Dragon Ride - Sunday 5th June

Bagbear · Post by **Bagbear** » 06 Jun 2011 12:45

Myself and Barry Evans rode the short 120Km (actually only 70 mile) Dragon Ride yesterday.

My time was 3.31.50 (ride time 3.31.10) and I finished in 7th place!! (7 seconds faster and I would have been 5th)

I averaged 20mph over the 70 mile course with just under 1300M of climb.

Barry came in about 10 minutes behind me.

Not sure how many did the short course over the long, but there were circa 5000 riders in total I believe!

It took up the best part of 1.5 hours to start as they were only letting 100 riders start every 2 minutes.

Good event though apart from the sharp rain shower 5 Km form home

George · Post by **George** » 06 Jun 2011 14:38

Bloody hell, Richard, that's seriously fast! I think you should stop faffing about with this non-competitive stuff and enter yourself a road race.

Bagbear · Post by **Bagbear** » 06 Jun 2011 14:58

Just purchased myself a TT bike so watch this space after my Ironman in July!

slogfester · Post by **slogfester** » 06 Jun 2011 16:59

Yes (Ironman) Richard rode a great sportive. Like him, I had fun and was pleased with my time and how I felt on the bike. 110 km of pushing it, often solo, with no back pain

Thanks to Richard for driving.

All this, DESPITE the organisation...

I dont have an official time because, like apparently 100s of others, my timing chip failed, despite me seeing lights and hearing beeps when I went over the matts. Richard was tucking in to his pasta when I walked in to the catering tent. How long does it take a man to get some pasta down his face after a ride?

Luckily I have my own computer and GPS as back up. 3:44 including 10 mins of stoppage time for feeding and traffic lights.
90 mins to get started was a joke. As were the lack of loos for such a big event c. 4500 riders. When I got to the 2nd feedstop it was chaos taking 7 mins to grab a banana and refil a water bottle and queue for the one loo... gave up in the end. Because of the late start, many riders did not depart until after 1000 (the official 'deadline' was 0930 start), so apparently many didnt make the (unextended) cut off time for the 200 km. Their spitting blood on the forums!

Me thinks they wont get voted 'Britain's favourite sportive' this year!

Barry

AlanW · Post by **AlanW** » 06 Jun 2011 19:30

Good result both, and yet another poorly organised and over expensive Sportive by the sound of it.

jonnyri · Post by **jonnyri** » 07 Jun 2011 14:49

Well done Rich and Barry, very impressive times indeed. Timing chip failures and crazy wait at start not on really.

Philip Whiteman · Post by **Philip Whiteman** » 07 Jun 2011 14:54

Congratulations to Barry and Richard who sound as though they gave strong rides.

As for the event, it sounds as though the organisation sucks.

Gazza · Post by **Gazza** » 07 Jun 2011 21:59

Well done on 3 1/2hrs brilliant ride I did the 70 mile as well but cant match your times as i just tipped over thr 4hr mark. I have done the longer ride previously (this was my 5th Dragon)in previous years it was much better organised and they got the riders on the road faster. The route this year I felt was more bland and less in the mountains than before.Continually upping the numbers just does not work. I witnessed the residue of a crash and heard lots of ambulances later does anyone know what happended??

Philip Whiteman · Post by **Philip Whiteman** » 08 Jun 2011 10:28

Blimey, I have just read the Bikeradar thread on the Dragon. There are an awful lot of unhappy bunnies out there who are dissatisfied with the event organisation and errant timing chips. There are also mentions of various accidents.

Bearing in mind this event has had a good reputation in previous years, I wonder where it went wrong?

George · Post by **George** » 08 Jun 2011 11:07

I get the impression that there's a cultural dimension to the moaning.

Traditional cycling events tend to be put on by club volunteers with limited time and other resources. They are attended by members of other clubs who understand the context and consequently tend to be very forgiving of organisational shortcomings. Sportive riders pay their £25 to an impersonal, commercial or sponsored body; they are less tolerant and more inclined to moan. To some extent, that's justified, because they are buying a commercial product and therefore entitled to expect more. But it's also partly because most are not involved in traditional club life and therefore have no understanding or sympathy for the people the other side of the desk.

slogfester · Post by **slogfester** » 08 Jun 2011 15:42

I dont think that is the case, in this instance.
If you look at the 100s of comments on the forums, they mostly praise the marshals, signage etc.
What is clear is that the organisers bit off more than they can chew (the delayed start) and that there was a clear case of incompetance (failure of timing chips) and poor judgement (not extending the cutoff times).

Even the website was ropey. It took me 30 mins to clean up their GPX file, only to discover that (later backed up by ride stats) the distances/ascent were wrong by 10 and 25% respectively. Thats just slopey work by the organisers. Yes, tolerance would be higher if it were smaller/cheaper/club-volunteer-based. Its just not what you expect from something that is promoted as the best/favourite sportive in the country and one which has -apparently- just been awarded UCI something (not sure of details) status.

I am not sure if there is a connection with a new lead sponsor?

Philip Whiteman · Post by **Philip Whiteman** » 09 Jun 2011 13:05

This saga is still ongoing and seems to affirm that the event was a disaster in terms of organisation. The queues apparently reached around 400yds long for people trying to register. There was pushing and shoving amongst entrants, the roads were covered with cyclists' litter and the feedstops were far from ideal. The failure of the timing mechanism also appears to have been a significant problem.

So far from a few bleating whingers on the internet, this event seems to have been catastrophic. If I had paid the £30 or whatever it cost to enter, I would have been furious too. Alternatively, could assert my right of way as a public highway user and pay no fee at all.

On a more serious point, the early sportives started off as impressive events with organisers committed to quality rather than profit maximisation. Historically, the Dragon was one of the events. By all accounts, it has sadly succumbed to the charlatons that have jumped on to the band wagon. However, the wheels on that band wagon are currently working loose and the vehicle is bound to crash.