Final roll call for Coed-Y-Brenin enduro. Its gunna be a wet one considering the rain we have had.

Whats the weather going to be like tomorrow?

Should be a good event 😆

in!

does this mean the trails will be closed to people not taking part in the enduro? i was gonna drive down from yorkshire tommorrow n have a blast but wondering if its gonna be worth it now.

off the email “The routes cover a wide range of trails, dirt roads and back lanes, all of which are open to other users, please exercise caution at all times.”

Looks like the weather will be fine tomorrow, coolish temps, main thing might be the wind gusts of up to 25mph.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/coed-y-brenin-forest-park

I’ll be there.

Well that was hard….

My Strava app crashed so I haven’t been able to log the ride but according to other Strava users it was about 63km and 1,800m climbing but it felt like more. To be honest I felt like Sisyphus for a lot of it especially the last loop in and around the Tarw which was sadistic in the extreme. I’m yet to get the official times but according to our watches I did it in 6 hours 50 minutes and my brother did it in 6:20 which I’m pretty proud about as he did the Evan’s Coniston 48km ride in 4 hours and is far from slow. I really can’t begin to describe how hard I found this, I was cramping badly 2 hours in and really considered sacking it off but I’m glad I stuck at it not least for the finishers mug 🙂 Also the weather was great but there was still lots and lots and lots of mud and very boggy rooty woodland. Amazing experience but I doubt I’ll be doing it again.

The route….

I logged it as around 61km start to finish. The extra bit back to the car park made it around 63km. 1770m of climbing.

Was proper hard, and the riding past the car park with around 15km to go was evil.

Good day out though.

I have to agree, riding down through the car park I was praying that that was the end, but looking at my clock I knew there was a good 9 miles left. That last climb was hell. But it just made the finish that bit sweeter. Saw a few people having some dark moments on the way around. Excellent event imo.

Enjoyed that very much. It was certainly tougher than I expected, but you’ve got to have a bit of a challenge, eh? Lots of good banter on the way round. 😀
It was the first time I’ve ridden an Enduro on a rigid SS and I didn’t miss the gears tbh. Not so sure about the suspension though! I still ache all over!

The only bit that was disappointing was the muddy, mossy CX type bit right at the end. It was so slow and a few dismounts were needed.
Would have been better to finish after the old end of the Redbull – with the berms and jumps. Over the last few km I had that extra “finish-line-within-my -grasp” power and would love to have been able to tank it into the finish. Popping out of the wood with about 20 metres to go was a bit of a let down.

The last section did seem a little pointless, but a good event all round. Shame my freehub imploded leaving me riding a fixie like a tw@. Pedaling everywhere is no way to ride a mountain bike.

I really enjoyed that last bit. Where as the rest of the course was mostly fast it was nice to have a slow, technical section.

Great event, tough course but very enjoyable.

That felt like a very hard fought 60km!

Really enjoyed it, although was in dark place for about 40mins somewhere in the middle of it all.

Great atmosphere (although missed some of the fun stuff around the Dyfi course), marshalls were brilliant and nice mix of terrain around the route.

I liked the end, I didn’t like passing the car with still 15ish km still to go!

Mugs and t-shirts, its all about mugs and t-shirts

It wasn’t the fact that that section was technical and slow I wasn’t keen on, just the fact that it was right at the end and stopped you full-gassing it to the line. 😉

Well. Thanks to my mates who said that it’d be fun ‘and you’ll really enjoy the CyB trails, they’re ace’, I spent about 4 hours in a very dark place, wishing my front mech would work so I didn’t have to mash out my 38t front ring and generally wondering where the DHy bits where.

Of the few flowing trails, there were some seriously peachy bits, but it was all eroded by the abiding merciless climbing. So much climbing.

You’d climb up something huge, go around a corner and there’d be another massive climb. With another climb around the corner.

Then there was THAT climb.

As for the evil car park loop, I spent much of my time after that devising ways to murder the route creator. I also spent a significant amount of time try to calculate miles into km, as my GPS reads in old money. I spent pretty much about 3 hours trying to do that until I remembered my car reads 160km/h to 100mph. Even then, it took me a good half an hour to calculate the 1.6 x current mileage. I gave up in the end in the hope that perhaps I’d wasted so much time trying to work it out, I’d plop out into the finish.

