Rogerzilla's ramblings on past Dun Runs

[Jurek]

- which makes Flying Dodo's battery powered version attractive - assuming he decides to organise it again.

What does this mean in English? I assume it's an Audax?

Not an Audax.
Flying Dodo, aka Adam OTP (and of Cycle Chat) has organised alternative Dun Runs on at least a couple of occasions.
I attended the first, bailed before starting the second, and have linked to the first up-thread.
I think the number of attendees have always been in, or close to, single figures.
Which is nice.

[Jakob W]

How fast do you have to be to beat the rush if doing it on the night? I quite like the idea of the festive atmosphere and don't mind congestion at food stops, but dangerous riding on the road sounds suboptimal.

[davelodwig]

How fast do you have to be to beat the rush if doing it on the night? I quite like the idea of the festive atmosphere and don't mind congestion at food stops, but dangerous riding on the road sounds suboptimal.

My preferred technique is to wait a bit longer to start so dulwich paragon have already left by the time I start.

[Kim]

How fast do you have to be to beat the rush if doing it on the night? I quite like the idea of the festive atmosphere and don't mind congestion at food stops, but dangerous riding on the road sounds suboptimal.

My preferred technique is to wait a bit longer to start so dulwich paragon have already left by the time I start.

 

Not a bad rule of thumb though.  By that point most of the actually fast dangerous riders are either well ahead of you, or can be safely overtaken while they contemplate their punctures at Whipps Cross.  That leaves the mass of heroic plodders, which will be dense and slow enough for the first couple of miles that you can treat it like a Critical Mass rather than a proper bike ride until the climb to Epping Forest spaces everything out and you only really have to worry about not getting too close to randoms at junctions or short sharp climbs, lest they stop without warning or suffer a mechanical.

[robgul]

I think '03 was the year that ex-Mrs LWaB and I rode our Bromptons; my only DD.

Indeed it was Dave - I recollect passing the pair of you on the Bromptons as we drove* away from Dunwich and you, presumably, were heading for the train.

* Steve, my cycling pal, had driven to Dunwich on the Friday and left his car there, train to London to stay the night with his son and then met me at Hackney for the start - we were home drinking a glass of champagne in my garden by about 1230 IIRC having had a Little Chef breakfast on the way home.

Rob

[Jurek]

How fast do you have to be to beat the rush if doing it on the night? I quite like the idea of the festive atmosphere and don't mind congestion at food stops, but dangerous riding on the road sounds suboptimal.

My preferred technique is to wait a bit longer to start so dulwich paragon have already left by the time I start.

You're not pointing, by any chance?
Are you, Dave? 

[rogerzilla]

If you leave at 8 and aim for an 18-20mph cruise, you could stay out of the melée in 2012.  It might need an earlier start now.  The second half is never a problem - really spread out.

[Jurek]

If you leave at 8 and aim for an 18-20mph cruise, you could stay out of the melée in 2012.  It might need an earlier start now.  The second half is never a problem - really spread out.

I fear those days may be long gone.
The last few times I did it our 20:00 / 20:30 departure was well busy - all the way to North Weald and beyond....

[rogerzilla]

There are certainly people who leave before 1930.  Most of them are pretty slow and we were generally reeling them in until North Weald, as you say, when it became more of a uniform speed and there was less passing.   It's quite rare to pass or be passed after Sudbury, apart from when someone has stopped for a rest.

I found some more photos which I'd forgottem I had:

2007 (the wet DNF year - this was TEN YEARS AGO now  )

London Fields
dunrun2 by rogerzilla, on Flickr

Bertha (Valiant's sound trailer)
dunrun1 by rogerzilla, on Flickr

At the Black Lion in High Roding, just about to get on the phone and invoke the bailout option.  Is that Chris N on the left?
dunrun3 by rogerzilla, on Flickr

2010

Leaving the in-laws' place near Bedford to ride to the train station.  GPS and a saddlebag - well equipped that year.
Roger Dunwich dynamo 002 by rogerzilla, on Flickr

[LittleWheelsandBig]

I think '03 was the year that ex-Mrs LWaB and I rode our Bromptons; my only DD.

Indeed it was Dave - I recollect passing the pair of you on the Bromptons as we drove* away from Dunwich and you, presumably, were heading for the train.

We'd hired a car which was parked midway between Dunwich and the localish train station that we'd used to get to the start. The Bromptons had been very useful for the bus replacement service...

