Verenti Dragon Ride - Are we up for it ?

ketsbaia

greeny12 wrote:

oldwelshman wrote:

greeny12 wrote:

The nice thing about that part of the world is that there are no real killer climbs - you know, the 20+ percenters that have loads of people (usually including me!) climbing off.

I love the long, steady drags that you can climb in a rythmn so the Dragon Ride should suit me perfectly. That said, my training this year has been pretty hit and miss, easily the worst in the past three years since I got into road riding, so it's going to be more of a struggle than it should have been...

Oh, and watch out for the sheep - some of them have a death wish!!

Really?
The Dragon just uses reasonable climbs that are not too steep.
There are plenty of killer climbs in that part of the worl if you want to find them.

Ha ha - no I don't!

I take your point though - there are big hills everywhere really - even Swain's Lane by Highgate Cemetery is an out of the saddle job for a few metres. But in all the (admittedly fairly limited) riding I've done though the Brecon Beacons/black mountain area I've not come across anything like a Boltby Bank, for example...

Not quite on the same scale, but that 18%-er those under-18s had come up just before they passed us looked pretty steep.

bendertherobot

The feed stations generally are packed with bananas, jam tarts, fairy cakes etc. No gels.

Droops

Anyone know whether the new-for-this-year Finisher's medal is simply the same medal for all finishers, or whether it'll be gold, silver, bronze depending on your time?

greeny12

ketsbaia wrote:

greeny12 wrote:

oldwelshman wrote:

greeny12 wrote:

The nice thing about that part of the world is that there are no real killer climbs - you know, the 20+ percenters that have loads of people (usually including me!) climbing off.

I love the long, steady drags that you can climb in a rythmn so the Dragon Ride should suit me perfectly. That said, my training this year has been pretty hit and miss, easily the worst in the past three years since I got into road riding, so it's going to be more of a struggle than it should have been...

Oh, and watch out for the sheep - some of them have a death wish!!

Really?
The Dragon just uses reasonable climbs that are not too steep.
There are plenty of killer climbs in that part of the worl if you want to find them.

Ha ha - no I don't!

I take your point though - there are big hills everywhere really - even Swain's Lane by Highgate Cemetery is an out of the saddle job for a few metres. But in all the (admittedly fairly limited) riding I've done though the Brecon Beacons/black mountain area I've not come across anything like a Boltby Bank, for example...

Not quite on the same scale, but that 18%-er those under-18s had come up just before they passed us looked pretty steep.

Steep, but believe me, no Boltby Bank mate!! I'd struggle to get up BB on a motorbike...

bendertherobot

I love the Dragon.

Of course, this may be due to living 1 minute away from the start line.

Anyone beat that for a UK Sportive?

Droops

1 minute??!!!
That means you either live in the Travellodge place or McDonalds, doesn't it?
See you next Sunday!

bendertherobot

Droops wrote:

1 minute??!!!
That means you either live in the Travellodge place or McDonalds, doesn't it?
See you next Sunday!

Almost, just across the road. 2 minutes if I'm going slowly.

It's rather a marvellous thing living so close to it. A marvellous thing.

I tend to rock up at McD's at 6:30 ish to get coffee and frigthen them into what's coming....

acidstrato

haha hope they got the big tasty on the menu for when i get to the finish

Spatulala

My pack arrived this morning. Do you have to nominate medio or gran fondo before you start, or can you choose where the routes split?

I think the weather may have a role to play in choosing my fate...

muckymark

Just a tip when it comes to food and re-supply of drinks, there is a good bike shop on the way up through the Afan Vally (bwlch2 climb) at the mountain bike centre. They sell gels, energy bars etc to get you up the next 5 miles or so.

You beat me bendertherobot, i thought i lived the nearest to the start/finish in Brackla! Going to ride there but after last time collapsing over the line, getting my mrs to pick me up at B&Q because I will never make it up the hill past singletons.

Also for those that have a long trip home and want a bite to eat before they set off, there is an awesome kebab shop in Pencoed Village; up the hill towards the lights, on the left.

sampras38

I did the full distance lst year and loved it. It's a fantastic event with a great atmosphere and here's hoping the weather will be just as good as 09.

Also did the Hampshire Hilly 100 on May 9th and felt good, so going to really try and push it this year. Then got Alp Duez and Galibier 3 weeks later.

richa

Spatulala wrote:

My pack arrived this morning. Do you have to nominate medio or gran fondo before you start, or can you choose where the routes split?

I think the weather may have a role to play in choosing my fate...

Nope. Start, do the opening loop, the first 2 climbs & the feed, descend and then choose. Left for short, right for long.

dombo6

bendertherobot wrote:

The feed stations generally are packed with bananas, jam tarts, fairy cakes etc. No gels.

