Drum Mountain, North wales – ride of the year (pics plus willy waving)

Had the best ride of the year yesterday doing a route Vortex from here sent us. Drum mountain from Conwy. OK it was a slog getting up, but the descent to Llanfairfechan was something in the order of 2,500ft straight to sea level. A mental blast, on which I clocked up my fastest ever off road speed… around 50mph… scared the bejesus out of me. Also the descent from the old church through Parc Mawr was stunning too.

Lovely country, saw just 1, thats right 1 other biker. The views were to die for. Never ridden in North Wales on the natural stuff before but as of now, I'm going to be hammering the A55… superb country for biking.

Some pics…

Drum Mountain

Grueling climb

Start of the down

Synchnant Pass

The evidence

More pics here.

Didnt sleep last night, buzzing too much. Awesome ride.

Picture links dead for me

Dang… Fotopic must have change the direct linking rules Yet again… I even took out the "new" from "newimages".

Click on the link,nice photos.
ian

Any chance of the route? My brother-in-law has a caravan at Conwy,we can borrow it,I'd like a nice run out.
ian

Do you have memory map ?

would have been nice to get a invite………………. 🙄 😉

How'd you do on the Rowen YHA climb?

Hmmm thats odd, are they working now for you lot ?

Also cocked up the DH pic….

Tony… er, really sorry mate… I completely forgot about punting invites out… I feel terrible now 😳

any chance of the route here too please? (have memory map)
Looks like a pretty good ride.

Thanks
Jonathan

jonathan at thesnooks dot wanadoo dot co dot uk

Lowey could you send me route aswell please,i've got MM

How'd you do on the Rowen YHA climb?

I'd like to know this too! I always think it would be easier to crawl whenever I walk up there

I wouldn't mind the route too please

No memory map,just OS map LOL
Ian

Last time we did that it blowing a gale right up the pass. You'd be leaning to the left to stay in a straight line and the wind would drop, meaning you were suddenly heading towards the drop – you;d straighten up only for the wind to hit you again and suddenly you;re heading for the bank on the inside of the trail…

Great descent though

Think I shall have to add this to my ride calendar! Is the route hard to figure out or pretty obvious on a OS map?

Vortex's suggestion piqued my interest too, and some Googling over the weekend revealed http://www.flattyresmtbroutes.com/ConwyDrumMnt.html .

How'd you do on the Rowen YHA climb?

LOL, I grew up in Rowen and have many a fond memory of biking down the 1:3 by the Youth Hostel. I still remember going down there on my Raleigh Record Sprint and totalling it…

For those of you with the interest, come out of the youth hostel and take a left and continue going up and through 2 gates. You'll pass a rock burial chamber then get to a T junction, hang a right and pretty soon you'll end up on a very old and gnarly roman road that connects up that part of north wales with the proper mountains. Anyone wants a trail let me know.

Thanks DJC!

Could I have the route for MM as well please, mail is in my profile – thanks

future forum ride dave? 😉

We did this ride 3 years ago (myself and 9 chaps).
It was the hardest ride I've ever done. It took me days to recover.
Yes hats off to anyone that climbs the road past the Y.H.A.

hats off to anyone that climbs the road past the Y.H.A.

It's barely possible to push the bikes up that damned thing. Mind you, we do always seem to pick the hottest day of the year to do this route!

Yeah the road climb past Rowan was a killer… so steep and so long, but the descent was more than worth it.

I'll mail out the mmo for all those who have asked.

Note though that the route is considerably longer / different to the falttyre route. There is a lot more singletrack and it takes you out over Conwy mountain and Synchnant Pass. I must again thank Vortexracing as it was his route.

Bunnyhop, yeah my legs are still acheing. There is nearly 6000ft of climbing. A real epic day out.

future forum ride dave?

We were discussing it on the way home, but it would be an almighty schlep for some of the STW Northern contingent, namely "Team Darlo".

i hope you got bit by bobo flys…………. 😉

Can I have the mmo of the longer version pls? I've emailed the addy in your profile.

Just managed to get the laptop to the caravan site reception and log on.

glad you enjoyed it lads.

was Johnny waiting long?

looks like a great ride.

Did you like the singletrack back at the back of the Conwy mountain?

hope you take too many wrong turns.

Ironically I have never done this a full ride. must be on my to do list.

I agree would be a classic for the likes of Donk ,Deejay,plus Tom and Grant who ride with me, might even tire them out a bit (not).

see you on the 6th of Sept if not before.

cheers

Dave

Dave, the stuff on and behind Conwy mountain was ace. Execpt a comedy over the bars from me at about 20mph on Maen Esgob. Smooth flat grass makes a comfy landing, even when you slide on your back for about 15' 😆

That's a monster, might be giving it a go soon

Uploaded the GPX file here if you don't mind:
http://www.zshare.net/download/6392160106439e66/

You can import it here http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm for a gander

Really fancy this ride. I'm on holiday in the area from Mon 31st August for a week if anyone wants to join me.

I did not have to wait very long for them at the top of the big YHA road climb thanks Vortex they soon caught up.
What a ride but God you need legs to do it dont try this after a week away with young children averaging 5 hourse sleep and then only 4 the night before it will be very tiring.
There is one of me lying on the floor in the recovery position ( I could have slept there I really could)just turning over as he shouted my name.
The ascent of Drum is a good long slog after a good long slog to even see it. The descents are worth it.
Ton we did think of an STW camp over next year with this and then another ride the day after for the gods amongst us or a day of beer and rest for us mortals

'Best ride of the year'…
…apart from the STW in the Howgills (oh dear) :))

Glad it worked out for you'all! Looks a great route. Thanks for the gpx.

Cheers
Paul

There is one of me lying on the floor in the recovery position

Give us a hug…

Ahh Drum

Drum . .er that will be the mountain o nthe northern Carneddau there is not a right of way to cycle up wont it…. just checking to see if I have my facts straight…

not sure but look at what we were cycling up… see above pics MR overshoot first shot for example.

Stone road/cart track /double track so hardly an errosion footpath tramp fest. Did not feel at all cheeky given what it was we were on but in all honesty not sure.
Other parts of the route are clearly footpaths /cheeeky trails FWIW

mAx_hEadSet – Member

Drum . .er that will be the mountain o nthe northern Carneddau there is not a right of way to cycle up wont it…. just checking to see if I have my facts straight…

Well, there's a bridleway marked on the map, which turns into a footpath at the top. The track going up there is obviously an old cart track as it's been benchcut. If anything, I'd be pushing to see why it isn;t a full bridelway all the way over, rather than checking if it's legal at all….

mAx_hEadSet – Member

Drum . .er that will be the mountain o nthe northern Carneddau there is not a right of way to cycle up wont it…. just checking to see if I have my facts straight…

Er that'll be you never borrowed a friend's CD, accidentally slipped over 70 mph on the motorway etc? Just checking you're qualified to ride that preposterously high horse that's making you look so daft…

And for the record, i've met NT rangers up on Drum a few times now. All i've had is encouragement. Bit of a difference to the SNP rangers i've met in the evening on a full BW on Snowdon before now…

zokes – Max is a ROW officer in north wales 🙂

must do that route again…. 🙂 right of way or not