At 12.30pm on christmas afternoon I was standing on top of the Bwlch (the longest of the Dragon's climbs) having ridden up it from the new direction that will be used twice on the ride in June. It was freezing and I had about 5 yards visibility due to the high altitude fog.
It took about 45minutes to climb from where the road starts to ascend shortly after Port Talbot on the coast. I'd already ridden the Rhigos and Cimla climbs and been out for close to 3 hours at this point and was in pretty good form on the day so am in a fairly good position to judge how much harder the 2007 event will be and what sort of condition we'll be in by the time we reach this point for the second time on the day.
The answers don't make for pleasent reading. It's going to be much much harder. The section they've omitted is largely flat and has been replaced by the long hill. The nameless climb has gone but Cimla is longer and just as steep when tackled from the other side to last year.
Although the Bwlch is early in the ride first time round and not too steep to cause too many problems, the second time up it, after 4-5 hours riding is going to be absolute torture - it's a series of hills which increase in severity the higher you go - never too steep but really soul destroying.
The reverse direction over the Brecon Beacons (having climbed the Bwlch and Rhigos) is a severe test of attrition - very exposed its almost certainly going to be windy and there are huge, long uphill drags which last forever.
So there you go - a sneak preview of a much harder course, and 30k extra to contend with. Time to start training
