DUNWICH DYNAMO

Riders - Nigel Crissell, Tony Low

4th July - 5th July 2009.

The Dunwich Dynamo has been held yearly since 1993 on the Saturday closest to the Full Moon in July and this year the organisers put the number attending at 1,000 it's an unsupported 120 mile ride through the night from London Fields in Hackney to Dunwich Beach on the Suffolk Coast.

I had been meaning to do this for a few years and finally decided by booking a place on one of the return coaches organised by Southwark Cyclists...who I’d like to add did a great job of getting around 550 cyclists and their bikes back to Smithfield Meat Market in London.

I tried drumming up support to do the event on the Essex Roads Website but people seemed to be alright about it till I mentioned it was a ride through the night. I finally got one taker Tony Low. So we organised to meet up at Fenchurch St. Station on the Saturday evening then we rode to the Start at London Fields.

 

On arriving at London Fields it was found to be packed with cyclists, we found the organiser outside the Pub and confirmed our return coach places for which we were given a Raffle Ticket, which we made sure we did not loose as it was our Ticket home.

 

I was doing the ride on a Mountain Bike with skinny road type tyres as I’d recently sold my Road Bike, while Tony was sensibly using a Road Bike.
Then we found the guy selling the route cards these were only a Quid but were good as it listed out the entire route on an A4 page .

Tony

So it only left now for us to start....there was no Mass Start people just begun to set off and was very informal but good to be part of such a large event.
Heading away from London Fields we set off towards Epping. The city riding was not too bad and once in Epping the roads seemed quieter. Once past Epping we came across places and names we were more familiar with, Dunmow, Leaden Roding, Finchingfield, Castle Hedingham....where I cramped up on the climb out. Tony and I rode together for a fair distance occasionally splitting up as he was faster than me and I didn't really like holding him back.

 

Once into Suffolk we went through Sudbury and made it to the Feed Point at Great Waldingfield Village Hall...where there was a massive queue for food.
Tony queued but I waited with the bikes and ate some of the sandwiches I’d brought along. After refuelling and topping up our water bottles we set off. at our own pace arranging to meet obviously at the finish.

The route through Suffolk to the beach at Dunwich was good but very dark I was glad of the Head Torch I’d brought along as my front light was woefully inadequate. It was strange riding through the night seeing a stream of red flashing LED's in the distance then none then lights again. Occasionally I’d ride with other people for a bit chatting then our paces would be different and we'd part. Sometimes a big group of cyclists would go hurtling past. The Dulwich cycling club were like a pro team in the Tour de France all in club kit and riding in one big pack. They even had their own coach and van waiting for them at the finish, no waiting for them like the rest of us, that's definitely the way to do it.

 

Still on reaching the finish I caught up with Tony who'd arrived before me. Queued for breakfast at the Beach Cafe then hid from the rain in an old abandoned hut till the rain stopped and we could catch some sleep on the beach. Some brave souls even went in for a swim.

 

Then it was just a matter of waiting while the removal vans were loaded with the bikes and although there was some confusion and it all took a bit longer than anticipated the fact that 550 + people and bikes left a beach in Suffolk and returned to London was no mean feat in itself.
On checking my cycle computer at home I found I’d cycled for 511 minutes, had a max speed of 34.7 mph and an average speed of 13.3 mph.

 

Nigel

Dunwich Beach