Which we did. Plop indeed.

I had some sort of impression that CyB had mega fast fun sections.

Bugger me though, if they weren’t in there on Saturday.

T-shirt, mug done, and a visit to the St Johns ambulance, to check my eyebrow out after an argument with a tree on that stupidly fast loamy section in the woods with the drop to the left. Stupid sticky out roots.

Oh, and thanks to the chap handing out on the spot prizes, my black chilli Conti Mountain King tyre was a pleasant treat after a hard day.

Then we went and rode Llandegla the next day (albiet very slowly on the ups). And messed about with the Athertons on the pump track for a while.

All in all, I’ll notch that up as A. Good. Weekend.

Heres some data for those wanting, just one I found on twitter.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/228373648#.UGiaW8-XaZI.twitter

I usually ride the Dyfi events but helped out and marshalled this one. I was on the end line collecting numbers.

I must say, this event really did push people, it was up there with the toughest mtb enduro events, so if it was your first tiem at an enduro, dont let it put you off. Get on and sign up for another straight away, or try the dyfi winter warmer enduro, which is 3 laps of approx 10 miles each, where you can drop out after each 10 if you choose too.

I think one of the things that the coedy and dyfi enduros do is get people of perfect trails and get them into some proper mountain biking, the way it all started 😀

Well done all!

Was much harder than I expected it to be, certainly significantly harder than the Dyfi. Plus I had skippy gears and chainsuck which meant I had to do most of the climbs in the middle ring and could only really rely on the the first three cogs on the back most of the day (settled down a bit eventually).

The last loop was purgatory, but I bumped into a mate I used to go raving with who I hadn’t seen for 12 years at the finish which was pretty cool.

Think I finished in about 6:25, fighting for 324th place till the bitter end.

Did the 30k , thrashed by my lad , could not keep up with him. Slashed tyre at the far end of the tarw du and a four mile walk back to base.
Great event again and well organised, they get better and better and a perfect balance for all abilities.
Thanks to the organisers gain – very good burger at the end in the old bus as well.

I can say now I loved it, but the last 10km I hated it.

My mate tells me we used up 6000+ calories – so thats more than two days eating to make up for. Result 🙂

the last loop around the old side would have been easier with a freehub that didnt spin freely in both directions 🙄 have no idea on my time and pretty irrelevant having walked the last ~10km (surprisingly little quick freewheeling downhill on that last loop….)

I think a lot of people hated the last few miles, probably not helped by being tired by then!

Well I came pretty much last to do the full loop with Steve the sweeper not far behind, and I loved it. Hard day out but look forward to getting back on next years. thanks to all for making it a good day out.

3 hours 20 minutes was the quickest time for the full 60km 😯

Well I’m ashamed to say I wimped out at the carpark and didn’t do the last loop. Considering I was already walking the climbs before that due to spasms in my back it was probably just as well. I’ve done the Dyfi a few times but this was way harder.

That steep narrow singletrack descent clinging to the side of the hill at about the 40k mark was brilliant. Anyone know if that’s private land or if it’s fair game outside of the enduro? I’d love to ride it again but wouldn’t want to annoy anyone or risk it not being used on future events.

Oh yes, that narrow singletrack on the side of a 45 degree slope had me giggling like a kid. That made up for all the punishing climbs 🙂

Are the results out yet ? I want to know how far off the winning time I was.

dazh and trimix; that was the descent that claimed my gash above my eye – I was railing down there, having a whale of a time, enjoying the memories of the Megavalanche that it brought back, when as I was battling to get around the tighter right handers with the ruts a bit too quickly, my bars caught on a root sticking out on the side, and put me into the bank, whereupon I clouted another root with my head.

I did a quick ‘I’m alive and is it bleeding to buggery?’ check, and then just got back on and boosted the rest of the trail.

I’ll agree, that was one of my favourite bits, proper old school gravity assisted speed with a massive drop to the left ala The Alps.

ETA: 3hrs 20mins? ****. Orf. Inhuman nutter.

