hi, i made a trip up to to dalby yesterday an rode the red route for the first time.after hearing quite a few people on here slate it i was a bit sceptical.
i decided to park at dixons hollow to have a warm up on the bike park.i was less than impressed by the 4x style track, which made me even more sceptical.the mini pump track was great fun though.
i then moved on to the 21 mile red route .the conditions were very wet with heavy shower but i was suprised at the high traction levels and never felt i had to slow down because of the conditions and i found i could push the short but sweet descents really hard.
i soon got over the lack of really long flowing desents that can be found in the welsh trail centres and really started to enjoy the ride.
by the end of the day i'd had a superb days riding was aready planning when i could come back.
my summary of dalby red after one days ride is:
pros:the length of the route is good for a trail centre and has an epic feel.
the grip in the wet is insane even when push to the limit.
the shortish descents are technical and fun.
cons:there are a few boring flat bits that don't flow
there are'nt the long desents that some people may want.
the terrain will eat your drive train and brakes in the wet
hope this helps for anyone thinking of making a visit. i rode it on my steel hardtail and it felt spot on.
have you a record time ? most people rant about this....if it takes longer than 2 hours then your crap apparently ....lol 😉
i did not time myself but it may have been a tad over 2hrs.
i say the traction was good but one poor girl may disagree as she manage to find the one bit of poor traction on a wooden bridge and had to have the paramedics called.
I suspect I can name that bridge in 2. They are both absolutely lethal in the wet.
This one?:-
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Looks like **** all from this pic, but as a pronounced l/h camber, and lacks any grip tape/chicken wire, aways nip my cheeks on this when it's been raining, but then I am very jey lite 🙂
Pleased you enjoyed it,... i much prefer to start off from the visitors centre so your ride ends with the superb decending terrain of sections 36 and 37....
.... and the nice toilets at the visitors centre can be quite useful too!
yes thats the bridge.
I've been down that ditch minus bike, it wasn't a good start 🙂