Essex-based Audax organiser Tom Deakins weaves plenty of history into his rides – none more so than his challenging Dick Turpin’s Day Out 200km permanent. As the event, around the notorious 18th century highwayman’s haunts, enters its second decade, Tom describes its origins as a celebration of a scoundrel who remains a local hero in his home county
DICK TURPIN was hanged in York for horse-thieving in 1739 – just another common criminal in an age of villains. But thanks to a Victorian novelist, who turned him into a dashing anti-hero, Turpin is right up there on the list of celebrated Essex villains, portrayed by the likes of Sid James in Carry On Dick. I guess he had a good PR man. Whatever the truth of his exploits, randonneurs of an Essex persuasion may contemplate his extraordinary life – especially in the pitch dark, somewhere between London and York. It all started with the Randonneur Round the Year. I got on the treadmill of riding a 200km-plus event every month sometime in the 2000s when the AUK calendar was not the treasure trove of events it is now, especially in what we used to think of as the off-season, from late autumn through to some time in February. I used Herman Ramsey’s Manningtree
200km for the RRtY at first, starting from Saffron Walden, heading west to Buntingford, then along the Suffolk-Essex border (a section later pinched for my Kingdom of the East Saxons 400km), eastwards to Manningtree and back through Lavenham. I’d already used the AUK Midlands Mesh, organised by Peter Coulson, to put together longer rides for early Super Randonneur series. Conveniently my home town of Great Dunmow lay on one of the routes between “nodes” with set minimum distances, which made initial planning a doddle. As things almost always turned out there were bonus kilometres involved, as many shortest routes were a bit too busy at certain times of the day. A 200km starting from home seemed ideal – a triangular route up to Saffron Walden for the first control, on to Woolpit, with a long hypotenuse to Ongar via
Lavenham and back to Dunmow with the option of B-roads at the beginning and end if icy. This was ridden a few times solo, then Deniece Davidson came along for the ride one very cold winter Saturday. Deniece has been a contender for AUK points champion, and a former red-hot racer. Originally from Dundee, she now lives in Colchester. All was well until we got on to the lanes after sunset and the frost came down, with puddles freezing over fast. Caution led to a slowing of the pace and we soon got chilled. By Fyfield we were both really feeling the cold. Seeing a house with lights blazing, Deniece knocked on the door with frozen fingers and asked for sanctuary. We were very kindly given tea and directed to the Aga to warm up gloves and outer layers. The aroma of singeing kit was a sign we might be outstaying our welcome. Deniece’s hands were very warm for the next few miles. So I thought, I can do better than this route, with a few tweaks, to make it a winter-friendly 200. The mesh route went past Dick Turpin’s cottage in Thaxted and his birthplace, the Bluebell Inn at
Arrivée154Winter2021
DICK TURPIN'S DAY OUT
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Buffing up… Riders meet at the Organiser's place
Dick Turpin’s Day Out is a 200km permanent, starting from Great Dunmow, Essex, with controls at Saffron Walden, Acton/Lavenham, Walsham-le-Willows, Debenham and Sudbury. The ride is, according to its creator, Tom, good for a winter 200.