Blimey, that was a tough one wasn’t it! I had a blast though, apart from suffering the last 10km in silence. Well, I say silence, but I swore out-loud at every climb…

Managed the 60km in about 4 hrs 30 I think, pushing a heavy Commie Meta 6 with a single ring so I’m properly happy with that time 🙂

T’was a good day!

Ha, loving the other stories of inner turmoil here, the 60km was certainly an event that required big balls. My mate summed it up at the end: “let’s give each other £25 next year and we’ll ride The Beast so we can do the best bits of CyB.” The route was just odd – lots of hike-a-bike sections and truly sadistically placed climbs. Couldn’t see the point of much of it. It doesn’t touch the Dyfi for all-round perfectness, but glad I did it. Won’t be back next year. When are the results/photos out?

…well I had a brilliant time and will definitely be back for next years event 😀

As for all the pain and suffering…train harder! 😉

great event ,i’ll be back next year.

I’ve put my report on my blog should anyone want to read it.
http://mattpageracing.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/coed-y-brenin-enduro.html

I only did the 30k route, but I loved it and had a great day out, even if some the sections were ‘challenging’. 😉

I wasnt 100% well on the Thurs/Fri so I wasnt sure how I would hold up, but a good feed and a good nights sleep Friday night and I was ready to go Sat morning!

The last couple of miles were the hardest for me, but I loved the climb and views at the start of the course.

Well done to the organisers, volunteers and marshals, a great event and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it next year!

I loved the climb and views at the start of the course.

That was one of my favourite parts too. 🙂

The route was just odd – lots of hike-a-bike sections and truly sadistically placed climbs. Couldn’t see the point of much of it. It doesn’t touch the Dyfi for all-round perfectness

A lot of the hike-a-bike sections would probably be rideable in the dry, although whether that will ever happen at the end of September is debatable. The only ‘pointless’ bit IMO was that big hike-a-bike climb at the back of the beast followed by a long fireroad descent. As for comparisons with the Dyfi, I’d say there was too much walking on the uphills, but much better singletrack descents so it kind of balanced out.

Oh and one other point. The people screaming past others with inches to spare on the road descent at the start should give a shout to warn people. There could have been some nasty crashes had the slower people changed their line.

I thought it was a great course, some great downs and some hard ups, pretty pointless if it had all been on fire track to go up then trail centre stuff to come down.

If it had been dry more would of been rideable but it wasn’t so not much we can do about that.

Harder than the Dyfi for sure but better longer descents.

I had to abandon at 45km as I had one mate taken off in the ambulance and one with a bad cut to his leg.

Thanks to everyone who stopped and helped Martin on the Pugsley section he went to Bangor hospital and was released the next day with six broken ribs, bruised kidney and punctured lung.

I will be back next year (on my own I think)

Ouch, I heard the ambulance and considered faking a crash just to get a lift back, I was so knackered.

I did start to slow down on the final decents as I was losing concentration due to being so exhausted.

Overall I thought the whole event was great, just that one long grassy field I dont think any one rode. Other that that it seemed fine. Fitness and weather dependend of course, but thats mountain biking.

The fitter and better you get, the more you ride.

Cant wait for the next one.

I did the 60km, found it pretty hard going, definitely harder than the Dyfi! It was a real pity about the field, marshall we spoke to said that the top guys didnt even ride it and that they just ran. There were some cracking descents although by the end I was mostly just holding on trying to steer around the larger rocks due to being utterly knackered!

I was fairly surprised by the number of people walking on some of the descents. Mate of mine had a flat on the trail centre descent toward the start that had the rock steps/drop in it and there were people getting off and walking down those. Each to their own I spose!

One that I’m not sure if I’ll do it again, will have to decide when the time comes!

chvck wrote:

I was fairly surprised by the number of people walking on some of the descents

I was fairly surprised by the number of people walking on some of the climbs! 😉

Mate of mine had a flat on the trail centre descent toward the start that had the rock steps/drop in it and there were people getting off and walking down those. Each to their own I spose!

There are some pics on Facebook of queues of riders waiting to get down that bit. Glad I got a decent enough start to not be stuck behind that lot! 8)

Oh and one other point. The people screaming past others with inches to spare on the road descent at the start should give a shout to warn people. There could have been some nasty crashes had the slower people changed their line.

I could smell the burning of brake pads on this section! 😉