Dragon Ride 2015

ChrisOnTour

Hi,

I'm looking for a bit of advice regarding the Dragon Ride on 7 June.

I'm in two minds about what would be best, and have two options for me and a couple of mates:

1) The 302km Dragon Devil route on 7 June

2) The Dragon Tour (5-7 June), but a shorter ride on the Sunday (ie not the 302).

Anybody else thinking of doing the tour? Which option would be more sensible?

Many thanks,

Chris 8)

Brakeless

ChrisOnTour wrote:

Hi,

I'm looking for a bit of advice regarding the Dragon Ride on 7 June.

I'm in two minds about what would be best, and have two options for me and a couple of mates:

1) The 302km Dragon Devil route on 7 June

2) The Dragon Tour (5-7 June), but a shorter ride on the Sunday (ie not the 302).

Anybody else thinking of doing the tour? Which option would be more sensible?

Many thanks,

Chris 8)

£95 entry for the 300km route !!!!! I've just paid £30 for a 600km Audax next year that includes sleeping and about 8 control points that all have home cooked food in village halls.

RallyBiker

£95 for 300km! :roll:

Grill

Brakeless wrote:

ChrisOnTour wrote:

Hi,

I'm looking for a bit of advice regarding the Dragon Ride on 7 June.

I'm in two minds about what would be best, and have two options for me and a couple of mates:

1) The 302km Dragon Devil route on 7 June

2) The Dragon Tour (5-7 June), but a shorter ride on the Sunday (ie not the 302).

Anybody else thinking of doing the tour? Which option would be more sensible?

Many thanks,

Chris 8)

£95 entry for the 300km route !!!!! I've just paid £30 for a 600km Audax next year that includes sleeping and about 8 control points that all have home cooked food in village halls.

See you on the BCM.;)

Pross

Some events get too big for their own good. The Dragon Ride is one of them! £95 to ride on open roads is ludicrous.

Brakeless

Grill wrote:

Brakeless wrote:

ChrisOnTour wrote:

Hi,

I'm looking for a bit of advice regarding the Dragon Ride on 7 June.

I'm in two minds about what would be best, and have two options for me and a couple of mates:

1) The 302km Dragon Devil route on 7 June

2) The Dragon Tour (5-7 June), but a shorter ride on the Sunday (ie not the 302).

Anybody else thinking of doing the tour? Which option would be more sensible?

Many thanks,

Chris 8)

£95 entry for the 300km route !!!!! I've just paid £30 for a 600km Audax next year that includes sleeping and about 8 control points that all have home cooked food in village halls.

See you on the BCM.;)

WCW ;-)

RallyBiker

Pross wrote:

Some events get too big for their own good. The Dragon Ride is one of them! £95 to ride on open roads is ludicrous.

THIS!
Sportive entry fee's are getting out of hand nowadays.I did theDragon Medio this year and I must say was very impressed with the organisation, feeds and abundance of food and portaloo, but 4000 riders paying those sorts of prices, as well as various sponsors/ promotions, Council donations all paying to be part of it generates a massive amount of profit. It has become a huge business, with more and more promoter businesses getting on the band wagon, either exploiting the cyclist or providing events for them (depending on your view! )
We have 3 sportives up here in N.Wales at £40+ a pop for 100+ miles, of which I've done one medium twice and one long once on one event and the long one on Anglesey. The local Council Tourist Dept. actually gave the organisers £20,000 for promoting the event on the island. Win,win situation!!
Now I've ticked that box of doing the best I could on my local sportives I've decided to do cheaper events for around £20 such as those put on by RedKite events and mix in a few audaxes for 2015

dandrew

The Gran Fondo Dragon Ride was the hardest thing I did last year. Harder than the Etape. It's a great ride and perhaps the Premier UK sportive. Yes it costs £ but IMO worth paying. I'd be interested to see a breakdown of where the £ goes for the type of event.

Brakeless

dandrew wrote:

The Gran Fondo Dragon Ride was the hardest thing I did last year. Harder than the Etape. It's a great ride and perhaps the Premier UK sportive. Yes it costs £ but IMO worth paying. I'd be interested to see a breakdown of where the £ goes for the type of event.

