So much that I want to say about the 2019DD. My 5th, but the first time I've done it in 10 years.
London Fields was, again, awesome, and a great introduction to the ethos of the ride for the guys doing it for the first time. Hackney is so cool nowadays, especially for backwoodsmen like us. Masses massed, all friendly, smoking, drinking, dancing, nervously setting off early to beat the rush. Some hope - the consensus seems to be 3,000 people rode the route. No pre-race nerves, no jostling for position, just people smiling.
We set off at about 8:20pm after a number of middle-aged gentlemen had to do what middle-aged gentlemen do. The first hour through London was slow but good. A lot of smells (well, 1 smell in particular), sounds and sights to keep us occupied as we followed the long trail of bikes out into Essex. This part of the ride was markedly different to my previous times - all of the bike lanes. No weaving in & out of cars, no annoyed drivers. A bit slower, but those lanes weren't built for the amount of traffic they had on them. The next part of the ride has always been the most unpleasant, out to Epping. We had a particular driver & passenger who seemed to be congratulating us on making love to homosexual vaginas, but they were alone in a sea of 'people just co-existing'.
Out of Epping, we turned right, and boom - country lanes all night long. So many great memories keep hitting me about the ride from here on in - the kids sat by the roadside wrapped in blankets & cheering us in as if we were on the Tour. Going around corners in sleepy and sleeping villages to find the entire road closed due to drinking, eating & happy cyclists. 3 blokes stood by the roadside in the middle of nowhere cheering us on. Sudbury coming along at just the right time. The haystack fire near Sudbury. The sheer number of people on the road at all times. The fake sunrise that turned out to be Ipswich's lights. Needham Market where we met a very tired Weever Fish jnr. And then the light started to change, subtly and slowly it was a new day.
By now we were strung out. 2 had gone home from Needham Market, 3 of us were ahead, Weever Fish jnr was dropping his kids off at the pool and the final 2 were coping stoically with a puncture outside a huge BBQ...
Then we were through Framlingham without seeing the carstle on the hill, and the fabled '7 miles to Dunwich' sign went past. The transport for our bikes was already in Dunwich and people were milling around in the dawn light.
Suddenly we were going downhill and were there, into the car park in Dunwich, nicely before 6am. I walked my bike over the pebbles on the beach and dipped the front wheel in the sea - as far east as we could go together.
An awesome ride for me, completed with one of my oldest friends and some of my oldest friends...
Finally, The Ship and breakfast & a pint (it was evening for us still...).
