Getting the bike out after quite a while, it's been in the loft due to scratters trying to break into the shed and nick it.
In Cardiff so wondering if anywhere nearby is riding well, lots of rain of late.
Could take a drive up to BPW or Afan, something natural and not too techy would be nice as I reckon I'm a bit rusty and want to ease myself back in to things.
Afan, Cwmcarn hold up well in the wet. BPW gets a sandy abrasive mud though not on all trails.
The Gap ride and Sarn Helen loop are fine as well, assuming high clouds and not minging weather and you're capable of not dying when outside a signposted trail center
Rampworld is almost certainly dry
Never ridden a trail centre.
Well some of them are certainly good as wet weather options - give them a go!
It's hard to know what you mean by 'not too techy' unless you can give examples of the sort of thing you're thinking, but the trails all have different grades if you google them.
Maybe time to give it a go?
Cwmcarn for example is only as hard as you want it to be, everything is rollable, climbs can be pushed etc. Trails are hardpack so you get wet and muddy, but there’s no real ‘mud’ as such so it’s easy to ride in any weather.
If you really want an easy reintroduction then there’s ‘Blue Scar’ at Afan.
There are great trails near Castle Coch and over towards Caerphilly, but they’re a total bog at the moment.
Most of the Beacons trails are good in the wet. They stay wet and gritty but always rideable.
Castell Coch though I find a reliable option. A few muddy bits but always rideable cos many of the trails are built on old access tracks for workings and have a solid stone base which to be honest is true for lots of trails round here. I could plot the good trails on a map maybe.
Where do you normally ride that's bad?
Not too techy just coz I've been off the mountain bike for a while, I was a Surrey Hills rider and could go down anything round there but just want to ease my way back in, nothing against trail centres I just always rode round Peaselake etc and Swinley for ss, although I guess that's classed as a trail centre these days.
Lived in Wales a few years now but sort of fell out of mountain biking, I feel like falling back in but just doing it sensibly.
I can take you out on a weekend if you like? Cracking trails all around the city.
Tbh if you can handle Surrey Hills you can handle Afan and Cwmcarn.
I`m a sports photographer so very rarely around at weekends, appreciate the offer tho, my fitness would probably be a bit crap too, although I do ride up and down the trail a few times a week.
Putting together an XC ride over ROWs and through forestry is going to involve some right boggy bits at the moment. Some trails in Castell Coch are OK, some will be hilarious/ 'orrible depending you your attitude (and tyres).
Personally I don't mind a bit of mud, but it is beginning to get me down a bit and if I can find the time in the week I will probably visit a trail centre for a change (I don't visit them that often). Or possibly get the road bike out.
I saw a bloke in Tongwynlais the other week who looked like he'd been spray painted in mud, so I was going to avoid the Castle Coch trails for the time being.
Bike currently has a mud x on the back and a Swampthing super tacky on the front, so wintered up.
That's guaranteed anywhere in the UK - if you don't have a front guard on! As I said, it's wet, the surface is wet so there'll be spray and you'll get muddy - but you will still be fine riding and have a blast. Nowhere in the UK is dry, but lots of places are riding well.
I'm also around evenings and maybe a lunchtime or two.
May take you up on it sometime Molgrips, I get lots of days off in the week, I was going to go for a spin up to Tongwynlais today before work but got side tracked.
Can't today anyway - got a velodrome session this afternoon.
It's always dry in there...
Obvs not Maindy then.
Something like this is pretty much all stoney trail/fireroad:
[url= https://www.cardiffbybike.com/2018/01/08/route-easy-does-it/ ]Route: Easy does it…[/url]
You will see quite a few singletrack lines either side of the path past the little building in the photo there, also either side of the main track through Castell Coch woods. Some quite steep slithery stuff in amongst it.
That route would probably be better in the other direction IMO.
Gower would probably be perfect for you, but, not dry at the moment.
Obvs not Maindy then.
Newport
Some quite steep slithery stuff in amongst it.
I have decided to dust off my big bike to better explore all those trails in the local area. Which is why I'm shopping for Magic Marys or similar 🙂
That would be a good tyre choice, particularly for the front. Rear suspension not necessary, but steep-friendly geometry helps.
On a prophet so slack enough, I'll have to get me a dropper at some point.
blue scar at afan is good, but short. I like penhydd at afan if ive been off the bike for a while. fireroad climbs and a nice flowing singletrack. some puddles along the way, but nothing major.
I was a Surrey Hills rider
You’ll be wanting the Taff Trail then. Mostly non porous, fairly grippy with good run off of water, an uphill slog going through Coopers Fields with a tricky bit of chicane to test the mettle going under Western Ave underpass by Tescos. Doesn’t get too technical until you get to the hell that is the Cardiff Bay section. Fully tooled up, long travel full suss pretty much obligatory (unless you’re a local, in which case, a Pashley is all you need).... 😉
Thanks for the replies, quite fancy the look of the Sarn Helen loop as a starter seeing as the very local stuff'll be a mud bath at the moment.
It really isn't that bad locally, honestly.
I may also take a spin up the trail and have a mosey round the castle one day.
Had a mince round some of Castell Coch trails today, amazing how your fitness and skills simply evaporate after a few years off the bike, the only way is up.