Dragon Ride-UCI Golden Bike world series status not deserved

Mendip rouleur

Just home from ride the 71 mile Medio Dragon Ride. Unfortunately I had wanted to ride the 120 mile Gran Frondo, but was prevented from doing so by inept organisation which caused me to miss the cutoff point. The route is also lacking in imagination, at least for the Medio, with only one climb of any interest or significance..

I have riden a lot of sportives over the last few years, and in a large event you expect a bit of queueing and delay.

I queued for an hour to get into the carpark, having arrived at the M4 junction at 7.15AM, which should have given plenty of time to get me on the road. My cycluing buddy, being of the female persuasion then had to queue for 20 minutes to use the toilets, with far too few for an event of this size.

But I arrived to start at 8.36, to be met with a big queue at the start. Fair enough. I didn't cross the start line until 9.44. With the addition of a puncture (15 mins) and 3 mins at feedstop, it meant I got to the split point at about 1.40PM 10 minutes after they closed it, average speed of about 16 mph at that point.

A sportive that describes itself as Britains Premier cyclosportive should be able to handle the numbers of cars and riders faster than that. I feel annoyed and don't think this reflects well on the organisers.

phreak

To be fair, there were several thousand people to get through. With this in mind we got there about 15 minutes before you and got parked in perhaps 10 minutes, and were on the road by around 8.30. After that I thought the organisation was great. There were lots of marshals on the route and the people manning the feed stops were really enthusiastic and helpful.

Sure, the route wasn't terribly exciting but I'm not sure many in Britain would be. It's hard to expect something akin to a European sportive given the terrain here.

de_sisti

I arrived at the car park at 06:50 and only waited for no more than 2 - 3 minutes. After getting
ready, I was in the queue of riders at approx 07:20. I'm not fast but found the feed stations
adequately stocked and the staff serving were very polite, enthusiastic and helpful.

phreak

De Sisti wrote:

I arrived at the car park at 06:50 and only waited for no more than 2 - 3 minutes. After getting
ready, I was in the queue of riders at approx 07:20. I'm not fast but found the feed stations
adequately stocked and the staff serving were very polite, enthusiastic and helpful.

Exactly. The toilet argument is also pretty weak. I hate trying to pee in bib shorts so always try and do my business before even setting off from home/hotel. Not much to ask is it?

speshsteve

sorry you had a pants day, I was there quite early and seeing how long it still took me to get on the road I understand your frustration. Once on the road however I found the organisation 1st class with good feed stations. Second time up that weird named climb (how the hell do you pronounce that, I settled on "big long bugger") hurt.

So on the whole a good event though I don't feel the need the do it again (that box is now ticked) and there are some prettier courses with less traffic.

bendertherobot

Yep, fair comments here. It's an event where there will be, circa, 4000 cars, all aiming to arrive at one point in one hour. Simply put, get there earlier.

What I would also say is be creative, I live 1 mile from the start. Have a look at some other parking places. Massive amount nearby. Minutes to the start. You shoudln't HAVE to, of course, but it's a big ask to get that many cars parked.

twotyred

Got to junction 35 about 7:05 and seems I just missed the worst of the traffic. Managed to get off in the fifth bunch as I saw a friend at the front of the queue otherwise I reckon I'd have been standing in the cold for another 30 mins.

The toilet argument is also pretty weak. I hate trying to pee in bib shorts so always try and do my business before even setting off from home/hotel.

Well I do empty the boilers before leaving home but you obviously have a cast iron bladder or you don't drink enough. The rest of us need to pee before during and after.

Having to arrive at stupid o'clock to get a prompt start is a pretty poor excuse. They really have to sort out the starting.

Its a long way from being "Britain's premier sportive" especially for the cost of entry.

Mendip rouleur

It's hard to expect something akin to a European sportive given the terrain here.

I agree, it was the absence of any interesting climbs bar one on the short route i was commenting on.

I also thought everyone was friendly and the signage was excellent and foodstops were great.

I was at the Tour of Wessex for the last two years and OK it's a much smaller event, but they have over a dozen car park marshalls.

I've ridden Dartmoor classic which ensures that they let right number of people away in each group.

I have just checked the Dragon's own event guide where they talk about letting 100 riders away every 2 minutes. That would mean they got away 5200 riders in the 1 hour 44 minutes before I started. There was still a line of 2-300 yeards behind me, 4-5 riders abreast when I left. So they simply could not have done what they said they were going to do.

