I'm going to do a 2-day MTB trip staying at Ffestiniog on Wed/Thurs. I'm doing Antur Stiniog on Thursday but Wednesday is as yet undecided. The options for places nearby as far as I can tell are Penmachno and Coed Y Brenin from my research I've found that those are the best of the options that aren't too far from the hotel.
Penmachno would be more convenient as it is on the way to my hotel, and very close to my hotel as well, so wouldn't add hardly any extra driving on. I've heard it can be bad when it's wet, would it not be much good after recent weather ?
Coed Y Brenin would take more effort to get to, a 50 minute round trip in the car from the Hotel. Before this point I would have already driven 2 hours to get to the Hotel. Never been before, but I assume that the trail doesn't get too wet? Would this be worth the extra effort to get to here instead of Penmachno given the recent weather ?
Antur Stiniog on the Wednesday is not an option, as it's only open Monday, Thursday-Sunday. I've heard too manyt say the Marin is boring, and as I'm going solo, boredom would be a big problem, so I think the options are Coed Y Brenin or Penmachno.
Never ridden Penmachno but from comments made on here it’s like riding along an endless puddle outside of summer. If it’s dry a lot say it’s there favourite trail. Coed Y Brenin has a lot trails on offer which are generally quite rocky IIRC and were quite technical in places but it has been a while since I was there and apparently has been dumbed down.
CYB. Can't remember anything changing over the last few years, at least not on the VC side of the road. It's hardly any distance from Ffestiniog on fairly fast roads.
Penmachno will be an endless river of disappointments. I would pick Gwydir (formerly Marin) above that (the new section in the second half is good fun), or at least do both of them to get your money's worth. Penmachno second unless you have a change of clothes handy.
Which would be the best trail option at Coed Y Brenin ? Looking at something around 30k ?
Typical red/black grade stuff would be good but main thing I'm looking for is not too much fireroad.
I believe that there's a lot of fireroad climbs there regardless of which option you take, but would rather not do too much of that. I don't mind climbing on singletrack (like at Gisburn or Cannock) but would rather not do too much fireroad if I can help it.
Lots of fireroad at both, so you'd better adjust your expectations.
This time of year definitely CYB more bang for your buck and no chance of drowning on loop 2. Id do the Beast but cut across at post 79 take fire road up to 117 to Addams family .. you wont be missing much .. best ride in the forest In my opinion
Full Marin is a nice ride - in and old school out there kind of way but you wont see to many folk so I wouldn't ride it alone personal .. however you can just winch up the fireroad climb and do the excellent final decent a few times over without to much risk
This time of year definitely CYB more bang for your buck and no chance of drowning on loop 2. Id do the Beast but cut across at post 79 take fire road up to 117 to Addams family .. you wont be missing much .. best ride in the forest In my opinion
Depends on your style of riding. Your suggestion gives the option of having time to head over for a quick lap of Tawr Du which has the new Slab section. I'd personally keep going at 79 because I like Pink Heifer, Big Dug (rides lovely if you put a bit of effort in) and Hermon, then turn left at 119 to chop off the top loop. Bit more grinding on tarmac and fire road, but I don't mind that so much. I would start out on Minotawr (blue) until the end of the berms to miss out Badger and Pinderosa though, as they are not enjoyable to ride, particularly if not warmed up! Strava tells me that this way is under 19 miles and around 3,000ft of ascent.
I don't think OP can avoid some fire road fun though, even Gisburn has enough of that on the climbs.
Everywhere has fire road.
CyB good bet if the weather is dubious as stated above.
however - Marin trail boring? I dont think so. The Short and Long loops one after the other gives you plenty of tech, plenty of elevation, and THIS view -
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4291/35466534653_36d608e459_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4291/35466534653_36d608e459_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/W34g7M ]1[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/simonholehan/ ]simonholehan[/url], on Flickr
PS The name Pink Heifer is not indicative of cow-related content, OP... 🙂
Love that view and house snotrag.
Aye - different strokes for different folks - I actually enjoy Badger /Pinderosa but would agree that blue to the road makes more sense if your cold.
I actually enjoy Badger /Pinderosa
I always assumed that Badger was there to help the shop set the compression/rebound on forks and shocks.
Sort of like 28 seconds onward from here.
