This years Dave LLoyd Mega Challenge
Comments
-
My 2008 Dave Lloyd MEGA Challenge Experience
I live just outside Cambridge which is situated in the flatlands of East Anglia. We just don’t have ‘proper’ hills around here. So my pre-DLMC training consisted of riding out some 25 miles or so from my house to find the nearest sizeable hill (14% gradient, but only about ¼ mile long) and then just riding up and down it several times until I got bored !
A matter of days before the event, I decided to invest in a compact chainset (34/50), as I’d read that some of the climbs I was about to encounter in North Wales were nearly twice as severe as anything I’d ever ridden up. This proved to be a VERY wise move, as I ended up spending a lot of time in my bottom gear 34/27 and have since realised that I just wouldn’t have managed on a 39/27 combination.
I lost count of the number of times that I ‘cursed’ Dave for putting us through so much pain & effort and I must admit to letting fly with a few choice ‘expletives’ when I overcooked a sharp corner coming down the other side of the Horseshoe pass and slammed into the embankment which, fortunately for me, was soft enough not to do any damage to me or the bike. It was, however, a severe ‘wake up’ call.
This was my first ever cyclosportive and it would seem that I had managed to pick one of the toughest ones going ! One of the other riders that I spoke to said he thought it was far harder than the Etape de Tour that he’d done a couple of years ago.
After completing about 67 miles, I came to the roundabout near Denbigh and saw two signs, one marked ‘69 mile route’ and the other ‘140 mile route’. Having just ridden through heavy rain, I can’t tell you how tempted I was at that point to cut my ride short and take the left turn towards the finish of the 69 miler, but somehow, I made the decision to push on and go for the ‘mega’ route. It was probably the thought of having to tell my family and friends that instead of doing the full 140 miles that I’d been going on & on about for the past couple of months, I’d actually ‘wimped’ out and only completed half of it. Yes, there was a lot of pride at stake here. I wanted to hold my head up and be able to say to one and all ‘I’d done it – the full 140 miles & 5,000 metres of climbing !’
It must have been about half way down the other side of the Bwlch-Y-Groes when I encountered the inevitable sheep in the middle of the road. I’m sure it was playing ‘chicken’ with me. It waited until the last possible moment before moving to the side of the road. I’ll never forget the ‘had you worried there for a moment’ look it gave me as it casually moved aside !
Just after this, a couple of guys came haring past me at what must have been about 40mph and disappeared around the next blind bend. ‘Mad buggers’ I thought to myself. A few seconds later, I rounded said bend and saw one to the guys sitting on his backside. I’m not sure where his bike was though - perhaps it carried on down the side of the mountain without him! The hare and the tortoise story sprang to mind at this point as I shot past the downed cyclist and his mate completely reinforcing my belief that my cautious descending was fully justified .
By the time I got to the third feed station, I was starting to sense that I might just manage to complete this ride after all. All the nagging doubts that I’d had up to that point were starting to ease off a bit. I’d passed the all important 100 mile mark which meant that there was ‘only’ another 40 to go. At 110 miles, I’d equalled my longest ever ride and I was now charting unknown territory as far as my cycling abilities go.
I’d already conquered the most severe climbs I’d EVER ridden up without resorting to dismounting the bike and walking (which is what I was secretly fearing would happen) and it was probably this fact that had bolstered my confidence to new levels where I was beginning to believe that I was actually going to complete this ride after all.
Just before the 4th feed station, I passed a lone rider who was on the verge of total exhaustion. He had the 1,000 yard stare and had almost ground to a complete halt. I knew exactly how he felt. I offered him some words of encouragement as I eased past him. About a mile after that, the 4th feed station finally appeared in front of me and I wolfed down an energy gel, some dried fruit and a cereal bar. I also re-filled the bottles with more PSP22 for the last time. I bid farewell to the ‘helpers’ and set off for the final 22 miles.
