Verenti Dragon Ride - Are we up for it ?

yogi

twotyred

I seemed to be the only person around on an alloy bike.

Me and a few of our guys still on aluminium. I'm still riding my old Cannondale CAAD7 and quite happy it handles like a dream as evidenced by the video following Dave 'Iceman' Elliott.

nickwill

yogi wrote:

twotyred

I seemed to be the only person around on an alloy bike.

Me and a few of our guys still on aluminium. I'm still riding my old Cannondale CAAD7 and quite happy it handles like a dream as evidenced by the video following Dave 'Iceman' Elliott.

I was on steel!

risi

The Running Man wrote:

... It would be nice to be able to break down the age groups and search by club. All that info will have been captured and it's only a couple more columns.

Dunno if you've noticed, but you can search by club in the online results - you have to have the "Individuals" search criteria selected, and then click on Advanced Filter. You'll get a drop down list of the clubs as entered, so it all depends upon how consistent people were entering names (so you see things like CDRC, Clevedon and district road club, Clevedon & district road club, clevedon&district rc etc. No points for guessing my local club...).

Oh, and also on Alu.

dombo6

yogi wrote:

Some video footage of the descent from the Bwlch 1st time here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEv2pYi8pnc filmed by one of our Yogis. I'm the one with YOGi written on the ars* of my shorts btw.

Anyone doing The Dartmoor Classic - make sure you stay out of our way on the descents cos we know how to descend pretty quick LOL.

Brilliant footage, thanks for that.
Am I the only one tried to scroll up everytime you looked down?

acidstrato

clanton wrote:

Toks wrote:

on-yer-bike wrote:

Abdoujaparov wrote:

Anyway, I see only the top 78 people in the Gran Fondo got gold standard - that's just 4 per cent! Bit stingey if you ask me.

Yes, tough.
Missed it by 2 mins for my age and I was in the top 11.5%.
Should there be more than 10 minutes difference between 18-30 and 50-60?

mmm I was probably one of the last people to start (9.35am, crossed the start line with two other people ) so I didn't see anyone for the first 2-3 miles. I missed Gold by two mins (40-49) and I'm sure I would've achieved Gold but for the late start and having my speed shaved off by the increased traffic on the roads. Oh well. This was my third Dragon and I enjoyed the whole thing immensely. Everyone I saw seem to be in good spirits despite the obvious pain on the climbs :twisted: ... well all except for a couple of numpties. One guy decked out in full wiggle kit shouted "on your right" and promptly push another rider to the side whilst riding up the Belwch and later another bozo mounted the pavement to jump some Red lLghts and gain an incredible 20 yards on the thirty odd riders that were waiting patiently at the lights. 3 minutes later he was a 100 metres behind us :roll:

Said RLJ Bozo - Fred Bakers Cycles top? If so I was in the same group as you at those lights. Albeit a bozo move I was impressed by his bike handling skills - not sure I would have managed a tight (and blind!) corner at the speed he did.

though i'm sure this happened alot over the course, I was at the front of a group riding into a small village when this happened exactly as described. he jumped up on to the pavement went around the corner and set off again only to be caught with 2 mins! what a tool! I do believe he tried tagging on to us for a short time until we unintentionally dropped him. I must say there was some very enjoyable bunch and chain gang riding. But I was dissappointed that some vinoukorov wannabe sat on my wheel for ages over the last 5miles until I asked him to do some work on the front and he sprinted off! :evil: bastard

there was a few astana kits that day

jackfeeder

There were 2 unicyclists starting at the same time as us, about 8.10 - mean looking machines but how the hell they get up the mountains on those I will never know.
I went past the guy with the prosthetic leg on the first ascent of the Bwlch, he was going along quite nicely.
Makes you think if they can do it I've got no excuse!

JSB24

My first Dragon - did the 190km and I loved it, 6.21, 1 minute outside of gold which was tantalising, but fantastic weather, from my perspective the feed stations were good, only stopped at one to get water though as I like to carry my own food. My only criticism is that there needs to be some savory food, in this respecft the Tour of Wessex feeds were much better.

