I’m heading to CyB on Thursday for a mate’s stag do and riding there until Sunday – they’re doing an uplift day on Friday at the new DH trails at Antur and I’ve opted to do some trail centre riding that day instead. I imagine we’ll be doing the CyB Beast trail on Saturday so I don’t really want to ride it both days so was thinking whether it’d be worth driving the 20 miles south on Friday for a day riding the Mach Trails / CliMAX.

Anyone ridden the trails at Machyllneth, worth doing, what are the trails like?

Cheers in advance.

It’s all a bit of a build up to the final descent which is awesome. We did the whole loop once and then span up the fireroad and did the last drop another 3 times. Well worth a visit, last drop feels a lot more natural than most trail centres

The Climachx is what you’d expect. Man made trail in a forest, some nice sections before the final (climax) descent which is cracking.

The Mach 1, 2 and 3 are more old school riding. Bridlways, doubletracks and bit of singletrack out in the hills. Nothing actually built for mountain bikes but if you enjoy a ‘proper’ ride, with lots of climbing, big views and a few interesting descents then you might enjoy them. Don’t expect a trail centre and DO take a map, don’t rely on signposting or the official trail map.

still_s8tannorm – that’s useful, I was kind of hoping there might be some ‘natural’ riding involved for at least one of the Mach Trails so that sounds promising. Nice to know that if I have time I could still do Climachx aswell for a more guided trail centre route.

I’ve ridden the Howies CyB Enduro the past 2 years and really enjoyed some of the moorland and natural countryside riding round there.

Try and get hold of a route map from the Dyfi Enduro, to find the extra bits. And ask in the Holey Trail in Mach for advice.

If you need inspiration, google “Dyfi Trailmincers” 🙂

whole loop once and then span up the fireroad and did the last drop another 3 times. Well worth a visit, last drop feels a lot more natural than most trail centres

^^This^^

The last DH is one of my very favourite places to ride!

Yup last descent is amazeballs at Climachx. Why not do the DH with the others though? There are easier routes aren’t there?

Climachx is great fun – but short. Its done and dusted in an hour or so

I did Mach2 once – found it annoying TBH. Lots of descending on tarmac. Frustrating because it’s a great area and I just felt I was being taken on a poor route round it. Also don’t expect to be signposted round Mach 1/2/3 trail centre style – there are signs but they are small and easy to miss. Take an OS map

Also don’t expect to be signposted round Mach 1/2/3 trail centre style – there are signs but they are small and easy to miss. Take an OS map

+1

The final descent on the cli-machx is good but the rest of the route is pretty dull.
I reckon the blue at Antur stiniog is similar/less technically demanding (than the climachx descent) and its loads of fun. Why not save your legs for the beast and have an uplift day on the friday?

If you go to the climachx and don’t do any extra stuff then you’re missing out big time, there’s some awesome stuff in the dyfi. I also enjoy the mach 3, it’s very different to the climachx but still a good day out, longer too. Planning on doing a nant-y-arian – mach – nant-y-arian ride over Easter, that should be ace!

If you’re planning on going off piste, just be aware that there’s still a lot of police activity in the Dyfi at the moment, lots of taped off areas, etc.

Planning on doing a nant-y-arian – mach – nant-y-arian ride over Easter, that should be ace!

It’s a good day out, lots of different route options so it’s fairly easy to form a nice loop … if the weather’s with you then there’s no better place in the world. If it’s against you, you might die out there 😉

It’s a good day out, lots of different route options so it’s fairly easy to form a nice loop … if the weather’s with you then there’s no better place in the world. If it’s against you, you might die out there

Did it last year but planning a slightly different route this year to add an extra descent or 2. When there were all the big floods last year we tried it too, not realizing how much water there was…a tiny stream crossing was a fairly raging river! That kinda put a stop to that attempt.

bennyboy1 – if you are in the area make sure you do the climax trail ,yes its all about the final descent but its so much fun. I;ve ridden it with XC wippets to DH riders and they all finish with a big grin. You can easily pedal up to do it a few times which is well worth it.

