Anyone done this?

Adding up from their website it’s 144km and a whopping 4038m of ascent including both rookie trails and the cyclepath to go from the lower car park to the upper and back.

Seen an article on it on I think xcracer or somewhere a few years ago

I ride there everyweek as I am local and used to the trails, but yet to do it. I’ve done Penhydd, Blue Scar, Y Wal and Whites but not had it in me to climb back up and do Blade/Skyline loop.

Certainly doable, if you have enough time, and take it slowly. Tough on the body though.

Ages ago Matt Page did it on a singlespeed in about six hrs I think (that was b4 singlespeeds were trendy) probably with the original Skyline. Its all changed quite a bit now though .

Can’t get over how rocky it is now – sure it used to be smoother in the old days – is that erosion/riders/rainfall or am I just getting old.

A couple of us had a pretty good go at it last March: W2, Penhydd & Blade in a day… included the optional black at the beginning of Whites but missed off the (almost exclusively fireroad) Skyline loop. Took us about 8 hours with a stop in both Cafes.

Its a bit of a theme I’ve got running with a friend – we did Brechfa in January (much shorter but the snow, mud and lack of light made it a challenge!)

All of CyB in a day is next on the list…

All Of Afan In A Day

Epic Afan on Strava

Almost worth taking the big bike for ease of descending whilst tired.

Epic Afan on Strava

Interesting – they’ve done all the trails, but not consecutively in order. Their route is probably better.

I think I’d rather sand my plums and drop them in a bag of salt and I like Afan.

Yes, it’s rockier than it used to be, sadly they had to take the trees down and the top of most of the trails has blown away, some bits are just unplesant to ride now.

I can’t imagine wanting to ride up the white’s climb 3 times to cover Blade, Skyline and Whites, that alone would stop me even wanting to try it.

I’ve ridden Skyline once, which is once too many, it’s not great, took all day, the best bit is right at the end, by the time I got there I was too tired to care about not crashing and just rolled down like a rag doll barely holding on the bars, the state of some of the most distant parts of the trail made me wonder if they get more than 5 people a year riding it.

That sounds like a proper challenge, I would give it a go.

I would be slow mind you and do it in the summer so my day is a long as possible. Id also pick a forgiving bike with a tiny front ring.

What’s the smallest front ring I can fit to my Capra ?

What’s wrong with the whyte’s climb? 🙂

@molgrips, it’s too long, it’s too steep but mostly it’s a climb.

I did most of it in a day a couple of years ago, I didn’t do Skyline or the Rookie trail. Route was : Penhydd, Wall climb, Whites descent, Blade, Whites climb, Wall descent, Blue Scar. I only stopped when I passed my car in the Afan car park to grab some more bottles. that ride took me about 6.5 hours and 85km in total.

I did it with a friend many years ago, before Blade existed and before all the trees were cut down, on a rigid single speed.

I think it was about 125km and took most of the day, finishing just before sunset.

Penhydd was a lot nicer in those days – now it’s a lot rockier.

I think Blade is a lot harder work than Skyline though – there’s a lot more climbing involved.

I don’t know if I could do it now, but it would be fun to try!

I think one of my mates did it a month or so ago – he’s on here so I’ll await his confirmation!

Yes did it before blue scar existed. Took about 6.5hrs I seem to remember. Penhydd which i dod last was a cramp fest. Was more about the challenge than enjoyment

Sounds like a hell of a challenge but probably agree with p-jay!

Skyline has way too much fireroad at the furthest end but blade is a great trail. Just long enough to get you tired without becoming a chore.

Done Penhydd, Blade and W2 in a day before, that was tough. Regularly do Penhydd or Blade and W2 and that’s manageable in 4 1/2 hrs in any weather so tagging on Blade would make one big day out. Did Skyline a few weeks back and the far loop of it has been cut off – you turn back after the ridge – so that’s not possible anymore.

More of a challenge post felling than before, much rockier!

TomnavMan:

All of CyB in a day is next on the list…

The question is though….. what constitutes CyB in a day? I wanted to do it for years and years (15+ at least) but by the time I got round to it I wasn’t quite clear what doing CyB involves. I Love CyB but they’re a perfect example of fluff over substance. I think the total distance of all the different named trails is probably 150km+, but in actual fact there is only 70/80km of actual trails there. I think RedBull, Minortaur and Beast is basically the sum total of the singletrack there.

In the end I just decided to do a round 100km and so did RedBull, Beast, Dragon’s Back and Afon. Couldn’t bring myself to do MBR as well.

Are you aiming to cover all the ground or do every named trail separately?

I was thinking every named trail, but the Strava segment linked to above looks good and because Strava.