Dragon Ride Wales 2009

Brewsterwmb

Great route, well signed and all seemed to flow well from my perspective. MUCH better start than last few years! Miles were spot on (long route). Well done Team Dragon. Lots of people to please on this one!

bendertherobot

bahzob wrote:

Found the food stations fine. IMO if you want to eat something specific like a pasty bring your own along. I happen to like Parmesan cheese but dont expect organisers to supply it.

.

Umm, the organisers had agreed to provide it.

Brewsterwmb

bendertherobot

Many say lots of things. Few actually provide it :P

bendertherobot

Brewsterwmb wrote:

bendertherobot

Many say lots of things. Few actually provide it :P

Well quite. But when you respond to feedback saying there will be savoury food and stick some crisps out it does nark a bit.

Brewsterwmb

lol.... There was a full roast dinners when I got there!

dombo6

And the "crisps" were actually accompanying game chips

itisaboutthebike

Only grumble is the feed stations were hectic and a bit messy, could have done with some better grub .

Good job you weren't on the Bikaradar sportive...............you'd have starved. Food provided was jsut fine. Plenty of bananas, cakes and gels. What more could you want ? Several pubs on route were doing roast dinners...........

Feed stations were not that hectic.........................try doing the Marmotte - then you'll know what hectic is !

howiejmidlands

First time at this event and will be back.

I managed the whole ride without walking once! I stopped, got HR down and then carried on. The long drag climbs are still painful, but much better for me to SLOWLY grind my 119kgs up.

I stopped counting after 40, the number of people who came to say hello, thank you one and all, i do appreciate the support.

Loved, and i mean loved the descents, but wouldnt be doing 45mph in the wet!

Had a big emotional wobbly lip point at the top of the Bwlch second time and at the finish, so to the guys and gals i spoke to, i was there in body but not in mind. Must have been too much sun.

7:53 is a result for me.

Anyone got a link for the photographer??

Brewsterwmb

Good work Howie! Have to be happy with that?!?! Plenty of DNF and those naughty boys that went through red's! DQ'd and rightly so!

Some photos going up here - www.philoconnor.com/sportivephoto.htm Nothing up yet and took a while last year....

nickwill

First time on this one for me. I thought the organisation was spot on. The start and finish arrangements were very efficient and the signposting and marshalling were perfect from what I saw. As regards the feedstops they provided everything i needed. I basically like to be self sufficient with gels and energy bars, so only pick up the odd item for variety. Cakes and bananas do me fine. The main plus with the feedstops was the provision of energy drinks, any event that does that is in my good books.
It was my first visit to South Wales and I thought the climbs were wonderful. With a bit of imagination and the warm sunshine, there were times when I could almost have been in the Pyrenees.
I was very impressed at the South Wales police, its not very often that the traffic gets stopped for you on a sportive.
As someone who usually rides in the Dales and Lakes, this ride was a really refreshing change. I was delighted to get round in 7 hours and 16 minutes.

r3 guy

Saw you out there howie good job !

Did you do the short or the long

Cervelo man (as you called me)

bendertherobot

Quite a lot of DQ's then!

pdchaplin

How do we know the times are correct?

Got an email from my mate - "Chapistick,
According to the the published results www.racelive.co.uk I finished in 6 hrs 29min, pretty pleased with that considering I was sat on a ferry in the middle of the English Channel for most of Sunday! "

I managed 7:55, wel pleased with that too.

cakewalk

180 km ride.

Average -=7:25
Average Split = 2:19

25th percentile = 6:58
50th percentile = 7:44
75th percentile = 8:33

1638 Start
30 DQ
48 DNF

Number of people spotted on unicycle = 1 :shock:

howiejmidlands

Hi r3guy

I did the 130km sprint option. Still love ur bike, tasty machine.

sampras38

itboffin wrote:

I liked the crisps didn't like the headwind

Great day out never sweated that much in my life and boy did those climbs go on and on and on worth every minute for the descents I'm still smiling now i'm tempted to go back next weekend.

