[Closed] STW does Afan, 24th Nov.... Anyone ?

Bing bong...

Still just me and mate ?

Oooh. We've got another forum member in!

More?

Sounds great but sadly too far

If it wasn't a Friday I'd be up for this...

can't do a Friday sadly. Have fun!

If there's call for a weekend get together I'm more than up for it.

But every time I seem to put these up, I get mostly ignored 😆

Quite tempted, I haven't been to afan this year . I have leave available.
Just need to sort childcare....maybe.
Whats the weather going to be like? 😉

Dry, warm and sunny..

Well... it may be 1 out of them 3.... maybe.

😉

I'm getting excited now. It's been waaay to long since I have been Afan. As for the weather, if it's not wet it's a bonus!

If anyone want's a lift from Exeter area I should have spare for two more.

annoyingly I'm travelling back from Brighton on Friday otherwise would have joined you 🙁 Next time...

I'm very much looking forward to trying out the new forks on the T-130.

I'm bringing a mate who doesn't post much on here, but is a regular reader, he's also a Zwift buddy and my day to day riding mate.

We won't be breaking any records... but we'll be having fun that's for sure.

Fun is the main reason I ride. Oh and cake. Cake and fun, the two reasons I ride. 🙂

I'm down there and planning to ride on the 24th but won't be out until about lunch time.

Might see you about, I ride a grey Stanton Switchback. Don't have a plan but I imagine it'll either be either a quick jolly around y Wal or Whites as I'll have limited time.

If you wanna hook up for the afternoon mate, we'll be there for a good chunk of the day. I was thinking Blade from 10-12, then grab some lunch, then move onto y wal for the afternoon run.

Maybe I can tag on to a lap of Y Wal, fitness is pretty lacking at the moment lol.
Are you planning to park at the Afan visitor centre?

Yes sir. 9.30 am there by toilet block. Pair of Whyte t130s in sky blue

Apparently and surprisingly to me Blade is off Whites... I thought it was on Wall side...

So plan will now be Wall and Penhydd. I don't really mind which is morning and which is afternoon. I've not done Penhydd since about 2005-2008, i dunno, it's a while and i think it's been re-designed etc ? So worth giving it a whirl potentially.

Last time there about 2-3 months back Whites really pi***d me off with the climb, it was just too loose, too rocky to really give any flow to the climb since they've removed the trees. It wasn't that it was impossible from a fitness, but the climb just seems more irritating that previously. Although i still enjoyed the way down just as much as ever 🙂

I never even questioned your trail choice lol but yeah Blade starts from Glyncorrwg although you can do it from Y Wal by taking the same W2 link (the 2 trails share the first few sections/climb if you didn't know) so it still kind of makes sense and would make a pretty big ride. I rode Blade a month or so back and it was really good but the first climb is a bit of a punisher as is the last descent on a hardtail!

Never ridden Penhydd, but please choose whichever you want to do first as I'm not certain what time I'll get there (got a toddler and a heavily pregnant partner to drop off at her mums in Bridgend first!)

Yeah when we did W2 a couple of months back my buddy was struggling by the 2nd half, so if we can keep it a little less than that it may be useful 🙂 Which means staying for the one side of the hill for both a bit better and easier as you don't have to traverse the two etc and Whites is a harder climb techincally than Penhydd/Wall, so will be easier for him to regulate the pace

Getting closer then... anyone else coming to play ?

You know what I even looked at the website and didn't spot that! 😆

I'm happy to go with the flow. It's all bikes init?

Aye, certainly is.... well... Bikes, cakes and bacon rolls !

So plan will now be Wall and Penhydd. I don't really mind which is morning and which is afternoon. 

Wall is longer with the tougher climb, so might be the better first option with fresher legs.
Pennhyd also has the blue scar bailout if the legs are really struggling 🙁
Might join you, but I'm a bit of a weather dependant pansy these days 😆

Never been to Afan, it's on my to do list, and I still have holiday to use up before xmas 💡

Quite busy at work at the moment but i might bring it up with my boss tomorrow and see how well it goes down 😆

Weeksy, I’ve just got back from doing whites climb, a little part of blade & the climb is in a lot better condition than it was a few months ago, just as long and steep tho 😉
Penhydd is ok
Wall very good.
Whites very good.
W2 excellent.
Blade my preference.

