Does anyone have the map reference of the start of the DH course, and is it “open” right now?

cheers

You can always ride the course you just can’t do your own uplift so you’re going to have to push or ride up.

The easiest way to ride will obviously be up the road. You can’t really go wrong here, just keep heading up until you get to top ;o) Basically you’re heading for the obvious radio mast. The start of the track is then on the right down a fairly obvious double track before it gets into the single track.

The location of the course can be found on this page from the Dragon website

Dragon Rheola

It may be a better option to push up the track first, which gives you a good recce before you blast down.

Have you ridden it before? It’s one of the best DH courses in the UK – very fast, not massively technical but much harder in the wet.

That links doesn’t seem to work. Try this

Rheola Directions

thanks, looked at that link but wasnt sure it would help me find the top of the track. I spent some time trying to locate the top of the Abercarn DH last year, and Myndedd Du as well. I’ll head for the radio masts, as I’ll be riding from the direction of Dyffren most likely.

Not ridden it before, but heard it isnt a technical as some of the other Dragaons. Didnt Peaty break his thumb there though….?!

Peaty broke his ankle there in 2007, quite badly by all accounts. It was about 8 weeks before the worlds at Fort Bill and he did it in a section called ‘star wars’. It’s called ths because there are about three trenches that run through it and three times as many ways to combine them in a line through. In the wet it can be a nightmare and probably only around 30% of a race field will ride it clean. In the dry it’s not too bad but it still needs you to go light here and there.

Apart from this one section, the rest of the course is pretty straight forward but it is hard to ride fast because it is very fast and needs you to really commit if you want to get a good time. But that’s just racing – for those that want to have fun it’s a great great track.

It will be much easier to find the top than Abercarm or Myn Du. Both of these tracks have relatively hidden starts in through the trees and you could easily miss them. It’s a shame though because both of those tracks are brilliant as well. Myn Du is probably the most technical track in Wales and in the wet, it’s a friggin nightmare. Abercarm was really sweet but I heard that it was put beyond use recently.

The best way to find the start of Rheola would be to ride to the top from the bottom, which that map can help you find. The only turn you need to watch for is to take the right hand fork up hill when the fork presnts itself. The other thing is to watch the video of the track on the Dragon website. That will also show you what to look for at the start.

Have fun – it’s sooooo much fun.

Start is at SN 841 060