Diary of a Mountain Biker

Date: 30th March to 1st April 2007
Riders: Richard, Rob, Huey, Sue, Richard II, Dave, Sam and Grant
Cwmcarn and Afan Argoed
Weather: 11.5 °C

See below for the full ride report. For all the pictures see the Wales weekend photo album.

30th March 2007

Transit, trails, uphill, upliftage

Another cycling trip starts on the Friday moring when Grant arrives at my front door, excited and early and ready for his and Sam's first biking weekender. Huey and Sue arrive in the van and after loading up we set off down that familiar trip along the M4.

Fast forward roughly 3 hours and we pull into Forest Drive a.k.a. Cwmcarn, home of the Twrch Trail and lately the Dragon Downhill. First impressions are that the car park is a lot busier than our last visit (link), with the visitor centre currently being re-built and a load of downhill rigs in the car park waiting for the Cwm-down uplift service.

Rob, Dave and Richard II have arrived earlier than us and have already set out on the Twrch trail. Sam and Grant are ready first and I send them on ahead with the instructions to take it easy, this is their first real mountain.

Huey, Sue and I set off some time later and begin the familiar climb out of the car park. I say familiar but I'm not sure if my legs aren't working properly yet, or cos i have just got out the van after the journey or what but I am struggling to get "into the zone" on the rooty, rocky lower slopes of Cwmcarn.

At the same time, I expect to catch Grant and Sam up pretty quickly but sections come and go and there's still no sight of them. Being the responsible adult, having to call Grant's mum and my wife to say I have lost them on the first climb doesn't appeal to me!

The trails are bone dry and my cycling legs gradually begin to come on line but it is still not until the first real stop where the Totem Pole and picninc area is that we catch up Grant and Sam.

With a sense of relief we push on, noticing the re-routed section here that has a much more sensible gradient off the fire road from the old style section that usually required you to pick up your bike and push.

The final climb to the top of Airstream is straightforward although the entrance seems nearer to the summit than I remember (later on I discover that yes, it has been moved back up the trail).

Into airstream and a stop as with a grin we spot the 'Black route'. We take this to the 3 new jump/drop sections (picture link) and the 'Toilet Bowl' (picture link). This is an exciting new section that drops you off a wooden platform into a nice transition before your momentum takes you to the top of a bowl that you then dive into before being flushed out the rear so to speak. We all have a few goes of this; great fun!

Back to the XC section and descend to the bottom beofre riding back to the top to do the whole thing over again. This is really a fun section.

Then onto the rest of the trail. After the first harsh climb the rest of the trail is a great ride with many descents and a few climbs but nothing that takes too much out of you.

The final descent that runs across the open ridge feels different now that the scrub has grown up on the downslope.

It no longer feels like you are on a knife-edge ready to fall to the town below.

After arriving back in the car park we finally hooked up with Rob, Rich II and a cold looking Dave. Everyone had enjoyed the trail especially the newcomers. Rob and I were raring to go around again but given that it was 3-30pm and we still had an hours drive to get to our overnight destination we didn't fancy redoing the whole trail. Salvation came in the form of the Cwm Down uplift service for the Dragon Downhill course. So 3 XC riders paid their £3-50 and climbed on board with the padded up DH boys and 5 minutes later were dropped at the foot of Airstream. Up the fire road to the top of that section and some more messing around on the black run before finishing off the rest of the trail and back into the car park to meet the others plus Sam and Grant who had been sessioning the bottom half of the DH course.

Back into Huey's van and off we headed to Afan and the L&A riding centre. The accommodation is quite basic although the shower is welcomed and pumps out plenty of hot water although waiting for all eight of us to use it is a pain. But all we really wanted was dinner (steak and chips included in the cost) and a bed for the night. Oh, and the bar went down well too. Unfortunately with four to a room, Rob couldn't stand my snoring and took his mattress downstairs to sleep on the floor.

Saturday 31st March 2007
Scrambled Eggs, Sausages, Skyline, Fire road, incessant wind

After a huge helping of cooked breakfast (more bacon anyone?) we head off to Glyncorrwg and the start of the Skyline trail. The centre has really grown since my last visit when it was a quiet backwater to the original centre at Afan Argoed. The two storey building housing a café, visitor centre and extremely well stocked Skyline Cycles (link). After the usual faffing we start the climb up the switch backed sheep trails. Although the first switchback is quite rocky, it soon settles into a hard packed climb that takes you eventually to the fire road at the point where the trail splits with numerous route options (Skyline, Black Run and White's level). Although the Black run sounded fun the thought of immediately losing any of that hard gained altitude didn't do much for any of us and so we continued onto the Skyline Route.

Well, what can I say about this. The 44km trail has some great sections but the first sections seem never-ending. We were accompanied by a very strong wind for the whole day and this was nothing to do with the beer or beans consumed. The sections approaching the wind-turbine's are great as you approach these massive blades that have a prehistoric feel about them as they lay dotted about the horizon. Yes, I am a fan of these things (no pun intended). After a tough morning's ride we pause for lunch at the first short-cut option. If you are feeling tired here, it is well worth studying the map. Grant and Sam had been doing well but the full route was clearly beyond them and as Dave was troubled with a tight hamstring the 3 of them took the shortcut back to the centre whilst the rest of us carried on.

I had heard rumours of there being fire road just for the sake of adding distance into the trail but I felt that this was unfair. There were long sections of fire road but these were always accompanied by some great views and always led to some great sections of trail. Luckily, a large section of the trail passed very quickly which also happened to be the section furthest form home. Seeing the same wind-turbines in the distance gave an idea of the distance covered but also the amount of riding still required.

The section around the lake (link) is awesome although the wind is howling and we rush along her to escape into the trees.

There is a huge rock-garden towards the end of the trail which is seems never-ending as you approach it but I managed to clean it. We finally come back to the recognisable sections of the final part of White's level and I have retained just about enough energy to enjoy the fast rocky descent with it's rolling terrain and opportunities to jump off various rocks alongside the trail.

We all collapsed into the welcome seats in the café just as the sky filled with clouds and a heavy rainstorm started. We just made it back in time as riders now started coming in soaked to the skin.

Back to the car park and L&A Riding and another queue for the shower before a curry for Rob and I in the bar area (more curry anyone?) and we relaxed with more beers as the tall trails stories began to flow followed by the jokes, both good and bad and Grant learnt how to pour a Guinness properly and how to use a coin…

Sunday 1st April 2007
Breakfast, Fools, football Dead Sheep,

Sunday morning and after another cooked breakfast we head off to the other Afan, you know, the one with Penhydd etc. With the Wall closed for logging we ride the Penhydd. An old favourite this is a great introduction for newcomers encompassing all that's good about this trails centre, The route is just the right length and has a great variety of trails to keep us all excited throughout the day.