“Every year, on the Saturday closest to a full moon in July, thousands of cyclists meet in London and ride 120 miles through the night to the Suffolk coast. There’s no organisation, support crew or logical reason to do it.”
I did it a few years back on a hybrid with street tyres, took me about three months to get fit for it as I personally have an ITBS issue that stops me around 60 miles in unless I stretch it out. Beforehand the longest ride I did was maybe 40 miles.
I’m going to have another go at it this year - anyone fancy getting fit, seeing Finchingfield in a different light, and doing a few sunny trips to Brighton for good measure?
I was considering it this year but having a baby in the middle of last year means I’ve barely done any riding for the last 8 months.
Did an 80 miler round Cambridge fens (so pancake flat) a couple of weeks back and it was much harder than it should have been. 120 miles seems like an awful long way right now - is the Dunwich route pretty flat?
If you want that sort of thing but shorter, there’s a night version of the London to Brighton (~60mi); it also doesn’t go over Ditchling and goes sort-of round it via a flatter hill. It’s much more sell-outy mainstream than the dynamo, though.
Done more than my fair share of miles in the saddle. Amongst others I completed 10 BHF London to Brighton runs 1993-2003. Only pushed it up Ditchling Beacon once in 94 or 95, there was an incident on the Hill and landing the air ambulance caused a little congestion.
Enjoy the training and good luck on the day
BTW my personal best at that sort of distance gave an average of just over 20 mph on a London to Portsmouth 100 mile time trial back in '72. Had this dream of competing in the Tour de France but like so many dreams it never became a reality.
