The Dunwich Dynamo runs again this weekend
The destination is a pebbly beach with an OK-ish cafe (which to their credit does open at 4am specially).
But the journey... that's what it's all about. A 120 mile cycle ride in the dark. Each time I've done it, I've come away with memories including:

* The candles in jars that mark the route - your heart leaps every time you spot one. Mostly with relief that you took the right turning.

* The endless stream of blinking red lights ahead of you.

* The gentle sound of whirring tyres and muffled conversations coming out of the dark behind you as yet another bunch of couriers bomb past. Bastards.

* A guy wearing nothing but some floaty linen trousers and flip-flops with a bike-pump on a bit of string over his shoulder overtaking me without even breaking a sweat. Bastard.

* The topless lady in Sudbury who waved her norks at us at 2am from her bedroom window.

* A stretch limo parked up in a field, gently rocking with an increasingly frenetic rhythym.

* Almost wiping out on a (gentle) descent after mistaking a patch of moonlight for the edge of the road.

* Cramping out both legs, lying on the grass in agony and being offered something to help that turned out to be vodka jelly. My generous patron was fuelling his entire ride with just vodka jellies.

* Swearing never to do it again, and yet, somehow...

Nope. I'm not going this year. Honest.
Edit: The guy who always organised coaches back died last month. Barry Mason was a genuinely lovely bloke. RIP Barry.
( chthonic, Fri 15 Jul 2011, 1:20, 4 replies)

Wow.
I'd love to do this.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Fri 15 Jul 2011, 7:46, closed)

^^
I, too, am intrigued by the possibility.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 15 Jul 2011, 8:47, closed)

It doesn't take much more than
turning up on a bike at The Pub In the Park on London Fields, this Saturday evening.

Well, a little more - you'll need food, some extra clothes in case it gets cold/wet and some sort of plan for getting home. Generally winding down the road to Ipswich gets you on a train, but it's hard to get in the mood for MORE cycling...
( chthonic, Fri 15 Jul 2011, 11:20, closed)

ok-ish cafe?
what about the fish and chips, eh? EH?
( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Fri 15 Jul 2011, 8:57, closed)

I've always had the fried brekky
so maybe I've been missing out.
( chthonic, Fri 15 Jul 2011, 11:21, closed)

indeed
with a dodgy can of cider as they ran out of beer by the time i decided to eat. the bacon sarnie stand about 85 miles in was welcome too. never has a cup of tea tasted nicer.
(Alphabet Soap boshboshboshbosh, Fri 15 Jul 2011, 13:03, closed)

I have to do this...
...it sounds ace!

Myself and Devil In Tights recently rode from Brighton to London offroad in support of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, this looks like a great follow up.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Fri 15 Jul 2011, 13:01, closed)