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Firstly I,m no DH rider , but am a very confident trail rider.
Looking to do an uplift day with a few mates. Is Cwmbran suitable , thinking of doing red trail and working up or can anyone suggest another uplift which would be more suitable.
We'll be travelling from the SE.
not heard of cwmcarm, didn't realise there was an uplift in Cwmbran,
you will die.
FOD is a much better uplift you get so many more trails to ride.
cwmcarn is probably your best bet for an uplift day, if you really hate it you can always ask them to drop u at the start of the xc descent!
but all of cwmcarn is rollable on a trailbike
Just came back from cwmcarn on sunday, I'm no dhr either but the xc routes are awesome and with a uplift you could session them all day, just my opinion but what a place man.
Cwmcarn or Forest of Dean are both suitable places to try DH uplift riding for the first time. FOD is more accessible if its dry. Cwmcarn is not steep but the way the trails are built means you can easily pick up a lot of speed (and speed kills!). The trails at FOD are shorter and not has hard packed so while you can carry a lot of speed, you need to work more at that and you won't be going terminal velocity just by letting off the brakes.
If it's wet, then FOD can be tricky as the trails can get churned up and with the wet roots grip becomes an issue. Cwmcarn is almost as fast in the wet as it is the dry and in some cases, can be faster.
FoD is a great option, you get a lot of runs in, and there's lots of marked DH's, together with a lot of unmarked stuff too. The Uplift service is great too, friendly driver, riders always seem friendly and helpful too (obviously that's down to who is booked tho) if you're new to the DH side of things.
Cwmcarn is much better than FOD – it might might be one trail with a few variations but it's much longer than anything at FOD – something like 400m of descent vs 80m. For an alright trail rider having their first go, you'll be doing amazing if you do anything approaching 4 minutes runs. Vs comfortably sub 2 mins at FOD.
FOD feels more like technical woodland trails on the whole too, and I do it on my 120mm FS 29er, open face helmet and just knee pads tbh. Cwmcarn is wider, rockier, faster. It's a real DH track albeit a fairly tame one in the grand scheme of things. I also tend not to bother with the uplift at FOD as it's much quicker to ride up if you're doing it on a trail bike.
Also as mentioned, if you're struggling at Cwmcarn, they're very cool about dropping you off at the top of the XC so you can just hit the descents…
Don't think I'm being down on FOD, I go a fair bit, it's great fun but if you want a proper DH experience, Cwmcarn is better. That said, if you're doing it on your trail bike, Cwmcarn can be a bit intimidating. I've done it on an Orange Five on 32 Floats and it was 'fine'. Much happier on a Patriot the 2nd time. You might prefer FOD afterall if it's a trail bike you're going to ride.
Both are fine on a trail bike, but take it easy on the first couple of runs to see where the trail is going and to see the other options and trails go.
Either can be ridden on a hardtail (with a bit of caution), but a FS is more fun. 😉
Spent and afternoon riding the Cwmcarn DH trail via the uplift a few years ago on my 120mm trail bike. The first run was quite an eye-opener but fun nonetheless, and the other runs afterwards a really good fun challenge. As said above it's all roll-able and fine if you can hold your nerve on steep stuff. I'm not a downhiller usually either!
We did the XC Twrch Trail in the morning and the uplift in the afternoon - a good day out!
Mates have done the Cwm carn DH on rigid SSs. They're not technical riding gods so I reckon you'll be fine.
I would say do FOD, its closer to the SE, the uplift is shorter and there are loads more trails, there is a good cafe and bike shop. If you are regular DHer then you might prefer Cwmcarn, but I always have an excellent time at FOD.
Just came back from CC on Cwn Carn this weekend with mates - 5 on FS 5 on HT's all survived (kinda!)...
It's not in the league of Whistler but it was fast and rocky and you pick up speed really fast, having said that it's all rollable so you will be fine.
If you tire of the DH then you can
1) ride the trails
2) get a lift to the Freeride section and play around there and then make your way down
Never been to FOD
Cheers for the replies guys and pointing out my predictive text spelling mistakes.
Cwmcarn it is then. As you say we can drop onto the xx loop later if needed.
FOD is like a roller coaster/BMX track. Very swoopy, easy to keep speed up, tempts you in to doing things with very little risk (i.e. table tops/doubles). That is until it rains. A skid pan on ice.
CC is much more technical, steeper, natural, loose. Same in the wet as the dry pretty much.
So I say if you can predict the weather go with FoD. As you realistically cant then CC but with the option of going for the red run if it seems too much.
p.s. when you get droppped off at the top- two tips. Wait for everyone to go first. Head to the trail to the right as your first run as the left one has a couple of little drops and one mo fo of a hairpin right round a very shiny root and a drop at the same place.
FOD is like a roller coaster/BMX track. Very swoopy, easy to keep speed up, tempts you in to doing things with very little risk (i.e. table tops/doubles). That is until it rains. A skid pan on ice.
there's so much natural stuff there in the FOD. the roller coaster stuff is one track out of a dozen.
cc is not techincal at all
Greeble- I may be generalising a bit for brevity. But it is very fast and swoop on the whole. The only bits I can think of that isnt is the ski run and maybe some of the none signed tracks.
CC is much more technical than FoD. Road drop (albeit its been levelled), the very top section with the two jumps, hairpin right, off camber traverse, root sections... The second half after the road is all man made type though. Granted its not Rheola, but its about as technical as it gets in Wales.
Granted its not Rheola, but its about as technical as it gets in Wales.
Blimey!
I'm guessing you haven't ridden or uplifted much in Wales.
Cwmcarn is borderline trail centre. Still, as a Tomy 'my first DH day' you won't got too far wrong.
CC is far less techincal than the FOD. its a motorway by comparasion to any other dh track in south wales.
Granted its not Rheola, but its about as technical as it gets in Wales.
Compared to Mynnydd Du, even Rheola seems like a motorway. In the wet, Mynnydd Du was pretty tricky.
Just one more question. Would you recommend using a full face helmet plus usual padding/body armour.
I'm a wheels on the ground XC jeyboy and have ridden Cwncarn a few times and absolutely love it. It's nicely fast, has a few features to keep you interested and it gets harder the faster you go. Bear on mind my DH bike is a hardtail, albeit with 160mm forks and 2.5" tyres.
Re. body armour, I use it as I have it, along with a full face but I wouldn't go out of my way to get some if I didn't have it.
I already have the 661 sub gear top and pads , just wondering whether its best to go full face which I could probably borrow off a mate.
If it fits and doesn't smell too much, I'd go full face, I always crash if I leave the extra bit of armour/helmet in the van thinking 'it'll be fine' 😉