Forum menu
I think your easy/warm up day is twice as hard as your second race day if I'm reading it right.2 laps of Cwmcarn are around 30 ish miles of with nigh on 6000ft of climb-mostly singletrack?
Fair play to yer.
The purpose of doing W2 was for a Marathon race simulation but to “race” it slightly tired and on more technical terrain to make it more mentally challenging,
In which case there is a value to extra experience of handling your race bike at its limits when you are fatigued. Particularly on the Whites Level climb, if you're saving that to after halfway.
I agree with Ferrals that reps on the Whites Level climb would be a better test and give you 'lap times' and stats you could look at later. Brutal though!
Ferrals and Martin you have a point - I need to remind myself why I'm there - race bike it is, thanks.
Kryton. Don't discount BPW.
Mat and I went for the day in the summer and used our Topfuels without the uplift. It's a cracking climb each time and you get to go straight into any number of red/blue trails for the descent. We clocked over 2000m in 5 hours but interestingly enough it was the descending that wore us out more. Proper training session and absolutely brilliant fun too. What's not to love about that?
As for Afan, I used to ride it on my Boardman hardtail back in my very early days, followed by the Blue Pig. Have never ridden it on a FS but would definitely take the TF if I was going now. This type of bike is just made for loads of climbing and blistering descents.
Sure. The Spark’s a great bike never in question. Just need to keep it in one piece, and the Clockwork Evo is loads of fun... ...which is what clouded my judgement.
Plenty of time elsewhere to be had on the Evo though.
No cake and no beer? Might as well be dead 😂
What rob8624 said, W2 is 3 hours at a steady pace with a break or two.
I grew up riding Afan on a hardtail, in fact I rode The Wall on a rigid trials bike with the seat up a few times. It'll be fine!
Sounds like a great weekend.
I'd take the full sus as post felling afan is pretty rough going in places. For your training goal of toughening up for racing, it seems sensible to use the race bike
On day 3 instead of 4*penhydd, you could do penhydd, wall, penhydd, wall, or some other combination. Would be much more interesting.
Or wall, penhydd, wall, blue scar. And do the different routes at the top of y Wal.
Your lower back will hate you riding a HT round W2 in my experience. Last time I did it I crashed on the S4 black from the top of Y Wal, first time I did I swore I wouldn't do it again, dunno why I did it again. I think it's the square edge hits on the climbs that ruined my weak flesh.
b) Day 2 – ride W2 at race pace aiming for as close to 4h as I can get.
Four hours?! That's party pace!
I've ridden it all loads of times of a hardtail, it's perfectly fine. There was only one time I felt a little bit underbiked and that was rattling down the last descent of Blade when it first opened, but it was okay I didn't crash or die.
4 hours was the fastest suggested time on the MTB Wales website so I just quoted that. What I mean is "as fast as possible".
Thanks for all the route suggestions. Can you still go up the Whites climb, turn right for a few hundred yards and turn back in to the final Whites down back to the start/finish?
4 hours was the fastest suggested time on the MTB Wales website so I just quoted that. What I mean is “as fast as possible”.
If you're actually looking for a four hour duration workout you need to plan what to do with the extra hour and a bit once you've finished. I did it in under four last time, and that included some faffing, a big heavy bike, not really trying all that hard, and stopping at the bike park hut trying to find someone to sell me a coke. 🙂
Well, sounds like a day out on W2 from/to Glencorryg then along the railway path to the other trail centre then Penhydd, returning the Whites the next day for the climbing intervals as suggested?
when I used to do W2 I never used the linky bit of trail, I'd ride all of Whites first then head down the railway track (4miles if I remember) and then ride all of the Wall. Then back up the railway track to where I'd started at Skyline bike shop. It clocked at about 30miles and riding at normal pace used to take me about 3h40min, with a quick fuel stop for an energy bar.
Inconclusive musings on bike choice:
1) for fire road and non technical climbs, tyres are going to be the biggest factor
2) the whites/blade first climb would be better on a FS for traction, and just powering full speed at the step ups.
3) parts of penhydd, and the final whites descent to Glyncorryg ponds (after energy) would be challenging/slower on a hard tail, due to random pointy rocky chunder.
4) most other places on the trails the majority of the trail is smooth enough for a HT, with rough patches being "deliberate obstacles" which can be adequately attacked/ridden with a hardtail
5) no's 3 and 4 imply more skill needed for the hardtail, but the same level of staying light on the bike and protecting the rear rim and tyre realistically also applies to a FS XC race bike
6) if the goal is to practice technical riding while exhausted, practise on the race bike.
Out of curiosity, when are you planning this self torture?
January
or maybe February depending on when its suits my plan.
TBH you'd have way more fun on a long natural adventure ride in the area, although this may not be your aim. I ride back from Afan to Cardiff after a family ride, it's awesome.