I roll down the high street in Knighton early on Saturday morning. A nearly full moon is beginning to set in the south west, and the first light of dawn is beginning to show in the other direction. I pull up at the railway station, place my bike under the sign and take a photo. Its 5.30 am. There’s only one ride that starts here: the Trans Cambrian Way. And for the first time, possibly, it’ll also feature as the end of the ride. Here is my account of the Trans Cambrian Way Double. (more…)
Trails
Welsh Divide
I feel like I’d waited years for this: to link up all those trails that I knew into one big tour to follow the spine of Wales from the north to the south – a Welsh Divide, if you will.
From the top of the Great Orme to the end of Worm’s Head: 4 days, 430 km, 11,300m ascent.
Abstinence
I’ve lost count of the number of days that have elapsed since I last rode my bike. Way back in August sometime, maybe, but I can’t be sure.
We’re having some building work done at home and earlier in the year when the specification was being drawn up I took out a series of items. Tiling? I can do that. New floor in the bedroom? Sure thing. Decorating? No problem. Well, the tiling is done (at last) and the floor down (finally). Decorating is still work in progress…
But, despite the unfinished state of things its all very live-able in and that means, rain or shine (rain most likely – looking at the forecast), I’m off for two days riding in an often overlooked bit of Wales that is Radnor Forest. The Radnor Ring is a Sustrans route of 80 odd miles of quiet country lanes. Between these, however, is a great network of tracks, bridleways and forest trails that I haven’t ridden for over a decade or more, and certainly never has a nice big loop with a night out under the tarp.
It’s also an opportunity to test out a couple of new bits of kit. Beth has finished a nice Clouded Leopard frame bag for me that fits around my water bottles and still gives me room for a tarp, bivvy bag, sleeping mat and a few other bits and bobs as well. It’s super light too, weighing only 150g. With sleeping gear up front and food etc in a seat pack, I should have a total weight of around 4 kg with nothing on my back.
I’m also excited about my new tarp: 94g of cuben fibreness, this neat tarp is produced by z-packs in the US. Nearly half the weight of my siltarp, it should provide more protection from the rain and increased headroom allowing me to sit up out of the rain and eat my dinner.
I’m just glad to be going out on the trails, regardless of the weather, and quite excited about my new bits of gear. It’ll be a great way to end my abstinence from riding bikes.
Fat Fun
The week following my last ‘cross race, I was invited to join some mates on a Bothy weekend at the end of November, and a Bivvy trip at the beginning of December. Exciting.
Equally exciting was the large box that arrived from Alaska just when we got back from holiday. It was fork: steel, black and wide. Specifically, 135mm wide. It was to go with a special wheel I’d precured from Singletrack World classified the previous month. A 135mm custom Phil Wood hub laces to a Speedway Cycles Uma II 70mm wide rim and shod with a Surly Larry 3.8″ tyre.
After an evening in the garage the fork was on and ready for its first ride on the Bothy trip. We rode out from Rhayader early evening on Saturday and took a winding route around the dams to Cwmystwyth before turing steeply up hill towards the forest and the Nant Rhys bothy. Despite the loaded bike and the singlespeed (32:20) the bike didn’t seem all that hard to pedal. Rolling resistance wasn’t that significant and while the extra weight in the front wheel was noticeable it didn’t detract from the ride.
Sunday’s ride was a fairly easy, if slightly longer than planned fire road based ride designed to link the bothies of Nant Rhys and Nant Syddion. The “it must be this way” strategy to navigation failed amongst the various junction options within the windfarm above Nant Rhys. All was not lost, if you excuse the pun, as we happened to hit upon an excellent fire road descent to the north of the forest. This is where the Larry tyre started to show its benefits: all the smaller rocks and stones didn’t really feature as trail features with the tyre just soaking them up. In the corners, the large tyre footprint yielded so much more traction than I expected that allowed me to carry my speed through the corners very effectively.
Finally, with nearly 35 miles ridden, I was at the top of the Golf Links descent: the final descent back into Rhayader and the final initial test for the fat tyre. Considering I was on a singlespeed with all my Bothy gear strapped to the bike, I found I was able to ride at a much faster pace than with a normal rigid fork and tyre. The Larry tyre functioned as a sort of passive suspension system soaking up the smaller stuff and not being thrown off line with the bigger stuff, and it stuck to off-camber sections of exposed rock.
It was a really eye-opening ride and I got much more from the bike than I expected. Looking forward to the rest of the winter with this set up.
Feeling Lucky?
I could see rain clouds in every direction from the house, except for overhead and the direction I wanted to go riding, where the sky was clear and sunny. I thought:
It’ll only be a short ride, I’ll leave the rain jacket at home.
Jumping onto the Pegasus, I headed for Mynydd Illtyd, an area of common about 4 miles from Brecon with some great open singletrack and few sharp climbs to really test the legs. As I got to the common, sun still shining overhead, the view west over to Fforest Fawr was black: a wall of cloud and driving rain about two miles into the distance.