I could get there earlier or be more creative, or camp out at the start line to ensure I'm at the head of the queue.

To be fair, there were several thousand people to get through

My point is that if these organisers are holding themselves up as the best, or gold standard, they need to demonstrate that, not just hold their hands up and say "oh we have a lot of people what can we do?"

Arriving at 7.15 in the vicinity of a sportive should be enough to get you away on time. Or the instructions should say, be creative, don't park in our car parks, we will do our best to get you away on time but don't bank on it.

Krys

I did go to the loo back home - in Somerset! Maybe if I hadn't had to wait 45 minutes to get into the car park I wouldn't have needed to go again?

http://www.thecyclingmayor.com/?p=1925

9jan11

I did go to the loo back home - in Somerset! Maybe if I hadn't had to wait 45 minutes to get into the car park I wouldn't have needed to go again?

Exactly, I left home at 4.30am from Devon. However I did forsee the problem and stopped at the service station just before junction 35.

But I don't care what you say, 4 loos for 4000 riders paying £35 each isn't good enough!

Krys

Also, regardless of how long I had to queue, the timings should mean that travelling at a reasonable average speed you should be able to start at the latest time allowed and make the split before the cutoff time... Today I was going faster than I have for the last two years, and it's never been a problem before. Missing the cutoff is why I'm quite so mad...

http://www.thecyclingmayor.com/?p=1925

lazybloke

Totally agree with OP,

Myself and a couple of club mates had a really good 200km ride finishing quicker than we thought and although only riding steadily up the climbs we had no real problems.

However, this was my first time at the dragon and will be my last.

WHY....

Whilst, parking was fine this was mainly due to the fact that some local lads we met the day before gave us the heads up about the roundabout and showed us a easier way in.

Then we ended up standing in the queue for the start for 1hr 20min even though we got there early enough to have gone past the start by 8.30. Unsurprisingly several riders who weren't as early as us jumped the queue without any consideration for those already waiting and without any official marshalls to prevent them from doing so!! The only measure taken by the organisers was to put out tannoy announcements asking people not to do this....not very effective!!

The route signage was good but what is wrong with putting out mileage markers....the only ones found were at 10km & 5km from the finish which was a bit late by then i think.

Also what was going on with the KOM timing strips, I thought the idea was to time you to the top of the hill not to the feed station.

Shambles is the only way I can describe the feed station on the top of the big long hill, the staff were really good but people racing in to get a quick KOM time only to fly into a melee of folk and bikes . wouldn't a few cones to funnel people off the road have worked to a degree,as well as moving the timing strip to the top of the hill.

Having done and enjoyed taking part in a number of sportives and road races, I realise a lot goes into organising these events and I'm not looking to just "bash" the event but if you put yourself on a pedestal you need to deliver.

These are just my thoughts and not doubt others will disagree but there you go.

phreak

Mileage markers?? Seriously? I have one of those computer gadget things on my bike that tells me how far I have to go. I believe you can pick one up for next to nothing at your local bike shop.

Likewise, the timing mats were a bit of fun. Get a grip folks.

Boleynboy

This was my second Dragon and unfortunately it will be my last, and there are several reasons for this.
First of all, having experienced the awful queue to park last year I made sure I got to the car park at 6-30am and breezed straight in, so that was a plus. The signage, food stops and marshall's were all good, but that is where my praise ends.
The Grand Fondo route was not a patch on last year, missing out the beautiful Beacon section was a mistake, and going up the Bwlch twice in the same direction, the second ascent in pouring rain, was just uninspired on the organisers part. I did have my doubts about this before the ride, but I had entered and paid my hard earned so wanted to give it a go.
But my biggest disappointment was my chip not working, I had ensured it was on the bike correctly and not bent it in anyway, but it did not beep once! Out on the course there were plenty of other riders complaining of the same problem, and when I reported it to ride HQ at the finish they added my number to a long list of riders who had obviously suffered the same problem.
This just is not good enough, the very reason for me to ride this event was to try and better my time from last year(even though it was a different and longer route this year) and yes I have my computer time but I do not have a Garmin so I will never know what my real time was (including stops).
Also when are big sportives like this and the Etape Caledonia going to stop giving out goody bags which do not actually have any goody's in them, other than a load of leaflets?
At least you got a packet of crisps and an energy bar which is more than the etape supplied!
I queued for the free pasta and really wish I had not bothered as it was cold and had one, large lump of what I think was mince meat hidden at the bottom of the carton.
This comes across as a right whinge I know, but it is my take of the day, I spent my money on the entrance fee and a hotel for the night before so I am entitled to an opinion.
It is a real shame because I really enjoyed the ride last year, and was looking forward to more of the same this year, but it did not happen for me, but no doubt there will be plenty of riders to take my place for next year, and good luck to them.