I kept telling myself that 22 miles is ‘nothing’. Then I reached the ‘Stingers’ and boy did that hurt after 120 miles ! Fortunately, a small group of riders came past me and I quickly latched on to the back of them and this helped me scrape my way up the last climb of the day. The final 5 miles were pure bliss. After all that leg-breaking climbing, it was just fantastic to free-wheel back into Ruthin and the joy of seeing the finish point was indescribable.
Without a doubt, I can honestly say that the DLMC was the most physically demanding thing I’ve EVER done in all of my 45 years. There were times during the ride, especially when I dropped off the back of a small group of riders ascending Bwlch Y Groes and saw them disappear in the distance, that I seriously thought that the ride was beyond my capabilities and that the ‘gasket’ was finally going to blow. Somehow, and from somewhere, I managed to dig deep and drag out enough sheer willpower and strength to get me up those monstrous climbs. Several times, I kept telling myself that as long as those pedals kept turning, no matter how slowly, then I would carry on moving onwards and upwards. I’ve never tried to cycle up a single hill of this magnitude before let alone several of them, one after another.
It’s hard to explain the sense of achievement you feel after completing a ride like this. To ‘non-cycling’ friends, it’s just ‘another’ ride that you’ve done. But to me and, I suspect, everyone else who did the DLMC, it was pain, suffering, torment, exhilaration AND something very special!
My final time was 10.28 - a Silver medal standard for my age group. A bit less time spent at the four feed stations and I reckon I could have bagged a Gold !
To Dave and all of his helpers, a big THANK YOU for what truly was a MEGA challenge. And to any other cyclosportive event organisers out there, all I can say is “Top that one !”0 -
I really suffered between about 50 and 80 miles over Moel Arthur and the “road to hell” until I turned into the visitor centre at Lake Brenig.
I’d filled up one of my bottles at the first feeding station with SIS that was diluted to a homeopathic level. It was the same at the 60 mile feed station so I was trying to ration my other bottle with the inevitable disastrous results, cramp in both legs. I realised I needed to find a shop, Lucozade Sport has got me out of trouble on more than one occasion and it’s usually easy to find, but Sunday trading hasn’t permeated very far into North Wales.
I know there are a lot of mountain bike trails up at Lake Brenig so I reasoned they’d have some sort of sports drink available. Thankfully they had Gatorade so I finished the stuff I’d started out with, poured the dishwater down the grid and filled both bottles with Gatorade. I was fine after that although the damage had been done from a lactic acid point of view and I just had to change down through the gears and spin the pedals on the hills. I was a bit disappointed with my time at the finish as I’d got silver standard in the Gran Fondo Cymru and was hoping for a similar result in this but I didn’t even get bronze.
Still, it was an excellent event and the food was top notch. I know most of those roads and all of the hills but I’ve never, ever done them all in one day. I’d booked yesterday off on holiday to recover and I needed it too.0 -
Jeff Jones wrote:Richyboycp,
Check again - I counted around 350 finishers (roughly 170 each for the 69 and 140 miles + 2 who did the 120 mile option). The organiser told me that there were 380 starters on the day, so about 2/3rds of the registered riders. That's in keeping with both the Circuit of the Cotswolds and the Dragon Ride.
Next year, it'll be a limit of 1000 but I'd guess they'll keep the 'enter on the day' option open because there are bound to be lots of non starters, like every event.
Well done to you for finishing anyway! I was also happy not to have to get off the bike (still used 39x28), unlike last week in the CotC :shock:
Yip, looks like I pulled the data over before it was fully updated...either that or I was just an eejit
Better knowing so many others have suffered and experienced such a ride...it really was another level of effort...
And about your quote 'I was also happy not to get off the bike'...
I see where you were placed...where was it....oh yes...fastest rider on the day...8.12...I'm sure your just being very kind to a normal weekend warrior type bloke like myself
We are at opposite ends of the 140mile rider list...your top...and I'm not far off the bottom.....must say I cannot beleive how you could ride such an event at such speed without a 500cc Yamaha underneath you...I just tip my hat.....however I know my own abilities and pulling that off is my own personal acheivement....and thats just getting round...it takes many abilities and types to make a super day out...which it definately was. 0 -