And Welsh cakes . Feedstop at top of Cimla last year had a bucket of ready salted crisps too. Lovely they were.

dombo6

Spatulala wrote:

....It's my first proper Sportive, I have a triple on my Trek Pilot 2.1 so no doubt will be teased by the bigger boys, but my hope is to make it round the Gran Fondo before the broom wagon sweeps me off the street....

They won't be teasing you as you twiddle past them on the climbs while they struggle on too big gears, their knees screaming with pain. If you get up a hill quicker, who cares how fast your legs are spinning?
I have a triple on my Lemond - nice to go round just using 39x25 on the hills but even nicer to have the bail-out option of 30x25 if I'm having a bad day.

Casbar

bendertherobot wrote:

I love the Dragon.

Of course, this may be due to living 1 minute away from the start line.

Anyone beat that for a UK Sportive?

I live 1 min away from the Etape in Pau ...does that count ? 8)

Grifteruk

Ive been reading this thread in anticipation and dread at whats coming up on Sunday. My first time at the Dragon so opted for the middle 83 mile route especially as this is my first proper test of the summer (injury / broken bike etc...)

Ive done Bwlch and Rhigos a few times in the last few weeks, including twice in 2 days in the baking weather on the weekend before last. That was a real test and if it is that hot again it could be a difficult day.

I live in Neath so laughed when I saw the comments about Cimla Hill - its not too bad and IMO when you get up past the shops on the right hand side, the worst of it is over.

Good news is that parts of the Rhigos climb have been laid with new tarmac. Bad news is that the road to the Rhigos running through Treorchy and Treherbet was in a bit of a mess last week. Got a TT tonight between Glynneath and Neath so will check out the road there and see what sort of condition thats in. think its mostly ok.

ketsbaia

Cimla Hill isn't too bad in itself, it's just unexpected and not welcome at that point in the ride.

dewei

I am also filled with anticipation and dread.

It was more of the former when I made sure I got entry online. I had this big training plan leading to the Dragon Ride! I hit the ground running with lots of mileage even in the cold February.

Then, I crashed to earth. Literally. I was hit by a SMIDSY car one morning in early March days before I was due to do the Mad March Sportive. No bones broken but huge bruises. I was out of action for the rest of the month.Training picked up very slowly after. Holidays to keep the family happy and antibiotics for persistent sinusitis mean I only did my longest ride of this year last Thursday - 74 miles and 2200m of climbing. My only previous sportives are 106 mile flat-ish sportive last September and the 55 mile Cat and Fiddle last October. By the way, all of you that live in Wales and other hilly parts of UK have no excuse. It is very hard to get hill training in the west midlands.

I intend to to do the Gran Fondo but am I going to get swept up by the broom wagon?? :shock:

Legshaver

I live in Neath so laughed when I saw the comments about Cimla Hill - its not too bad

No, it's not too bad as ketsbaia says. You might feel different about it when you do the Dragon though. It doesn't matter which distance you tackle, the Cimla climb is probably the most difficult part of the course.

See you all there on Sunday. Have a safe and enjoyable one.

Brewsterwmb

Well up for it has to be one of my fav sportives. Nice to be amongst thousands of others and rarely alone anywhere on-route. Unlike the smaller sportives which are great as they can be the very opposite...

3/4 years in a row now for me. Keep coming back for more. Great that they now have sorted the start/finish away from the old farm! Damn that burger van that parks up 200 yards from the end!

lets hope its dry and not silly warm like it was; last year ?

yeah, same arlo_m. This and then GW Sportive then La Marmotte :?

Enjoy everyone

greeny12

Sadly the long range weather forecast is none too clever - rain forecast for the Sunday.

Still time for it to change I suppose. I bloody hope so, I hate riding in the rain...

nickwill

Looks perfect today for Cardiff on metcheck:
http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/dayforecast.asp?zipcode=Cardiff&day=5

bendertherobot

Nickwill wrote:

Looks perfect today for Cardiff on metcheck:
http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/dayforecast.asp?zipcode=Cardiff&day=5

Keep swinging around. It's done this both previous years so fingers crossed.

sampras38

bendertherobot wrote:

Nickwill wrote:

Looks perfect today for Cardiff on metcheck:
http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/dayforecast.asp?zipcode=Cardiff&day=5

Keep swinging around. It's done this both previous years so fingers crossed.

I remember there being lots of grey clouds in the morning of last year and it was looking well dodgy. Then everything cleared up and we had glorious sunshine.

Here's hoping..

bendertherobot

sampras38 wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

Nickwill wrote:

Looks perfect today for Cardiff on metcheck:
http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/dayforecast.asp?zipcode=Cardiff&day=5

Keep swinging around. It's done this both previous years so fingers crossed.

