Cader is probably the least used but most difficult. Big mountain, pushing bits, rocks, gates etc. Brinmore is quite narrow and has has poor sight lines in places so could easily lead to conflicts. Black Mountains Reservoir would be OK but is very remote and prone to bad weather. Most of it is double track (old Land Rover road) so plenty of room to pass if needed.

Black Mountains Reservoir sounds promising. I can’t say what I’m helping to organise, all will be revealed after a reconnaissance mission. You ain’t seen me, right?

If you’re looking to do some kind of race (up or down) it’d be a bit dull – just a long rocky not very steep trail. It’s nice to ride recreationally though.

If it’s some kind of hill climb time trial, then Tal y Maes aka The Hermitage would be ace. Very long, sustained, difficult finish 🙂

But not a good surface if weather bad and lots of riders. Would hate to see it damaged any more than it is already

Thank you for the advise. I need to come over and have a look. I have a weeks hol to use, so I’ll wait for the weather to improve and head over. Nice part of the world and I do like Talgarth………..is there a nice campsite near by??

welshfarmer – Member

Cader is probably the least used but most difficult. Big mountain, pushing bits, rocks, gates etc.

I wouldn’t say that Cader is particularly difficult – it’s just a big climb. The top is full-on scree and rocks, the middle is grassy singletrack and the bottom is gravel access road. (Ignore the summit which is unridable for most.) I rode it on a hardtail, most of the group I was with were on FS of various kinds. We all survived although the mountain claimed one cracked frame and one which was found to have cracked a swingarm later that week. I enjoyed it more than Snowdon but that’s possibly because it was far less busy with walkers.

We were quite a large bunch, about 12 in number iirc. We met a similar number of other riders on the mountain, who also post on here and put a video on. We also bumped into the warden who was laughing about the numbers of bikes on the mountain that day. He seemed to think it was a record.

so roughly how far is the rideable downhill bit? Are there many gates towards the bottom?

I can only remember 2 or 3 gates. It’s all rideable from just below the summit.