This weekend we went to the Brechfa trail ‘centre’. Last went there over a year ago and wasn’t impressed. The blue and green trails were the WORST I’d ridden in my entire life, being from the south UK that’s saying alot. The red ‘Gorlech’ trail was abit more interesting but didn’t seem to gel. Two of us crashed very badly on a drop half way around, if you go off it more than at walking pace you land in a f— off hole! Not clever on a long fast straight.

This time the Gorlech trail seemed better. Partly down it being well bedded in and my abilities improved. However it still doesn’t work well, like many trail centres the berms are poorly shaped. If you use the berms to their full you end up sliding out on the exit, they don’t extend far enough through the corners. Seems a big waste of effort, as the fastest cornering speed relies on ‘leaving’ the berm before corner ends. For some bizarre reason they’ve put berms in the climbs! There are lots of optional small drops INTO corners – daft!

The final descent could be really good, but it fails miserably. The only way you could possibly clear all the jumps is to have sessioned them multiple times. Infact many end up spitting you into sharp 180″ berms far too fast. It would be better with the jumps removed.

The new Black Raven trail was much better but has some comedy sections. The second descent is possibly the BEST I’ve ridden in a trail centre, but for probably all the wrong reasons. They haven’t surfaced one section properly, and it appears everyone has been cutting the corners leaving muddy ruts. Actually managing to ride the trail, getting cross rutted and huge g-outs hitting the now defunct berms was the kind of riding you’d only get on a DH track. Brilliant, I’d expect most trail centre riders would nearly die if they didn’t realise – might explain all the corner cutting.

The second to last descent was a real eye opener, someone has thrown in a 4X style track and some table tops that wouldn’t be out of place on a motocross track! Seriously big for an ‘xc’ trail. About 5ft tall and 10-20ft long. You get serious height on these babys. It took us a few attempts to clear them but one kicks you dangerously, causing one big stack from another rider on the trail. I can see this resulting in alot of A+E visits.

In general, alot of the corners are far too sharp and steep to keep speed up, there is no flow. The berms don’t extend enough to use them, the trail would be more fun without berms at all. It’s not going to be all weather as large sections haven’t been surfaced.

I still enjoyed it but I can expect alot of people who travel far would be abit disappointed.

Piccys

Rode Gorlech at lower speeds as not terribly happy with kickers and that meant not going fast enough into some of the berms. I agree that some of the berms are a bit crazy steep, but I thought it was fun and challenging.

I did the black run a couple of weeks back and also found the sloppy section fun(ny) the last section was good, but with no pads and a normal helmet felt a bit vulnerable on the jumps!

going to try the red run this friday as I’m meeting a friend at Afan Saturday.

It’s way different to to pkaces like Afan, the climbs at Brechfa look as though they are only there to get you to the top, with sections looking like a mountain bike escalator!

Grumble grumble. I haven’t ridden the raven but on the gorlech it’s a case of practice makes perfect.

If you were a bit better more practised you would ride the entire berm, I’d bet that you are missing out the first part of the berm and therefore getting spat out before completing the turn.

For what its worth I’ve just learnt that I can ride berms a lot better if remember to commit early to them.

Maybe your riding is to blame rather than the trail.
Any fairly good rider would be able to make full use of the berms. The jumps take some practice to get right, but with practice (or skill) they are all good.

I have no idea what your on about to be honest. Not sure you have ridden the same trail as me.

Oh and it was rowan sorrell top welsh/international downhiller who designed/built the final downhill, so if its good enough for him its good enough for me 😀

“he climbs at Brechfa look as though they are only there to get you to the top”

I agree that it’s all about the downs.

I hope to spend next Saturday there solo and get some practice on tables – overcome my fear of being chucked into the air!

Blue and green? The worst? You simply weren’t taking them fast enough! I love those trails at speed, brakeless, using your body and the trail to rail it. Lovely!

i see what he means, we went there (a few years ago now) and done the gorlech trail and apart from the final descent which was ace the rest sucked a big fat one boring boring boring boring, and the other chaps who went agreed.

loads of really good natural stuff around there though, get a local to show you around…

I’ve done black, green and blue and brechfa and loved them all, can’t wait to get back to do the red. almost my favourite was the final decent of the green? amazing fun.

You are clearly a very bad rider!!!!

fair review

lets be honest, a number of “mctrails” can leave one wanting more, its the monosodium glutamate moment

personally I did whytes level, llandegla, and both loops of penmachno this weekend.

llandegla is just plain ace to bomb round, a great big bmx track. Whytes has its moments, and penmachno also has some great bits

a common theme is drops into corners though, maybe trail designers should get a bit more inventive – I mean 15ft tables on an trail centre descent sounds excessive, although most folks will just roll them anyway

Its a fine line between making stuff accessible and making it challenging enough for better riders

Llandegla seems to have the whole “faster you go, the more fun it is” just about right

[a great big bmx track]

That is exactly how Rowan Sorrell (Brechfa trail designer) described Brechfa in Dirt mag around a year ago. I think people have become accustomed to a certain type of trail at centres.

