Thinking of taking the GF somewhere on Saturday, looking at places we can get to within about a 2 hour drive. Nant Yr Arian is just about doable in a little over 2 hours from me I'm told…

Anyway, she's a relative newbie on an MTB, only done 3 offroad rides so far, but she's pretty fit, has a lot of stamina and the will to do it. She's certainly a lot better than the average GF you see getting dragged round some trail centres… She managed a 4hr ride round the Forest of Dean the other week pretty well, didn't really hold anyone up at all. Though obviously the FOD is flatter than most welsh Mountains.

Would she be ok here do you reckon? Or would I be better off taking her to Llandegla (which I've only ridden once before, but was slightly underwhelmed with).

Or alternatively, what is Penhydd at Afan like? I've only ridden Whites Level there recently, and the Wall a number of years ago, never rode Penhydd…

Oh, and bike and kit aren't an issue, she fits on my hardtail fine as she's tall enough, and I bought her some decent shorts, shoes, lid and ladies saddle to get her through a ride in as much comfort as possible.

Nant Yr Arian is one if the better reds for a relative beginner.

Is Brechfa in range? The green/blue there is the pick for anyone wants to build their confidence – and great fun however good you are.

Penhydd is shut now and will be for a long while.

Brechfa is a bloody long way away… Nanty will be a good trek down the A44 for me, Llandegla a similar distance to the north… Afan further again still, but I've been there before (though I didn't know Penhydd was shut). Brechfa is somewhere I REALLY want to go, but am told it's a good 90 minutes past Swansea (is that right?) or so… Well on a good day, it'd take well over 2 hours to get to Swansea from mine, don't fancy 4 hours driving each way on the same day sadly!

What are the facilities at Nanty Yr Arian like?

Nant yr Arian should be fine. I learnt to mountain bike there when I was 20 on the cheap hybrid bike I had got for going to school when I was 13 or so. Just do the shortest route and expect to maybe walk one or two bits, there's a few rocky sections. If it's going okay you can add in another loop or two from the other trails. There's no huge hill on this route but the other two include "the legburner" which might be a bit demoralising for a beginner.

There's an okay cafe there (normally lots of kids), bike wash but I think no showers. If you're making a day trip it's worth trying to be at the lake when they feed the red kites website with a pair of binoculars. The colours up close are pretty spectacular.

just about perfect for a beginner IMO.

One of those trails that only really gets fun (dont get me wrong I love the place) when you start speeding up.

Big ol' Fire road climb but doesn't sound like it'll be a problem.

The 'wilderness' stuff would be well suited too.

Excellent place, cafe is actually quite good, and they do have showers(lot's of hot water for your money once you've found the hidden coin slot).I'd suggest getting a route map and checking out all the links between sections to work out some suitable options for a beginner, you needn't ride everything to get to the good stuff(apart from the Leg Burner if you want to do the nicest section).

Afan/brecfa is too far away, llandegla will be too busy and full of "trail gods" Nanty is perfect I recon, good trails, no crowds pressuring her to go above a pace she funds comfy, a good "out there/real mountainbiking feel and the cafe is good too, if you go early enough I've done it sub 2 hours from Bromsgrove

Should be fine but we've had LOTS of rain with more on the way, expect to get very wet.

I don't believe you could ever get wet at Nant y.
It's always been dusty when we've been.

Ah, I think you've been the 4 days of the year that the sun shines Stu 😉

great trails, taking my wife there soon (after she has had enough of Brechfa – unlikely though) only one major climb which is the leg burner but one hell of a descent before it so if needs be bimble up it slowly 🙂

If you look closely you can see the specs of dust on the camera lense.

don't believe you could ever get wet at Nant y.
It's always been dusty when we've been. 😯

Brechfa should take you about the same length of time to get to as Nant-y-Arian. Its about 45 mins past Swansea if you take the M4 then the B4310 towards nantgaredeg, straight through the crossroads at nantgaredeg and the green/blue is about 1 mile past Brechfa village (the Byrgwm car park).

Alternatively, you could head toward hereford and then Brecon on the A40, then the A482 towards Lampeter and then the B4310 towards Llansawel/Nantgaredeg. You'll be on the same road as above but travelling in the opposite direction so the car park is about a mile past Nant-y-Ffin.

Either way, it's a pretty nice drive and the roads are all good, even the B road is dead quiet.

GF loved the trail at Brechfa, not too tough for her but I enjoyed the swoopy, rollercoaster style trail they've built there too. The climbs are all within ability for most, the only downside to the place is that there's no trail centre. There are toilets in the car park and there's a bus converted to a cafe that operates at weekends, but nowhere to take a shower.

Hope this helps

It will be perfect as long as she doesn't go at the singletrack too fast.

There's no huge hill on this route but the other two include "the legburner" which might be a bit demoralising for a beginner.

How big/long/steep is this legburner climb?

I looked at the 3 trail descriptions and lengths on the MBWales website, the shortest route looks like it might be a little short and unchallenging, even for a relative beginner (she's OK on a bike, certainly happy to grit her teeth and get on with it). Obviously, if it's as steep and technical as say the climb at Cwm Carn, or on Afan's "Whites Level" trail then it might be an issue, but what could you compare it to?

Brechfa should take you about the same length of time to get to as Nant-y-Arian.

