Ben Simmons: Wiggle Dragon Ride

Well this was one event that I was really looking forward to, especially after setting the fastest 190km Gran Fondo time last year. I was also nervous and felt a bit of pressure to perform well and hopefully get the fastest time for the slightly extended 200km Gran Fondo route for this year. I recently received my brand new 2011 Izalco Team 1.0 road bike so had the extra psychological advantage of riding an awesome new bike. I made sure that I had all my kit packed numerous times after the fiasco of forgetting my shoes last year!

The weather was a bit unpredictable on the day but I decided to ride in shorts and jersey with dhb arm warmers and a lightweight packable gilet. I was in no rush to start in the first wave of riders as last year I found it better to start towards the back so that there were always hundreds of riders to chase, so mentally I felt good overtaking people all day. I started with good friend Dan Davies with a Go-Pro video camera mounted on my handle bars as the organiser was keen to capture my experience of the ride. We started of quite fast and the wind was quite strong so took turns battling against the wind and within the first hour the camera snapped off the mount and went bouncing down the road. After a quick U-turn to pick it up, we were back on our way pressing on to the bottom of the Bwlch Mountain.

Once we hit the bottom of the climb I was keen to press hard up it, to try and keep myself in contention with a good time. In doing this though I dropped Dan and carried on pressing hard in to the strong headwind all the way to the top. After a short descent there was the feed station where I decided to stock up on some more fluids and a quick banana which gave Dan time to catch me back up. We started smashing down the descent as hard as we were going up it, which was great fun and we soon found ourselves at the foot of the Rhigos Mountain. I decided to take the start of this climb quite steady but soon found myself in a rhythm pressing hard up the climb which in turn made it hard for Dan and at this point was the last time I was going to ride with him for the rest of the route.

The best thing about long climbs is that once you get to the top you know you have got a long descent! Although I enjoy the hard ride up climbs, it’s the reward that follows that gives me the best rush… full speed down a long descent! I was now on my own at the bottom of the Rhigos having to ride the flat roads still with a strong wind. I was catching up with riders quite regularly, which was good as it always gave me a target to chase and I was feeling good as the miles were ticking down to the finish. The next climb I was heading for was Cilma, which I remembered from last year being a real leg burner as the gradient is quite steep and drags on for a while. Again I rode tempo up this climb because I find personally if I ease up on a hard ride I can start to blow so keeping a consistent hard pace seems to work well for me.

Now it was time to head for the Bwlch Mountain for the second and last time which I wasn’t looking forward to as I knew it was going to be tough with that wind again. At the bottom of the climb my legs were beginning to feel fatigued and I knew it was going to be a struggle getting to the top of the climb… I took on board a caffeine gel in an attempt to give me a kick of energy. It seemed to work but there was no energy product in the world that can make your legs feel good after riding the distance and speed I was riding at. I was relieved to reach the top and descended to the feed station for one last top up and also to put on my lightweight windproof gillet as it decided to chuck it down with rain!

It was time for the run home and with the rain and wind on the descent I was getting quite cold and was taking it quite easy on the way down as carbon braking surfaces and rain don’t go well together! After a few sketchy moments with some traffic build up from bikes and cars I knew the final tough climb and roads back to the finish well as the Welsh Champs Road Race course used the same roads. Llangeinor was the name of the climb and really puts the final nail in the coffin before suffering the rest of the grippy rolling roads to the finish. I was really running on empty and seeing the distance signs tick down was the only thing that kept me going to the finish. With 5km to go I just gave every thing I could and eventually crossed the line in 5 hours 54 minutes 24 seconds.

This gave me the fastest time for the 200km route and I believe I was the only rider to go under the 6 hour mark so was really happy with my ride. Team mate Matt Page also did a good time and finished about 10 minutes slower than myself and with Wiggle being the event sponsor and main retail partner made it a good weekend all round for Team Wiggle!

No pressure for the Dragon Ride 2012 then ha ha!

Ben

Follow me on Twitter @BenSimmons