The Dragon Ride – Dragon Devil: Will I Survive Wales’ Ultimate Cycling Challenge?

🚴‍♂️ The Dragon Ride – Dragon Devil: Will I Survive Wales’ Ultimate Cycling Challenge? 🐉

Join me on an unforgettable adventure as I tackle the legendary Dragon Ride Sportive in Wales, one of the toughest cycling events out there! With stunning Welsh landscapes as our backdrop, I face grueling climbs, unpredictable weather, and the ultimate test of endurance.

Can I conquer the Dragon and complete this monumental ride? Watch to find out!

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Special thanks to:
The HSW gang for putting up with a camera being shoved in their face.

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Thank you for watching! Let’s conquer the Dragon together! 🐉🚴‍♂️

the official Adventures of assalamu alaykum and peace welcome back to the channel today I’m doing the dragon ride tackling the longest and toughest route they have to offer I’m from Yorkshire so I’m getting my money’s worth it’s the dragon devil and what a cracking name it has I’ve traveled down with the gang from my local Club the Huddersfield star wheelers alaf couldn’t make it doctor doesn’t do long ones and Sham is on an extended recovery period since last year the dragon ride is one of the UK’s most iconic cycling events the dragon devil route covered nearly 300 kilometers featuring about 4,433 M of elevation game this route includes some very long climbs and a few stabby ones as well an absolutely breathtaking scenery all the way around the course T from uh from zift red and yellow yeah my hand you doing the full route I’ve got if we can last if we can last I guess I’m not realistically it’ll be the grand F low as long as the knee holds up I’ve got to see a consultant again I’ve had a steroid injection two weeks ago get the excuses in early right absolutely absolutely who knows it might be a finished in two who knows all right cool take care boys take care Lu the official start time we had was 6:30 in the morning but we actually started around 7:30 a.m. not sure what the hold up was but we were there on time we finally got going about 20 7 it was cold it was miserable and it definitely wasn’t the sunny blue skies we were promised right we’re off to a sluggish start here the route kicks off with a Scenic tour of Port Talbert’s Ring Road the roads are glistening with rain and we’ve got roundabouts coming at us like they’re going out of style this isn’t the time to be a hero the last thing I want is to have an off so early on into the ride so we’re just keeping it chill until everyone in the group catches up [Music] it didn’t take long before we started hitting some ink lines nothing too crazy though but enough to get the legs warmed up on the first downhill my cautious approach was validated and we saw somebody take a spill on the tarmac unfortunately go on Martin pulling everybody along real progress as the roads dried up someone definitely had the weix this morning because a long train had formed behind Martin to in a massive group a couple of US exchange looks probably thinking the same thing this isn’t going to end well but the Scotsman however he was loving the draft you got a right train going on behind you spoil it I was quite pleased with him there he was going to be my today all right let’s talk about these climbs so far the hills have been steady inclines nothing too dramatic I didn’t do too much homework before the event but I do know about the devil’s staircase or a Steve keeps calling it The Devil’s Pantry most of the climbs are long and draggy around 5 to 6% gradients so you don’t have to go all out if you don’t want to and save your matches I think the one that we’re on now might be Glen Neath Hill probably butchered the name it’s 3.7 km at 5.4% gradient and it’s the last climb before the first feed stop about 60 km in when your bu here sha how come he’s doing Dragon riding y [Applause] not just crested the second climb next stop is feed station Martin still pushing the P look and just like that we’ve arrived at bead station number one oh wow my advice only carry enough food to get you there they’ve got sis gels but no powder for your balls which I made an immediate beine for totally missing the long queue whoops sorry everyone water’s in buckets with jugs and they’ve got the usual flap Jacks sweets Jaffer cakes bananas chocolate bars and a new one for me roast potatoes with rosemary and salt amazing these were a big hit let me tell you I think I must have ate about six of them just don’t hang around too long though because there’s a cut off you need to hit all right feed station one done next climb is the Black Mountain sounds scary well I don’t know why I put some cream on it’s in state of it need to take this some glasses off really steady away is the order of the day trust me I know from experience the biggest bunker [Applause] going this has got to be the Black Mountain rack and beacons we nearly there yeah near yeah nearly you look like you’ve done this a few times I have yeah yeah is this a Black Mountain then this Black Mountain full route yeah red I see you go up R chimney oh rosale rosale chimney that’s the one yeah I should have that yeah I’m done it yet I should have reconed that one before attempting uh like a a full gas effort yeah yeah it was a bit of a a bit of a shock halfway up 33% yeah good practice for this so later on all right which is the which is the spicy climb is it um staircase yeah is it tough I’ve done it I’ve already done the ground on there all right it’s my first go good luck awesome job [Applause] go on Steve oh [Music] you to make things more interesting and P time we started doing a bit of through and off it worked well until Riders behind struggled to keep up and then tried to sneak in it really just threw off the whole Rhythm the hsw guys run tight shap though plenty of communication to keep everything smooth and incident free we’ve hit feed Station 2 about 100 km in and I’m eagerly anticipating those potatoes again I found they’re great for countering the sugary aftertaste of the gels and the energy drinks the feed stations got everything the first one did plus tea coffee benches biscuits and a