9jan11

I think that may be the last we see of the timing chip on the number - mine was also a non-beeper.

I think they knew many weren't working at the start and that's why we were endlessly reminded to keep them straight not wrrrrrrapped that's straight not currrrrrrled as in straight. Mine was straight and it still didn't beep once.

There was also one announcement that some riders hadn't got there numbers/chips on their bars but in their pockets. I think those few are £35 better off than most this morning.

twotyred

Bugger my chip never beeped either! Didn't realise it was meant to. Had it mounted on the bars same as last years which worked OK. Timing is the most basic requirement of a sportive and they cocked it up!

rdt

£35 to stand waiting in a queue for an hour and a half to ride up the same hill the same way twice? And that lump of mince at the bottom of the cold pasta? Surely that cannot have been what Wiggle describe as the "post ride pasta party at the event village"?

And wasn't there an online booking fee of a few quid too?

Regarding the wait at the start, once you realised it was a shambles, why couldn't you just bypass the organisers' queue and set off when you wanted? Bo11ocks to the timing chips, you can just use a clock and compare yourself to the published list afterwards.

It sounds like a crock, although not for the organisers who trousered £140,000 in entrance fees!

Geedo

I was one of the "fortunate" ones whose timing chip worked. I only had about 20 people overtake me up the first bwlch and felt I did quite well for me but what is the point of being timed if no one else is. The 200k results list is littered with riders with no times and heaps of riders who through no fault of their own missed the cut off. I know it is not a race however many of us pay for our final time.

The start was a utter shambles. I waited 1hr 10 mins having arrived at 7.50am. They simply didn't put enough riders through, I counted between 47-62 riders being set off every 2 mins.

I was hungry by the time I arrived at CP1 and found the food poor. On a postive note I found the checkpoint staff from the local Rotary Club very helpful and friendly.

GeorgeShaw

Geedo wrote:

The start was a utter shambles. I waited 1hr 10 mins having arrived at 7.50am. They simply didn't put enough riders through, I counted between 47-62 riders being set off every 2 mins.

I had the same experience, but I think the problem was pushers-in, which really was not well marshalled.

My chip also didn't beep, so I'm not holding my breathe about getting a time, which is pretty incompetent really - didn't they test them properly? It's far too easy to bend the number plate with only a small bit of tension, and you don't want them flapping everywhere.

And did anybody else taste the water at the first and third feed stops? It was like TCP.

pdw

I enjoyed the ride yesterday, but the start and the timing does seem to have been a complete shambles.

It wasn't the fact that there was a queue that annoyed, it was the fact that they clearly hadn't planned it properly: they knew how many riders there were, they new what the start window was supposed to be (8am to 9:30am). Surely someone did the sums and made sure that they were sending enough riders off to get everyone through by 9:30? Unless at some point during the window there weren't any riders to start, but I'm pretty sure that didn't happen.

We queued for over an hour and started a bit after 9:40. Sounds like we were very lucky to make the cut-off. I would have been livid if I'd been turned back, as it was clearly a lack of planning that lead to people starting after the start was supposed to have finished, so to not extend the cut-offs as result was pretty shocking.

Pirahna

My 5th Dragon (why?)

Got to the start about 7:50, got away about 9:10. Definately the longest I've waited at a sportiv, ever. Fair enough there were more riders than ever before but it could have been better.

Usual appalling riding from a fair few people. Saw more people than I should have on the floor in the few miles I did.

Wifey had a mechanical at around the 25 mile mark which wasn't fixable. So I rode back to the B&B, luckily only a couple of miles down the road, got the car and that was it.

The little I saw of the route looked OK. A good idea to take it down the coast and make the 75 mile people only do the Bwlch once.

Not sure if I'll bother again.

GeorgeShaw

They made the tactical error of sending everybody through the "village" which exited at the head of the queue by the start/finish. What are you going to think about doing when you see a queue of thousands to your right and the badly marshalled start right in front of you ...?

ugo.santalucia

Every year the organiser promises to solve these two problems

1) long queues

2) feed stations

and nothing seems to have changed since I did it in 2008. I can sort of undestand the queues, given the necessity to release few riders at a time for safety regulations... but really, with all the money people pay, these feeding zones should have got better by now!

bendertherobot

GeorgeShaw wrote:

They made the tactical error of sending everybody through the "village" which exited at the head of the queue by the start/finish. What are you going to think about doing when you see a queue of thousands to your right and the badly marshalled start right in front of you ...?