Places like Brechfa and Llandegla push you and test you. The great thing about these places is the way they don’t try to mimick anything else. They are not trying to be “natural”, anything but!!!

I can see how if you’re used to “natural” singletrack then Brechfa is going to freak you out. However, for me Brechfa is by far my favourite trail centre. If i want “natural” trails i go local, for pure fun and adrenaline i love Brechfa.

I rode the Red and Black routes on Sunday and was very impressed – they’ve clearly spent a lot of time and money on the build there, even if a few bits aren’t surfaced yet.

Trail Centre routes shouldn’t pretend to be “natural” – they’re about having fun, and the Brechfa descents have got that in bucketloads.

However I did notice that drop-off into a big hole which needs sorting…

Nick you beat me to it with your post – you’re exactly right.

I’m with MTB Mat on this one. Perhaps it is not meant to be the usual Scalextrix type trail. Thought and skill might be needed more than raw speed. I’ve seen the trails ridden at immense speed and with superb style by 11, 12 and 13 year olds. Massive jumps achieved by a few lary 14 and 15 year olds who were not pigeonholed in their views and rode with immense skill and fun and loved the whole thing. I’m a bit older! and find the big air thing a bit of a mental challenge but love the berms (hit them high and early, exit low and fast). If you don’t like Brechfa- stay well clear of Cwm Rhyader in Cilycwm/ Rhandirmwyn. Similar by so much looser/ slippier. Local shale is NOT your friend.

Hate to join in with the collective bonfire pissing but…

Brechfa has to be one of, if not the best designed trail centres I’ve ridden in the UK, all 4 trails have a very rewarding flow to them – the better you ride one turn or obstacle the easier the next one becomes and so on. The Red is pretty tame if you potter, but if you want to ride it at the speed it’s designed for you need to be pretty confident with linking fast corners and jumps together. If you’re not, then I suggest revisting the green and the blue and learning to ride them smoothly, whilst staying off the brakes. Once you’re happy with that then try the first section of the last downhill on the red run. It’s short so you can ‘session’ it easily and it’s a great section to learn jumpy/pumpy stuff on. If you are happy on that then the jumps on the black run won’t feel so dangerous…

Just goes to show that trail labelling can be useful, and not to believe the ‘trail centres aren’t proper riding’ bollix you often hear on this forum!

d’oh! repost

I have to say that the OP left me lost for words. It’s not matter of opinion either as the content just doesn’t seem to describe the trails i have ridden countless times before.

Looking over the majority of posts that followed, it would seem that the trail designers at Brechfa have got it absolutly right in every way.

It would appear that some people are just not that comfortable riding outside of their comfort zone?

As with many of the above I think brechfa is great. My favourite UK trail centre by a mile, mainly because i felt it flowed well if you put some effort to muscle the bike around in.

“the climbs at Brechfa look as though they are only there to get you to the top”

Is this not the case with all climbs 🙄

IMO – Brechfa Gorlech with the addition of the Bike park (4X section as described above) which can be accessed from the top of the final descent, is the best trail I’ve ridden so far

great trail center, black runs which are actually black, and trails that get better the more you session them.

personally I would love to see more trails like them, however I expect that the local A&E departments wouldn’t be happy as I expect the accident rate is high as you have to actually be able to ride, rather than just use miles of suspension to get you around.

try the first section of the last downhill on the red run. It’s short so you can ‘session’ it easily and it’s a great section to learn jumpy/pumpy stuff on

I was doing exactly that up there on Saturday… berm berm pump table hip-table table double stepup 🙂 The clearfell part about halfway round the red (with the hut at the top) is also perfect for this. Drop your saddle, work on a few corners and jumps, gradually building up your speed and airtime with each run.

I love the red because it’s great for skills progression. I get more and more out of it every time. It’s designed to be attacked – speed and flow are definitely your friends. The descents are amazing when you carry your speed well and are confident in the air.

I was speaking to a local, and he mentioned that there are a lot of extension to the trail that aren’t waymarked (yet) but will be used in the upcoming Brechfa enduro. So might be worth a look.

One of the extensions allegedly adds about 4Km of singletrack to one off the red descents, I just need to get an OS map and have an explore next time I am out there.

Was up there a few weekends ago and have to say that the Black run at Brechfa pushed my skills level up a notch and gave me a load more confidence.

I have never ridden a trail with features as big as the black run has on it and so it was really noticable @ The Wall the following day on Graveyard and Zig Zags (final decent) that stuff which would have phased me before was just taken in my stride.

