Dyfi 2014

5th one for me, Still the bike highlight of the year for me.

Managed to slog round SS in 4:22, 8th and last luddite round the long route.

Still beat my previous best by a very big margin, no doubt due to the fact I had no choice with the speed I had to go.

Yeah Dazh that was me. Didn’t win that either!

There is a decent wait in Lancaster A&E. Loads of crook kids, mostly silly boys…

I finished! It was my goal and I did it, don’t think I was last either which was a huge surprise. It was fantastic, great vibe, great technical descents, lots of fire road which in all honesty is the only way to get 800 and something bikes and riders up enough to do the downs.
Loved the whole thing with two exceptions, people who can’t be ar*ed to pick up their old tubes and people who just chuck energy gel wrappers. Ho hum.
A massive thank you to Frazer and all the folks who helped and did the donkey work so that us idiots could enjoy ourselves. Thank you.

Just home and it was my first time. Had a brilliant time. What a great event. The comedy festival. going on alongside was also a bonus.
Fell off once on the near to the end steep muddy ruts and no punctures!
Not done any riding of that distance so quite pleased to have lugged my 160mm bike around the long loop.
Saw the best band ever , The Lovely Eggs in the tent by the leisure centre Sunday night.
Wicked event and brilliant organisation and value. Thanks everyone.

5hr drive home but well worth it!
Another fantastic weekend 🙂 Everything I learnt from last year paid off. No punctures, no cramp and no way to train for that type of elevation around here! 6600ft climbing in 41 miles (middle figure between Strava/Garmin/Sports-Tracker), 6200ft over 33miles offroad!

Just got home after my first Dyfi, Snapped my Brake clean off the handlebars on a descent near the beginning,
Was enjoying myself too much and choose the wrong line, Over my bars and bike landing on top of me,
Photographer/steward asked if I was okay? As I was laughing then noticed my brake was hanging off, “Yup, but my bikes not!”

Duck tape saved the day,
Knocked my confidence a little but I completed the full long route, be it at the back of the pack.

Oh and the Cramp! the life sucking, leg snapping Cramp! right on the final short climb!

Can’t wait for next year 😀
Hows about the Coed Y Brenin Enduro?

Massive thanks to everyone involved in making it a superb introduction to such events!

Most enjoyable Dyfi ever for me, we chose to ride Melo Velo style and socialise on the flat and ups and have fun everywhere else!
Fraz, Tegid, all the organisers, marshals, first aiders etc, thanks for all your hard work!

Another awesome event. Could’ve done without 4.5 punctures but that’s racing. Loved it. Many thanks to all the organisers and volunteers.

My first Dyfi and deffinatly not my last.

Out of intrest did anyone else see the lad on the jump bike with a full face lid on? Passed him on the first road hill, hope he made it, but he looked in a lot of trouble very early on (it’ll be those small wheels). Fair play to him mind, I’d have given up straight out of the town 🙂

Hey Tollah – you got me! 30s in, red jacket on the left, with the bloke who broke his finger. Healing vibes to him if he’s listening.

Great event as ever took part in kids races, did the ring of fire twice missed the bike jousting 😕
Rode the dyfi as hard as i could no hold ups or mechanicals or mincers in front!
Only downside was my camper not wanting to start a tow round the field did not work so had to wait for a spanner monkey but sorted by the afternoon 🙂
Well down Fraz and the boys great event this was was my fave
Kudos to the weirdos on the tandem missed SS Stu !

The lad on the jump bike

Yep he ended up with my riding buddy smashing into the back of him on road section out of Mach when he grabbed a large handful of brake? No one hurt so all ok, he stayed with the group we where in for a while but was off the bike and helmet off up the first climb.

Loved it…best yet for organisation and atmosphere. Just saw the tandem on the vid up there! World cup descent from the stokers perspective must be interesting 🙂

Thanks Franz and all involved.

Yeah i saw that lad on the jump bike , fair play !

Here’s my first clean run on the world cup descent 😕

Just a little bit of cleaning required this morning 😀

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Untitled[/url] by rowlapa[/url], on Flickr

5th one for me and best result yet! Really enjoyed the whole weekend but missed the main event,the ring of fire.

Anyone know the snapper on the world cup dh? Pics from them could be good.

1st one and loved every minute of it much harder than I expected but very friendly and we’ll organised. I saw the lad on the jump bike riding back into town while eating my post ride fish and chips so great effort if he got all the way around.

Photos here Burchy

http://danwyrephotography.co.uk/album-1/

The lad on the jump bike was awesome on the downs…no fear!!

I wondered how the tandem did on the downs?!

Defo up for CYB enduro…with huge fitness increase tho.

+1 for The Lovely eggs, fantastic! and a great atmosphere around the event with having the comedy festival right next door.
I’d never been before so had no idea what it was like but will be returning.
Didn’t actually do the enduro though, failed to get in but my friends who did seemed to enjoy it 🙂

11th dyfi and loved it as ever.
Loved it as ever, especially the World Cup. I pity the poor buggers who end up pushing uphill AND downhill.
Not sure if the final descent on the long loop was worth the effort but glad I did it
Long drive home (thanks eddie11, sorry I fell asleep!) But so worth it. I’ll be back!

Was my first Dyfi enduro. Loved it. Was a bit disappointed that some descents were on fire trails, but the brass band, the beer, the cheerleaders and the EU food mountain of a feed station made up for it.