The Young Lady finished her first all-night ride in much better shape than me. A snooze was needed for me before the drive home.

[Wobbly John]

Bertha Beatrix (Valiant's sound trailer)
dunrun1 by rogerzilla, on Flickr

[Wobbly John]

Roger - I think you need to add the year when you came to see us off at London Fields:





 

[Jurek]

How does Roger appear twice in that top photo, WJ?
How does he do that?
Is it time-lapse or something?

[rogerzilla]

I'm omnipresent.

[Jurek]

 

[Snakehips]

Ah yes 2007, my first DD, 'the wet one' as we have called it ever since. That photo above of London Fields shows Team Snake just about centre stage. I'm the one, back to camera, in the maglia ciclamino. Thanks for the reminder.
 

[rogerzilla]

I searched the loft and found a DVD (recorded from ITV) of "Tales From The Country" which was shown in 2008 and featured the 2007 Dun Run.  It's not the best local interest programme ever but it certainly shows the severity of the rain - and they have a chat with the late Barry Mason.  Best of all, Team Speed is on there riding through Great Dunmow, even if I am looking a bit grumpy in the rain, in my Swindon RC summer kit.

https://youtu.be/ipGYkbLqXmM

I'm second in line from 2:23 to 2:41 (Sam Walker is on the front of the group and I'm sure the others are identifiable by those with eagle eyes).

[Chris N]

I'm the third one through, with the head torch.

[rogerzilla]

I'm the third one through, with the head torch.

And you were the reason I came back on fixed for 2008!

[Adam]

- which makes Flying Dodo's battery powered version attractive - assuming he decides to organise it again.

What does this mean in English? I assume it's an Audax?

Not an Audax.
Flying Dodo, aka Adam OTP (and of Cycle Chat) has organised alternative Dun Runs on at least a couple of occasions.
I attended the first, bailed before starting the second, and have linked to the first up-thread.
I think the number of attendees have always been in, or close to, single figures.
Which is nice.

It's a nice little bike ride, to do on a Friday night, leaving at midnight.  That way, there's no traffic through Epping Forest, and without the massed hordes on the Dun Run, you can enjoy the sights, sounds and smells.  Plus you roll up at the beach and don't have to queue for an hour to get food.  And even better, you can get a train back.

Same as Jurek, I've no intention of doing the proper ride again, as it's just not enjoyable.

Once I semi-retire next year, I may well have time to run this again.  The only problem is the Tesco in Sudbury we used as the half way stop isn't 24 hours anymore. The nearby McDonalds opens at 5 am, so that could just about work.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I searched the loft and found a DVD (recorded from ITV) of "Tales From The Country" which was shown in 2008 and featured the 2007 Dun Run.  It's not the best local interest programme ever but it certainly shows the severity of the rain - and they have a chat with the late Barry Mason.  Best of all, Team Speed is on there riding through Great Dunmow, even if I am looking a bit grumpy in the rain, in my Swindon RC summer kit.

https://youtu.be/ipGYkbLqXmM

I'm second in line from 2:23 to 2:41 (Sam Walker is on the front of the group and I'm sure the others are identifiable by those with eagle eyes).
[/quote
Haven't heard that song since it came out; that makes it 20 years ago and it was 10 years old already when they made the film. How... curious.

[αdαmsκι]

It's a nice little bike ride, to do on a Friday night, leaving at midnight. 

Or don't even bother with Dunwich and cut back to Manningtree station for station breakfast and a train home. At least that's what Pippa and I did on our DIY DunRun in August 2011. Yes, it avoids the Dunwich beach, but there really isn't much there and getting back from Dunwich is a faff.

http://bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?lnk=https://sites.google.com/site/youngadamski/gpx/ridden/Modified%20DunRun.gpx

[Jurek]

Breakfast at Manningtree Station is a capital idea. 
A presidential one, even.
Manningtree Station cafe scored within the top five (IIRC) railway station eateries throughout the UK in a Graun poll a few years ago.
And they sell beer - for those so inclined.

[Adam]

Breakfast at Manningtree Station is a capital idea. 
A presidential one, even.
Manningtree Station cafe scored within the top five (IIRC) railway station eateries throughout the UK in a Graun poll a few years ago.
And they sell beer - for those so inclined.

I may have been there once or twice.

[Wowbagger]

Manningtree Station is a fine place, marred in recent years by a few hundred km's distance to Auntie Helen.