[Closed] Creating a techy loop @ Afan

Well this went well!

Been thinking about this again today after reading that the Skyline loop is now open again with a few extra nice singletrack sections to replace fireroads. Prior to closure was this a good trail or is it a big distance with a lot of boring filler?

If it’s good, does it go anywhere near the masts - where there are said to be some off piste unofficial trails that might be worth a look?

I would have a look on trail forks if I were you. Skyline doesn't go anywhere near masts and is/was old school trail. I've not been on it since it opened again. If you want tech at afan trail centre, I would include the 2 enduro descents, one off graveyard (make sure you ride up the fireroad and join 2nd half), and the other next to zig zag descent+bike park.

Ah I’m not a subscriber to Trailforks and I’ve selected FOD as my free region. Will see how much it costs - I already pay for Strava and Trainer Road and STW Forum so a bit loathe to pay for another subscription app!

You could stitch Briton Ferry woods onto your loop if you wanted, some nice trails there, plus you can ride direct from the masts (foel fynyddau) to the fire road which can take you left to Baglan and its various hills or right to Ferry woods , then back to the masts via the Inc!ine dram road.

You can browse areas for free on Trailforks no? At least on the desktop site. I think for the app you'd maybe need to pay.

Six feet under and stage 4 are now both signed off graveyards and zig zags as Black trails, haven't ridden them but rode past them on NYE look very steep but easy to find.

Ah I’m not a subscriber to Trailforks and I’ve selected FOD as my free region. Will see how much it costs – I already pay for Strava and Trainer Road and STW Forum so a bit loathe to pay for another subscription app!

Not sure if you can switch your free region in Trailforks but I wouldn't bother setting it to FoD as almost all the off piste trails have been removed. If you pay for Strava then the heatmaps are a great way of finding trails.

Cool - I’ll have a browse online and see what I can piece together!

Six feet under and stage 4 are now both signed off graveyards and zig zags as Black trails, haven’t ridden them but rode past them on NYE look very steep but easy to find.

I was surprised how tricky these were for official, signed trails.

Maybe a bit severe for what you want OP, but they drop you down to the old railway line so you can start the first climb on Y Wal again and do the full loop.

I did that as a (long) warm up for the Masts last year. If you can get to the main climb for the masts then you can just find trails by trial and error, you wouldn't necessarily need Trailforks. The climb back up is quite pleasant so you can get quite a lot done there.

I've been meaning to go ride Afan Masts stuff for ages, if I was going I'd look at strava segment explore to find a off piste trail, then look at the leader board for who's ridden it recently, I'd then look through those rides to find one which matches what I wanna do and then download the GPX file to follow it or create it to follow.

Go and ride Flush and Fossil up at the Masts..proper steeeep

Yeah Trailforks is the way forward for finding stuff, although for Masts specifically as long as you can find the climb the trails will be very obvious

That said it can get alot more techy than a BPW red, or black for that matter, not many big drops though just steep stuff really. I'd say doing stage 4 off the top of zigzags gives you an idea, and is easier to find without riding all the way down the track to Masts. If you're comfortable riding that then Masts is same style, just moarrrr of it

Skyline/blade I wouldn't bother with. I always ride it and always regret it 🙂

There is a bucket load of proper off piste around Afan, that unlike The Masts, doesn't really exist anywhere, a bit like at the FoD. There are certain bits that are known & talked about, which can be found with a bit of detective work, but others like to be kept a secret. I was fortunate enough to be shown some from a bunch of locals, who obviously went for a point proving exercise when we said we were pretty much happy to ride down anything 😆

They made even the spicy stuff at Masts look like 'my first off piste'. Finding it however, is near on impossible & i've only ever found a handful of what we rode again, but I know it's full of gold, just don't live close enough to explore it again to find it...

If you're riding blues & reds at BPW, then even the fairly recently adopted stuff in Afan official will be pretty excitable for you

I guess I’m looking for steep ish / tech ish but nothing death defying. I’m average skill level / short of a bit of bottle sometimes - but working on it.