If you think the Dragon Ride was hard it's got nothing on this

http://www.millecymru.com/
, which only cost £75 which included evening food, overnight stops and breakfasts. £95 for the Dragon Ride 300km route is a total rip off.

Rob Somerset

£75 for an Audax. What a rip off. You could ride that route yourself for free. This Audax vs sportive nonsense makes me laugh. Judging that the whole thing is a rip off just because you think it is a bit presumptuous. Ok, so £95 (which is the top price ) is a fair bit of cash, but if its your one big event of the year and its what you like doing then whats the problem. Even on an average salary its only a days pay, spend your money how you like and enjoy yourself, its nobody elses business.
I had a £60 meal in a restaurant with the missus the other day, which was fantastic. With hindsight though I now realise it was actually a complete ripoff as I could have bought all the ingredients at Tesco for £15. Doh!

ugo.santalucia

Rob Somerset wrote:

£75 for an Audax. What a rip off. You could ride that route yourself for free. This Audax vs sportive nonsense makes me laugh. Judging that the whole thing is a rip off just because you think it is a bit presumptuous. Ok, so £95 (which is the top price ) is a fair bit of cash, but if its your one big event of the year and its what you like doing then whats the problem. Even on an average salary its only a days pay, spend your money how you like and enjoy yourself, its nobody elses business.
I had a £60 meal in a restaurant with the missus the other day, which was fantastic. With hindsight though I now realise it was actually a complete ripoff as I could have bought all the ingredients at Tesco for £15. Doh!

I think the topic of DR being a rip off has been discussed over the past 6 years and we have indeed moved on... yes, it is a rip off, but that's not stopping people from doing it... so we/you might as well suck it up and ride the course the day before/after if we/you so wish...

Brakeless

Rob Somerset wrote:

£75 for an Audax. What a rip off. You could ride that route yourself for free. This Audax vs sportive nonsense makes me laugh. Judging that the whole thing is a rip off just because you think it is a bit presumptuous. Ok, so £95 (which is the top price ) is a fair bit of cash, but if its your one big event of the year and its what you like doing then whats the problem. Even on an average salary its only a days pay, spend your money how you like and enjoy yourself, its nobody elses business.
I had a £60 meal in a restaurant with the missus the other day, which was fantastic. With hindsight though I now realise it was actually a complete ripoff as I could have bought all the ingredients at Tesco for £15. Doh!

£75 for 3 days meals and 2 overnights can hardly be called a rip off, you couldn't actually ride that route in 75 hours with places to sleep and food provided for £75 yourself. It's actually completely the opposite of the Dragon ride which you could do with £20 in your pocket for coffees and lunch.

Compared to £95 for some snacks at feedstops then there is no comparison.

Of course everyone's entitled to do what they want with thier cash and at the end of the day more people riding regardless of the event is a good thing but there are plenty of people who are actually unaware of some brilliant rides in the Audax calender that don't have to be 'your one big event' because they are so affordable.

Grill

Rob Somerset wrote:

£75 for an Audax. What a rip off. You could ride that route yourself for free. This Audax vs sportive nonsense makes me laugh. Judging that the whole thing is a rip off just because you think it is a bit presumptuous. Ok, so £95 (which is the top price ) is a fair bit of cash, but if its your one big event of the year and its what you like doing then whats the problem. Even on an average salary its only a days pay, spend your money how you like and enjoy yourself, its nobody elses business.
I had a £60 meal in a restaurant with the missus the other day, which was fantastic. With hindsight though I now realise it was actually a complete ripoff as I could have bought all the ingredients at Tesco for £15. Doh!

You have no idea what you're talking about. I rode the Mille Cymru this year and it is an absolute beast (so much so they only run it every 4 years). Food and sleeping arrangements (as well as bag drop) was taken care of. Over those 3 days I only spent about £20 on other food and drink on the way. Now tell me where you can holiday for 3 days and nights for under £100? Yeah, that's what I thought.

If you want to ride it as a permanent, which you're more than welcome to and it will only cost you a fiver... plus food and lodging, then go for it. http://www.aukweb.net/perms/detail/JHA07/

@brakeless- 3 sleep stops as almost every laid down at Betws y Coed.