Also the old skyline cafe is open and stay open late fri & Saturday nights

****sticks. Sadly I can't make the 24th as I've got plans that day. 🙁

I've only ridden Penhydd once but I thought it was a cracking trail. Seem to remember a lot of climbing at the start so a good chunk of fun stuff back to the car park as opposed to a lot of up and down.

I was told last night that next friday is an school inset day that i was due to cover...cue lots of "motherland" style antics to secure day pass....
btw Penhydd is worth doing(in my humble opinion) for the sidewinder bit alone.

I don't mind the steepness of Whites climb, it's tough yes at times, but that's why we're there... I must admit it was funny last time as you get up the path out of the ponds and when you reach the gate your mate is struggling ! You've not even started the climb proper and he's looking done in !

I did prefer Whites when there was a bit more tree cover. It gave you a nice excuse for a break when the trees did split to enjoy the view. 🙂

Holy thread resurrection Batman!

Well it's only 4 days to go and the weather <whispers> is looking sensible </whispers>

Anyone else tempted? I might make cake to bring.....

Still planning on being there... I was out with my Oppo on Saturday on the local trails and i think both of us would very much like to make it.... So assuming it's not an apocolypse of weather before then...we'll be there 🙂

Cake ? Mmmmmmmm

I could be a possible for this.

So then, who's in, who's out, who's riding morning, who's in afternoon etc ?

Our plan is 9.30 in the car park, we'll have 2x T-130s in the same light blue colour. I'll be the one with the Scouse accent.

We'll wait till 9.50-9.55 before heading off if anyone is coming.... but after that, we'll be out riding 🙂

If anyone wants my mobile etc, throw me a private message.

I have to do daddy day care as suspected.
Curses.
Have fun.

I'm still on for the afternoon. Hoping to get there around 1pm so long as everything goes OK with travelling down.

PAul, I'd expect we'll be in the cafe about then getting food. Planning on 12.30-12.45 at the cafe after Wall, then hopefully a quick scoot about Penhydd from 1.15 onwards.

I will be the guy in the black Mazda 6 hoping that Weeksy isn't an axe wielding maniac. Should be there for 9:30am assuming M5 is fine.

OK cool, I'll keep an eye out. Drive an old blue VW Passat and riding a very dirty Stanton. Can't imagine the car park etc. being that busy on a Friday afternoon. I need to be careful not to just sit in there eating cake and talking rubbish though!

Ready then guys?

I'm so excited and it looks like sun might show up. Woo!

Sun ? In Wales ? Don't be silly now ! it's not the 23rd July.

I know, I think my current lack of sleep is hitting me hard. 😆

But why would the Norwegains lie: [url= https://www.yr.no/place/United_Kingdom/Wales/Port_Talbot/ ]Port Talbort[/url]

Sorry now have school run so can't.

Epic morning, fun trails, frost.

Now, bacon, sausage, cake, mmmm

We ended up doing Y Wal in the morning, stupid.is turned up and the boy can ride! I'm not sure how much was him and how much his super Specialized, but the fella doesn't hang about when it gets rocky.

The toffee, peanut, chocolate cake thing in the cafe was marvellous as was the bacon an egg!

Afternoon we went up Penhydd, but half way up my other mate sadi "you go on, I'm done" he was going to take Blue Scar trail as it's shorter etc. However that's not how we do things, so we all did blue scar, which is actually a great fun trail, lots of flavours of BPW blue there, awesome fun.

No one crashed, we had fun. Was a shame no others made it.

Next up for Afan I'm thinking Xmas Eve as it's traditional now when I go to meet the wife at St David's.

Cheers weeksy I’m going to go with the bike based on the few near misses where skill quickly ran out! Cracking day though and we work on Christmas Eve pass.

I was late getting down thanks to trying to get the fam moving! Didn't get riding until 2.30. Parked at Bryn Bettws lodge and had a lap around Y Wal before it got dark. Got a puncture just before getting back to the car.

Mega day for weather, sounds like you had a good ride. Maybe I'll be more organised next time!