By Andy Dunstan.

The Dunwich Dynamo, or DunRun, is a ride of almost mythical status. Its origins are becoming lost in the mists of time, but it is said that at some point towards the end of the last millennia (about 1992) a group of courier riders in London decided, possibly after a few post work beers, to ride overnight to the ancient lost port of Dunwich, on the Suffolk coast. From those early pioneers it has grown to approximately 3000 participants each year and is high on the cycling bucket list of many.

This is no sportive. There’s no entrance fee, advertising, organisation, route signs, broom wagon, back up, timing or official records. It’s an overnight ride of approximately 110 miles and it just happens organically. It has evolved and grown over time. On the Saturday night nearest the full moon in July like-minded cyclists gather on London Fields Park, Hackney to begin the annual adventure.

Since 2011 Horsham Cycling has been organising transport for club members to take part. The arrangements are now well established and run like clockwork, in recent years due to the sterling efforts of Richard Pendlebury. A minibus and a van leave Horsham late afternoon to take riders and bikes to the start line. Then, after a night stop near Ipswich they collect everyone at the finish and return them home. Having driven the minibus last year and observed the nervous excitement on the drive up, the euphoria at the end and the symphony of snoring on the way home, this year I thought I’d see what all the fuss was about and take part.

And so it was that thanks to our heroic drivers, Andy and Ferenc, the Horsham Crew plus four guests from Cranleigh arrived at the start at 6pm on a beautiful summer’s evening. The park was already filling up with bikes and cyclists of all types, shapes and sizes. Although the majority choose to take part on standard road bikes, one of the great features of the DunRun is the sheer variety of machines. Bromptons very much in evidence, single speeds, shoppers with baskets, cargo bikes, Penny Farthings and even a few Boris Bikes were all spotted. This “anything goes” approach is part of the ethos of the Dunwich and so I had chosen to embrace it and had come accompanied by Trixie, my 1970’s rebuilt fixie, complete with bull horns and old school toe clips and straps.

For a couple of hours we chilled out, soaking up the atmosphere, some rehydrating early courtesy of the Pub on the Green and taking on the first fuel of the evening. There’s no official start time, people just begin when they feel it’s right to drift off. Approaching 8pm Richard announced the time was right for us and our wheels rolled. The first few miles were chaotic! Lots of options for initial routing but after several years, our guide Richard, has found the optimal solution via cycle paths, across squares, behind market stalls and through parks. Eventually things calmed down and we settled into our rhythm along the A104, all going well until Jesse suffered a puncture, I think the only issue of the night. It’s amazing how quickly the urban landscape falls away, yielding to the countryside as we passed through Epping Forest and under the M25. We were now on rural roads as the sun dipped behind us. Tony reckons these are some of the best views on the route and I have to agree, the sunset was spectacular.

One major feature of the DunRun is the road side support. You are cheered on your way by families in gardens, beer drinkers in deck chairs and excited children who have presumably been allowed to stay up late for the occasion. Also the enroute catering is legendary with pubs, village halls and scout groups all providing night long sustenance. The first of these that we stopped at was Fyfield where the parents of the local scouts (the scouts themselves, with great timing were away on camp!) were doing an amazing job with teas, coffees, bacon rolls, burgers etc. We regrouped, refuelled and set our lights to night mode. This last item is taken to extremes by many participants and within the Horsham Crew both Craig and Jorge were lit up like Vegas casinos at Christmas, a magnificent sight to see and significant battery power required.

With different pacing strategies groups inevitably get split up and reform. As Trixie can’t descend at more than 22mph without my legs reaching escape velocity I soon saw the rear wheels of Richard, Tony and Rob disappearing up the road. But you are never alone, you’re always riding and chatting to someone and the string of red lights twinkling ahead makes navigation easy. One particularly sharp turn was being pointed out by a lady on the pavement in her dressing gown to enthusiastic thank yous as we passed. I had downloaded a GPS route but never once had to refer to it. For ten miles or so I fell in with a peloton of four other fixies which was great as we kept formation both up and down the gentle slopes of Essex, encouraging each other that our choice of machines was not completely bonkers and we were indeed “keeping it real”.

Reuniting with Richard and Rob at the White Horse pub in Great Waldingfield we consumed the most enormous meat pies, delicious but not the most easily digestible food for cycling. The temperature dipped a little as the night progressed but never enough to require any extra layers to be worn, in fact the weather was perfect for riding all the way. One further stop at Gosbeck completed the fuelling for the night and we began to focus on reaching the coast. Amazingly about 15 miles from the end I began to see riders heading in the opposite direction. Having reached the sea they were now returning to London, doing the double. Now some folks just don’t know when to stop, but their achievement is mightily impressive.

As the Eastern sky lightened the pace quickened and, almost before I’d realised, I was on the final short descent to the beach. It was only 4:15am but already there were hundreds of cyclists smiling, swapping stories, congratulating each other and queuing for the pub and cafe. As Trixie and I struggled across the shingle, Mike, one of the Cranleigh riders, bounded up with an enthusiastic welcome and celebration, which made the moment. Richard and Rob, who had done an extra loop to get the 200km, soon joined us as we sat on the pebbles waiting for the sunrise, which unfortunately was stolen from us by some uncharacteristic low clouds.

Gradually the rest of the Horsham Crew arrived with their own excited tales to tell. Many came equipped for the beach, Tony’s mini deck chair which he’d carried all the way being particularly memorable. A fair few, possibly a majority, indulged in the traditional dip in the North Sea. The shouts of, “It’s not that cold, quite refreshing “, failed to persuade me to join them. A brief rain shower forced us into the pub (my excuse and I’m sticking to it) and before long it was time to ride together, the three miles inland to the rendezvous with Ferenc and Andy. Bikes and tired bodies were loaded and we were whisked home to Horsham, via a second breakfast at Thurrock.

The Dynamo is unique. The camaraderie, support and just general sense of fun is second to none, like nothing I’ve experienced before!

For 110 miles, it’s an easy route with no significant hills and good road surfaces. And doing it over night just adds to the magic. If you are contemplating your first ton it’s a great one to pick. In fact the hardest part is all the eating at the various stops, you definitely need to train for that. And thanks to the amazing organisation and the fantastic volunteers at HC you can just focus on the riding and not worry about the logistics which makes it even easier.

Bookings for next year’s transport open soon, go on, give it a go!