Mountain Bike Weekend

mozr

Banned
Joined
Aug 16, 2007
Messages
3,175
Reaction score
205
Hi.

Just Came back from the Clwydian Mountain range.

Had a fantastic time on my new Specialized sport 08.

Headed down to Llandegla forest on sunday.

Definitely recommend. £4 for all day parking, nice cafe, well stocked shop, and amazing trails.

Ignore the poseurs (its hard believe me), and go get muddy.

Ive got a couple of bruises for the trouble, but well worth it. I was going to post pics in here but I wouldn't want to make all the lads on here go gay over my now formidable leg muscles. Ok, Ive still got a gut, but i'm not stopping the beer for any sport.

Will be heading back out there ASAP.
 
Great to hear that you got out there. Did you do one of the routes off their website?

Did you have a on board trip computer on your bike? Your average speed should tell us if it was a holiday or not :)

Any pics of scary descents?
 
I did A 20 mile from cottage - A road to Cilcain - then proper trail up to ridge of Moel Famau (fell on descent when a pedal got stuck on a tuft of grasss and flipped me over, face full or nettles and big bruise on left thigh) - then back to cottage.

Apart from road riding it was Llandegla.

This is a you tube clip of the 12.5km (7mile) [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJtye5kO7L0"]blue run[/ame] which I tackled in 55 mins, no 'dabs' (ooh get me with the lingo). EDIT: not my vid btw.

I didn't do the Black run. not yet. Im a noob. I will parcel my experiences out as I get stronger
 
Last edited:
That's just half an hour up the road from me. I might check it out.

I do most of my riding around here though but one place I go to isn't exactly bike friendly and it's very steep! And you have to go up a very steep hill to get to the trail. It's bloody scary to come back down it without touching your brakes! Must be hitting in excess of 45mph at an estimate. I keep up with cars in a 30mph limit just coming down the hill that leads to my house and it's not as steep as the above mentioned hill! Gives you a major adrenaline rush I'll tell you that much!

My bike is in need of some TLC though :( I think I must have gave it a bit of a thrashing last time I had it out last summer. Tyres have got a slow leak too and my only bike pump that I can find is broken! It lets air out as you're pumping so it's a race to get the tyre pumped to see if you can get more air in than is being let out!
 
I would deffo recommend the Clwyds for bike rides using the website.

Lots of reservoir circulars etc for kids/wife.

Llangdegla has a family route too, maybe fun for two hours, but after that might be a bit ponsy/serious.

there is a nice Denbigh to Ruthin cycle path too.

All in all, I barely touched what it has to offer, and ill be back deffo.
 
Seems like a great place to ride. The only problem I have with North Wales is the time it takes to get there. From London you can get to the Breacons in under 3 hours where as anything further up north can add a whole 2 hours to the journey.

I love those circulars around reservoirs, they are great for the family and its good to see more and more people using them.

That singletrack in the video you posted seems man made, was your route a man made job or were the trails natural?
 
Seems like a great place to ride. The only problem I have with North Wales is the time it takes to get there. From London you can get to the Breacons in under 3 hours where as anything further up north can add a whole 2 hours to the journey.

I love those circulars around reservoirs, they are great for the family and its good to see more and more people using them.

That singletrack in the video you posted seems man made, was your route a man made job or were the trails natural?


Would take you about 2 hours if you drove through the beacons to get there from Brecon. Less if you have a heavy foot on the motorway ;)

I could do Exeter to Wrexham in about 4 hours on the motorway. A roads would take me to 5 though. Slightly different directions but similar sort of distance ;)
 
Man made munkey. Using the natural forest routes, but yes, the vast majority has obviously had a lot of stone shifted up there, especially for the jumps.

Good though.

I live in North west England so I've got the opposite dilemma. Got to drive past all that lovliness to get to BRecon Beacons.

Next trip I might make it into Betws-y-Coed. There is meant to be a great forest there too.

Oh here it is

OMG there is too much to do!
 
Would take you about 2 hours if you drove through the beacons to get there from Brecon. Less if you have a heavy foot on the motorway ;)

I could do Exeter to Wrexham in about 4 hours on the motorway. A roads would take me to 5 though. Slightly different directions but similar sort of distance ;)

I don't really like driving up the A470 TBH. I had a mad crash with a speeding motorcycle near Merthyr in the early 90's and ended up crippling some poor bastard, that really put me off driving up and down Wales.

Personally I think the best routes are in North Wales but they are far and few between where as the Breacons have so many excellent trails. I remember back then there were no man made trails and Coed Y Brenin was just a twinkle in the rangers eye. How things have moved on!

I'm quite familiar with all of the bridleways in and around Betws-y-Coed but IIRC a lot of the tracks are for 4x4's or 'wide' tracks which are not much fun, especially the ones that start from the town itself.

If lived in the North west I'd check out the Lakes, the rocky terrain makes for some exhilarating downhill rides.

How long have you been MTB'ing Kris? What's your ride?
 
I don't really like driving up the A470 TBH. I had a mad crash with a speeding motorcycle near Merthyr in the early 90's and ended up crippling some poor bastard, that really put me off driving up and down Wales.

Personally I think the best routes are in North Wales but they are far and few between where as the Breacons have so many excellent trails. I remember back then there were no man made trails and Coed Y Brenin was just a twinkle in the rangers eye. How things have moved on!

I'm quite familiar with all of the bridleways in and around Betws-y-Coed but IIRC a lot of the tracks are for 4x4's or 'wide' tracks which are not much fun, especially the ones that start from the town itself.

If lived in the North west I'd check out the Lakes, the rocky terrain makes for some exhilarating downhill rides.

How long have you been MTB'ing Kris? What's your ride?


I know what you mean. Roads around there can be bad. It gets worse too as you head further North. A483 is a bitch of a road all the way up to Newtown!

I've been mountain biking on and off since a kid but got back into it a couple years ago. I ride a Gary Fisher Mullet. All original at the moment. Little bit neglected tho as it hasn't been ridden properly in a while!
 
Back
Top