Apart from that a good honest ride, I set off about 8.30am from the start, but never managed to get into any groups as the hills just blew people away/the groups weren't going quick enough so did 3/4 pretty much alone.

dombo6

acidstrato wrote:

. But I was dissappointed that some vinoukorov wannabe sat on my wheel for ages over the last 5miles until I asked him to do some work on the front and he sprinted off! :evil: bastard

there was a few astana kits that day

I was one of those, (more Contador in colouring and build than Vino however ), on the orange steel/carbon lemond. Were you in a white top with a black stripe down the back? If so I apologise for sprinting off, I thought you were still on my wheel for that long straight stretch. Painkillers had just kicked in and my hotfoot temporarily disappeared

jackfeeder

Just a quick query really.
That was my first ever ride over a ton and I felt fine at the finish. Felt good going up the climbs even the 2nd Bwlch.
Using anyone's else's experience of this route how far off coping with a trip to the alps do you think I am?
My on course time didn't really represent how I felt during the ride as I waited/towed my mate (+ a few others) around as he problems with his gearing - without this I'm confident I would have been sub 7hours for the 190km.

nickwill

jackfeeder wrote:

Just a quick query really.
That was my first ever ride over a ton and I felt fine at the finish. Felt good going up the climbs even the 2nd Bwlch.
Using anyone's else's experience of this route how far off coping with a trip to the alps do you think I am?
My on course time didn't really represent how I felt during the ride as I waited/towed my mate (+ a few others) around as he problems with his gearing - without this I'm confident I would have been sub 7hours for the 190km.

Can't see you having any problems!

dombo6

Nickwill wrote:

jackfeeder wrote:

Just a quick query really.
That was my first ever ride over a ton and I felt fine at the finish. Felt good going up the climbs even the 2nd Bwlch.
Using anyone's else's experience of this route how far off coping with a trip to the alps do you think I am?
My on course time didn't really represent how I felt during the ride as I waited/towed my mate (+ a few others) around as he problems with his gearing - without this I'm confident I would have been sub 7hours for the 190km.

Can't see you having any problems!

+1

HOTA

It was my first sportive and what a superb event to start with.

Casbar

pauln99 wrote:

Re: Chap hit by car. It was my teammate.

A landrover driver decided to aim directly for us on our side of the road - we kept thinking "he's going to pull over, he's going to pull over" but he didn't. My teammate was third wheel and when the first two riders in the line were forced to break and move into the gutter, he was obliged to move out a fraction to avoid collision at which point he was struck by the Land Rover's wing-mirror.

It was a "lucky" escape frankly.

On the plus side the xray showed that nothing is broken and he's OK.

So how is your mate ? Did the police take any action against the Land Rover driver ?

pauln99

Casbar wrote:

pauln99 wrote:

Re: Chap hit by car. It was my teammate.

A landrover driver decided to aim directly for us on our side of the road - we kept thinking "he's going to pull over, he's going to pull over" but he didn't. My teammate was third wheel and when the first two riders in the line were forced to break and move into the gutter, he was obliged to move out a fraction to avoid collision at which point he was struck by the Land Rover's wing-mirror.

It was a "lucky" escape frankly.

On the plus side the xray showed that nothing is broken and he's OK.

So how is your mate ? Did the police take any action against the Land Rover driver ?

Casbar

Thanks for the interest. All well actually - teammate on the road to recovery.

Police are following up apparently.

Cheers

Paul

clanton

Hi Paul

Please let us know how things turn out with regards to the Police enquiry. The police get a lot of bad "press" on here for being crap at following up on cyclist/car altercations so it would be good to knwo how this one turns out.

Hope your mate recovers quickly and completely!

acidstrato

Dombo6 wrote:

acidstrato wrote:

. But I was dissappointed that some vinoukorov wannabe sat on my wheel for ages over the last 5miles until I asked him to do some work on the front and he sprinted off! :evil: bastard

there was a few astana kits that day

I was one of those, (more Contador in colouring and build than Vino however ), on the orange steel/carbon lemond. Were you in a white top with a black stripe down the back? If so I apologise for sprinting off, I thought you were still on my wheel for that long straight stretch. Painkillers had just kicked in and my hotfoot temporarily disappeared

I had all black kit on with white lid/glasses on a black/white/silver Giant, I left a group I waited at some trafflic lights with and the astana fella came with me until he droppped me as we came into the last mile I think. Not sure if it was you or not, I felt a little bitter at bein completely fecked when they went past me lol but soon got over it

ynyswen24

yogi wrote:

Some video footage of the descent from the Bwlch 1st time here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEv2pYi8pnc filmed by one of our Yogis. I'm the one with YOGi written on the ars* of my shorts btw.

Anyone doing The Dartmoor Classic - make sure you stay out of our way on the descents cos we know how to descend pretty quick LOL.

I just saw myself! I'm at 2.16 and the rider with the camera doesn't half go barreling past me. At least I was well over to the left...