If I flew maybe! Google maps says a little over 2 hours to Nanty, a LOT longer to Brechfa… I know how long it takes me to get to Afan, and that's too far really for tomorrow, and Brechfa is a lot further still sadly, cos I really want to try it someday.

Should be fine but we've had LOTS of rain with more on the way, expect to get very wet.

That's not a problem, she's more "outdoorsy" than me. She likes going camping etc (heaven forbid!) and is quite prepared for the fact that mountain biking isn't a clean and dry sport all that often. I'm the one that rides round the puddles so as not to get too wet and muddy! 😉

I didnt find the legburner too bad and trundled up it ok, its on fireroad so not technical or that steep really just long. I think she'd be ok doing the red.

but she's pretty fit, has a lot of stamina and the will to do it

H-mmmm 😆 , sorry!! 🙄

Do the trail marked "Summit Trail" as it has the best mix of doubletrack and superb swoopy singletrack. It doesn't take too long but is excellent. So much that after you have had coffee and cake, you'll go out and do it again. Because it's not overun, the surface condition is kept smooth and fast – ideal of hardtails. Kinda watch her speed because it is narrow. The singletrack section called Mark of Zorro is a top quality bit of trail IMO.

Legburner is a just long, gentle forest road that gets you back up the hill – select low gear, spin, zone-out and stop when you need a break, there's no rush.

It's also really quiet and scenic compared with Afan, CyB, Llandegla etc. I recently did the longer sydfrin trail which is really old-school XC style – big, rocky doubletracks in the middle of nowhere. Love the place.

its on fireroad so not technical or that steep really just long

She'll probably beat you up it. 😉

mark, just realised it was the Summit trail i did not the red Pendam (too short) so it's the Summit trail I reckon she'd be ok on 🙂

Cheers again guys

How long is the Leg burner then? Cheers for the recommendation on the trail Jenn, was thinking the Summit trail looked the one out of the 3 to do. The Pendam at 9km is really quite short, and I think even she may get bored on something that short.

She'll probably beat you up it.

Been riding with me recently have you smart arse? 😉

Ok for a beginner, with a nice leg burner I, Will be doing Nanty on the 29th, with a group then camping and doing climachx on the Monday.. ride beer camp ride, brill!

I reckon the legburner must be 1.5 -2 miles of gentle climb. You probably gain 2-300m on it. Not a problem if you are fit or take it easy. If I don't want to do the long 37km trail I just go out on the red Pendam trail and then when it comes back to the road junction next to the lake, take the yellow Syfindrin trail home. You get about 20kms and all the good single track of which nothing is too technical. The toughest bit I reckon will be on the Italian job 1st descent where there is a rock step which spits you onto a big root with a tree stump attached. She might have to walk that but the rest is fine. In fact, it sounds ideal for your GF.

Cheers DeVs

I reckon she'll manage that, will make sure I pack some food to ram down her throat at the top to stop the moaning… 😉

Cheers for all the input guys…

Got up a touch late this morning (GF turned the alarm off when it went off!) so got stuck in traffic getting there, and turned up a touch later than I wanted… Anyway…

What perfect dusty trails! Shame the rain decided to come along and join the party… 😉

Seriously though, we got absolutely soaked through to the bone, but it was great.

Started off on the "Italian Job" section (where yes, the rock drop and root at the end did cause her to have to get off an walk it, but was very slippy too), then upto the road junction. Only me being an idiot, hadn't worked out my directions properly, and we ended up cutting the whole thing very short by essentially riding straight up to the last 2 sections… So we were back at the car in under an hour! Oooops!

Fortunately though the GF was still up for doing some proper riding. So we set off again, this time having looked at a map to work out where we needed to go. We decided to still have a go at the Summit Trail as we still had plenty of time left, so off we set. 2nd time round on the Italian Job she was much better, having worked out the bits to be wary of first time round. Up to the road junction, then to the lake. Down the farm tracks, til we got to "The Mark of Zorro" which quite frankly was worth the trip on its own. What a brilliant bit of trail, we both loved it!

Only problem is that once that was finished, it was time for the Leg Burner! Well… Not short is it! Fair play though, my GF rode the whole thing without stopping, she just gritted her teeth and went! Managed a good portion of it in the middle ring too. I know for a fact she'd have beaten several guys I ride with regularly up the hill, I wasn't really having to hang around for her! Got no worried about her uphill ability anyway…

Right, now the bit of trail "Emmanuelle"… Errrr, how pointless? Got us both thinking that we were going back off the beaten track for a bit again, not to be spat back out onto the Leg Burner 30 seconds later! A bit demoralising… But on to the Drunken Druid, where once again she surprised me by clearing the short sharp climb again, then the last section "High as a Kite" which she absolutely loved… In her words "Can we just ride that bit over and over again".

Checked the time when we got back and having been told a "quick" time round the Summit trail is about 2hrs by one of the wardens, and it can take up to 3.5hrs according to the website, we got round in just over 2 hours! With quite a few stops and faffing about, and someone on only their 4th offroad ride! Quite surprised with that.

Anyhow, can't wait to go back there again! Perhaps in the dry though, and maybe earlier in the day to perhaps have a go at tackling the Syfydrin trail. The only downer to the whole day really was the bloody traffic on the A44, and the almost total lack of passing places. The rain was less of an issue than I had imagined, it just made the rocks a bit slippy which my GF wasn't used to, but she's getting there…

🙂