To me its about using trails like the black run to push your riding on to the next level. Ok so its not perfect i every way but i loved it and will def be going back as soon as possible 😀

“Is this not the case with all climbs”

No not really. I really like the technical climbs at CwmCarn and Gkencorrwyg very much, and seek similar bits out on the Quantocks and Mendips. I’m not put off by mind-numbing forest road climbs but technical climbing is fun – honest! But I guess it’s more cost effective for builders use existing forest roads for climbing and build technical downhills.

Is it me, or are modern MTBer’s only interested in going downhill these days? 😉

I was at Brechfa over Easter w/end with Mrs DD. She rated it as the best riding she’s done, but I’m sure the great weather helped with that. She managed to ride everything on the Raven (admittedly rolling, not jumping), and I’d class her as a novice MTBer.

I liked it, but again they’re trails ALL about speed and jumps. Personally I’d like to see some really slow, steep techy sections. I’d happily trade section after section of table tops for some steep chutes and drops. And the consequences of coming off are much less than trying to clear a 20ft TT on packed slate. Just seems they’re missing a trick there, all that nice steep terrain and they just put a 4x track in. Oh well.

VERY underwelmed by the Red route too.

a lot of the red is shut though isn’t it?

From what i have read, the reasons behind making Brechfa the way it is was to attract people past Cwncarn and Afan. Putting in features these places had might make it hard for some people to justify the travelling.

Also, the height isn’t that great in those hills around Abergorlech so adding anything too steep would lose height too quickly. Besides, clearing doubles and tabletops is just as skilfull as get down steep stuff is. It’s just different thats all.

Rowans whole approach was to create something the natural riding in Wales couldn’t hope to match. I just wish i lived in Carmarthen not Bristol. 😀

anyone know if they are they going to be building/waymarking anymore stuff out there? as they could make some long XC rides just by using local knowledge/bridleways and some marker disc’s similar to the conti trail at NyA

Personally I’d like to see some really slow

FAIL.

😉

That’s just my point, Brechfa doesn’t offer anything really different to Afan. It’s even more manicured and bermed. You could ride a CX bike on that stuff. I mean how many table tops are there…30?

*IF* they had done some proper tech sections, then they would actually be offering something different to the other southern centres. I feel you get more ‘value’ than blatting down a jump setion that takes 20seconds.

A mix of stuff would be nice.

Anyway, nice to ride once for a change and for something new, but I won’t be making the effort to go back I’m afraid.

That’s just my point, Brechfa doesn’t offer anything really different to Afan. It’s even more manicured and bermed. You could ride a CX bike on that stuff. I mean how many table tops are there…30?

WTF! On what trail at Afan are there as many huge berms/tabletops/doubles/step-ups and step-downs as there are at Brechfa?

Well…i look forward to the day i see someone whip a CX bike over a tabletop!!!!!

Have you actually ridden either centre.

There are plans to build more in Brechfa, it’s down to finance at the end of the day and there are plans for facilities to be built, again it’s down to funding and tenders.

If you want to sample more of Brechfa, then have a look here

Brechfa Enduro

I’d love to see you ride round Brechfa on a CX bike.
Please let me know if you do, so I can follow you laughing as you walk/puncture/crash your way round.

I avn’t done whytes but ive done the others at Afan – nothing like Gorlech at… all. In fact the trails at Afan are themselves varied.

so a bit confused by that comment.

Holy old thread revival. I do like the slating of my riding skills, seeing as I’ve raced 4X to respectable level and rode the trail with a friend who has helped guide Rowan in the alps, I’d like to think I know what I’m talking about.

If you bothered to read my post you’d see that. My point was the trail has to be ridden fast and well but many sections don’t permit the speed to be fully exploited. The jumps at the end are asking for someone to be seriously injured as ‘xc types’ tend to be more likely to ride beyond their ability. FWIW I rode it all fine, including clearing the large jumps on my xc bike.

I think you’ll find everyone DID read your post, hence the responses 🙄

Those trails do not HAVE to be ridden fast or smooth at all. My partner found them great fun even though she likes to keep boths wheels on the ground, where possible. They do a great job of helping you concentrate on handling the bike and by the end we always want to vome back and do it faster.

“The final descent could be really good, but it fails miserably. The only way you could possibly clear all the jumps is to have sessioned them multiple times. Infact many end up spitting you into sharp 180″ berms far too fast. It would be better with the jumps removed.”

Are you serious?

You raced 4X? The top of the Gorlech is just bmx track stuff, the jumps may not be that easy first time but not that hard once you know what’s coming up. It’s a lovely bit of trail IMO and the berms seem fine to me…

I live down the road from Brechfa, there about three times a week. There’s a lot more to come for Brechfa. Like any local there’s hours and hours of trails out there. The manmade trails are superb, I mix the man made stuff and natural stuff to make it challenging. The best way to ride it is flat out. I find the Bergwm ride far better than the red. I think that it does challenge your riding, the last section to Bergwm never fails to amaze me. I have noticed slightly more mountain bikes in the A&E car park recently, but a lot less than motorbikers on trackdays at the local racetrack.