Rob Somerset

Ummm... I thought it was obvious that the opening sentences were tongue in cheek, perhaps not, it seems.
My original point though, was that what you do is a personal choice and that each time someone posts a genuine post asking about a sportive there is always people who start bleating on about bargain basement Audaxes, which can be done for £1.50, which wasn't what the OP asked about. This Audax thing is becoming like the Jehovas Witnesses banging on your front door, perhaps you dont realise that not every body wants that type of ride, or has the time to go slogging along for days on end. The holiday question foxed me for a bit as it has nothing to do with the post, I couldn't get to £100, my best offer is £129 for 3 days in Barcelona I did 2 years ago. Just to keep the post going... I went and did the Marmotte SPORTIVE last year and that cost me an obscene amount of money but was worth every penny and each round of drinks in the bar cost more than a years worth of Audaxing - Rock on, living on the edge (lol)

Brakeless

Rob Somerset wrote:

Ummm... I thought it was obvious that the opening sentences were tongue in cheek, perhaps not, it seems.
My original point though, was that what you do is a personal choice and that each time someone posts a genuine post asking about a sportive there is always people who start bleating on about bargain basement Audaxes, which can be done for £1.50, which wasn't what the OP asked about. This Audax thing is becoming like the Jehovas Witnesses banging on your front door, perhaps you dont realise that not every body wants that type of ride, or has the time to go slogging along for days on end. The holiday question foxed me for a bit as it has nothing to do with the post, I couldn't get to £100, my best offer is £129 for 3 days in Barcelona I did 2 years ago. Just to keep the post going... I went and did the Marmotte SPORTIVE last year and that cost me an obscene amount of money but was worth every penny and each round of drinks in the bar cost more than a years worth of Audaxing - Rock on, living on the edge (lol)

Mine was the first reply to the OP. I've done the Dragon Ride several times in the past and when I saw that there was now a 300km option I had a look at the Dragon Ride site with genuine interest. I was shocked at the price and posted so, as most other 300km events in this country are Audaxes and have been for years then it makes sense to compare them.
You obviously know nothing about Audaxes refering to them as 'that type of Ride'. There are more types of Audax then there will ever be sportives, events from 50km, 100km right up to 1400km, hilly, flat, rolling, lanes, main roads, whatever you prefer and it doesn't have to be days on end at all. The guys on the front of most Audaxes will be just as quick as any sportive pace. As for bargain basement, you'll get better food at the start and finish of of most £10 Audaxes than you will ever get on £40 Sportives. It's got nothing to do with Bargain Basement and alot to do with value for money,which you get because they're run by cyclists for cyclists rather than companies making money .
As for the Jehovahs witness comparison and 'bleating on ' then fair enough I'll carry on bleating. I spent a few years riding sportives prior to Audax and for me there is no comparison and I doubt I'll ever ride another Sportive and I'll carry on telling people how good Audaxes are.

Rob Somerset

Stop telling me what I know and don't know about Audaxes. You don't know me or how many of them I have done (which FYI is a lot).

And like I have said previously, and has you have just agreed 'for me there is no comparison' . So why do you keep banging on with a comparison. I have concluded that you either are a Troll or a complete pratt.

Conversation over.

Brakeless

Rob Somerset wrote:

Stop telling me what I know and don't know about Audaxes. You don't know me or how many of them I have done (which FYI is a lot).

And like I have said previously, and has you have just agreed 'for me there is no comparison' . So why do you keep banging on with a comparison. I have concluded that you either are a Troll or a complete pratt.

Conversation over.

Nice and insulting! If I google my name followed by Audax then lots of info about the rides I've done comes up. If I google yours Robin then absolutely nothing comes up. Strange considering that you've ridden 'lots FYI'

wotnoshoeseh

So what do we think?? :twisted:
Is the Dragon Ride worth doing?? :oops:

dandrew

Yes!! It's a great course & well run!

bernardmcdonald

The Dragon ride is fantastic.

I visit that part of the world quite a bit and often ride parts of the course alone and for free, and I think that paying the cash for the Dragon ride is well worth it.

Yankee1

I entered the Medio yesterday (first timer). I was surprised to gain entry nearly 2 months after registration opened. I had heard that the Dragon Ride usually sells out within 24 hours. Has the event lost popularity or have they increased the number of places?

dandrew

Not sure, hope you enjoy it!