Dragon Ride Wales 2009
Comments
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cakewalk - 2 guys on unicycle's! Anyone know who they got on :?“Look where you want to go. Not where you are going”0
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Anyone buy one of the Dragon tops?
I bought one on the Saturday from the tent at the start and the zip came apart at the bottom when I tried it on the morning of the ride. I expected a bit more for £45.00.
Sent them an email and waiting for reply.0 -
I also saw the poor guy at the bottom of the Bulwch he wasn't moving when I passed. Well done to the locals who were warning us further up the road. I hope it all turns out okay for him.
Otherweise a great day out on the bike, loads of sweat and tears, well almost!
Sacrificed half a water bottle of water for a shower on the Bulwch second time round, Boy did that feel good
Also gave up on the carb drinks as they started giving me stomach aches and heaves!
Straight water sorted me out again.
See you next year.0 -
yogi wrote: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.
Hey Yogi. Managed to get on to your site to view the pics before it went down, and pleased to have done so, they're a fantastic record.
Bike1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35118936@N07/3258551288/
Bike 2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35118936@N ... otostream/
New Bike
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35118936@N07/3479300346/0 -
bprice wrote:
I can imagine how it must be difficult being a unicyclist on a climb but how do they manage on descents like the Bwlch :?:r3 guy wrote:I saw two guys on unicycles
Hats off to them
Good question!!!! I was approaching 50mph on some of the descents, what speeds are they doing? Much respect to them, 10 1/2 hrs to complete.....hardcore!0 -
My first sportive - only took up road riding properly in February this year at the tender age of 49 - and did the 117 miler which is 40 miles further than I have ever ridden before, in 7.46, so pretty pleased overall.
Thought it was generally well organised, although getting from the M4 into the car park, and the lack of loos in the car park were the only areas where improvements could be made IMO.
Big thanks to the organisers, marshals, feed station volunteers, police and St Johns Ambulance for making it a great event, and also to the locals who were clapping and cheering for most of the day.
Be back next year - should be able to beat my time as took it very easy for the first third, and spent most of the time riding on my own rather than in a group.
Well done to the unicyclist - amazing performance!
Hope the guy who was down at the bottom of Bwlch was OK - it looked pretty serious when I went past - looked like he may have hit a car coming the other way as he was laid out on the wrong carriageway?0 -
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
Was that you with the Clevedon guy around 75-85 miles? I was the guy from Nailsea. We had a good pace there and must have dragged ourselves up a few places. Shame we didn't manage to keep it up to the finish. Mind you, the slower pace when we dropped onto the back of the group we caught was a welcome relief.0 -
I had a race for 2 miles at 113-4 or so. Twas fun. Then I pulled in to wait for my mate. My blog: http://www.roubaixcycling.cc (kit reviews and other musings)
https://twitter.com/roubaixcc
Facebook? No. Just say no.0 -
felix500 wrote:Was that you with the Clevedon guy around 75-85 miles? I was the guy from Nailsea. We had a good pace there and must have dragged ourselves up a few places. Shame we didn't manage to keep it up to the finish. Mind you, the slower pace when we dropped onto the back of the group we caught was a welcome relief.
Hi Felix
Yep, that was me, if only more groups would work like that. A pleasure riding with you.
I'm off to the Clevedon 10 mile TT tonight to try to shake my legs out a bit, I'll say hi to the other chap if he's there."Impressive break"
"Thanks...
...I can taste blood"0 -
bendertherobot wrote:I had a race for 2 miles at 113-4 or so. Twas fun. Then I pulled in to wait for my mate.
Same here...and I got bad cramp in both legs at 90..
God knows where the extra energy came from..;-)
It was my first sportive and I'll definately be back next year.0 -
Attica wrote:felix500 wrote:Was that you with the Clevedon guy around 75-85 miles? I was the guy from Nailsea. We had a good pace there and must have dragged ourselves up a few places. Shame we didn't manage to keep it up to the finish. Mind you, the slower pace when we dropped onto the back of the group we caught was a welcome relief.
Hi Felix
Yep, that was me, if only more groups would work like that. A pleasure riding with you.
I'm off to the Clevedon 10 mile TT tonight to try to shake my legs out a bit, I'll say hi to the other chap if he's there.
It certainly would make a huge difference to your time if you could work as a group the whole way round on one of these things. I almost always end up riding solo for part of the route wondering if I've missed a marker sign. Having said that, I thought this was a really well organised sportive (setting aside the food issues already well covered by others). Definitley one of the easier ones too without the killer 25% inclines and white knuckle descents that usually crop up. Will be back next year for more.
Managed to shake off the stiff legs on the SS this morning on the way into work having driven in yesterday.
Enjoy the TT.0 -
Does anyone have the actual distance and ascent of the long route?0
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My Polar 600 said 116 miles and 2660 metres of ascent0
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For anyone that recorded Sunday's Wales dragon ride on their Garmin, have any of you had problems uploading it to Garmin Connect?
