With outstanding weather and some good miles in my legs, I was looking at doing a cracking time at this years Dragon Ride. Sadly the health gods had other ideas, having spent a few days in bed and 2 weeks recovering from some nasty virus - I was starting to wonder if I'd been in close quarters with some swines - of the even-toed ungulate persuasion, if you don't mind!
It's touted as the best Sportive in the UK and I was keen to see whether the Dragon Ride would live up to it's reputation. Starting the ride fairly early to ensure there were enough groups to choose from, Andy and I headed off fairly early, sitting in on a few groups, looking for ones going our pace. We headed up through the forest, along a single track route and out the other side. The group we had latched onto had some rather sketchy riders in the group so we decided to jump ahead of them - a red flag to a bull - we weren't even 10 miles into the ride and the group decided we'd acted out of turn and gunned ahead of us.
Being of the hunting type, Andy chased and hopped on the back of the group, I had no choice but to follow. About 5 minutes into this race pace, my chest seized up telling me it was having none of this madness. I wheezed ahead to Andy telling him I was not able to carry on at this pace, we eased back, but my chest still had a vice-like clamp around it. I decided that was it for my ride and I was going to head back home. I sat out on the rails in the sun wondering when would be a good time to do the "ride of shame" home back past all the riders.
Several cycling buddies and a few clients pedaled past with greetings, one or two stopped for a chat, so I put on an extra croaky voice, hoping to at least sound convincing. I was just getting ready to hop on the bike to do the return journey home when L2P fixed gear rider David Harmon and his 13 year old son Joseph stopped to help. Insisting that he was not going to leave his ride captain behind, he handed me his bidon with an authoritative voice saying "drink as much of this as you can". I took a swig, yuck - Lemsip! Now I'm not sure about you, but riding with a double shot of Lemsip in your bidon is somewhat questionable, but at the time I thought nothing of it and downed the whole lot. Hopped on my bike and headed around the course at a very manageable pace.
It was to be a series of firsts for me on this ride, cresting the top of the Bwlch I saw the most wonderful view - an ice-cream van - a 99 goes a long way, I'll have you know. Overtaking a motorbike with a 13 year old close on my wheel off the back of the Bwlch. It wasn't so much overtaking the motorbike, it was the 13 year old - how could someone that young descend and corner so well. Coming 3rd last in the Dragon Ride - I'll never live that one down. VIP tent at the end with food and wine - now that makes up for coming in at the back.
All in all, what a great event, really well organised and taking us through an area I'd not have considered cycling in before. If you are looking for Alpine type climbs and descents - the ones that go on for ages at a steady gradient - you'll find plenty here. Smooth tarmac - nirvana for a Surrey Hills cyclist. If you've not done this one before, I can highly recommend it.
Peta McSharry
Group 4 Ride Captain