Dunwich Dynamo XVI

The legend continues…

This was the sixteenth running of the iconic overnight ride from London Fields in Hackney to the lost city on Dunwich on the Suffolk Coast.

We set off from the Pub in the Park at sunset and maintained a steady pace out through Epping Forest, the North Weald and across Essex.

Some light rain was forecast but never eventuated and the sky was fairly clear for most of the night so we got to enjoy the glow of the full moon as we silently breezed along the country lanes.

Shortly after crossing into Suffolk we reached the feed stop at Lavenham Village Hall and it took us just under four hours to cover the first 110 km (68 miles).

We stuck around for around an hour eating, drinking, replacing batteries and chatting to the other riders.

The queue for food reached the door when we arrived but by the time we were ready to leave it snaked out the building and into the cold early morning air.

It was very cold when we got going again and I was so glad I had put on my 2XU windproof softshell at the hall.

The last 80 km (51 miles) took us three hours and we arrived at the cafe on Dunwich Beach just as the sun was rising shortly after 5am.

We quickly devoured a fry up and made space for the growing queue of cold and hungry cyclists.

We wanted to hang around and chat but it was just too cold outside so we started back towards the train station at Darsham at a gentle pace.

We arrived with around 90 minutes to wait until the first train and there were already three others ahead of us.

We had heard how twitchy the train people can be when presented with a platform full of cyclists all trying to get on to the three carriage train so as the platform began to fill up we took the fortunate decision to ride 25 minutes up the the road to the preceding station in Halesworth.

Around ten others had the same idea and we all managed to get on the train after a little drama.

The conductor wasn’t happy with our bikes in all the vestibules so we pacified him by removing wheels and stashing everything away from the doors and out of the passage ways.

When we got to Darsham he wouldn’t let any of the fifty-odd cyclists on to the train and they now had to either cycle the extra 50 km to Ipswich or wait another two hours for the next train.

Next year I think I’ll factor in the extra ride to Ipswich and avoid all the train drama.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 07/19/2008
• Time: 21:00:00
• Total Time: 7:55:59.00
• Average Heart rate: 132
• Calories: 8882
• Distance: 206.38 km
• Average Speed: 26.02 kmph
• Max Speed: 51.1 kmph
• Ascent: 1,475 m
• Average Cadence: 82