having an afternoon kip to ready herself for pints and bacon rolls at 2am.
Turn, turn, turn again
Turn, turn to the rain
And the wind

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #2 on: 30 July, 2020, 02:34:09 pm »
Well, I'd like to have another crack (if you'll pardon the expression) but I'll definitely have completed 2/3 of a century by then and it's probably going to be beyond what is sensible. But that hasn't stopped me in the past.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #3 on: 30 July, 2020, 03:27:38 pm »
Yeah, I'll be there, galvanised on caffeine for the first 60-mile dash.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #4 on: 17 February, 2021, 01:39:21 pm »
According to Faecebook, Southwark Cyclists aren't booking coaches, so it'll be like last year.  I don't have transport back, so I won't be there.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

TimC

  • Old blerk sometimes onabike.
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #5 on: 17 February, 2021, 04:10:57 pm »
I wouldn't mind doing a there and back to (near) Sudbury, as that's home, but I have my doubts that we'll be allowed.

Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #6 on: 17 February, 2021, 04:33:53 pm »
Ditto.

Tomsk

  • Fueled by cake since 1957
    • tomsk.co.uk
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #7 on: 18 February, 2021, 08:47:05 am »
Touchy topic, but did many ride it this year?

I live out in N Essex, so did a 240k there-and-back on the Saturday picking up the route around Sudbury.  We had lunch at the Ship in Dunwich (which had just reopened) and the landlady there said it was the first time in 10 years that she wasn't having an afternoon kip to ready herself for pints and bacon rolls at 2am.

Same-ish! On the DunRun Saturday morning I rode some of the route (and back) from home, but breaking away further east after a bit and heading to Aldeburgh for fish n'chips. However, the queue was massive - way down the street, extended by about 400% due to social distancing, so Guinness Record length! Instead I went to the Co-op and put together a picnic for the beach. Until I decided to do an SR series in September, that (144 miles) was my longest ride of the year.

I had a cheeky pub stop at the Three Horseshoes in Bures on the way back, as they had just re-opened. They were playing it with commendable seriousness: Intensive Care levels of PPE, arrows and other markers on the floor, plus signage overload. Beer garden was normal, with fairly p#ssed locals, a great many bikes parked there, including two very clean brand-new e-mountain bikes.

Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #8 on: 27 February, 2021, 12:55:19 pm »
I think it was easily my longest ride of 2020 😭
Turn, turn, turn again
Turn, turn to the rain
And the wind

Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #9 on: 02 March, 2021, 04:27:56 pm »
Have always wanted to do this ride but living in Shropshire the logistics have not been good.  Have pencilled it into my diary this year.  Now to find a way to get from Dunwich to the start without having to cycle there

robgul

  • Cycle:End-to-End webmaster
  • cyclist, Cytech accredited mechanic & woodworker
    • Cycle:End-to-End
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #10 on: 02 March, 2021, 06:14:25 pm »
Have always wanted to do this ride but living in Shropshire the logistics have not been good.  Have pencilled it into my diary this year.  Now to find a way to get from Dunwich to the start without having to cycle there

Pick up the Chiltern trains service into Marylebone (much cheape than the main line into Euston) - ride from Marylebone to the pub start.   That's the easy bit - it's getting home from Dunwich with n other riders clamouring for the train that's the problem.

Long shot is that I may do it again (last time was with the old C+ gang incl Charlotte, Chuffy, Baggy, Nutty, Ravenbait, the Pikes, LW&B and others in 2003) - if I do Mrs robgul will be persuaded to drive to Dunwich for chauffeuring home on the Sunday AM

Redlight

  • Enjoying life in the slow lane
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #11 on: 02 March, 2021, 06:42:51 pm »
Have always wanted to do this ride but living in Shropshire the logistics have not been good.  Have pencilled it into my diary this year.  Now to find a way to get from Dunwich to the start without having to cycle there

Presume that means you're driving to Dunwich and leaving a car there. The easiest way to the start is to cycle to Ipswich and pick up the train to Stratford (east London). From there it's a short ride to the start.
Why should anybody steal a watch when they can steal a bicycle?

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #12 on: 02 March, 2021, 08:57:15 pm »
DD03 meant then-MrsLWaB and I drove to near Dunwich and took a train and bus replacement to that-there-London for the start. Luckily we were on Bromptons rather than big bikes. Then-etc. is still very proud of her first overnight ride being the longest ride she had ever done. Great conditions and she finished in much better shape than me. I’ve never managed to get to another DD.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #13 on: 02 March, 2021, 10:45:36 pm »
I'd like to do it again, but then there's lots of other things I'd like to do again.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

robgul

  • Cycle:End-to-End webmaster
  • cyclist, Cytech accredited mechanic & woodworker
    • Cycle:End-to-End
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #14 on: 03 March, 2021, 07:28:43 am »
DD03 meant then-MrsLWaB and I drove to near Dunwich and took a train and bus replacement to that-there-London for the start. Luckily we were on Bromptons rather than big bikes. Then-etc. is still very proud of her first overnight ride being the longest ride she had done. Great conditions and she finished in much better shape than me. I’ve never managed to get to another DD.