The trouble with parts of the Brecon Beacons is they have their own climate. Parts can be sunny, while others are drenched in rain, with little inbetween. Keeping the right side of the weather boundary is a mix of good judgement and sheer luck.
You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya punk?
I pressed on towards the rain with increased urgency. Just as I approached my return point, the wind on my face was laced with fine rain. I peeled off the main track and kicked the pedals hard along a gradually climbing grassy singletrack path. Even after I turned my back to the wind and could no longer see the black ominous clouds behind me, the race is on to finish the ride and not get wet.
Finding a level of strength and determination that has evaded me lately, I hammered round the rest of the loop at a blistering pace. The steep climbs were all dispatched with maximum commitment, and just as I rounded the top of the last climb, I decided on a small detour to a trig-point. It was a bit further and steeper than I expected. With legs burning, lungs bursting, heart pounding and with the sun still shining I got to the top of the trig point to stand victorious and dry in front of black clouds and distant rain. In nearly every direction I could see rain falling, yet overhead the sun still shone.
I don’t think the ride would have been half as exciting if I’d actually taken my rain jacket.
Welsh Ride Thing
The weekend of the Welsh Ride Thing still brings me out in a grin when I think about it.
Packed with memories of rain, wilderness, bothies, open fires, whisky, sunshine, singletrack, fireroad, river crossings and socialising with thirty odd like-minded riders who got together for a weekend of exploring the Big Welsh Wilderness.
Saturday’s rain wasn’t particularly heavy, but quite persistent. My choice of 32:20 gearing wasn’t quite as light as I would have liked, but any lower and the flat sections would have been tedious. My progress was slower than I had planned, a combination of weather, riding a loaded bike and hard (but enjoyable) trails. I chose to trim my route a little and headed for Claerddu – a remote bothy I’d not been to before.To my surprise, I was the only one there when I pulled up at 8pm. It concluded a 40 mile ride, which had taken in some great tracks, though not in the best conditions. I had enough time and light to get the fire going and cook up some food. Another WRT rider arrived at about 9pm, and we shared tales of the days riding.
Sunday dawned with patchy cloud and warm sunshine – a welcome change from the day before. I headed NE along Monks Trod, a route I am familiar with from previous exploits and one that can be either magnificent or miserable depending on the weather and/or the choice of line. Today, though, it was magnificent. An hour and half since leaving the bothy, I was back on the mountain road. A stiff climb lead me to Nant Rhys Bothy, before a long forest descent took me back into the valley to the north. Hafren Forest lay the other side a long winding climb through a broad valley bathed in sunshine. Hafren Forest was a delight to ride through. I seemed to miss all the singletrack, not really knowing the area, but instead stumbled upon a fantastic waterfall and the above pictured quarry with its iron tinged wall.
I rolled back into Pennant with another 40 miles ridden to conclude an excellent two days of riding. New trails, new people, new places and new inspiration to head out into the Welsh Wilderness some time soon. The whole weekend was a great departure from the normal riding I do, and a world apart from my previous racing endeavours. Check out all the pictures I took over the two days here.
Rock and Roll
Thursday, 20th May 2010
5:00am – I awoke to the sound of birds singing. The alarm wasn’t set to go off for another hour, but there was no chance of me getting back to sleep – my mind was on one thing: I had a mountain to climb today, literally. Snowdon.
I had breakfast and within half an hour was out on the bike. I was staying in a cottage near Rhostryfan, which left me an hour riding to get to the bottom of Snowdon.
6:19am – I’d ridden over the top from Waunfawr. On the way down towards Llanberis, I caught my first sight of the summit. Snowdon was clear of cloud, so I might be in the chance of good view from the top.
6:40am – I’d reached the gate at bottom of the Llanberis path in just over an hour, with 500m of climbing done already. And it was all uphill and off road from here.
7:41am – Clogwyn Station. The easy bit of the Llanberis path was now behind me, but not before an 600m carry up the steep slope past Clogwyn D’ur Arddu. The riding had been good, bathed for the most part in early morning sunshine. The trail was predictably rocky, but one of my goals was to commit to riding as much as possible. The section beyond the Station was too steep to ride too, so I was faced with a further push/carry.
8:00am – Back on the bike and pedalling. I could now see the beginning of my descent, the Snowdon Ranger, picking its way across a broad shoulder below the mountain railway and into the cloud below.
8:10am – At the saddle between Carnedd Ugain and Snowdon, I got my first look down into the valley below. Filled with clound, the view was awesome. The summit clear as crystal above, I hadn’t got far to go now.