Weather permitting ...

I'll be back next year for sure and booking myself into that Premier Inn at the start, great pub too :roll:

0/ We were in the Premier Inn too.

It was my first ever Sportive and I loved every minute of it, apart from getting cramp in both legs at 90 miles..;-)

Ended up staying seated for the rest but still managed to keep a good pace. Even ended up racing another rider for the last 2 miles.

attica

Hey Sampras, that wasn't you in the Assos "cow print" top was it.

I raced someone fitting that description over the last few miles, still not sure who won the sprint!

I was on the Giant wearing a white "High Road" top

sampras38

Attica wrote:

Hey Sampras, that wasn't you in the Assos "cow print" top was it.

I raced someone fitting that description over the last few miles, still not sure who won the sprint!

I was on the Giant wearing a white "High Road" top

No, the guy I raced was a really tall fella on a Specialized. I was riding a black/yellow Scott CR1 with Scott bib shorts.

Dressed all in black.

attica

Ah well, worth asking I suppose

I love those last minute races, they just add to the whole experience, hope you won your sprint?

desdeadly

cakewalk wrote:

Number of people spotted on unicycle = 1 :shock:

He is my mate.
There were two that started but one had (if you can believe it) a mechanical after 20 miles and had to retire. The other finished the short-er route in 10hrs 31 mins and was well chuffed.

cakewalk

desdeadly wrote:

cakewalk wrote:

Number of people spotted on unicycle = 1 :shock:

He is my mate.
There were two that started but one had (if you can believe it) a mechanical after 20 miles and had to retire. The other finished the short-er route in 10hrs 31 mins and was well chuffed.

I was, to put it mildly, very impressed. Long or short ride? Does not really matter as still an amazing thing to do. Give him my regards - a sporting hero.

r3 guy

I saw two guys on unicycles

Hats off to them

attica

Haha, I asked him what his GI was, he had no idea - should be just the wheel diameter on that sort of machine.

were the unicycles purpose built? Chapeau to both for even contemplating it

bendertherobot

I'll be suitably impressed when the nutters have SPD's

yogi

Apologies to anyone trying to access the YOGi Cycling website to see a few photos of the Dragon Ride but there's been so much traffic that it has crashed.

I shook Howies hand at the finish and introduced myself, I don't think he was in a fit state to remember as he'd obviously turned himself inside-out to do that ride - top performance.

Also got an email from someone I havn't seen for about 20 years off the back of doing the Dragon - small world.

Does anyone know how the guy who'd crashed at the bottom of the Bwlch (2nd time) is? It looked pretty bad but he was very conscious. He was wearing a 'Mint Sauce' jersey I believe.

sampras38

Attica wrote:

Ah well, worth asking I suppose

I love those last minute races, they just add to the whole experience, hope you won your sprint?

Unfortunately not..

The dogfish

This was my first sportive and thought it was pretty tough - the 2nd climb up the Bwlch was a killer. (How did the guy on the unicycle manage?).

One thing that struck me was the lack of regard that some riders had when overtaking - cutting back in sharply. One guy nearly clipped me and when I told him to watch out he gave me some abuse! Thankfully not the general attitude and found whole atmosphere great.

wobbley wheel

did anyone see the rider that crashed into the bush on one of the descents, it looked a bit nasty i was wondering if he was ok

sampras38

The dogfish wrote:

This was my first sportive and thought it was pretty tough - the 2nd climb up the Bwlch was a killer. (How did the guy on the unicycle manage?).

One thing that struck me was the lack of regard that some riders had when overtaking - cutting back in sharply. One guy nearly clipped me and when I told him to watch out he gave me some abuse! Thankfully not the general attitude and found whole atmosphere great.

Yeah, I saw a bit of that. No point in getting annoyed though as there'll always be people who do it.

itboffin

Woohoo just checked my time 5:22 for the shorter ride very very please with that as my gps record 5:07 moving time, puts me in 135 place

I know I know it's not a race but still