Dunwich Dynamo 15 This Weekend

© 2005 Michael Preston/Creative19.com

The annual 120 mile night ride from London Fields in Hackney to Dunwich on the Suffolk coast is happening again this Saturday night but the weather looks like it is not going to be too kind to us.

After weeks of almost constant rain Metcheck is finally forecasting a fairly clear night with low wind but heavy rain is due to move in during the early part of Sunday morning.

The ride usually takes place on the Saturday night closest to the full moon in July, partly for tradition but also because it is easier to ride by moonlight — as long as there is no cloud cover.

The weather will no doubt make the ride a little too tough for some but I hope more than 700 riders start beating last year’s record turnout.

Who would do such a ride I hear you ask.

According to Southwark Cyclists’ Dunwich Dynamo 2007 FAQ:

A few semi-pro cyclists, more road bikes every year, some fixed-wheelers, a whole fleet of low-life recumbents, several Bromptons, some tandems, but mostly your average bike-to-workers for whom this is long long ride. A daunting exciting challenge.

StevieP has loaded the 180km route onto Bikely but I doubt it will be of much use to me as reading my GPS at night is quite hard and its backlight chews through batteries.

There is only 868m of climbing according the elevation profile so it should be a lot of fun, despite the weather.

Top photo by Michael Preston used under CC license.

UPDATE [3 Aug]

My ride experience plus a few photos on my training blog here.

UPDATE [7 Aug]

Mike has posted a 27 minute video of the ride on Google Video or you can download it here.