Dynwich Dynamo

I'm still waiting for the coach tickets back to Stratford to go on sale. The Southwark Cyclists coaches are just too much hassle. Tempting to ride back though....

if you read what they're said, the only trains south out of Ipswich that will accept bikes (pre-booked only) will be the ones from Norwich, which they say they'll get 50 onto- not sure how, this may mean a carriage taken out of use with covers on seats?

The trains that start at Ipswich, using the suburban units, will have a total bike ban on them

I like the fact they've been very open about the changes. Last year I just rolled up and jumped on a train at midday with no problems but looks like capacity is limited this year. Maybe this is the one to ride both ways... Argh!

Here's an account from last year to lift your spirits: https://humancyclist.wordpress.com/2014/07/13/night-cycling-dunwich-dynamo/

When I did it a few years ago we got the train back from Ipswich, a major station so plenty of trains back to London.

Bit of a tricky one I reckon.
I can see the rail companies point of view if everyone just piles it into London ready for the 9'ish pm start and then does the ride, has a fry up and then all try and pile out at say 8 am.
It looked like carnage the last two years I've done it but luckily I'm from the area.

You might get more joy if you try and only use the trains from Ipswich that run Liverpool St - Norwich as they still have a more traditional open service/luggage carriage at the front/back.
Forget the L'verpool at - Ipswich line as that's all shitty intercity carriages without a space for one bike let alone 100+. Same for Lowestoft - Ipshit line.

You could try and be a bit more canny and have a little recovery ride further up the line and try and get on there or be prepared to cycle back to Ipswich and get on the bigger train.

The Manchester to Blackpool bike ride sees all bikes banned from all trains out of Blackpool.

Sounds fair to me, especially given they've published the info so far in advance. I've done the ride to Ipswich, get the train thing a couple of times and its always been OK but then we've usually been on one of the first trains out at 8am or so. Can imagine it getting very busy later in the day.

One year a mate drove her car to the local station about 5 miles from the finish on the Saturday then got the train home. We did the ride, slept on the beach for a bit then rode to the station and she drove back to London (while I fell asleep again in the passenger seat!).

I guess another option is simply to ride to another station or stay much later and get a quieter train towards the end of the day. Some people, particularly those riding in clubs/teams, hire a minibus to pick them up in Dunwich. There are plenty of ways around the restrictions.

Problem comes with getting to the start with a 4 bike per train limit in action, which is the usual limit, but given the numbers wanting to travel from the region to partake, perhaps not enough.

as far as I've worked out (another forum) for the Ipswich-London trains they'll be putting one carriage out of passenger use (possibly covering the seats) in order to accommodate 50 bikes per train. Even on a Sunday the southern end of the line is very badly congested, fitting more trains (if they had them) would be tricky.

The East Suffolk line has lots of single track, making it hard to run extra trains, and the trains can only be three carriages maximum.

By the sounds of it they've thought through what they can and can't do and come up with a solution that does their best to help those riding whilst also minimising impact on other train users.