Dunwich Dynamo XVII

[andygates]

It's that time of year again - July's full moon weekend and the 120-mile ride from central London to Dunwich on the Suffolk coast. This year, on the back of a great year for bikes in the UK and some fantastic weather, there was a record turnout of up to 1000 riders.

The Dun Run is the nicest, funnest overnight century you could hope to ride, so the plan this year was to do it on pennyfarthings. Alas, my penny's cranks fell off, and another rider's bike broke, so Charlotte had to do it on her own - I rode a Brommie and did support along with Phil (in the picture - click for a set). Nobody's done it on a penny before.

The ride's always a sort of CM-with-a-plan fun fest, a bit of a gathering of the cycling clans, and it was lovely meeting lots of friends in passing. We soon dropped back to the penny's 18kph steady pace and arrived to a round of applause after C had ridden for fifteen and a half hours.

Chapeau, dear heart!

Highlights this year: Gerald's inflatable boat (so he could go for a little row afterwards); Wobbly John's wobblebike (designs pinned to the Cliffs of Insanity); 4th July fireworks in Moreton; great craic at the last pub stop; wearing a glowstick in my newly gauged lobe; the filthy innuendo around dawn's rosy fingers; glowstick smiley faces on road bikes; stopping under a village doctor's eaves for a power nap and a coffee-and-whisky brew up; the sheer pluck of some non-cyclists having a go anyway (getting lost, going slow, having fun); the skinny-dip at the end (nothing, not one thing, beats a sea-swim on a bike-ride-battered arse).

But mostly it was Charlotte's night, and well done to her: the penny takes lots of upper-body to ride (you push against the bars opposite your pedal to keep it straight; more power = more pushing, so hill climbing is a sort of 7-foot-high benchpress argument). Next year I'll have mine ready, oh yes I will...

Comments

[skean.livejournal.com]

That's frickin HARDCORE man.

No photos of the skinny dipping? ;-)

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Thank gods for murky water.

Weird thing is, because I was riding so easy, I did go for a little run along the dunes. What I can't quite grasp is how much fitter I'd have to be to ride fast and still run afterwards!

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

Easier than the Dumb Run, then?

[andygates.livejournal.com]

The penny was holding 11mph. I was riding a three-speed folding bike and wearing those fivefingers and it was trivially easy to keep up. Do anything at bimbling pace and it's easier than Death By Fixie. :)

1000 riders, though, wow. So huge.

Pennyfarthings are slow bikes, period: the effort to ride at a decent pace is like using a cross-trainer, arms as well as legs - the arms stabilise the pedal-steer. Going fast or hard is limited by muscular power in a funny position. You know the photos of penny riders all hunched over? That's not aerodynamics, they hadn't invented that yet. It's because that's the natural position your body makes to get balanced power between arms and legs: bent down, abs tight to lock your core so that the pedalling doesn't noodle your spine.

[arabis.livejournal.com]

That's gotta be really hard going to keep stable for so many hours. Well impressive.

Thanks for sharing the photos. Looking forward to some of you on your pennyfarthing next year.

[fialta.livejournal.com]

The penny farthing is truly impressive!
The pics are cool too, how did you make the shining wheels effect?

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

Rope light wound round near the rim.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Exactly that. It's called EL glow wire in most listings. The battery is taped to the wheel hub.

It looked utterly storming on the penny.