As already said and I agree the dyfi forest is one of the best places I’ve ridden. The dyfi enduro route might be just what you are looking for as lots of natural riding with execllet techy descents but it pretty long (50k ish around the forest), and you may want to save some energy for CYB the next day.

heres a link to some good gpx’s for the area
http://www.dyfimountainbiking.org.uk/Dyfi_MTB/GPS_Routes.html

I think clinachx is brilliant. There are some crappy fire road bits, but overall its excellent. Loads more fun than cyb for me. I find Cyb quite boring in comparison. It is short though, but as said above you can redo the immense dh section. I rode it on a 160mm travel rocket. I love hopping off all the natural features. If you don’t like being airborne then maybe its not so good. saying that there were also some challenging technical ascents, which i really enjoyed. I love it there.

Further to the above is it best to park up in Mach and is there a connecting trail for the mile or so up to the start of Cli-Mach-X?

Would I be a girls blouse for suggesting the next time I ride the machX I’d probably wear some pads… 🙂

Seemed to be quite rocky with a few nasty looking drops off the side etc.

MachX is just great. Quite short, but its a 20 min descent to finish.
(Well, at my speed it is anyway). 😉

Further to the above is it best to park up in Mach and is there a connecting trail for the mile or so up to the start of Cli-Mach-X?

Who told you it was a mile ? … it’s 4 or 5 from Mach’ to the start of the ClimachX. You’ll have to either ride up the main road or the minor road which runs alongside.

Take notice of the wooden direction arrow nailed to the tree about 2/3 of the way down the final descent!

You’ll have to either ride up the main road or the minor road which runs alongside.

Main road = Fairly flat, but a busy main road.
Minor road = Nice and scenic, but some bitchy hills if you’ve done a couple of laps and/or been shuttling up to the radio mast and back all day!
🙂

Climachx is great fun – but short. Its done and dusted in an hour or so

15km off road with 380m of climbing in an hour? I know I’m pretty unfit but that sounds very fast to me.

http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/Superfli/898c90cvfcgh0pci

Not sure if you can see that, but it was 1:21 when we did it. But that did include cycling there/back from campsite and playing around on the freeride/dh section for a little bit.
That sign at 2/3rds way down really does need to be taken notice of! Gave me quite a shock as we went passed 🙂

grum – Member
Climachx is great fun – but short. Its done and dusted in an hour or so
15km off road with 380m of climbing in an hour? I know I’m pretty unfit but that sounds very fast to me.

I did say an hour or so. It’s been a couple of years – but it definitely wasn’t any longer than 75 minutes

Fair enough, I am just slow. 🙁

Think it took us a couple of hours, though that may have been with two goes at the final descent.

Here’s a video from last year which this thread has prompted me to upload – last cli-machX descent from the look out point with my mate Jamie on his Orange 5 chasing me on my old 5 Spot. Yes it gets a bit dark at one point, yes the left hand turn with the arrow nearly caught me out, and yes I’m not very fit!

All the trees have gone! Shame that 🙁

Yeah I had heard that the logged area at the top was previously the darkest bit

Did the final descent on the Cli-Mach-X as a TransWales special stage a few years back. Remember taking a few chances. Amazing what the thought of being timed does to your bravery / stupidity levels.

I rode straight over the edge on the lefthander with the arrow Luckily I managed to chuck most of my speed before I went over.

We’re looking at doing a weekend here. Any recommendations for B&Bs?

We stayed nearer to Nant Yr Arian, only half hour drive to Mach. Can recommend the Druid B&B, run by John the former landlord of the Druid pub next door. Bit of a legend by all accounts. “Now then lads, toast and cereal is over here, whisky and gin is over here. Would you like a drop of something in your tea” (this at half 7 in the morning). Excellent food in the pub, friendly locals, get pissed with John in the evenings and listen to his stories from when he was a copper. What more could you want?