Interestingly (or not) they closed the McDonalds entrance (locked shut). This would have added people in the "right direction" again.

They need a more remote, and bigger, start area. Llandow airfield would work well.

itisaboutthebike

When I actually got our riding it was great. Not sure about the new route though.

But the starting shambles and timing chips are unfrogiveable.

We arrived in what I considered plenty of time (7.30 in the Q for the car park) but didn't actually get away until 9.45ish !

Like someone said the organisers really didn't do thier sums with regard to start times/number of riders.

Pasta meal wasn't worth bothering with - I had a few peices in a carton and no sauce as they'd run out.

I'm not sure (at the moment ), until these problems are ironed out it justifies itself to be a world class event.

The event is fast becoming a victim of it's own sucess. The Roman empire had similar problems.............

Anonymous

Vote with your feet next year...............

Every year after the dragonride the forums are full of posts about how bad it is. Stop going, I did the event in 2007, never again.

Vega 165

I thought the Gran Fondo route was great, quite challenging and well sign posted,Enjoyed the fast roll along the coast.

I do think though that the medio route was too much of a step down ,The Gran fondo was close to the limit for me but the medio would have been a doddle. I think it should have atr least one more decentclimb and maybe 10 to 20 more miles.

I arrived in the carpark que at 0700 didnt push in and crossed the start line at 0815 .Felt sorry for those at the back of the massive que though it was getting cold and could have been a real disaster in bad weather.In cold rain people would have been going down with hypothermia in that que.

red ed

I went along to see the start and rode the 200km route, to me it seemed amazing that people were so willing to go along with whatever was forced on them - if you're queueing hours for the start, why don't you just start riding? And if you're 'blocked' from doing the gran fondo, why didn't you just turn left and do it anyway? What did anyone think would happen to them? Hundreds of people prepared to jump red lights and go the wrong way round roundabouts, but the word of some marshal on the top of a mountain is the law apparently.

I was really quite surprised by the whole thing tbh. Even the route was absolutely terrible and unimaginative. There's about 10 climbs in the area as hard/good as the ones used and yet you go up the Bwlch twice from the same side, having to do miles of valley roads and the Cimla housing estate just to get there the second time. Just turn right instead of left once you've done the Rhigos and get some more proper climbs in, it doesn't require a massive amount of local knowledge, that's the easy bit to organise. And I had to laugh leaving Port Talbot and seeing a sign claiming the Bwlch was starting - 22km @2% apparently There's your trades descriptions claim right there!

bendertherobot

I think "turning right" is always a difficult prospect. For instance, we could all go over Brecon then turn right down thru Merthyr, Aberdare etc but the organisers don't like us crossing traffic.

There are some beauts in S Wales, Abderdare Mountain, the Llanwonno mountain roads, the Graig and Graigwen in Pontypridd etc.

Phoenix flyer

And did anybody else taste the water at the first and third feed stops? It was like TCP.[/quote]

Even in the energy drink (Accelerade?) it tasted awful, really really bad.

de_sisti

Vega 165 wrote:

I thought the Gran Fondo route was great, quite challenging and well sign posted,Enjoyed the fast roll along the coast.

I do think though that the medio route was too much of a step down ,The Gran fondo was close to the limit for me but the medio would have been a doddle. I think it should have atr least one more decentclimb and maybe 10 to 20 more miles.

I arrived in the carpark que at 0700 didnt push in and crossed the start line at 0815 .Felt sorry for those at the back of the massive que though it was getting cold and could have been a real disaster in bad weather.In cold rain people would have been going down with hypothermia in that que.

I arrived at the car park at 06:50 and had to wait no more than 2 - 3 minutes. I got ready and
took my place in the queue at about 07:20. I was in the 4th group to be set off, at about 08:08.
I thought the 1st feed station on the coast road at about 28 miles was ok, so too was the
one at the top of the Bwlch, enough food and drink for me (even though I always carry
my own. That's what audaxing teaches you ).

I did the medium ride, 71.37 miles at an average of 16.5 mph. My Suunto T6 made it 1160 metres
of climbing. I arrived at the finish at 12:44 (I'm not fast). I thought it was ok, as I only got my entry
the day before, for £15.