Dragon Slayed in Wales

So, Sunday saw my erstwhile cycling buddy/brother and team (All the Gear) domestique slay the fearsome dragon (Wiggle Dragon Ride).
4 days prior to the event, my iPhone app informed me to expect a sunny day with cloud cover, 2 days before, the expectation was for a cloudy day. The day before, intervals of rain (to be expected in Wales)!
Well, we drove from Staffordshire to Bridgend on the morning of the 5th, aimimg to get to the start line for 09:00. You may recall, that my lackadaisical little brother failed to enter in time, so had to book onto the baby (Corto) ride, so that we could start together, then sneak onto the Medio Frondo (120 K) route with me!

It was my birthday on the friday, so a couple of beers on the Saturday at Kiff's was in order, followed by a large glass of wine. The wine must have been off, coz after going to bed at 22:15 I awoke at 00:45 with a stinking headache. - Not best preparation for a 120K ride in the Brecon Beacons!

We arrived in plenty of time to see the longest queue to start ever! It took fully 45 mins to get from the back of the queue to the start line for the off! Still, plenty of time to check out the opposition!
The weather was a little parky to start, so arm warmers were the order of the day. Kiff went with the full base layer (he would have worn that even if it had been 20 degrees)! We set a cracking pace to the first feed station at about 35 miles (17 MPH). here we stopped for the traditional Jam tarts, banana and energy drink. Quick pizz, and we were off again heading for Port Talbot, and the dreaded Bwlch climb (13.5 miles to the summit)!!
We threw in another quick stop for an energy gell as the climb started. We needn't have bothered, much of the climb was slowly rising at about 1 - 4% of the first few miles, and so required little effort. Eventually the road steepened, we had been warned to expect 8%, but my trusty Garmin made it 10% in places, and as we broke cover of the small virtually disused mining villages we could see the road meandering slowly to the top, with various coloured dots strewn along the way. I'm pleased to say, my accidental 100m ride a couple of weeks earlier on the Jurassic Beast had given me added strength, and I had no real bother on the climb, achieving a steady 6mph all the way up. Just before the summit were a few local well wishers clapping & cheering which was nice, but as we summited the Bwlch, (the heavens opened - Kiff says), in actuallity, it was light rain, but enough to make us don rain jkts & cover the breaks all the way downhill, thus spoiling the reward for toiling uphill!
We stopped one more time for Roasty potatoes, and more drink, then fairly whizzed off at a fair lick to conquer the final 20K's. We fairly sped through Pen Coed at the end to pick up our finishers medal, goody bag, & replenishment drink. We slayed the beast in 4:33 mins, av 15.6 MPH, pretty good going which earned us 'Silver category' - great days work. We forwent the finishing line pasta to save a space for a delicious paella cooked by my lovely niece who lives nearby in Cardiff, where we went for a flying visit post race -Yum!
On the way home it was: 1 Paul Weller, 1 or 2 Elvis songs, then a whole 2 hours of George Michael at full volume. What a cracking day, with one of the premier cycling sportives in the UK conqured! Bring on the Coast 2 Coast in 3 weeks! - I'll keep you posted!