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The Dunwich Dynamo - how was it for you?Sunrise on 2015 Dunwich Dynamo

The Dunwich Dynamo - how was it for you?

Beautiful, strange, hard - and full of unusual bikes and cameraderie. The annual Dun Run delivered again this year.
by Laura Laker
Sun, Jul 17, 2016 16:44
9

This year’s Dun Run looked to be a corker. We at road.cc weren’t there in person this year, but it looks like the weather was good, the swim in the sea satisfying, and everything in between the usual bewildering mix of beautiful, hard, improbable, mind-boggling, tough and, ultimately, satisfying.

There were the usual well-illuminated bikes on the annual overnight 120 mile ride from Hackney to Dunwich.

Some bonkers bikes – one of which, a home-made four man Chopper, helped its builders raised £785 to send bikes to Africa via charity re~cycle. 

One of its riders, Matt Peck, said: “We made it!!!! Team shed arrived after 10 hrs 44 mins ride time wow that was tough !!!! Thank you so much fellow Dynamo ers for all your support and encouragement on route!!! You were awesome. So far we have raised enough money to get over 50 bikes to Africa!!! Love to get more there £15 will get a bike sent.”

Some young riders took on the challenge

Author – and adventurer – Emily Chappell was there.

The Dun Run brings out the poet in many of us - a mix of unusual sights and a lack of sleep.  This from Jet McDonald, who is currently crowdfunding for a book about cycling and philosophy, called This Mind I Ride.

It is certainly a thing of beauty, represented in unusual form here in this Strava heat map - you can see the Dun Run is pretty much the only activity the night the data was released, 20 July 2013.

There were also some amazing stories. Carol Smith had extensive knee surgery in June 2014, and was told she was unlikely to ride again. After buying her first road bike, she started training, and successfully completed the Dun Run last night.

In Carol’s words: "DD I thank you for helping out if my dark place and giving me a goal! I will most definitely be back!" 

Chapeau, Carol!

The moment you arrive on the beach is a special one - the relief, mainly, and the prospect of a refreshing swim in the sea

There's the bus back

And the post-ride reflections.

Paul Taylor put the unique experience of a Dun Run concisely:

Memorable dynamo 2016 moments;
People falling off for no reason after 1km.
500 people getting punctures in first 15km.
Drum n bass.
Tron lights 
Getting mooned by a drunk woman in the pitch black in the middle of nowhere.
Almost taking a bat to the face.
4 man chopper racing.
Bacon sandwich queuing skills.
Spending 3 hours stationary.
Awesome dip in the see soothed the aches.
Powering the first half.
Struggling the second half.
Sand fucking flies.
Perfect conditions and sunny end!

The event is characterised by a sense of community - some lost property was found, and returned to its owner, by the sounds of it.

Plans are already afoot for next year, including from cycle style blogger, Velo City Girl, aka Jools Walker. Jools, it's out there now…

 

Dunwich Dynamo
dun run
Laura Laker

Laura Laker is a freelance journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering cycling, walking and wheeling (and other means of transport). Beginning her career with road.cc, Laura has also written for national and specialist titles of all stripes. One part of the popular Streets Ahead podcast, she sometimes appears as a talking head on TV and radio, and in real life at conferences and festivals. She is also the author of Potholes and Pavements: a Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network.

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9 comments

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Angry Egg | 8 years ago
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Left Hackney around 9, arrived at 3, sat in the Cafe till 4, got back to hackney around 12. Nice and warm all weekend! And then the driveback to the southcoast after... that was not fun

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LifestyleSpecialist | 8 years ago
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Gutted to have missed this year's event! Been 2 years in a row but have been injured and lacking kms in the saddle. I was sitting on my balcony thinking damn this is the best night yet. Will be back next year to earn my 6am beer. 

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arckuk | 8 years ago
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My third Dun Run, and the best yet! Nice and warm - didn't need to add any layers/extras on top of my bibs, base and jersey. Lovely tail breeze was just enough to provide a gentle boost. Beautiful weather just after dawn on the beach made a 2 hour snooze before heading on to Ipswich a pleasure. Great company and the usual mix of innovative light jobs, strange bikes and odd scenes makes it a pleasure. Looking forward to next year!

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Notsofast | 8 years ago
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Rode with a bunch of mates and my 14yr old, best DunRun yet.
Couldn't have asked for better weather.

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FerrisBFW | 8 years ago
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Bl**dy brilliant!  I even had to slow the pace of my group so we road into the day, stopping at a few more pop-up food and coffee stalls on the route.  

Managed perfect timing to watch the sun rise on the beach.  Had a kip and rode of very slowly to Ipswich for the train home.  

Well recomended.

 

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IHateSummer | 8 years ago
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That gentle tailwind was lovely! Saw so many fun bikes and riders; Team Shed's 4 man bike, the folder with the flowers and the windmills, the pink tutu, the rider with the loudspeakers, the Elliptigo...

I finally made it all the way home at the 3rd attempt. Cambridge-London-Dunwich-Cambridge. I am a happy, and tired, man today.

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Scoob_84 replied to IHateSummer | 8 years ago
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IHateSummer wrote:

That gentle tailwind was lovely! Saw so many fun bikes and riders; Team Shed's 4 man bike, the folder with the flowers and the windmills, the pink tutu, the rider with the loudspeakers, the Elliptigo...

I finally made it all the way home at the 3rd attempt. Cambridge-London-Dunwich-Cambridge. I am a happy, and tired, man today.

 

Epic ride. Someone doing a similar ride to you popped up on my strava flyby doing a 300km round trip. He joined our small group of Dulwich riders shortly after the coffee stop (about 20 miles after the fire station?). Unfortuntely, any benefits of riding in our group would have been undone by the amount of wrong turns and doubling back that occurred. My fault, I took the lead several times and but i didnt have the route pluggged into my Garmin, resulting in every junction being 50/50 guesswork.  Could it have been you?

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IHateSummer replied to Scoob_84 | 8 years ago
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Scoob_84 wrote:
IHateSummer wrote:

That gentle tailwind was lovely! Saw so many fun bikes and riders; Team Shed's 4 man bike, the folder with the flowers and the windmills, the pink tutu, the rider with the loudspeakers, the Elliptigo...

I finally made it all the way home at the 3rd attempt. Cambridge-London-Dunwich-Cambridge. I am a happy, and tired, man today.

 

Epic ride. Someone doing a similar ride to you popped up on my strava flyby doing a 300km round trip. He joined our small group of Dulwich riders shortly after the coffee stop (about 20 miles after the fire station?). Unfortuntely, any benefits of riding in our group would have been undone by the amount of wrong turns and doubling back that occurred. My fault, I took the lead several times and but i didnt have the route pluggged into my Garmin, resulting in every junction being 50/50 guesswork.  Could it have been you?

Thanks! I don't think it was us, I was in a wee group with 3 others who did the same loop and rode mostly on our own. Getting gently lost is half the fun! I've taken a different route into Dunwich each time I think 1

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WillRod | 8 years ago
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My friend decided to cycle to around the halfway point and follow them back home to Suffolk.

He got almost to the halfway point but hit a pothole, lost his front light which promptly got run over by a car! He ended up wobbling home in the dark with just a rear light. Made it home safe, but he will have to get a better front light for next year!

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