Looking at taking my wife to a welsh trail centre sometime in March.

How do the two compare? I’ve not been to either and Afan has always seemed to be the better one when mentioned but I’m hearing some good tings about Cwmcarn recently.

It’ll be sort of technical XC we are looking for rather than full on XC or Full on DH.

cwmcarn is a monstorous climb but then its a right hoot after that, she’ll hate you for the climb but be very happy with the descent!

How long are we talking for the climb and how long for the descent?

Cwmcarn climb is not constant, kind of eases off for short sections before going steep again & a fair few rocky bits & tree roots.
Penhyd at Afan would probably be easier for a first timer.

Yep, the Penhydd is a perfect beginners/hangover trail. A really nice intro.

That said, I would actually recommend Brechfa above Afan! The Blue/Green is a great trail, really great, and if she gets in to it, the Red is a superb run in to the upper end of things.

Cwm Carn is very friendly. Ignore comments about the climb. Its a gentle ride up the road if you want to avoid the track, a nearly level bit of single track with 50 yards of push then half a mile of forestry gravel which is not steep. You are now at the top. Half an hour to walk it.

Yep ride at Afan on the Penhydd first day, then drive to Brechfa afterwards, stay at Brechfa Bunkhouse, ride at Brechfa day 2,Sleep at same Bunkhouse, return to afan on day 3 or Cwmcarn. The Wall at Afan is a good step up after the penhydd. IMO

I should say, she’s not quite a green / blue kind of a beginner.

Its just she won’t go on super technical routes due to an off about 6 months ago which has wiped her confidence (temporarily).

She’s also quite physically fit from running and spin classes so climbs shouldn’t be a problem.

what andylux & CaptainFlashheart spot on

Andylux – sounds great!!! You offering to babysit for our two kids??

forgot the ‘said’ bit

Brechfa green is great beginners trail, some bits of black run next to it for yourself and the green can be interesting when hit at serious speed

Yeah Why not Bushwacked,

They can help walk my Ridgeback and I’ll take them to play at a firestation.

I need the experience for my iminent rugrat endeavors!!!

Enjoy

Always fancied Afan so might go there first…

However, never really considered Brechfa

Having done this myself (my wife stacked on hidden valley, Penhydd) I’d say CwmCarn – the climb is harder yes but going up the road is no different to going up Penhydd’s fireroad, but at Cwmcarn it’s safer going back down as there’s less places to fall down and the descents tend to be drawn out and less steep so the bike is less likely to run away from you…

Brechfa is really beautiful and has a wild feel as you’re in the middle of nowwhere!! The red Gorlech trail rocks, very smooth and fast with some very steep rollable descents!!

As built by Rowan Sorrell who is responsible for a lot of afan etc.

there’s less places to fall down and the descents tend to be drawn out and less steep

That’s as long as she doesn’t mind a descent with nothing but a steep scree slope on one side of her all the way down to the trail centre. Maybe not the best place to build confidence.

All IMHO of course.

If you’re worried about the drops at Penhydd’s hidden valley, then avoid it by taking the left instead of the right at Frog Corner(the usually muddy one), saves a fair size fire road climb and takes you to the start of the sidewinder.If you’re not unfit, then miss the final descent and do another loop by staying on the fire road as you pass the Nant Herbert Ruins signpost instead of peeling off to the left.

racemonkey – but the trail’s about 2 meters wide at that point!

IMHO, Penhydd is the most technically demanding of all the (trail centre)trails that I’ve ridden in South Wales and I’ve ridden them all bar Brechfa. Take her to Cwmcarn and do the road climb if she’s not a good tech climber.

Leftfield suggestion here – if she needs to rebuild confidence after an off, why not take here somewhere that will do a skills course for a day before going on to some trail centres. The right skills course will help build her confidence back up to tackle whatever it was that caused the off in the first place.

Can’t afford a skills course otherwise I would.

She lost her confidence going through a technical rooty section and landed badly which has left her with a big scar even after 6 months.

She’s OK with narrow steep sections – more roots and rock gardens she is nervous around but I know she can do it with a little encouragement.

trailmonkey – which parts of Penhydd are you thinking of? The only “technical” bit I can remember was the switchbacks in the Hidden Valley but they are easy enough if you dab? I would have thought Penhydd was ideal for a beginner/someone building confidence.

