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...