A long weekend in North Wales.

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BY: Melanie Alexander

Published: 4th May, 2011

Snowdon, Coed y Brenin and the Dyfi Enduro are what I got up to this bank holiday weekend and it was a lot of fun.
Taking advantage of the bonus bank holiday we headed up to Llanberis on the Thursday evening where we joined a group of friends at Pete's bunk house.

Friday we headed up the Llanberis Path with our bikes part riding but largely pushing. It took the best part of two hours to get to the peak. Straight into the café to refuel on caffeine and food plus a shot of whisky to celebrate a 40th birthday before heading down the Ranger's Path. It was technically difficult in places near the top with loose rocks and big drops (more walking for me). On the long descent our group of 14 had more than 10 punctures between us, a broken rear mech and seat post. 2 hours later we reached the bottom having enjoyed the Snowdonia mountainous landscape and the mini adventure.

Photo by: Rob Khoo

Saturday we were spoilt for choice of which trail centres to ride at with Penmachno and Betwys-y coed just down the road and Coed y Brenin on route to the Dyfi Valley. We opted for Coed y Brenin. I wanted to get a short but fast ride in. A lap of MBR trail just left me wanting to ride more so a quick lap round the Tarw trail was required to finish me off. I enjoyed it a lot and I was pleased with how much smoother I was riding the trails compared to a few weeks back. From there we drove across to Machynlleth for the Dyfi Enduro running the following day.

The Dyfi Enduro is popular, so popular in fact that this year in its 10th year of running it filled up within a couple of hours.

Photo by www.rightplacerighttime.co.uk

It is a short enduro of 55 kilometres but it is a tough 55 k with a total of 1600meters of climbing. The climbs on the whole are on fire road and the descents are fast, steep in places and loose. It took the first couple of descents to adjust to the loose dusty surface which if you had the nerve you could so easily fly down if you laid of the brakes, though there were plenty of punctures to help weigh up the benefit of that.



It was a fine day, dry warm and very windy which added extra work on the hills and meant draughting behind others definitely helped out. The shorter distance, fast start on the road to the Dyfi forest behind the motorbike and the hills definitely took their toll on the thighs.



Reaching the last descent with its 1 k sign to go is always a good sight and it's a fun descent to finish with. I was really pleased with how I felt throughout the enduro, it took me around 3 hours 9 min which is the quickest I have ridden the Dyfi Enduro by far.

Pictures of all the riders from Dyfi Enduro are available from www.rightplacerighttime.co.uk

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