Ok, forecast is good for the weekend (at the mo) so who’s going to Afan and who’s going to Cwmcarn? And what are the conditions/trees like?

Tom KP

Cant comment on the conditions at the moment but the trees are either green with a thick brown bit sticking out the bottom or just all brown.

Dunno about conditions, but we are going to Afan this evening for the weekend.
Can’t bloomin’ wait. I’ve never ridden there before.

Debating leaving early Sun and nipping in to Cwmcarn for a loop of the new trail, but reckon we will end up staying at Afan and go to Cwmcarn another day.

Was at Afan Sunday and Cwmcarn Wednesday, both running fine apart from the odd downed tree to negotiate (probably gone by now!). The trails are built to cope with Welsh levels of rain so drain really fast and it’s been relatively dry the last few days so you should have fun at either.

If it is all new to you then this:

staying at Afan and go to Cwmcarn another day.

Or consider popping up to Blaengarw on your way back from Afan.

I rode the new Cafall trail yesterday. I think the builders have gone for a natural “woodsy” feel in contrast to the armoured trails built elsewhere. It is pretty gloopy already and certainly it will be worse by Sunday afternoon. It is going to be ace when it dries later in the year.

Cwmcarn in about 45 mins 8) would have gone earlier but it’s been peeing it down and had work to do, so missed out on a chance of official preview of new dh course, still will get a few laps of Cafell in 😀 (workshop is still open as Peter’s here btw 😉 )

Cafall trail is one hell of a climb, not sure if i was feeling weak that day or what, but there’s no way i would ride it twice

When I rode it I did most of the climb on the fireroad which wasnt too bad. The descents were great apart from the one muddy section where I crashed into a tree and rolled down the side of the hill lol.

Did Cafall today … hissing down most of the way … even turned to sleet for a couple of min at the top …. VERY gloopy, especially towards the top. I cant’t see it drying out too much for the weekend and it was very hard going at times. I can imagine it being fantastic in the decent weather and a bit less mud.

Decents would have been a bit more fun if my bars didn’t keep rotating due to a loose faceplate. They ended up upside down at one stage braking at one of the downhill switchbacks so took it very steady after that.
You can see its going to be brilliant and makes Cwmcarn a real all day destination.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTUw6iAn4e8[/video]

Upside down bars sounds like a great challenge! Planning to head that way Sunday sounds like it’s going to be wet.

Rode Blade and Cafall today – both trails very slow/gloopy in places with a couple of trees across the Blade trail Enjoyed the Cafall climb and scenery more but the climb was harder and longer than I expected and took much longer to get round than Twrch trail. Final descents on both trails were very good. Bit of a slog in the current conditions but both trails will be great when they dry out.

Im doing cafall and blade tomorrow, weather looks ok 😆