Dunwich Dynamo - advice

The Spiderman

I did it for the first time,what an amazing experience.Unlike others we didn`t get to the beach until 8 am.
Was fine for the first 90 but then bottom ache and shoulder ache set in towards the end.

Was very fortunate to have bought a first class ticket for the train back to London which meant I managed got on the 10.45 and got the bike in the carriage with me.Ticket was only £23 pre booked too.

Perfect conditions,perfect ride and very different to a Sportive.

mroli

Hmm - about the "certain" club - I don't think that their riding was bad - I think it was more the number of them that made people think they were dangerous (and the fact that in the dark you are far more sensitive to people passing). A couple of people I was riding with said that they were a bit "all over the shop", but I didn't see that so much.

More hazardous were the people that just pulled over and stopped without warning, people stopped in the middle of the road behind corners etc.

They were pretty humourless though - no real chat. I guess they just wanted to do it as a club, but a lot of people I talked to were complaining about the fact that they rode as a group and didn't engage with people who tried to engage with them. C'est la vie though - there were 1500 other people to talk to.

Lovely day/night/day though

phy2sll2

mroli wrote:

They were pretty humourless though - no real chat. I guess they just wanted to do it as a club, but a lot of people I talked to were complaining about the fact that they rode as a group and didn't engage with people who tried to engage with them.

My two pence...

I can't speak for everyone, but at least one fifty-fourth of them were engaging with the people they passed! That, despite hearing how we needed to swap the 'L' for an 'N' - for the 600th time!

I can see how people thought we were serious, but that's just how we have our fun. I was with five other smurfs and we swept up plenty of other fast people into our group as we went. I think they all enjoyed the pace, working together, attacking the "hills" etc. I don't think anyone imagined they were racing, though. We weren't that serious.

I didn't see any dangerous riding / people taking risks, but if anyone did, I would urge them to report it to Dave Buckley as he's been working really hard to maintain our reputation for being safe / friendly despite the enormous growth the club has seen.

Fun ride, though - furthest I've ever been on a bike and managed an 18mph moving average!

mroli

Like I said - I don't think it is an issue at all and I was happy benefitting from the blue train on occassion, but I can also see how less confident riders were a little peturbed and I think most importantly for Dulwich, on what is a social ride and not a "race", not socialising, conversing and ganging through might turn some people off.

Still got one of the best kits around too.

chadders81

Gah - just reading this and I'm insanely jealous.

I was at a wedding in Spain but I'll make sure I'm there next year.

dhope

dhope wrote:

I'm really tempted...
Only ever done one ride of moderate distance, which was L2B last weekend. Enjoyed it, generally doing 70 miles commuting each week plus a little running, swimming and gym so would hope I could manage it at a push.

Is this a foolish idea or do I MTFU and just do it?
Fixed or Boardman Carbon? (methinks the latter, maybe should get some more puncture resistant tyres).

Well I never did the Dynamo that year. Then stuff always seemed to clash.

Doing it this eve though. Anyone else?

Ben6899

Best advice is surely to ride the route on a different day, with a few mates.

dhope

Ben6899 wrote:

Best advice is surely to ride the route on a different day, with a few mates.

There are nicer routes if you just want to do 200k

Ben6899

There certainly are!

bunter

inbike

Ben6899 wrote:

Best advice is surely to ride the route on a different day, with a few mates.

Not really.

It's great being with the crowds through Epping, all the pubs stay open late, the locals run extra food stops, and there's something great about seeing thousands of cyclists whiz by when you stop for a minute.

I didn't leave until after 9:30 last night and I really missed the safety in numbers through Epping forest. That road is really hateful on your own. Thankfully I caught up with lots of people soon afterwards.

I wouldn't get the coach back though. Much better to ride or get a train booking from Ipswich/Cambridge.

roger_merriman

mroli wrote:

Hmm - about the "certain" club - I don't think that their riding was bad - I think it was more the number of them that made people think they were dangerous (and the fact that in the dark you are far more sensitive to people passing). A couple of people I was riding with said that they were a bit "all over the shop", but I didn't see that so much.

More hazardous were the people that just pulled over and stopped without warning, people stopped in the middle of the road behind corners etc.

They were pretty humourless though - no real chat. I guess they just wanted to do it as a club, but a lot of people I talked to were complaining about the fact that they rode as a group and didn't engage with people who tried to engage with them. C'est la vie though - there were 1500 other people to talk to.

Lovely day/night/day though

A Club riding as a club run even in a sportive isn't always a good mix, in a social ride it's bound to raise some eyebrows.

awavey

Ben6899 wrote:

Best advice is surely to ride the route on a different day, with a few mates.

no because the magic of it, once out of the party atmosphere of London, is riding on these near deserted roads in the middle of nowhere at night and having just a steady stream of bike lights ahead of you and all manner of cyclists represented.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ich-dynamo

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... e-cyclists

do it on a different day with a few mates, it will just be a tedious slog to the coast and back.

andyh01

As I live in Leicester I'm tempted to do the Leicester-Skegness run, which is approx 95 miles there and same back. Whilst sometimes there are organised charity runs, I'm tempted to go solo. Would it be possible to get there and back in one possibly two days eg set off in evening say left at 4pm 9 hrs make it midnight, camp til mid morning say 11am, few hours in skeggy and head back at say 4pm again, arrive home at 12am give or take?