Pendragon - Tour of the black mountains

sameJL

Fantstic day out, much harder than the dragon ride, glad I hadn't cycled the route prior. Completed the 120 dragon ride but only the 65 yesterday and it was definately tougher :oops: .
Roll on next year

graememacd

I did the 63 mile route as my first sportive on saturday, found it quite tough but managable and the scenery was fantastic. Looking forward to the next one!

Toks

The results are out. I'm not sure how they decided upon the Gold, Silver and Bronze placings but I bet the person who decided this didn't ride the event. When a pro like Ian Wilkinson can''t get Gold in an event for amateurs that speaks volumes. Also not one person in the 18-29 category managed to get a Gold. Hmm!!

The winning time was 6hrs 35min Everyone who finish the 120mile really deserved their medals. The course was relentless, the flat roads were a lifeless cadence sucking chore to pedal on; alternatively it was up and down rhythm destroying back roads and finally the climbs AAARRRGGGHHH!! Apart from that organisation was firstclass, food choice at food feed stations was varied (Tuna and sweetcorns sarnies, jellie beans and peanuts - cool!), not just gels and bananas; it didn't 'really' rain; the descents were a thrill seekers delight; the sheep behaved themselves and the scenery was quite breathtaking.
http://pendragon-cc.com/sports/node/110

JamesB

Standards have got tougher :? for some reason, 2 yr ago at just over 8hr for the 115 miles I was within a whisker of silver, this year way outside. (And btw how do organisers know who actually rode waht on teh day? I entered 120 but swopped to 104, I`m sure I`m not only one, but am shown on 120 lists!)

JSB24

hard day, no time according to the results which is pretty disappointing, particularly as I went over the timing mat!

SteppenHerring

People complained that the Dragon standards were a bit harsh this year too.

Looking at the results, for the 120 mile (I made it 121.4 - that 1.4 made all the difference):
157 entries
52 DNF
90 bronze
9 silver
6 gold

And, as James mentioned some of those might have done the shorter route.

The Surrey Hills are going to feel like speed-bumps now.

JSB24

I'd imagine that those 52 DNF were rather a mishap with the timing mats, I know thats what happened in my case.

theknowledge

Those standards for gold/silver/bronze were mean. And being in the 18-29 age bracket I feel particularly hard done by! If the hills weren't challenging enough, you had some tricky road surfaces to deal with. Very broken up tarmac, and that gravel, a few sideways moments there!

Oh well, all in all, fairly happy with my time of just over 7hrs. Rhys and The Bullet, I was the guy on the Cervelo that dropped of the back on the hill at about 50miles in. Was all going so well up until then, was a nice little group whipping along at a good pace, not sure what happened to me.

Toks

theknowledge and TheBullet - brilliant rides! 8) Did either of you manage to hook up with any fast groups?

groucho

I did the 101(103) miler and it was a slog especially up from Heol Senni. I was prepared for the Llangyndir climb but for all those tantilising signs for Abergavenny they made sure we had a couple more slogs.

Snapped the front derailleur cable coming into the town and ended up walking over the line with a jammed chain.

Top event for food stations, signing (nearly shot past the 100 sign on a descent) and route.
Poor event for start line as shoppers only route around the car park and bemused people walking over the timing mat as cyclists were finishing!

Does anybody know if the guy who crashed on the Gospel Pass descent was OK? )I assumed he crashed as he was clutching his shoulder and had some mates with him.

A bronze for all the 100 entries according to results.

JamesB

yes , see, http://www.cyclosport.org/forum/reply.a ... 6&tid=3069

Toks

JSB24 wrote:

Im in, after doing the Marmotte this month, everything else will seem (relatively) easy

So how did it compare then?

Thecampbellclan

The 160 km route was my second sportive, having completed the 190 Dragon in June. I found it much harder and was reduced to a complete wreck on the last climb - had to call in a support vehicle [wife & kids] to keep me going at Blaenavon.

The route and organisation were spot on though and I'm already thinking about doing it next year. The lady making fresh rolls at the second food stop was an angel - next sportive I'm ditching some of the energy bars for fresh food.

The Devil's Elbow was a fantastic climb, although having 'cleaned' it, my legs turned to jelly for most of the remainder of the route and cramps set in shortly after!

I ride a lot in the Mendips and find it hard to average much over 21-22 km/h on a hilly ride over about 75 kms [avg includes stops]. I think it is the flat sections I'm slower on - anyone have any advice on technique for riding faster? I'm working on the CV fitness and usually do OK on the climbs.

Ride stats here: http://www.movescount.com/moves/move278449

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rhys_gibby

theknowledge wrote:

Those standards for gold/silver/bronze were mean. And being in the 18-29 age bracket I feel particularly hard done by! If the hills weren't challenging enough, you had some tricky road surfaces to deal with. Very broken up tarmac, and that gravel, a few sideways moments there!

Oh well, all in all, fairly happy with my time of just over 7hrs. Rhys and The Bullet, I was the guy on the Cervelo that dropped of the back on the hill at about 50miles in. Was all going so well up until then, was a nice little group whipping along at a good pace, not sure what happened to me.