I remember there being lots of grey clouds in the morning of last year and it was looking well dodgy. Then everything cleared up and we had glorious sunshine.

Here's hoping..

Aye, and year before even worse. But both stayed dry.

If it does we've been incredibly lucky really!

cwm

1st time for me and a group of mates from work,9 in total(although 1 is an end2ender) the majority of us are just middle aged blokes that ride bikes! This being the biggest thing that most of us have done.Luckily i live near Glynneath so have been able to get some miles in around the route and last week did my first 100 miler around crai cimla bwlch rhigos so looking forward to the plod ride.
Managed 91 miles of the dragon in 6h20ish mins so hoping we all have a good day as
TEAM WHEEZE :roll: and scrape in under 9hrs!!!
What i noticed about cimla is that its an easy plod with 10 miles in your legs but a damn bit harder with 70 miles in your legs,the hardest bit being the bottom part.Once past fire station(rhs) a bit of flat and a spin up for food stop!

i just hope they got some crisps left

prb007

FWIW…………

I did it last year – on my own (I know there were 3000-odd others, but you know what I mean!) – it was my first 100+ ride and I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think my mates were using me as a guinea-pig, because there’s about a dozen of us doing it this year!
My circle of friends are in various states of panic/preparedness/fitness (delete as appropriate), many have had their training scuppered in various ways, some have done too much, others not enough, some didn’t need to get any fitter, but all, I think are looking forward to it.
One has had his bike smashed up in a car wreck and probably won’t be riding, one has been on the lash in the Canaries for a week and might struggle but won’t show it, one was training for the London Marathon and so hasn’t done the miles he’d hoped for, one was carrying three stone, now only carrying two, which may still be too much baggage for the second climb of the Bwlch after 90 miles! ,one has been working too hard and is hoping that two spin classes a week plus the occasional weekend ride will be enough to carry him through, one will have never have seen hills like the Bwlch or the Rhigos before, having trained on the Cheshire plain for far too long, and one will do it in sub-7hrs on a MTB with slicks on, cos he’s an animal! One is so small that will struggle to consume enough calories to keep going, one has just his first child so his training has gone for a sh!t, and so the excuses will be varied and occasionally valid!
Me – I’ve done it before so know what to expect, but I’m the wrong side of 45 and the wrong side of 100kg, so I know it won’t be easy, but my advice to everyone, is to enjoy it, smile at the locals, wave to kids, chat to strangers, don’t go too hard, too early and give it all you’ve got AFTER the second ascent of the Bwlch, get over the line, spent, but not exhausted and have a beer in the pub just after the finish line and congratulate one another on your efforts!

bendertherobot

prb007 wrote:

FWIW…………

I did it last year – on my own (I know there were 3000-odd others, but you know what I mean!) – it was my first 100+ ride and I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think my mates were using me as a guinea-pig, because there’s about a dozen of us doing it this year!
My circle of friends are in various states of panic/preparedness/fitness (delete as appropriate), many have had their training scuppered in various ways, some have done too much, others not enough, some didn’t need to get any fitter, but all, I think are looking forward to it.
One has had his bike smashed up in a car wreck and probably won’t be riding, one has been on the lash in the Canaries for a week and might struggle but won’t show it, one was training for the London Marathon and so hasn’t done the miles he’d hoped for, one was carrying three stone, now only carrying two, which may still be too much baggage for the second climb of the Bwlch after 90 miles! ,one has been working too hard and is hoping that two spin classes a week plus the occasional weekend ride will be enough to carry him through, one will have never have seen hills like the Bwlch or the Rhigos before, having trained on the Cheshire plain for far too long, and one will do it in sub-7hrs on a MTB with slicks on, cos he’s an animal! One is so small that will struggle to consume enough calories to keep going, one has just his first child so his training has gone for a sh!t, and so the excuses will be varied and occasionally valid!
Me – I’ve done it before so know what to expect, but I’m the wrong side of 45 and the wrong side of 100kg, so I know it won’t be easy, but my advice to everyone, is to enjoy it, smile at the locals, wave to kids, chat to strangers, don’t go too hard, too early and give it all you’ve got AFTER the second ascent of the Bwlch, get over the line, spent, but not exhausted and have a beer in the pub just after the finish line and congratulate one another on your efforts!

I'm pretty much all of your mates

sampras38

Anyone got a decent GPX or TCX file of this year or last year's route?

Bikely seems to keep crashing (again)

;-)

bendertherobot

sampras38 wrote:

Anyone got a decent GPX or TCX file of this year or last year's route?

Bikely seems to keep crashing (again)

;-)

Dragon main site claims to have an updated version.