That's correct - we drove past you on the 2 Bromptons as we, and you, were crossing the heathland just as you leave Dunwich . . . after a Little Chef breakfast en route it was a glass of Champagne in my garden when we got home.

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #15 on: 07 March, 2021, 11:09:08 pm »
I think we were the only ones on Bromptons that year. During the ride, we heard of a couple of blokes who’d done the previous DD on Bromptons but the old hands weren’t sure if anybody had done so before that. By my reckoning, that makes then-etc. the first lady to Brommie the DD. Nowadays, Bromptons at DD are almost de rigueur.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #16 on: 07 March, 2021, 11:11:30 pm »
These days it's not a proper Dunrun if you don't pass (or get passed by, depending on the condition of Wowbagger's rent-a-stoker) a fold of Bromptons.   :thumbsup:

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #17 on: 07 March, 2021, 11:20:22 pm »
I still keep in occasional contact with my rent-a-stoker. The poor chap tells me he's been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #18 on: 20 May, 2021, 12:35:04 am »
Are there any takers for a Team Slow / Team Camping this year?
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #19 on: 21 May, 2021, 10:54:09 am »
Are there any takers for a Team Slow / Team Camping this year?


Not me Wow.  I've hardly been on a bike since last September (?), and doubt I'd make the distance.  Something up with my left knee, which I've been putting off talking to the GP about.    Time for some gentle canal side pootling to see if my leg drops off, and then slowly try to get back into shape. 
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

ravenbait

  • Someone's imaginary friend
  • Pudge controls the weather.
    • Someone's imaginary friend
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #20 on: 21 May, 2021, 12:19:58 pm »
A few of us were talking about how it's time to get the gang back together, but I'm so far north now that the effort of getting down there for a ride resembling my last DR (2006 -- the queues were insane, even without social distancing) no longer seems worth it, even if I could get my fitness up this year.

Sam
https://ravenbait.com
"Created something? Hah! But that would be irresponsible! And unethical! I would never, ever make... more than one."

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #21 on: 21 May, 2021, 01:22:18 pm »
A few of us were talking about how it's time to get the gang back together, but I'm so far north now that the effort of getting down there for a ride resembling my last DR (2006 -- the queues were insane, even without social distancing) no longer seems worth it, even if I could get my fitness up this year.

Sam
I think 2022 is better for getting the gang back together.  It'll be reduced numbers this year.  Rumour is that the cafe won't even open until 8 or 9!

Btw, 2006 queues were not too bad.  I rode with GruB and Rae and remember drinking tea with Sam Walker at the feed stop, so I must have been able to buy one.  It went really bonkers from 2009 onwards.  We didn't eat at all that year, because the queue was snaking round the car park.  Just got water from the bogs and pushed on.

It was easy in 2019 because of all the pop-up feeding places.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

ravenbait

  • Someone's imaginary friend
  • Pudge controls the weather.
    • Someone's imaginary friend
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #22 on: 21 May, 2021, 01:37:31 pm »
I recall not even trying to get food in 2006. I used the loo and retired outside to avail myself of the snacks and coffee I'd brought with me. Oddly enough, it was what persuaded me to do the Dumb Run -- the amenities being unavailable on the Dun Run meant not having any at all on the Dumb Run (with the exception of the very fine pub and the Cumbernauld and Dalgety 24hr services) wasn't an issue any more.

But I might be fit again in 2022! We'll see what the next chest x-ray says.

Sam
https://ravenbait.com
"Created something? Hah! But that would be irresponsible! And unethical! I would never, ever make... more than one."

TimC

  • Old blerk sometimes onabike.
Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #23 on: 21 May, 2021, 07:44:18 pm »
Living close to the Dun Run route, I can confirm that - in non-Covid years - it bears no relation to the event of the early noughties. I would guess that at least 10 times the number of riders back then are now participating, the candles in jam jars along the route are no longer a feature, and every burger van in Essex and Suffolk turns out for the night! That doesn’t mean it’s not still fun, but it is different. Many more of the participants are racing snakes going for a 5 hour time, and the legions of chain gangs haven’t made many friends for the event. Every racing-oriented cycling club round me has designs on the Kom for the entire ride, and plans for how to spike their ‘competitors’.

I won’t be doing it again.

Re: Dunwich Dynamo, 24th July 2021
« Reply #24 on: 25 May, 2021, 07:25:32 pm »
Thought I'd posted something about this but maybe not. Id love to do something like this but equally think the size of it has made logistics harder especially for the return and for me personally getting to the start would be a PITA

Now I just ran a quick Google maps and it says from The Peoplea Republic of Saafend to Dunwich beach is C95miles. That route would pass pretty near my house and not a million miles from where I think Arrabella lives, just in case she reads this I know to Town level that's it. We could almost do a route between YACFers abodes