I can get it on Sportstrack but not Connect for some reason. It just seems to hang half way through.0 -
No problems here, mine uploaded straight away.Just a fat bloke on a bike0
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118 miles & 2,639m on my computers (Hac4Plus & Cateye V2C).
360m out of their claimed total climb of 3,000m isn't too bad but I don't understand why every sportive exagerates the total climb so much. So many people have altimetres now. I've come to expect all of them to be a few hundred metres shy of their claim.
Cotswold claims 2,500m - actual about 2,000m
Chiltern 100 claims 2,620m - actual about 2,260m
Not just the Brits either. Did a French one a month ago that claimed 2,800 but was 2,250m.
The only honest ones I've come across are the Etapes & Marmotte. Actually the Marmotte is now exageratted a little as it only....... does 4,800m now the route is over Glandon rather than Croix de Fer.
Curious to know if others have the same experience.0 -
I think the exaggerated climbing comes from the use of Memorymap and Anquet. All of these programmes exaggerate climbing. When we calculate ascent on sportivecentral.com, we always allow for this by deducting about 15% from the calculated total. This usually gets us there or thereabouts. I think there is usually a certain amount of error with altimeters as well, due to the changes in barometric pressure.
Interestingly, my bike computer claimed only 114 miles for the Dragon, but everybody else I spoke to seemed to get more. I think I need to recalibrate it.0 -
Different computers will show different ascent values because of different rounding algorithms. Garmin are usually a lot higher.
Saying that, does anybody have the distance and ascent for the long route off of a Garmin 305? I b*llsed up turning mine on on Sunday.
Annoyed because I'm sure I got a new best top speed on one of the descents :twisted:0 -
My Suunto T6 showed 2708 metres of climbing.0
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Nickwill - I agree there can be a little error due to barometric pressure but the Hac4plus shows total climb & total descent. Considering you start & finish from the same point at most events these should be the same. On Sunday my mine showed only 4m difference. It's quite a moral boosting feature as it gives you an idea of how much descending you have at the end if the ascent figure is well above the descent.
114 miles? Sounds like you did a sneaky short cut somewhere.......
GeorgeShaw - yes and also depends how often it's taking the measurements.
I understood that barometric was thought to be more accurate than GPS for cumulative altitude on long events especially as it cannot lose a satellite signal. My mates Garmin 305 has been hopelessly unreliable whenever we cycle in the Alps but he may have a duff model as his top speed would regularly be over 200kmh.0 -
coulcher wrote:yes and also depends how often it's taking the measurements.
Yup, I missed out sample rate. More samples should be more accurate, but then it has to be smoothed in some way. It's like the old trick mathematics question - what's the length of the coastline of the UK? If you go around every grain of sand, it's very very large indeed. So, generally, faster sample rates will give higher figures.
The effect should be reduced for the longer climbs of the Dragon and in the Alps, though.0 -
I think I need to recalibrate my computercoulcher wrote:114 miles? Sounds like you did a sneaky short cut somewhere.......
It did the same to me on the Richmond 5 Dales.
It's a nice surprise though when the finish comes up 3 miles sooner than you were expecting! 0 -
Nickwill wrote:It's a nice surprise though when the finish comes up 3 miles sooner than you were expecting!
Rather surprisingly, I really enjoyed that last 8km. A tailwind and slightly downhill, I was enjoying stringing out the group behind me. Probably because it's the only time I've ever had the legs to do it.
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A friend sent me a link to this forum so I thought I'd jump in...
As one of the unicyclists in the Dragon Ride on Sunday, I'd just like to thank everyone for their support and encouragement. There were times when I felt like giving up but there was always enough motivation to get me to the next milestone. Much appreciated.
Cheers,
Mark.0 -
I have to say Mark, that as I was in the queue of traffic waiting to get into the carpark, and I saw you and your mate on the way to the start line I thought you were nuts!! Can't believe you attempted this! RESPECT!0
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The guy who crashed hit a sheep. He was bloodied but OK. Helmet well smashed up so that saved him a serious injury. Sheep was fine if a little winded.
Someone has posted rider was wearing a mint sauce jersey.
There is a moral there somewhere......0 -
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TheSnig wrote:A friend sent me a link to this forum so I thought I'd jump in...
As one of the unicyclists in the Dragon Ride on Sunday, I'd just like to thank everyone for their support and encouragement. There were times when I felt like giving up but there was always enough motivation to get me to the next milestone. Much appreciated.
Cheers,
Mark.
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Hey Mate I'm not sure if it was you or your friend I spoke to but I could tell you/he were pretty shattered. It was with around 30 miles to go. Once again a massive respect and well done to you and your friend. I was the skinny black guy in yellow Addiscombe gearTheSnig wrote:A friend sent me a link to this forum so I thought I'd jump in...
As one of the unicyclists in the Dragon Ride on Sunday, I'd just like to thank everyone for their support and encouragement. There were times when I felt like giving up but there was always enough motivation to get me to the next milestone. Much appreciated. 0
