Wiggle Dragon Ride 2011

The Dragon ride is starting to feature as a regular event in my cycling calendar. It’s route, distance and scenery keep me coming back for more. This year an new route turned the Dragon into a real beast.

I initially missed entry for the 2011 Dragon ride as it sold out within hours but luckily I picked up a last minute entry from a reopening for a few places.

This years featured a new route that took in a section of coast and looped through the Afan Valley for a dual summiting of Bwlch. These adjustments pushed the total distance to 200k. If it hand’t have been for the JOGLE I think I might have questioned my sanity in entering.

I was joined for the day by Mark, doing his fourth Dragon, and Sandy, doing his first. We were all taken by surprise at the number at the start. We’d arrived early, by our standards, and were greeted with thousands of people queuing behind the start gate. It took a good 50 minutes before our wave hit the road.

The start was the usual flourish of pack chasing, resulting in probably riding far to hard. We eventually found a couple of guys to hang off but just as we were getting going rubbernecking at an incident split up the pack. This left the three of us and a couple of stragglers to take on the windy coast road ourselves. The view made for a good distraction and the first food stop came quickly.

Having hit the coast there can only be one way to go…..up! The route headed from the coast to the Afan valley and the summit of Bwlch. Usually this climb marks the latter stages of the ride but this year it marked the start of the climbs. On the lower slopes we bumped into our friend Emma who seemed to be enjoying her 75 mile outing (not that she’ll admit it). The encounter made for a good distraction as we covered the miles before the gradient picked up. I really like this climb but usually for the fact that it’s the last big effort before the run home. I have a couple of markers in my head where I push and until I hit them it’s heads down and get on with it.

The descent off the other side was made interesting by drizzle and greasy road surface. Still it’s good for a bit of a hoon and makes the climb worth it. Unfortunately the end of the descent marked an almost immediate start to Rhigos, another long climb. Not quite as long but it punished me for putting in effort on Bwlch.

The main loop to the outskirts of the Brecon Beacons features another few inclines but nothing too serious. In was quite surprised when we hit the final feed station as I hadn’t felt like we’d been going for long enough. I think it’s one of those things where the further you travel the less distances feel.

Tucking into another round of bananas the heavens opened. Taking shelter under a gazebo at the food station we opted to wait it out for a while. It wasn’t worth the wait and we set off on the final leg into the rain. Still it wasn’t that cold so can’t complain.

Unfortunately the conditions conspired against Mark who slid out on a wet drin before a sharp corner. I didn’t know about the incident until I saw Mark trudging up the hill with a bent bike and covered in cuts and grazes. Thankfully Mark looked worse than he felt and the bike bent back into shape. The adrenaline certainly seemed to help him as he flew up the start of the second Bwlch climb.

I was joined by Sandy as the gradient kicked in. For a non regular cyclist and someone riding their first sportive he was doing frustratingly well. He only dropped off my wheel when I locked onto a guy who over took us. I used him to pace me to the hairpin then I stomped the pedals for a push to the summit. It’s one of those climbs where the gradient is enough to let you build up a bit of pace if you put the effort in after a hairpin.

The reminder of the route was as per previous year. Pretty much a fast run in, bar one cheeky climb. I used the final 20k or so for a time trial practice and managed a good page on the flats to finish in 07:53:18.

Big congrats to the boys for finishing a tough ride. and a big thanks to the organisers for another well organised and epic event. Special mention to the cooks who were still dishing out tubs of lovely hot pasta well after they were due to go home – thank you!