XC Racer Blog Post

XC Rider Does Trail Centres

Share on Facebook  Share on Twitter

BY: Louise Robinson

Published: 25th February, 2013


I am not your natural trail centre rider. I usually avoid them like the plague.  Living where I do (with wall to wall military land providing miles of natural single track) driving to go riding always seems a waste of good riding time and I have a inbuilt fear of pain that seems to prevent me ever really getting into riding downhill fast.


However, when my hubby asked me if I fancied a dirty weekend away, I was under no illusions that by dirty he meant muddy and that it would involve mountain bikes and Welsh trail centres. But credit where credits due, he organised the grandparents to look after the kids and booked us into Wales' number one small country hotel.  Three days of trail centre riding were ahead of us.


After packing the kids off to the Isle of Wight we had an early start on Sunday morning, leaving home at about 7am to arrive at Cwm Carn in time to start riding by 9.30am. I have ridden Cwm Carn before but not for several years and the initial climb came as a bit of a nasty shock to my cold, sitting in the car for 2 hour, legs.  Living in Surrey, we like to think we have hills, but it is not until you get into Wales you realise we don't really have hills. There is absolutely nothing at home that takes more than 15 minutes to climb, in contrast there's more than 15 minutes climbing in the descent at Cwm Carn!  I can't say I'm the biggest fan of this trail centre. Once I got warmed up the climb really wasn't so bad, but I am a rooty kind of girl and rocks give me the creeps. There is some seriously nice single track but the broken rocky descents were not a whole heap of fun on a carbon hard tail.  We did two loops anyway because the sun was shining and all riding is good riding. 


 

The first outing of my new XC racer kit at Cwm Carn


After a quick bite to eat we headed over to Cwm Rhaeadr, a small trail centre 30 minutes out of Brechfa.  This was a new one for me and I was quite looking forward to it. Designed by Rowan Sorrel I was very interested to see what his trails are like as he is in the process of redesigning one of my local stomping grounds, Swinley Forest.  I had been told it was a short loop, but this really is a short loop. It starts with a rather tedious fire road climb, albeit with stunning views of a waterfall,  then you are into very natural feeling swoopy single track that is lots of fun. Unfortunately I ripped my rear tyre (thankfully on a more uphill section) and although we were able to do a trail side fix with the classic "gel wrapper under the tear" manoeuvre,  I didn't feel terribly confident  riding hard on it so we cruised to the end, the entire loop taking no more than 45 minutes,  15 of those faffing with a puncture.


Can you guess where we are?


We stayed at the Ty Mawr Country Hotel in Brechfa. This is a little gem.  If you are looking for an excuse to get away this is defiantly the place to bring your wife, or bring your girlfriend, hell this place is so good bring them both. We had a bed, breakfast and evening meal deal but this also included afternoon tea and homemade cake (and smelly cyclists don't faze them). The food was fabulous, most of it being sourced locally. The eggs coming no more than a short walk down the lane. You could probably have found out the name of your bacon if you had so wished.  We will definitely be back.


After swapping in a spare tyre (never travel anywhere without one) we spent our second day at Brechfa.  Another centre I have never rider before and another one of Rowan Sorrel's creations. Oh my god, I have never had so much fun on a bike. This was my kind of trail centre. Much more natural than the likes of Cwm Carn or Afan with a distinctly XC feel and the hardtail was back in its element.  We rode the black and red route back to back initially and were amazed at the swoopy twisty single track that just begged to be ridden at break neck speed. 



There was some serious climbing as well, and I mean serious but the rewards were magnificent. What seemed amazing was that each bit of single track was different; if Rowan can work some of this magic on Swinley Forest he will take what is already an excellent riding venue and make it outstanding. 


 

After an energy bar or two we set off to do the green and blue routes, figuring that seeing as though we had come this far we should see it all. I am so glad that we did. While I think that the green trail climbs probably put it out of reach of a lot of "family" riders the single track was very cleverly designed so that it could be ridden (slowly) by novices or flat out by the boy racers. The final descent into the car park was probably the best trail in the whole centre so if you do visit Brechfa do make sure you ride the blue and green trails otherwise you will seriously miss out, a bit like going out for an all-expenses paid five course dinner and leaving before they bring out the brandy.


Brechfa


On our third day we started to head home with a stop off at Afan Forest and a visit to The Wall. After Brechfa this seemed a bit disappointing and my legs were seriously weary. I was secretly very glad when Jason called a truce on our "who can get to the top of the climbs first whilst trying to look like it didn't hurt" contest that had been going on, unsaid, for the last two days.  The fire road climbs did have the benefit of starting to work off some of that full welsh breakfast and the sun continued to shine, reaching a barmy 11.5 degrees. By now I was also starting to slay my downhill gremlins and really enjoyed the descent from the top of the wall, even if by the end I felt I had done 5 cycles in a washing machine.  I can see why a full sus would work round here; I just can't image lugging it up the climbs!


Climbing to the top of the Wall


After the wall we headed over to the newly opened Darren Fawr Mountain bike trails at Blaengarw. Only open since January 2013 is another of Rowan Sorrals works (boys been busy!). After the fun of Brechfa I was expecting great things.  The trail itself is just 6km (blue and black combined) hidden at the edge of a housing estate in the back end of beyond. Not being the best traveller in the world I was feeling car sick by the time we arrived after all the winding lanes. The trail here feels like it is cut into the bare face of the hillside with a loose rocky climb to the top of the hill. It was seriously hard going even on a XC race bike, I can't imagine how you would get something big and bouncy to the top. 



Once at the top the descending begins in earnest with rocky steps and gravelly bermed corners. The aforementioned XC race bike suddenly seemed a little small. If you are into that sort of thing it was probably lots of fun, for me it wasn't worth the drive let alone worth the climb but at least I can say I have been.


Are we nearly there yet?


So, three days in the Welsh trail Centres survived. I can see now why the kids round here fly up the little inclines we call hills, they train on mountains.  They're not scared of coming down them either!


Louise Robinson - Mum, pharmacist and part time mountain biker

XCracer.com
Four4th Lights
Accelerade
MTZoom

Scimitar Sports





Blogger Info:


Louise
 

Louise Robinson

Mum, Pharmacist and XCracer Team Rider

Read More By Louise
Disclaimer:

This blog post was written by a third party and their views do not necessarily reflect the views of XCRacer.com

Advertise your business/event here »