Bad luck. I’ve been there.
I’d still go to the Alps if I were you.
There’s good wine there which will dull the pain.
I went to CyB with my GF and she had about 5 crashes in the first 100m on those Dragon Teeth.
She didn’t go further and drank tea while I did the loop.
One of the guys in our group rode like a demon all day.
He was doing 6 foot drops onto road flawlessly and carried amazing speed trough all the dodgy sections..
When we got back to the carpark he was so chuffed with his ride that he attempted a little fishtail skid.
He came off and we were all admiring his collarbone as it came through his shirt.

I did see a lot of females walking that first section of Dragon’s back and Beast.
It appears their other halves (usually male) persuade them that it’s an easy trail and it can put female riders off. There have been a few tears during the years I’ve been riding Coed y Brenin, not from me but from stranded females who were left walking bits while their bored, fed up boyfriends whizzed about the place (not just Coed y Brenin either, have witnessed this on many man-made trail centre red routes).

Hugor that’s great really made Mr MC smile!!!

Munqe chick – that’s terrible. Hope all is well and your other half doesn’t have to have surgery.

I love Penmachno and imo its better than Coed y Brenin.
We too had a bit of a disaster yesterday going to the Lakes, our caravan came away from the tow bar and crashed into our local pub’s wall. Very shaken up but no-body was hurt.

Come up to the Peaks some time, we’ll show you around.

I gather CyB makes a point of putting this stuff at the beginning so you’ll think twice about whether you’re up to the trail.
A few of the trails there start that way.

(Mr MC posting)

hugor, as with most of my injury-causing crashes *ahem* 😳 it was a totally innocuous section of trail relative to my experience/ability. Being 10 minutes into a ride having just spent 4hrs driving, and the first non-climbing section I just didnt have my eye in so to speak, and just clipped the right side of a rock that spat me off.

I have a habit of having a summer-ruining hospitalisation crash every 2 years, this just happened to be prior to the alps (and bike fest 🙄 ) rather than during it… MC has already banned me from riding trips in 2013.

No don’t get me wrong I wasn’t implying that you got hurt because the trail was too hard for you. I was replying to BH post above about most girls walking that section under pressure from their BF’s only to find that they’re struggling later.
Hell I’ve had 3 major ops on the same arm all from mtb.
I’m just over 12 months from my last and hopefully it is my last cause it sucks.
I wish you well mate.
Freak accidents like yours are hard to avoid.
For what its worth all mine were caused by riding beyond my skills.
I think I’ve found my limit now.
I’m too old for this injury bollocks.

He was doing 6 foot drops onto road flawlessly

At coedy?! Not having a go or doubting or anything, but where? I’ve never seen anything over a couple of feet there and I’m rather interested 🙂

I used to love CyB. Back in the day Mr Kip and I rode it with rigids and V-brakes (he had canti’s) then they changed it all. I’ve ridden there on a 80/100mm Anthem a few years ago then repeated on a Trek Ex8 last year. Most fun on the Anthem but I really loved that bike and rode everything from Haldon to the Alps via Scotland on it. I’m starting to get the same level of confidence on the Trek but it’s taken time.
As for 29ers. My feet don’t touch the floor on a 26″ bike when the seats up, I’d be f***ed on a big wheel bike!!

Some of those trails onto roads have A lines that aren’t well signposted.

Well I usually ride at Chicksands so I guess the rocks were slightly out of the norm. Rode MBR and agree that false teeth was cool, had it not been for the rain it would have been easier to carry speed into some of the drops. I figured that a short travel bike would allow for a margin of error into these. Having said that riding the hardball did give a focus to choosing the right line, and it flowed well most of the time.

palmer77 – Member

On my Chameleon and had a great time. But I was thinking if I had a 100mm FS I could really nail it.

Hmmmmm, you need to find yourself an old Blur 4X. Just like a Chameleon but faster.

Meta 4x?
Cannondale RZ120 ?

You’re describing a Commencal 4X. I’ve got a mate with one and he uses it for pretty much everything, he even raced Innerleithen DH on it (and placed fairly respectably). 100mm travel at the back, up to 140mm at the front and pretty slack.

What do you think to the GT Distortion?

http://www.gtbicycles.com/gbr/bikes/mountain/freeride/2011-distortion-1-0-satin-black

Commencal Absolut SX – 2010 frames at Merlin for £750’ish?