My wonderful son has decided to take his old man to the new Afan trail tomorrow to celebrate my 57th, apologies in advance if i hold anyone up!

Will I die? 😯

Are there ‘chicken out’ side runs?

No chicken runs but it’s all rollable.

It’s more of a skills area rather than a new trail mind.

Oh and watch out for the braking bumps (already!) in the berm on the right hand jump line.

jump line 😯 oh!

Nothing there to worry about, everything can be rolled. Your biggest problem will be finding them all, really poor signs.

If your posting asking about it then dont bother with the skills park, just do the awesome option on 373 and the additonal loop before the zig zags.

As the sign posting is utter rubbish, ride from bettws lodge towards zig zags and dont turn off the fireroad, takes you up to the start of the corker (as people are calling it on Strava) which then brings you back down to bettws lodge.

could do with a sign on 373 to be fair, I thought the right turn up was potentially a exit of new section so carried on, only to find the proper exit of the new bit a little further down doh! I had to ride back around to do it again 😉 always love new trail so all worth it ?

The little bit down from the end of 373 to grave yard was good too.

Played about on the skills area, it turns out I don’t have any, but as they say pretty much all rollable no probs, when you first get there it is a tad confusing, just do a few runs to get your bearings and you will be fine. And I will say it is jolly good fun ? when I get the stones I will be giving those table tops a better stab!

The new bit down from above Zigzag back to the lodge is pretty good fun, it was dark so a few of the corners did catch me out having not done it before but worth the trip.

Good work to the trail builders! Lets hope they get the funding to put some more bits in place.

Park at Bettws Lodge. Skills park is right next to it.

Skills park is worth a few runs, especially the far left run, which is singletrack and quite long in comparison to the other runs.

I missed Corker due to the absolutely rubbish signage! 👿

I think Bettws Lodge need to start charging for parking. Perhaps they could recoup some money for that failed 4X track.

anyone got any video of the longer skills trail? managed to miss it completely on sunday, too busy when we arrived and too dark before we left!!

The longer Singletrack line, not me btw cos I bloody missed this line!
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uGy8uzhcC8&feature=youtu.be[/video]

damn, looks like the best one!

We wondered how to get down to that trail, SHOCKING signage.

That one looks good to me.

I don’t think the new sections of XC trail on the Wall are officially open yet, that’ll be why they’re not signed. Part of the section after 373 was covered in branches, and there’s nothing on the Cognation FB page, only stuff about the bike park.

http://www.facebook.com/cognation

Cheers milkie for posting my vid 😉
the new xc loop (corker?!) appeared to be open saturday with nothing blocking the trail and plenty of people were riding up the fireroad to ride it. Here is the trail
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQxKHV63wHY&feature=g-crec-u[/video]
The new section between 373/graveyard however was covered with branches as mentioned above and gave it a miss

Nice vid nicksee, where’s that trail? Is it that comes out between Bryn Bettws lodge and start of Zig Zags? If so, where’s the start?

ryan, yeah thats the one. Before you enter zig zags there is a new marker post directing you to continue up the fireroad, turn right about 1/2 a mile later and there is the start. Nice flowy fun 😀

I fancy visiting Afan but am quite a noob (about 6 months “serious” riding).

Should it be doable if I ride within my limits or would death be inevitable?

All rollable. You’ll be fine.

braking bumps already???? come on guys!! not all of us can afford (or want) a 160mm bike.
anyone braking hard enough to lock up going into a berm should spend less on their kit and give the money to jedi.

skids are for kids

Rode the new park yesterday and had a whale of a time; ALL of the new trails are utter balls out fun – the berms perfect, and the jumps well spaced and lipped/timed.

I was catching up on some lost time not jumping and was really enjoying jumping about. The highlight of the day is the far left trail which is huge fun and an absolute blast.

Here’s a video of our messing around yesterday…

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/290096/

Braking bumps are not just (or even) caused by skidding. They are caused by braking.

they are caused by poor technique mate. you can prevent skipping under heavy braking by adjusting your body position, and by choosing your braking points more carefully you will maintain more speed and control without prematurely eroding the trail.
maybe i should just rebuild my bouncy bouncy bike and stop complaining 😐

Thanks for the vid Neil Bolton, those sections look great.
Nice to see some decent flowy tables and berms being built in places.

I’m not defending braking bumps but you clearly don’t understand the physics of braking. Applying a retarding force to the wheel will have an effect on the ground on which it has contact. The heavier the braking the more effect it has, but any braking will effect the ground and eventually degrade the surface.