We’d been looking forward to getting to the UK Bike Park so were a bit disappointed by the heavy rain throughout the night and the next morning. Still we got there, as had plenty of other riders, undeterred by the rain and mud. The guys were running an uplift day, and while turnout was a bit lower than expected, given the pretty awful weather it was very good indeed. The trailor was full of bikes every time it reached the car park and the cafe and area were full of muddy riders loving the trails. Ben from Torico, a local shop that supports the park, took us to walk the trail and show all the work that’s gone into it. And mighty impressive it was. Massive north shore sections, a great 4X track and many top notch DH courses. We’ll definitely be back with more time (and big bikes!) to ride sometime soon.
The guys running the park are inspirational - all fitting the work there around full time jobs and doing it purely for the love of biking. And the locally made hot dogs and ‘mum’s’ homemade cake are top quality riding fuel and very popular by the look of the long queue forming over lunch time.
Back in the car and straight to Afan. A place we’ve ridden many times, but not in the last few years. We couldn’t get over how many cars and bikers we saw. We were expecting it to be a bit busier, it being a saturday, but weren’t quite prepared for just how busy!
We’d opted to do Whites Level as we didn’t have too long. I surprised myself by really enjoying the climb. It’s fantastically planned out, there’s enough to think about that you can (almost) forget how hard it is and yet somehow make it up. There was a great atmosphere too, with plenty of friendly bikers to chat to on the way up. As we reached the top of the climb a couple of guys we’d been chatting to on the way suggested we add on the new black graded loop and we were glad we met them! A fantastic descent, fast swoopy berms followed by a steep rocky descent. Well worth the climb back up on the fireroad.
I’d forgotten just how great the descent to come was. Perfect swoopy singletrack interspersed with more technical sections. ‘Darkside’, the final descent is without a doubt the best riding we’ve done this week. Oh and the cafe has the best welsh rarebit and soup!
A quick call into Cwmcarn to see the busy uplift day and back again to my uncle and Aunt’s for curry. My cousin Natasha tried to teach me her moves from that day’s ballet class but I sadly lacked her grace and co-ordination 
Think I’ll stick to Mountain biking.
Thursday morning saw us hit the Cli-machx trail at Machnylleth. It was very wet, but the trail stood up fantastically and was great fun to ride. We particularly enjoyed the last descent, the best we’d ridden so far this trip!
After riding we called into The Holey Trail to thank them for suggesting we ride that. A very well stocked shop, with friendly staff we’d definitely recommend a visit to anyone riding in the area.
On our way down south we called into Summit Cycles in Aberystwyth. Another great shop, and a team who got us excited about all the great trails in the area. We were very tempted to try the Summit trail, a quick (but we were assured very fun blast) but thought it best not to turn up late to my Uncle and Aunt’s house! We’ll be back before too long i reckon.
And lots of thanks to Chris, Chris, Emma and Natasha for putting us up and feeding us exceedingly well!
After a couple of great days we woke up to grey skies and rain We’d checked the weather forecast so knew to get up early to make the most of the morning. Kitted out with a map we were off and out round the Dragon’s Back. Another very impressive trail, it stood up to the large quantities of rain amazingly well. There was no mud, just the odd puddle. The fun fast swoopy sections were mixed in with some fantastic technical pieces of trail.
Soup and Welsh Rarebit in the café warmed us up and we had a good chat down in the bike shop. We decided to cut the day short and head down to Macynlleth for the night and rest up for a big day of riding the next day.
After a bit of catch up in the local internet café we headed straight to llandegla. First stop was the café for coffee and an award winning bacon bap, plus a chat with Pete from 2Stage bikes. Our friend Ben from Torico stocks their bikes and introduced us at the Cycle Show, telling us we needed to have a go, and we didn’t need pushing!
He gave us a freeride model, the Zed 8 to try and we headed off. We took it round the red route, with the add-on black. It was pretty heavy work on the ups, but awesome on the downs. A perfect bike for lift assisted riding in Morzine.
We were also very impressed with the trails we rode. Obviously very well built, they stood up to the recent rains and were still in top condition. We can also highly recommend the bacon bap, cheese on toast, and best breakfast in wales (well there were three of us!)….oh and the cake’s good too.
Early the next morning we headed up to the Singletrack offices in Calderdale. We heard a rumour they served the best coffee of all bike mags, and can confirm that it is pretty great coffee – made even better by fresh éclairs and apple turnovers. They then sorted us out with a pretty fun route to fill the afternoon. A little bit muddy, but some great bits of trail, fantastic views and a great way to spend an afternoon.
The evening was spent in a great pub in Hoole Cheshire with some more friends Gemma and Andrew. And yet more great food.
We left London on Sunday and spent the night with my parents in Bury St Edmunds, then headed up to the Santa Cruz distributors, Jungle near Harrogate. They should us the new Nomad and Blur LT II. The new bikes look great and we can’t wait to hear them. We’ve pretty nearly firmed up details of next year’s hire and demo fleet and will get details up asap. We then headed up to Thirsk to see our friends Liz and John and their playful dog Joey!
We’ve got the dates sorted for the 2009 mountain bike trips to Morocco. The first will run on the 2-10th May and the second on the 24th October -1st November. 8 day holiday, 6 days riding awesome singletrack, an incredible experience.
Find out more here, watch the video, look at the photos and get on the phone!
We’ve stayed on in London following the Cycle Show and while it might be lacking in mountains we’ve still been getting lots of riding in! Sadly no mountain biking but I’d forgotten how great a way to get around a city, a bike is.
We’re rectifying the lack of Mountain biking next week when we head up to Lancashire, onto North Wales, looping down to get a quick ride in South Wales and onto the Blandford Forum Bike Park. Phew, and then it’s back to London before heading back to France!
Published by Guy on October 13, 2008
in Biking.
Just back from the bike show and we’ve got plenty to chew over. Met some great people there (hello if you were one of them!). Just a shame we had to be stuck inside over such a lovely weekend.
Oh well - we’ll be making up for it in the coming weeks - take a look at the map below to see where we’re planing on going! It’s gonna be a busy couple of weeks!
