Dragon Ride, South Wales – Sunday June 24th 2007
By Tony Shoesmith

I rode the Dragon Ride in South Wales on Sunday 24th June, my first ever Cyclosportive. The distance was 200km with 3,000 metres of climbing. The weather forecast was not good and as 2,500 cyclists queued up at the start at in Bridgend at 8am on the Sunday morning it was pouring down but just as we crossed the start line the rain stopped.

I was a bit anxious about the ride as I had heard about some of the climbs but didn't know what to expect. After an hour or so we hit the first feed station which was at the base of the first main climb, it is called "Bwlch". I had decided not to change my bike setup to a compact or triple and was hoping that I wouldn't regret that decision; luckily I didn't, the climb was long and seemed to go on and on but it wasn't particularly steep at any point. The views from the top were outstanding and the descent was fantastic. I’m not known for being fast on a bike but I was close to 50mph on the way down. I nearly lost my bottle though when I saw a cattle grid ahead, thankfully there were no accidents.

The next climb was Rhigos which was slighter steeper but not quite as long. Again the descent was fantastic. After that the route split into two, the riders doing the shorter route went left and the riders doing the Gran Fondo went right and headed off towards the Brecon Beacons. I decided to do the long route and found myself cycling alone for about 20 miles through the Black Hills.

I stopped at a feed station at about 70 miles and again at 90 miles but there wasn't any food at either of them, just a lot of angry cyclists. Fortunately I had ample energy gels to keep me ticking over.

After cycling 105 miles we reached the base of Bwlch again and now it was raining. It was a lot tougher the second time around but once I reached the summit I punched the air as I knew the last of the big climbs were over. I managed to pick up the pace all the way to the finish and crossed the line having been on my bike for seven and a half hours. I then cycled back to the hotel and my bike computer read "125 miles", my longest ever ride. It was a good event, the feed stations were poorly organised but that didn't stop me from having a great day.