8:15am – The Summit. 1 hour 35 mins and 786m of ascent from the Llanberis Path gate. The view was brilliant. The cloud seemed to lap against the steep faces of Lliwedd and Crib Goch like the sea against the cliffs. I chilled out here for a few minutes, took some photos and ate some food. I was the only one here. The whole mountain to myself. Never mind the thousands of people who’d been here before me, I was the first person that day. I reflected briefly on the amount of the Llanberis Path I’d actually ridden – probably 75-80% by distance, which I was pleased with.
8:23am – I started my descent on the Snowdon Ranger. The upper part was a reversal of the granite steps I’d climbed to summit cairn. With these out of the way, I could cross the mountain railway track, I take the trail I’d seen on the way up. It was fast and loose, resembling fine scree. Changes in direct were better made from the rear of the bike rather trying to guide the front. As the trail steepened, the fine scree seemed to get progressively larger until the trail began to wind between increasingly large rocks. Each meter descended needed to be met with greater conviction and commitment.
8:35am – At the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but think of the consequences of even a moderate crash, injury or mechanical. Consequently, I did back off a bit, and when I did stop to look back up at the summit, I could see the severity of the trail I’d descended so far. There were to follow a few bits by far too severe for me to ride, which considerably exceeded my skill level. I gracefully carried a these sections fairly pleased with what I’d ridden further up.
The trail opened out further down the valley, and I was able to open things up again and weave a line through the rocks and roll over the undulating grassy sections. Finally, I reached the turn uphill for “Telegraph Valley”. A grassy push lead to a gate and short climb past that took me over a small saddle and begin a real blast of a descent back down to Llanberis.
9:31am – Pete’s Eats. Henry and Beth were there to greet me too, and have a cup of tea and a bacon and egg roll ready and waiting.
The perfect end to a great morning’s ride. All the photo’s from the ride are on my flickr site.
Penhydd
It’s quite a long time since Beth and I went for a ride together. With Henry out for the day with the Grandparents, the weather yesterday was perfect for a run down to Afan Forest Park.
The Wall route was closed for felling, so we did Penhydd instead. In many respects, this trail is oft overlooked in favour of the burlier or longer routes up at Glyncorrwg. I rode it last August on the 29er (singlespeed) for the first time in years, literally. It was great fun, and I figured a good way for Beth to ease her way back into some real mountain biking (i.e. not the local canal towpath).
Turns out, Beth didn’t take much easing; instead she delighted in passing about 6 blokes on the way round and made a tidy job of riding the Hidden Valley and Sidewinder descents. Given she’d not been on a MTB properly since November 2008, I thought was good going.
So, nine months later…
Well, 2009 certainly went past quickly. Can’t quite believe 9 months past since the last entry here, but then a rest is no bad thing from time to time.
I managed to get a few good rides in late spring in the lead up to Mountain Mayhem, and we put in a good performance to finish 11th in the Sport Category. I changed jobs in July, having worked a very arduous and stressful 12 weeks notice. The weeks just drained away from then until the end of the year. I hadn’t really done a lot of riding, other than just occasional local weekend rides.
At some levels, I feel the slowest I’ve been in the last ten years, but then I think it’s all relative. On a ride over The Gap late last year, I caught a few riders from a club I knew where we used to live. One chap was determined to beat me to the top. He set a quick pace, but I stuck with him without too much trouble. I concluded that I’m so much unfit, as just not race-fit. Which is fine, really. I’m just enjoying riding at the moment, without having to worry about anything else.
Too good to miss
Days like yesterday are few and far between. The bitter cold and fog of the weekend cleared to reveal clear blue sky, grass and leaves edged with heavy frost and crisp ice where previously there was water. A perfect day for a ride then.
With the bike stowed in the back of the car, I headed out to some of my woods* around Llanidloes, which is conveniently only 15 miles or so from Nant yr Arian, east of Aberystwth. Red kites circled above the visitor centre and its largely empty car park as I headed out on the Syfydrin Trail. I didn’t quite have a enough light to do the whole loop, but local knowledge and couple of shortcuts later I’d bypassed the boring bit past Nant-y-moch reservoir and made it to the top the Nant Bwlch-glas descent. A fun piece of trail under normal conditions, made all the more exciting with little icy rivers and frozen patches to keep me on my toes.
The sun was beginning to set as I made it to the final descent. This bit of trail had been in the sun most of the afternoon, so despite still being very cold, much of the ice had melted so I could cruise through the turns, pump the dips and fade the crests with much more confidence. Once the Leg Burner climb was out of the way, all that was left was the final descent through the larch trees back to the visitor centre, where there was just enough light left for the full on blast this brilliant piece of trail deserves. An excellent day that was too good to miss.
* One of the perks of being a forestry consultant is deciding you “need” to go out and visit such and such a wood on days of glorious weather, preferably in close proximity to some decent riding. This is countered in equal measure with arranging to meet someone at a specific time and place which will usually be in the cold or the rain, or both.
Ian Barrington 