Managed to wreck my chain somehow at around 42km. It twisted about 90 deg across about fifteen links. Managed to bend it back a bit and then nurse the bike back with lots of noise (thanks for all the offers of help to those who passed me!) Had to elect for the short route as the mech and cassette probably would not have made the extra 10km, but that gave me 4/422 on the short route, which was a nice surprise (and I stopped for a beer).

Things I learned:

* It’s Dyfi as in Dovey, not diffy
* Riding wet loose slate is basically surfing
* Don’t carry so much water – I finished with nearly half a camelbak and had basically carried an extra kilogram for no reason.
* Don’t swap the position of the dropper post switch the day before the race – this provides confusion and panic right when you don’t need it.
* Buy a better chain

Hopefully see you all at the CYB enduro in October!

3 punctures this year, but still finished with a smile.
First time I have punctured in about 6 or so events, so I was certainly due at least one! 🙂

Bit of a blog here.

Bit of a blog here.

😀

My first Dyfi, and it was great! I used my rigid Salsa El Mar and personally thought it was the perfect tool for the job. Powered up the fire roads and even bounced past a few people carrying their full sus bikes down the technical bits (?!).

Great atmosphere and small touches by the organisers with the beer handouts, DJs, brass band, clowns etc. Also very nice friendly and helpful people riding the event (a nice change from the usual XC race circuit!). Massive thanks to the stranger (Stuart?) who offered me a front wheel before I could even ask when I realised the end cap from my hub was on the drive at home. Saved a 200 mile wasted journey and wouldn’t even take any beer money in return!

My first Dyfi, and it was great! I used my rigid Salsa El Mar

Was that a white one with the blue red yellow panels that I saw go past? I do like those. Reminds me of 1970s racing cars

Link copy/paste fail mtbmatt.

Fwiw, uvex kids helmets are very good. 😉

Was that a white one with the blue red yellow panels that I saw go past? I do like those. Reminds me of 1970s racing cars

Yep!

Whoops! 😉
Blog here[/url] and actually not about a kids cycling helmet.

And if a mod can edit the link above, then that would be grand 😛

This event looked like fun. How much was it and how much is the event in October likely to be? the official website doesn’t say yet.
thanks.

The Dyfi was £25 this year which is the bargain of the century considering it includes a free bank holiday weekend’s camping, a bar, entertainment, a mug, and a brilliant bike ride. I seem to remember the Coed Y Brenin Enduro was the same price last year but it doesn’t have the camping etc.

Bargain of the century – totally agree with that.

That field was a lovely place to camp. I’d be happy to pay to camp there normally for a short while, nice and peaceful – apart from the dawn chorus at 5:30 during which all the local cuckoos joined in !!

But what a circuit. I absolutely loved the downhill sections, in particular the last bit of world cup, one of the narrow woodland trail sections with jagged ridges of slate sticking out at an angle, and one near the end in a big pine forest with lots of slidy/rooty red mud. I’m pleased I rode a full suss with heavy duty wheels/tyres so I was able to thrash through everything – saw of a lot of bike failures out there !

My third Dyfi. Rode round with Chipps. Yeah, he got cramp but he did clean the amazingly long technical climb before succumbing. Thanks to the nice guys who moved out of the way whilst I tried to catch him. I failed. Next year….

Love the World Cup vids, love seeing it again. I dabbed for the first time this year 😳 and then came down the final steep section just behind a bloke who was mincing looking for the line judiciously. Only realised that I was saying ‘Please don’t stop, please don’t stop, please don’t stop’ with the outside voice once we were onto the fire road 😳

It’s the best event. Going to try and do the whole Bank Holiday weekend properly next year. And start somewhere less near the back. Maybe without a chilli stout induced hangover. Still, 1st lady of a certain age this year though 😀

Great event as usual, loved every minute of it 🙂

My first dyfi but not my last,loved everything about the weekend,camping,beer,cycling.
Ps who was the nutter swimming in the river stark bo**ock on the way into town?

My first Dyfi and i enjoyed it despite the relentless climbs . Started way to near the back , but this paid dividends in the long run by forcing me to go slow till after the first singletrack decent.
Rolled along at a nice steady pace and stuck to my ‘1hr food’ plan, so a munch on some malt loaf in the queue for the first decent, gel and malt loaf after the singletrack mud push gulley, then 2hr 50 to the food stop. Carried way too much water and foodage than necessary , could do it with less next time .
No punctures and 3 crashes, all in the last 5km. Got stuck in the side of a gulley after a rider had stopped to let me through, and exited into the undergrowth, then tried to finish with twisted bars and mud clogged tyres = fail x 2.
Minced the first steep part of the WC decent having watched 2 guys crash in front and another get collected by an out of control hero, rode the lower part and glad I did ( dropper post next time i think ).
snuck in just under 5hrs ( long route ) which is embarressing having seen the times posted by everybody else, but hey ho.

Despite my dislike of go pro I liked tollahs. Loved the music 🙂

Gutted I mossed out on this due a broken arm.. is much / all of the route publicly accessible normally? Are any of the descents covered by the Mach trails?

what happened to that tandem? I’d have paid good money to see that descend on some of those steep bits! Well done to those on rigid forks as well!

My first time, and I’m going back next year with more suspension and a lighter bike! One of the best bike events I’ve been to, loved the tent, really nice atmosphere….

I think the only bit on private land is the climb over the field. Looking at the map you can probably take the bridleway down towards Aberllerfenni and turn right onto the road to get back on route.