Dunwich Dynamo 24-25 July - Who's in?

[andygates]

Okay bike folks, it's time for me to do my annual gee-up and advertising post for the Dunwich Dynamo.  A ride through the night to the coast - sounds lovely, right?  Lots of riders, very informal, plenty of sillybikes and very serious bikes and all sorts of speeds and vibes. 

The ride heads out from sunny Hackney (near the Lido) and soon wends into Epping Forest before snaking blinky lights along the country lanes.  There's a formal midway stop, and lots of informal stops, then dawn in the Suffolk villages all pink and timbers and cock-crowing, before hacking over the heath to the sea, the tea, and well-deserved rest.

If you're up for a first century ride, it's a memorable one.  The actual distance is around 200km - 120 miles - ish.  It's still tough: it's a hundred miles and you have to stay awake, after all.  But it's a good kind of tough, doable rather than silly tough.  Grins and aches are matched.

Comments

[ladyjulian.livejournal.com]

Hell yeah. If I can overcome the Irrational Yet Epic Fear I'm doing it on the fixie.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

I found it easier than expected - no harder than on a gearie, really, just different. Finding the legs for those last few hills was the tough bit.

I'm off fixie while I sort out the dregs of bad knee, so this year's long rides are all on granny-geared bikes. :(

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

If I can do the Dumb Run on the fixie, you , Little Miss TRAT, can do the Dun Run on the fixie. It is, as they say a walk in the cake.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Bring waders in case of deep icing.

[ladyjulian.livejournal.com]

I know I can do the distance - have done (one) audax fixed, but that was in East Anglia on no-traffic roads. Fixed + traffic = irrational fear. *Totally* irrational, because I rode the damn thing across London in rush hour and survived, so I clearly can do it. Just the thought of the first 20 miles out through the east London badlands makes me wibble, the rest would be fine. Going to do it anyway though :)

[andygates.livejournal.com]

That's not even traffic, it's a CM. CMs aren't scary.

[ladyjulian.livejournal.com]

Good point. *Recalibrates TEH FEAR*

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Plus, teh FEAR is one of those things that only wins when you dwell on it. It took out my Bala triathlon so that I woke up, had breakfast, hyperventilated and drove home. That sort of dwelling is well fought with friends and momentum: Dunwich is amply supplied with both.

[ladyjulian.livejournal.com]

Ooh, you speaks much sense tonight Master Gates. It's a silly fear, much like that Dr Who bit where Amy was convinced her hand had turned to stone and couldn't move. Just need some extra mental muscle. And riders in front of me with magic beans, boozohol and silly songs.