[Closed] Cwncarn & Forest of Dean

Very little mud at Cwmcarn, the only mucky bit is the first climb to the paybooth, probably best described as 'sticky'.
The rest of the trail is fine.

I'm taking a non mountain biking friend mountain biking on Sunday and was thinking of either Cwmcarn or Forest of Dean

I'm not throughly familar with FoD, but shirley the climb @ Cwm Carn would be enough to put off any 1st time biker... ace as the decent is.

as above... the climb at Cwmcarn would be too much for a first timer I'd have thought. It might be better just taking them round some gentle forest trails which doesn't involve too much effort /technical ability.

Kev

I was thinking the same, z1ppy. I took a "non-mtb" friend to Cwmcarn years ago - he bailed about 500 yards from the car park, and waited miserably in the cafe...

if your going to cwmcarn with a newbie i would take the fire road on the left of the pay booth, nice little ride there and you can cross over the track and tak the road up to the free ride section. as for FoD i would thing that its pretty muddy there

If you stick to the hardpack trails in the FOD for the 'newbie' you'll be fine, off track it'll be muddy.

Could do the 'tourist' loop?

I'll be there Sat.

Well I was hoping my friend would manage the climb at Cwmcarn because he's pretty fit. Maybe I'm expecting too much from him technically speaking.

I would go to FoD instead but I hear it can be muddy, hence was wondering if anyone had been recently.

cubemeup, if I take the route you suggest then do I end up on the tarmac road used by the uplift?

yes fella, u just cut accross the trail or u can just take the road up the uplift use but if you do move out the way of the bus lol
the last section of the xc going up is ok for a newbie i would think but that middle section is just a bitch imo but im a fatty on a 160mm bike

For a short loop you can start the xc climb and the cut along a track/road to your right that takes you past the big drop off on the dh trail and to the start of the final xc decent. I've only done it once so maybe someone else can jump in and give a better fracturing of where exactly the connecting road starts from. Could be a good option though to get some nice flowing decent without any lung busting climb. Shouldn't take you that long and you cam judge your mate's ability. Then if he's raring to go, just start the xc loop again and carry on.

you can also cycle up the road the wrong way up and you will come out at Tumbluwm tump. takes about 50 mins doing that loop

Mmm, maybe I'll just see if he's up for a challenge on the morning. If the Cwmcarn uphill gets too hard we'll just come off onto the road for a bit. There are several cross-over points, aren't there?

I just don't remember the FoD XC trail being at all thrilling and the downhill there would be out of the question for him.

At least I now know that Cwmcarn isn't a mud fest, thanks!

Cwncarn worked out really well! The guy I took on my old ropey bike simply missed out the middle section of the uphill using the road and met us at the picnic tables.

Thanks for the advice!

When did you go to Cwmcarn? I was seriously thinking of taking my lad there tomorrow - he's pretty competent off road but I've never done the XC trail myself - is it worth a shot - or would I be best heading over to Afan instead?

I think he's getting a bit bored with Castell Coch - given we live about 2 minutes from it!

Advice gratefully received...

Get yourself over there dodge. Th climb is a little more techy than those at afan but as pointed out you can hit the forest road if needed. Nothing tech on the DH bits.

Cheers backhanded!

I think I'll just bite the bullet and get myself over there!

Nice one...

Think i'll head there on sunday. kill myself on the climb then just session the dh on the uplift.....

just got back from a short night ride over there.
i always take the road up instead of doing the middle section tbh i really struggled before and hated more than rugby training!! and back then i was on a 4" travel bike

I hate taking the road on the climb. It always seems like harder work and takes longer. Whenever I see anyone taking it, I always end up beating them to the top. Certainly not willy waving here, as I'm sure I'm slower taking the road as well. It's obviously longer than the singletrack, and I think you put in more effort on the steeper tech bits but get mini rests where it undulates. The road just seems a relentless boring drag.

went to FOD last week and forest people felling lots of trees meaning most of the trails were closed (4-5?)

we got to ride / slither down 1 trail, and bits of another trail (corkscrew) the whole place was a muddy bog....

xc Trail at FODis open but ruined in some places from the logging and mudding but the family loop is fine but you may get pretty bored just doing gravel route. saying that ill be doing that a couple of times maybe a single XC loop in between