Dunwich Dynamo Thanks

markos1963

I'm sure that the people involved wouldn't bother coming on here but if you are I would just like to thank them for putting back the cause of cycling a good few years.
Why? Well some to**ers who couldn't wait for space on a train decided to get abusive and spit in the face of the guard who had done his best to get as many onto the train at Darsham but couldn't get them all on.
It's now the talk of the mess room at Norwich Station and I wouldn't be suprised that any goodwill towards any cyclists has been destroyed by the culprits.
Why didn't NXEA put on extra trains I hear you ask, well as its an unofficial event with no fixed date how would they know anything about it?
Again many thanks to the people involved.

Le Commentateur

It's a shame that a moment of selfish and offensive behaviour from a few may spoil it for others next year. Isn't it true that the Darsham trains have some kind of official limit of 4 bikes per train, and if so the guard was already going out of his way to help.

Perhaps NXEA will make sure they schedule engineering works for the next one.

markos1963

Yep 4 bikes is the rule but most guards will let on more if they can, but I see the rule being enforced more now

CXXC

do you mean they actually properly spat in the guards face?!??! :shock: or did a bit of spittle come out whilst arguing :?: if the former then hanging is too good for 'em, absolutely disgusting!! if the latter, well why the heck were they arguing when it was common knowledge (wasn't it?) that the trains couldn't take more than 4 bikes, it was on all the Dunwich related material I read. I knew that and didn't even ride it, was just part of being prepared...maybe these people weren't boy scouts?!!

If you spat in Akela's face you got 50 lashings with your toggle!!

markos1963

CXXC wrote:

do you mean they actually properly spat in the guards face?!??! :shock: or did a bit of spittle come out whilst arguing :?: if the former then hanging is too good for 'em, absolutely disgusting!! if the latter, well why the heck were they arguing when it was common knowledge (wasn't it?) that the trains couldn't take more than 4 bikes, it was on all the Dunwich related material I read. I knew that and didn't even ride it, was just part of being prepared...maybe these people weren't boy scouts?!!

If you spat in Akela's face you got 50 lashings with your toggle!!

Proper spit I'm afraid, hopefully the DNA sample will find the culprit(guards carry a sample kit with them)

CXXC

how did they muster up enough energy to argue and then spit after riding 200km!?!?

some people....

marcusjb

Sounds like an awful incident and I hope they find the culprit.

Sadly, I saw a lot of pretty poor conduct on the ride that doesn't reflect well on cycling and what is a really great event.

I'm not even talking about obeying the rules of the road - though there was the usual apalling riding you get used to seeing in London.

Lots of people being very loud through the villages - shouting directions at the group or whatever (can't you use your arm to indicate rather than shouting??). It doesn't take too many complaints, the police and councils become involved and, before you know it, the event is just too much hassle for Barry and his team to organise.

I'm all for having a chat as you ride along (I was on a tandem, so chatted most of the way!), but to shout out instructions in the middle of villages at 2am is not going to help the ride continue.

I was once again shocked by the amount of litter people feel it is okay to discard on the route - this is something that amazes me on sportives as well - the sheer volume of gel wrappers we saw was appalling. It takes nothing to shove it in your back pocket (even carry a little plastic bag so it doesn't get sticky) and then chuck it away when you pass a bin.

It's not like you're racing in the TdF or anything, so losing a fewseconds is hardly a big deal.

I know I sound like a grumpy old man - I am in training for turning forty in a couple of years , have been since my early thirties - but it really doesn't take much to make this amazing event not worth organising again.

RC21

I was on that train and saw what happened; I got on the stop before Darsham where there were only a couple of cyclist; when we got to Darsham the guard let as many people on the train as he possibly could but had to turn some away as it was getting ridiculous with some people trying to put bikes in the luggage racks, over head holders, etc. . . .just plain silly.

But when we got to the next stop; a local man, quite old (looked a bit like a wino) on an old mountain bike tried to get on the train, but the guard said no; the guy then threw a torrent of abuse at the guard and started threatening him; but the guard stood his ground and the guy told him where to go and got on the train anyway and refused to move. The guard called the driver and someone else from the back of the train and tried to remove him and he spat in his face and gave him some more sh1t. . . then the police where called and everyone apart from the first four on the train got kicked off.

It took a while to get all the cyclist off the train and some where being a bit cheeky about it as they obviously didn’t want to cycle another 25 miles back to Ipswich after there legs had probably seized up, but apart from the local man everyone was respectful.

markos1963

RC21 thanks for clearing that up, problem is now everyone thinks this guy had something to do with the ride. I will try to pass this on at work but as you know once you get tarred with a brush its difficult to get clean again

RC21

Yeah, I know mate; it’s very easy for one to ruin it for others

I thought I’d post what I saw as mostly everyone understood why they couldn't get on although some where understandably a little grumpy The guard did his best for everyone until the old guy gave him the abuse and then that was it; which was fair enough – no one should be treated like that.

CometGirl

Over on yacf we're contemplating a letter / card to Darsham saying thanks for all the fish.

Clicky

I'm volunteering to send something over, if you want "from all at Bikeradar" as well as "from all at YACF" let me know.

MattSparkes

Marcos, are you in Velo Club Norwich? I remember coming on a club ride and chatting to a train driver...

I was on the Dynamo, but I'm a Norwich lad so didn't need to get a train home. Glad the culprit wasn't a rider.

markos1963

MattSparkes wrote:

Marcos, are you in Velo Club Norwich? I remember coming on a club ride and chatting to a train driver...

I was on the Dynamo, but I'm a Norwich lad so didn't need to get a train home. Glad the culprit wasn't a rider.

Yes I am mate, and as far as I know I'm the only one

MattSparkes

I was one of the two single-speeders without Lycra that turned up at the start of summer and rode out to Cromer with you.

markos1963

I remember you Matt, good ride that day. Not seen you since, have we put you off?

Pross

From the title of this thread and then the content it sound like you are saying it was Dunwich Dynamo riders who were involved in this!

markos1963

At first it looked like it but RC21 seems to have thrown some light on it

Pross

Do you think it might be worth an edit and / or apology to the Dunwich lot then?

markos1963

Ok Pross no problem, big enough to admit I might be a bit hasty there and apologies to all riders who behaved themselves. The problem remains that a cyclist(however loosly described) did what he did and now the majority of all riders might now suffer from it.

pastasauce

And I hope anyone reading this doesn't get a negative opinion of what was a really fantastic ride.

One of the best things I've ever done on a bike.

It really was great ...............