Thinking of having a blast round there tomorrow. I’m aware that the term “flowing single track” means the flow of water as much as anything else so how’s tricks up there at the moment? Anyone been lately?

Ta

Last saturday was very deep and very wet

Always found it to be one of the wettest rides – even when it doesn’t seemed to of rained much, maybe keep on going and try the Marin?

I’ve never been as wet on a bike as I was last week riding Penmachno. Seriously good fun though.

Ho hum, didn’t really fancy the Marin due to it being… well a bit dull. Am I wrong?

As above it’s ankle lapping deep in all seasons, especially the extra loop

Yeah Marin dull apart from last descent. Llandegla seems to have got more and more weatherproof over the years and was spot on today.

Last time I was there it was supposed to be summer and I still came away looking like a wet Stig of the dump 😯

CyB isn’t too far from Penmachno either, or Antur Stiniog if they’ve got space aand you fancy some gravity riding.

yeah it does seem to have its own cloud

Llandegla is just down the road for me so I’m there a little more often than is healthy, not that you should admit to it in this forum 😉

I may point the car in the other direction and head east, Macc Forest perhaps?

Always wet, even in the dry season

ha ha same here with Llandegla. I go most weeks after work but I don’t mind it now it’s dark. Prefer the clwyds when they’re not a mud bath…

Nant-y-arian is well worth going a bit further for if you haven’t been before

Nant-y-arian is well worth going a bit further for if you haven’t been before

Not been or heard much about it, tell me more..

I went to Penmachno last weekend for the first time, it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be. After reading about it on here I went thinking it was going to be like pedalling through a river for 12 miles. A few bits of the trail did have abit of water flowing down it and some big puddles. But not too bad. We didn’t do the extra loop though. Despite the painfully heavy, horizontal rain and gales, I enjoyed it 🙂

Nant-y-arian is nice mixture of trail centre and natural trail in beautiful surroundings – plus loads of red kites if you like that type of thing

You can choose the smaller trails or do the whole lot in one at about 30km. To make the drive worthwhile I usually do that and then start again and just do the trail centre bits (turn left at the small reservoir).

Ok, though at a 200 mile round trip it may be a little too far. Will have to try it at some point.

I love Penmachno’s drainage, it seems like quite a lot of effort went into keeping as much water on the trails as possible. Brilliant trails though even when submerged.

So I went and rode the Marin in the end against my better judgement and d’you know what…. It was a blast. The sun was shining and the trails were amazingly dry.

Yes the fire roads were there, but they mostly point upwards and every bit of single track left me smiling. I had a bit of time spare at the end so rode the final decent a couple of times, the new jumps there work very well.

Just the fun I was looking for.

I thoroughly enjoyed all but the last few km of Penmachno just before xmas, large sections of which were underwater. Frozen feet took some of the fun away for the last few km but it just gave the ride more of an epic feel.

Was at penmachno today. It didn’t really seem any worse than any other trail for water retention. Only did the 12 mile loop though.

was a good way to spend a couple of hours

The second loop was where the real flow began when I was there.

The second loop was where the real flow began when I was there.

2nd that

P1020970 by eastham_david, on Flickr

I was there Saturday. Loop 2 was surprisingly clear(ish) of water. Overall it’s one of my favourite rides in the area – natural or otherwise. Don’t forget the donation box/Paypal link!

2nd that

Think I was definitely better off on the Marin trail then, the streams there flow along side the trail rather than down it! 😯