Dragon ride Gran Fondo 5th June 2016

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Comments

  • drlodge
    drlodge Posts: 4,826
    A guy in my club did the Devil in less time than it took me to do the Gran Fondo. Now I'm no Chris Froome but I ain't no slouch either. I averaged 15mph, him 17mph - on the Devil!!!
    WyndyMilla Massive Attack | Rourke 953 | Condor Italia 531 Pro | Boardman CX Pro | DT Swiss RR440 Tubeless Wheels
    Find me on Strava
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,166
    Saw Colin Charvis finishing the Devil the last time I did the Gran Fondo. He did look like he had had a long old day on the bike.

    It isn't anything like the RideLondon - I was home in time for lunch after London, and was only picking up a takeaway after it was going dark on the way back to Cardiff after the Dragon. If you go off too hard or don't eat enough in London you'll be fine. Do that with 230km, you'll hate the last few hours.

    Lovely ride though.
  • kingtubby
    kingtubby Posts: 45
    Entry is open today for the 2017 ride, I am going for the gran fondo again and try to get under 9 hours this time....
  • drlodge
    drlodge Posts: 4,826
    Good luck with that, I've got a holiday booked at the foot of Mont Ventoux in June next year :-)
    WyndyMilla Massive Attack | Rourke 953 | Condor Italia 531 Pro | Boardman CX Pro | DT Swiss RR440 Tubeless Wheels
    Find me on Strava
  • london-red
    london-red Posts: 1,266
    Thinking of entering this one. How is the traffic generally on the day - do the motoring class tend to give it a wide berth or are the roads quite busy?
  • drlodge
    drlodge Posts: 4,826
    Absolutely fine. The narrow section up the devil's elbow is closed to traffic.
    WyndyMilla Massive Attack | Rourke 953 | Condor Italia 531 Pro | Boardman CX Pro | DT Swiss RR440 Tubeless Wheels
    Find me on Strava
  • london-red
    london-red Posts: 1,266
    drlodge wrote:
    Absolutely fine. The narrow section up the devil's elbow is closed to traffic.

    Thanks for the info - will think about it. The Gran Fondo route looks great, if a little long for my chicken legs.
  • specialman
    specialman Posts: 22
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    specialman wrote:
    Very interested in this next year... seems to be a proper event that people rate highly.

    Did the Rhigos (both sides) and Bwlch on the weekend while down at the in-laws, which peaked my interest for 2017 - amazing hills, even better on a bike... think I'll not be billy big balls though and I'll do the medio :)

    The Black mountain is pretty special - it's the extra hill on the Gran Fondo. The extra 50 miles makes it a different prospect though.

    I've signed up for the 230KM route as part of the macmillan team with my riding buddy - it'll be good doing it with a mate and that should also help with the training, provide we can both put our all in.
  • Mad_Malx
    Mad_Malx Posts: 5,183
    London-Red wrote:
    Thinking of entering this one. How is the traffic generally on the day - do the motoring class tend to give it a wide berth or are the roads quite busy?

    Very little/ no traffic on most of the route, but there was a clash (cock-up) with a running event on the opposite carriageway in what was already the busiest section of road, near the reservoir, last year. Hopefully this will be avoided in future, but even with a lot of delayed drivers in that area there didn't seem to be any friction and passes were sensible where I was.

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