England : Lancashire Wiggle Dragon Ride 2013

[Mista Preston]

That was a toughie. I managed it in 9.5hrs which was a tad slower than I expected but the combination of heat and hills just got to me. I saw a couple of the aftermaths of accidents and all looked pretty bad. I must say people seemed to be going too fast for roads they were unfamiliar with. I really held back on the decents. The switch back decent of black mountain was my highlight personally. My low light was my inner tube exploding (as above) due to the heat through the rim (and possibly a defect who knows). I am just glad it happened at low speed.

 

[DCLane]

Like @jdtate101 I saw the guy who'd crashed at Bryn plus a couple of others. The ambulance was there when I went past.

The ride was good, if tiring. The last two climbs were hard but I made it back in 9:03 - just over my target. My report's just like JDtate's so there's no need to repeat it; tan lines, big climbs, sweat, etc. Oh, and no walking!

I descend fast but at least it's usually safely. The only minor issue I was was descending off Bryn and I hit a pothole on a LH bend, pushing me onto the RH side.

Major respect to the guy doing the ride on a hand-bike.

 

[Nuncio]

A busy day for the medics, I really wish people would be a bit more cautious if they are unfamiliar with the area, although from your story his was unavoidable and not his fault, just one of those things that can happen. Although saying that, carrying high speed into corners with equally heavy braking can heat the tyre rim and cause tyre failures.....hope he's ok, but I'm guessing that one will take a long recovery time.

Agree completely. I wouldn't have been going so fast (or wide - there was a digger coming up further behind which may have straddled the white line a bit) but then again, I don't race. He took a slight risk - it didn't come off because of bad luck. On the other hand, I could have been driving a car.

He was conscious all the time. At worst he will have a broken nose, lost a couple of teeth, need stitches and be concussed for a while. He didn't appear to be in pain from broken bones.

 

[dellzeqq]

I'm told that the worst injury happened when a rider went over a cattle grid at high speed and burst both his tyres. The paramedics were putting a line in to his groin, which is, apparently, not a good sign.

 

[Mista Preston]

I'm told that the worst injury happened when a rider went over a cattle grid at high speed and burst both his tyres. The paramedics were putting a line in to his groin, which is, apparently, not a good sign.

there were plenty of cattle grids with no additional warning (other than the road sign) from the ride organisers and no matting or anything. I have just completed the ride survey and made my point about how better signage at obvious black spots would have helped.

 

[jdtate101]

I'm told that the worst injury happened when a rider went over a cattle grid at high speed and burst both his tyres. The paramedics were putting a line in to his groin, which is, apparently, not a good sign.

http://road.cc/content/news/85089-u...-after-crashing-yesterdays-wiggle-dragon-ride

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-22839283

Yep saw the aftermath of this one, guy was gone in the chopper by the time I got there, but there was a few police/medics about and the Mavic guys were slowing up the riders coming down the mountain into single file hard over to the left edge. His bike was still there, looked utterly destroyed....

Good news is that according to some of the comments on the road.cc story, he's doing ok.

 

[lanternerouge]

http://road.cc/content/news/85089-u...-after-crashing-yesterdays-wiggle-dragon-ride

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-22839283

Yep saw the aftermath of this one, guy was gone in the chopper by the time I got there, but there was a few police/medics about and the Mavic guys were slowing up the riders coming down the mountain into single file hard over to the left edge. His bike was still there, looked utterly destroyed....

Good news is that according to some of the comments on the road.cc story, he's doing ok.

Glad to hear that! I did the Medio Fondo. Great event and what weather! Am still buzzing!

http://app.strava.com/activities/59279432#

Took a few pics of the day too:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/simonhowells/sets/72157634042938503/

DC, was that you in a Fred Whitton jersey I chatted to at the Costa at Frankley services??

 

[DCLane]

DC, was that you in a Fred Whitton jersey I chatted to at the Costa at Frankley services??

'fraid not. I chatted to someone at the first service station on the M4 back, but I had a grey Ted Baker top on.

Some good photos there.

 

[lanternerouge]

Doh!

Thanks - a few taken from saddle to distract me from the pain

Loved the way the event atmosphere extended back across the service stations of England and Wales last night - I had a few nice conversations with fellow participants

 

[jdtate101]

And via the magic of photoshop.......me busting a nut at the top of devils elbow....

 

[rich p]

Makes me glad I did the CycleChat version in April!

 

[Banjo]

Makes me glad I did the CycleChat version in April!

And I bet they didnt have the lovely Jasmine to entertain them after

The only Dragon climb we didnt do in April was the climb over the Black Mountain or the "Cuckoo" as its known locally.(personally I think we climbed quite enough for one day)

The descent down towards Llangadog is one of the best anywhere .

 

[User482]

Makes me glad I did the CycleChat version in April!

+1!

 

[philwjones]

I was taking photos on top of Cimla - I've made note of the rider numbers and indexed them on a very basic page - it would be nice if the photos were united with their riders so hopefully some of FMs here are included

http://philjonesphotos.com/2013_dragon_ride/