I'll make the effort to drive from the hotel to CYB. Any Strava/GPX's of routes at CYB which get in the best bits ? (I like scenery and good singletrack so which has the most of this will be best)
i really like penmachno.
its a bit old school but thats no bad thing.
the last few descents (used for the national enduro held there) are bloody mint at full gas
the newer bits are well out of place but a re luckily quite short.
dont bother with teh extra loop though.
Definitely going to go back and do Penmachno later on in the year when its drier but for this time I think it will have to be CYB and Antur Stiniog
Definitely CYB. If you do penmachno then dont do the extra loop, they are so wet and to me so bad that I wouldnt want someone I dont like to have to trudge round the exta
Penmachno was reported as very wet by our friend who didn't fancy doing Antur with us on Friday.
I used to like Penmachno a lot- these days I'd probably choose Marin.
CYB is great though. I'd forgotten how good the Tarw was when we went round it for the first time in a while last year.
I’d forgotten how good the Tarw was when we went round it for the first time in a while last year.
I rode it for the first time in years, in 20+ degree heat and dust last March.
Loved snap, crackle & pop but most of the rest wasn't quite clicking for me. Possibly as I was absolutely ruined at the end of a long weekend of riding and on a long-travel enduro bike.
Exactly like that :] gets yer head on !
most of the rest wasn’t quite clicking for me. Possibly as I was absolutely ruined at the end of a long weekend of riding and on a long-travel enduro bike.
I think it's because I'd tended to try and squeeze it in after a lap of the beast or when otherwise similarly knackered it meant it felt like a very long slog for not much.
Then they sent us over the (then new) slabs on the CyB enduro and I thought I'd better come back for another look. Did it fresh and found snap crackle and pop were amazing, really enjoyed the long fast descent after the 'top' fire road too, even if I feared for my sidewalls the entire way down. Maybe I've just got better and enjoy it differently now.
Echoing the above, CYB. I rode some of it last week inbetween days of heavy rain and the trails were pretty much dry.
I'd definitely do the Beast but:
- blue to the road (Badger/Pinderosa are gash and the blue is a real nice swoopy, fast blat to warm up with)
- Abel is a must (one of my favourite bits of man made but feels like natural singletrack around)
- after Beefy, turn right on the fire-road instead of left. Its just a short cut which misses a pointless fireroad spin
- after the café at Dolfwrynog (sp?), head up the hill, take the fireroad as signed but at the first opportunity opposite the farm house, turn back on yourself left instead of following the sign straight on. Follow this back to the road, turn right and then almost immediately veer right again up the fireroad. Top of Gomez should be just up on your left. That misses either a real f*cker of a climb straight up the road or a massive fireroad diversion.
I also had a spin around the Tarw (that's the one on the side of the road of the old visitor centre?) last spring and thought it was excellent. Nobody on it even though the car park was rammed (nobody seems to venture onto that side of the road anymore!) and some great descents - the big one from the very top with the short farm track sprint halfway down and then the tight, rocky bits in the woods is a delight.
I live close to both and like both. id wait for a dry spell to do penmachno, so this week id go to cyb. Do the beast (black grade), minus the firetrack loop which is about 30km.
A less technical one is the dragons back (red) at around 30km.
We went to Coed Y Brenin at the weekend followed by the Short Marin on the sunday on the way home. Conditions at both are excellent so I wouldn't worry about that. I've never rode penmachno though.
Been to Cyb a few times, this time I did the beast, but felt it really wasn't worth the extra over what the shorter MBR has, I'd try and do the MBR and the Tarw Du for a best of both.
Don't discount the Marin though, it was my first time there on Sunday and I thought it was really good, we only did the short loop too, can't wait to get back to do the full loop sometime. It was pretty busy too, a lot busier than I was expecting.
Here's some highlights from the beast at CYB, to give you an idea of the conditions,
I do have some Marin trail footage too, which I will upload soon.
I did CYB in the end, with a mate who I just followed, we did The Beast but took a shortcut at one point, as he told me its just a long & pointless fireroad section. Not sure if he was right, as the shortcut was bloody slow and steep up another fireroad.
Trails were in excellent condition, hardly any water or mud, all the singletrack was good, most of climbs on fireroads and would have been bored of them if I was on my own. Overall it was okay
Antur Stiniog was spoiled by the appalling weather
It rained a lot