Brechfa

Brechfa’s brilliant. Cwmcarn is also great but it has a lot of rocks, and both rocks and roots on the climb.

There’s also more choice at Afan.

I’d say Cwmcarn as the climb, although rocky & rooty in places is wide enough & has good visability to not have you holding people up if you want to try some of the tricky bits over & over for practice.
I can’t see the point of using the road as she’ll not learn anything or build confidence that way – get her to do the climb, giving her encouragement from bottom to top & the sense of acheivement will probably do loads for confidence boosting.

She sounds quite capable of anything the south wales trail centres can throw at her GC black run aside perhaps. Each trail contains no more than 1 or 2 little tricky bits.

Cwmcarn descents are more just fast/flowy rather than technical apart from the rocky section where you can go slow if worried.
At Afan I’ve only done White’s and Penhydd but both have small drop-off sections which are fine if you just roll them at a reasonable speed but could cause problems if the rider is nervous/over-cautious as it becomes harder if you go too slow.

It’ll be sort of technical XC we are looking for rather than full on XC or Full on DH.

Someone’s taking in too much marketing bollox…

I’d lean towards Penhydd. My husband took me to Cwmcarn for my first ever ride and I found the loose rocky descent (with slope on left) pretty intimidating (although I did enjoy the ride as a whole). Penhydd doesn’t really have anything too loose and scary – the hidden valley bit is technical but easily avoided (you could probably meet her at the bottom of the section as it’s not long!) and the route as a whole is much more beginner friendly. Both rides are good but imo, Penhydd would be a much safer bet.

Oh but if you do Cwmcarn, the second section of ascent is quite rooty and always knocks my confidence, which at the beginning of a ride isn’t great. I tend to miss that section and join the trail back at the first bridge (very easy to do). I know what Snaps means and I do agree it’s good to try things to build confidence, but personally that little section just freaks me out (don’t know why!). If it were later in the ride I’m sure it’d be fine – I don’t miss anything else out. That’s just me though – as long as she can take things at her own pace I’m sure she’ll be fine! Having an encouraging husband makes all the difference! 🙂

Afan or Brechfa. Cwm Carn isn’t as varied or fun IMO. Plus I would agree that the last downhill at Cwm Carn isn’t great for confidence issues.

MrNutt – Member
cwmcarn is a monstorous climb

You call the hill in the Woods Behind Nationwide in Swindon a ‘monstrous climb’, though…

I rode cwmcarn last week in a snow covering. Granted i had to walk/push a few sections where i just couldnt seem to get any traction or momentum going but in general found it easy going.

I take newcomers out on man made trails like mabie & the rest of the stanes and in the lakes quite often including nighrides so i have a little knowledge of what beginners are and arent capable of. Cwmcarn would come into the ‘very beginner friendly’ catagory imo. There isnt any section that tbh a reasonably active cyclist couldnt attempt without injury and to say someone would be put off by the rooty climbs is imo laughable. Even in the snow they were easy for a competant rider and a nice challenge for someone like your wife. Remember most of these roots are on climbs so the worst she will do is spin out. There wasnt any rock sections to worry about and most of the other stuff is just flowy.

I would happily take a total beginner on that trail without worry of hurting themself.

very beginner friendly

Depends heavily on the beginner. My wife has never managed to do the whole thing in one go and she’s got herself really upset on the back section. Not to mention scarily slipping a good way down the hillside on the first steep bit of the climb due to SPD issues. But she’s keen and eager, so I’d not write her off.

I would happily take a total beginner on that trail without worry of hurting themself.

I wouldn’t, no way.

Personally I would go for Afan, as it has a nice cafe at the end, so you can turn it more into a good day out rather than; turn up, fall off, drag yourself back to the car then go home trip.

As for what trail, I guess 9feet/Penhydd or the blue/red at Brefcha would be ideal (if doing 2 days). None of the trails at Afan are that steep or hard, but if they are quieter its easier on beginners.

As for the can’t afford the cost of a training course AQR are running a Ladies and there blokes taster day on Mar 21, and its £35 quid so not that expensive and would give her the skills to enjoy riding a bit more.

Thanks for the advice everyone – think its gonna be Afan