Yeah, me and TheBullet fell back on that climb but whipped down the decsent and caught up with the others on the main road afterwards. Me, TheBullet and the chap on the Scott Addict stayed together until halfway up the climb from Llangynidir then it was everyman for himself on the climbs.

The chap on the Giant with the Cosmics left early on the 2nd feed stop, we never saw him after that, only at the finish! I was climbing at an agonizingly slow pace on the last couple of drags, but hammered it down the last descent and into the finish through town.

gavino

I saw the guy who crashed, at my campsite later that night, broke his collar bone by looks of it, was walking about, I didn't venture a word as he understandably looked hacked off.

I did the 101 mile and it's the toughest sportive I've done to date. Done similar distances Cotswolds and Burgess Hill Rumble and Pyrenees, but this is a different beast, initially it all seems to go well.

The feed stops were great, but only 2 so I did have to stop at a petrol station 10 miles from the finish for some water. There's some really challenging climbs on the Brecon beacons with switch backs well above 10%. On the second set I was overtaken by what I first thought was a car, but ended up being a peleton of Rapha Condor and Pendragon cyclists, no use chasing only to blow up in no time . The motor bike marshals did an excellent job of warning motorists as cars literally stopped at the side to let us pass.

Also the Welsh seemed amazingly friendly, a girl even stuck her head out of the car window and shouted "nice arse" at me, which did lift my spirits for a second, you don't get that in London you know. The second to last climb was very deceptive in that just when you thought you'd reached the summit, another small uphill climb would appear. There was a nasty sting in the tail, just when you thought all the climbs were over, we were directed to a nasty little 16% climb back onto the Brecon Beacons, that nearly did me in and it was more psychological because I thought the worst was over. Also I bet a few people ended up turning down the hill past the garage only to realise they then had to climb back up, someone's sick idea of joke. Would be nice to have an 80 mile option.

Also watch out for the really sharp corners on the descent after the switch backs, some guy ended up going off road doing jumps etc, I could feel my back wheel going.....south but managed to hang in...

Toks

Thecampbellclan wrote:

I think it is the flat sections I'm slower on - anyone have any advice on technique for riding faster? I'm working on the CV fitness and usually do OK on the climbs.
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You won't be suprised to hear that its' about improving your overall fitness. It deosn't mean that you have to go out and do hill repeats every week. But one or two fast pace efforts in the 30mins to 60min region will definitely improve your fitness if done weekly. See Jeff Jones replies in the following post http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12717537

Thecampbellclan

You won't be suprised to hear that its' about improving your overall fitness. It deosn't mean that you have to go out and do hill repeats every week. But one or two fast pace efforts in the 30mins to 60min region will definitely improve your fitness if done weekly. See Jeff Jones replies in the following post http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12717537

Thanks for the link - interesting stuff.

I did quite a lot of hill interval work before the Dragon, which definitely helped but was probably working on a strength in hindsight.

I like the idea of a hard threashold session and have a good 20km / 300m climb locally that is perfect for it. The info about the level of effort rather than speed is interesting as well, but I guess if I want to cycle faster, its probably a good idea to start off on flat routes and work up to increasing speed on climbs.

My ToBM stats cycle computer stats were interesting - recording quite a low level of 'training effect' at the time I was absolutely at the limit at the end of the ride - I guess heart rate decreases with exhaustion, so less O2 pumping around equals lower threashold and tired legs ?

Thanks again.

hutchi0

I was the driver of the car that was hit by the cyclist. He ended up with just a torn ligament, but this was only throuhg luck. From his speedo he reckons he was doing 37mph. If he had not hit me, then another bike would have. There were several near misses before the bike hit me. I would not go down that hill at 20mph in a car! If he had hit me head on instead of glanced me then he would be seriously injured, and so maybe would I. I think that you are crazy and irresponsible to go down that hill at that speed, eveyone of you. It is a kind of mob hysteria I guess. If you were on your own I am sure you would not do it. I kew it was dangerous so I was doing about 5 mph.

Peter

Thecampbellclan

Peter.

That was obviously a horrible experience for you and I'm sorry to hear about it; but thanks for bothering to get your feelings across.

I came past after the guy crashed with you, though didn't realise he had hit your car until reading the messages here. By that time he was sat with his mates and an ambulance was on its way. I was travelling a fair bit slower than he was, but it was still probably far too fast from your perspective.

I think it would be a good idea if you could pass on your thoughts to the organisers [if you haven't already]. They put together a very professionally organised event that was on the whole very well run. They had support motorbikes that followed the riders throughout the day - far more than other much much larger events provide.

It does sound like something needs to be done about the area you were driving in however, and it wouldn't take much to post a marshall on the hill above to get cyclists to slow down.

Cyclists are usualy on the receiving end when it comes to cars and speed but in this case, it was you, so sorry.

Best wishes

hutchi0

I did contact the organiser. They do not want to take any responsibility for the crash. I feel it was not just the riders fault as another bike would have hit us if not him. Apparently there was a crash on the same section during a previous event according to another forum. I agree there ought to be a marshall at the top.