At FOD I rode the Dh trails / some off piste stuff. Ridden a fair amount of mallards / Dowies / enduro trails / some frying pan stuff (maybe “black gold”).

I haven’t ridden the Ceris 2 chute yet or gone to the likes of Staunton and other areas so far. Plan to ride some more of that stuff this year.

What about doing W2?

Given this:

Wondered if anyone has any ideas – we like flow and a bit of tech. BPW we’ll ride blues / reds / red+ normally – but I have an urge to try a black and see how that is.

and this

I guess I’m looking for steep ish / tech ish but nothing death defying. I’m average skill level / short of a bit of bottle sometimes – but working on it.

I'd say be very careful if you're heading to Masts. The trails there are very steep, and often unsighted into steeper, far more techy stuff than exists in trail centres. (One trail there, which is all rollable, AVERAGES 33% gradient down. That's nowhere near the steepest or trickiest.)

Someone above mentioned Briton Ferry. I thoroughly enjoy it there, but there are also lots of trails which become very difficult with no notice, not being waymarked. Look up Viper on Youtube - that might give you an idea. I got stuck part way down and could barely climb back up it, never mid ride down the increasingly steep track.

I guess I’m looking for steep ish / tech ish but nothing death defying. I’m average skill level / short of a bit of bottle sometimes – but working on it.

At FOD I rode the Dh trails / some off piste stuff. Ridden a fair amount of mallards / Dowies / enduro trails / some frying pan stuff (maybe “black gold”).

I haven’t ridden the Ceris 2 chute yet or gone to the likes of Staunton and other areas so far. Plan to ride some more of that stuff this year.

I think based on that, then go & find the official harder stuff mentioned above at Afan official then (6ft under, Stage 4, etc). They will be a step up to the usual off piste you are/have been riding in the FoD.

If you venture out to the steeper sides of FoD & are comfortable, then you would likely have a great day at Masts, Barry Sidings, Ponty, etc. But unless you are happy on that sort of sustained steep & committed type of trail, then I imagine it would be a frustrating day. At least with Afan, you can ride a bit, warm up, get comfortable before dropping into something you need to be on point for.

Noted - will have a look at where the new official but harder stuff is and see what I can tie that into. Will see if any of my usual riding lot have done any of the stuff at the masts and get their view on it too

Found this on YouTube - I know gopro videos are misleading on steepness - but it doesn’t look crazy steep for the most part. Given the length of the downhill it must have involved a fairly big climb / set of climbs - and it looks tiring especially towards the last quarter where it looks a bit trickier / rockier / rootier.

Is this still there / ok to ride?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cSWnxj9tNPU

but it doesn’t look crazy steep for the most part.

Have a look at the angle of the trees he's passing. It's steep.

That's possibly one of the less steep ones, but it is alot steeper than that video makes it look. I stand by my original suggestion, ride stage 4, if you're comfortable with that carry cautiously on to Masts, if you're even slightly rattled by stage 4 stick to the official stuff for now, go to Masts when it's dry and maybe you've done a couple blacks at BPW

Ok will do. I’m probably going to have a look at some Risca stuff in the summer and see how that goes as well. My mate I’m riding with won’t have done that though so probably best to dial it back slightly.

I’m probably going to have a look at some Risca stuff in the summer and see how that goes as well.

I can cope with pretty much everything at Risca. There's a lot at Masts that is too much for me. But, give Risca a go - it's fun.

Maybe it’s the different gopro angle or the more hesitant rider but this looks quite a bit steeper than the enduro trail.....6 feet under

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VA3REPgfAxw

Yeah it was blown out like that when I rode it last year, I wouldn't bother with it again TBH and I found most of the Masts trails easier and more satisfying.

I always find it interesting how people find different trails - to date ‘blown out’ is my thought on every trail I’ve ridden at Afan over the years