delightful new surprise wait for it cheese on toast who would have thought it I’m starting to wonder what the next feed station’s going to offer pizza or maybe even a donor Kebab every feed station has portaloos and mechanics if you need them this must be sugar L Hill it’s a long one almost at the top now is a sugar L fill then [Music] clear hey me quick check out the views so good I just had a flat kept going down so uh about to stop lost the club members now catch them at the feed station hopefully check it out warmed up as well and warmers are off however after being stop stopped fixing the puncture I’ve been molded death by a group of midges it’s going to be spots everywhere now nice right here middle of nowhere though so here we are devil staircase don’t know how much I’m going to film so here we are the main attraction the devil staircase The Climb everyone’s been talking about this is supposedly the equip of hard not pass on the Fred Wht Honestly though it wasn’t as bad as people are making out to be the climb features 25% hair pins and stays above 20% for the first half of the kilometer it’s climb number 93 in Simon Warren’s book of greatest climbs so I’m glad to be able to take this one off I did see a few Riders step off on the way up but if you just keep going it eventually eases off at the top there’s about two hair pins in total and thankfully the road was dry otherwise it could have been pretty sketchy no time for a water top up as I’ve lost at least 30 minutes faffing with a tire going down the next 10 miles after the devil staircase were absolutely spectacular probably some of the best roads have ridden in the UK the vistas were out of this world with swooping rolling roads Lakes valleys and switchbacks climbing the staircase was totally worth it for this however I’m now dealing with a shifter issue I can’t get out of the big gear and one of the leevers seemed to be stuck this problem is going to haunt me all the way to the next feed station look like he could do with some company seen your mate back there he’s about a mile behind did you see him yeah yeah his legs are gone what legs are gone yeah suris you got puncher yeah I got a tubul okay I it look right it looks better than my are I’ll pump you up yeah yeah that’s what I’m going to do yeah that’s what got me by now my power has seriously dropped off I’ve gone all quiet and I’m suffering for no apparent reason I usually hit these walls on Long rides for for some reason I don’t know why uh and I just need to really just keep plotting along hoping for that second wind to kick in and bring my legs back to life 132 m in um knackered proper knacked fa bit to go yet so this is Penny van I’m calling it the longest climb on the planet honestly what a drag well the good thing is I perked up a bit I’m overtaking Riders now on here powers back up a bit God knows what happened what would be good now is if there’s a 105 M descent that’ be amazing T hey this feed station has seriously up to its game not only do you get the usual goodies but now the spoiling us with cheese and onion pasties ice cold coffee in cans Tango and fruit shoes it’s like a mini food festival this is the second to last feed station and honestly I’ve had so much sugar now that I just can’t look at another gel it’s making me sick I just want to lie down to be honest with you I’m practically swimming in glucose at this point since Penny fan I’ve got my legs back and I don’t want to risk blowing up so I’m keeping it in zone two we’re now on the second to last climb Ry goes tell me in the comments if I pronounced it wrong anyway Ry go is about 5.6 km at about 4% average gradient I pushed into zone three I pushed into Zone three power to test the legs and I’m feeling good must be the chees past is kicking in last Fe Station one more disgusting climb to go 30 Mi and I’m feeling all right feet are a bit I know bit numb but other than that all good last climb of the day I’ll tell you what it’s called later I can’t pronounce it but stunning now this is the last climb the Bulch maybe it’s a beautiful Ascent overlooking a small town and I’m giving it some beans starting to drop Riders now left and right as I approach the top I really do feel recovered and almost fresh Spirits are high and I’m focus on finishing strong The Descent is seriously long feeling like it stretches on for 10 miles or so nice bite [Music] that I almost forgot about getting back to the starting point I’ve still got to navigate the roundabouts around the ring roads back to poor Road surfaces I bumped into this group with the Rafa Palace jerseys they were riding like no tomorrow I accepted their offer of a tour which then seriously Ed my average speed with me doing 300 to 400 watts as we race through the winding main roads to the Finish [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] and loads of cheers for some more Dragon Slayers coming across well done guys you H slay it [Music] mate cheers guys that s out the average speed in it and there you go folks the dragon rides Dragon devil route is officially done and the dragon’s been slay honestly it probably felt tougher than the mea 312 at times mainly because of those long draggy climbs at the end but yo those awesome feed stations definitely sweeten the deal thanks for tagging along on this crazy adventure if you’re loving the Journey smash the like button and subscribe for more rides and Adventures and updates you’ve got any questions about the route shout me out in the comments below and I’ll get it back to you see you soon peace 50 is another sp there you go he said it he’s coming you got to get up the CLS haven’t you there we go you got a ride he’s coming somebody told me about the F50 a couple of years ago I’m like I’d have to work out how to route it I re it’s probably about 200 miles total yeah I’ve done it I’ve got a route 336 okay if you put it on well the most accurate of any route I ever put on that is on the G it’s 9,300 M of climbing okay and that’s a continuous route apart from two of them so home Moss it’s not it’s just stupid going all the way over and then Castle Hill’s a car pack so you’ve got a u so other than that it’s it’s properly but yeah 14th of September