I’ve been riding a fair while, usually Lakes – Pennines but a few of the trail centres but somehow i’ve never done Coed-y-Brenin.

I’m going to have a go tomorrow with my novice housemate whos total experience so far is the Ladybower-Hope route in the Peak. He did well, so is the MBR a piece of cake and the black diamond really just a standard red, or am I underestimating it?

How does it compare to say Dalby, Grizedale or Penmachano?

Cheers

There is nothing very hard at CyB – some trails are quite long, eg the Beast. You can find much harder stuff in the Peaks eg The Beast off the back of Win Hill. The grading system in the Welsh MTB centers seems totally random as far as I can see, unlike Scotland where it is much more consistent.

Just go and ride the MBR – if you don’t like the look of something, just walk it.

I’m confident I won’t have any problems but I feel a bit responsible should I end up dragging my mate in the deep end. If it’s pretty standard he’ll be just fine.

Cheers

anything remotely challenging got taken out years ago. However, the routes can be quite long, so your mate will need to be fit.

Its technically a bit more difficult than Penmachno, but at 18km is nowhere near as long.

Penmachno is about the same distance from Manchester and I really like it, especially the the last few swoopy sections through the trees.

Am I missing out on anything by not doing CyB? It sounds like not.

I like CyB, there are some nice trails and great scenery on The Beast – just not the world’s hardest riding. The last mile back to the Trail Head does spoil the whole thing – the worst ever bit of man made trail on the planet.

The first section is virtually the hardest thing you come across, so if you get over that bit then the rest holds no fear!

There are some new bits on the mbr which are good, can’t remember it’s name but the one with the drop. The last downhill is good imo. Its deffo worth doing, mayby if you are travelling far do the Beast which is a combination of the mbr and dragons back.

We took a complete novice – he’d never ridden a mountain bike – around The Beast at Coed-y-Brenin. He walked a couple of short sections, but was fine on the rest. He did crash into a tree, but that was a mistake any of us could have made and he was uninjured.

He’s now a complete convert and is coming to Morzine with us in two weeks time…

I think that the best thing about CYB is that you print the maps you can make the ride anything you like. I like Penmacno but the options are really all of it or hallf of it.

At CYB the trails loop out so you could easily shorten the MBR or ad a bit off the Beast. Plus you’ll get to go some where new

It’s not hard, but I think it could be pretty frustrating for a relatively unskilled rider, the stone pitching is fantastic when you can get some speed over it but if you get it wrong it’s like having square wheels.

The MBR is graded black. Personally I think its dumb to take a complete novice on that trail.
There’s plenty of other trails to take them on so why choose that one.
Everytime I go to CyB I and up getting stuck behind people who are riding trails well above their calibre. Sure they can ride the trails and walk most of the obstacles. But they won’t be able to ride it at the speed its meant to be and they’ll hold everybody else up in the process.

‘The MBR is graded black.’ If it was in Scotland, eg Glentress, it would be graded Blue – which is about right. Anything other than a road gets a ‘technical grade’ in the English / Welsh trail centers – best just ignore the grades.

But they won’t be able to ride it at the speed its meant to be and they’ll hold everybody else up in the process.

But a good rider would be able to pass slower folks without too much bother so it’s not a problem. 😉

personally I’d take him on MBR first- the Beast is no more technically challenging (imho) but the climbing I found a little soul destroying on my first (and 2nd) time around (not on the same day) – unless of course he has a good level of fitness already?

I would say fitness over technical ability is the key.

If you’ve pushed it around the trail, the final ascent out of the valley can be soul destroying when the novice is already knackered before the climb, but no-where near as long as i remember it. (Or as long as the first climb at the marin trail). It’s still a slog back up though.

But a good rider would be able to pass slower folks without too much bother so it’s not a problem.

What is it about mountain biking that it attracts so many people with small penis syndrome?

Is it that they aren’t really good at anything else that they place so much importance on bragging about how great they are on forums such as this.

Most of the singletrack at CyB is narrow enough that unless a rider lets you pass, its dangerous to both people to attempt to overtake them.

MBR is technically harder than – Dalby red, Llandegla black, Follow the Dog, Monkey Trail, the Marin and Penmachno.

If he can ‘style’ the rocky qualifier after the Forks gateway at the start he should be OK, otherwise there are a few more committing rock sections later…

…YMMV

seems like I touched a nerve there. 😆

Maybe you shouldn’t ride where other people do if they get in your way. 😉

What is it about mountain biking that it attracts so many people with small penis syndrome?
Is it that they aren’t really good at anything else that they place so much importance on bragging about how great they are on forums such as this.
Most of the singletrack at CyB is narrow enough that unless a rider lets you pass, its dangerous to both people to attempt to overtake them.

+1