A very impressive new track is to be opened next weekend at the Antur Stiniog DH centre in Ffestiniog next weekend. Here is a sneaky look at the bottom section

[/url]
Screen Shot 2012-08-25 at 19.00.48 by AerialVue, on Flickr[/img]
AerialVue

[/url]
Antur Stiniog DH by AerialVue, on Flickr[/img]

Screen Shot 2012-08-25 at 18.59.08 by AerialVue, on Flickr][/url]

[/url]
Antur Stiniog DH by AerialVue, on Flickr[/img]

If that’s black what do the blue runs look like?

smooth with a few rocks, is that not the Olympic xc course?

Is that really supposed to be a downhill track? I’ve ridden worse country roads.

In reality it is a touch steeper than the pics show. Everything they have done in Blaenau is a lot of fun.

NAY Lad.. check tis out from a different perspective

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtbsrUijM4M[/video]

Fair play, looks much better in the video than it does in the pictures.

That looks great, can’t wait to get up there and have a go

smooth with a few rocks, is that not the Olympic xc course?

It’s because its new. In a few months much of that smoothness will have washed out to leave a rougher looking trail.

Why can a Black run not be smooth ❓

I’ve done an uplift day at Antur Stiniog and believe me the black runs have plenty of rough bits! I ride a lot of rocks at home and my day there loosened my rear wheel up quite a bit! This new black also has some cool looking features like a very steep drop (in distance in pic no. 2) and some big doubles.

All those poo pooing it – just stay at home? Leaves more runs for the rest of us 😀

That has confused me, I thought it was already open.

darnhill liike daaarnhill

the surface looks like it is going to change a lot with use and heavy rain. Is that a problem if it’s going to be used for races as well as needing lots of maintenance?

Like the digger obstacle though 😀

andyl – Member
the surface looks like it is going to change a lot with use and heavy rain. Is that a problem if it’s going to be used for races as well as needing lots of maintenance?

That’ll be why so many of the corners are massively armoured, hopefully the rock is grippy in the rain!

Ha, the idiots advance as usual and then…. retreat!

Got a load more p[hotos yesterday. There here

Dave

That looks great to me, reckon I could do it on my Fuel? Is it JUST for DH bikes?

I haven’t ridden the new black track but I’ve ridden the blue, red and other black route, you could ride it on a hardtail if you’re used to riding rough stuff on one, but any trail bike would be fine.

Dave – your website URL is spelled wrongly in your profile here.

PS Do you do work for engineering firms on developments? Could be worth approaching them if looking for more work.

Dan

That has confused me, I thought it was already open.

The facility was open already, this is a new black run. For those saying its too easy/smooth, my mate rode this the other day – he is a pretty decent rider and has ridden a reasonable amount of DH before – he rode the blue and red on his Meta and said they were pretty full on.

He also said it was great – but if people want to try and increase the size of their Internet penis by slagging it off as too easy without having ridden it I guess that’s up to them.

Aye Uo glasgowden, thanks for the heads up on the website URL. I have changed it now. Being a thermal engineer is how I got in to flying cameras. I do work for a number of engineering companies as well as loads of production companies.. its out growing my engineering job very quickly!

Dave

In fairness the photos don’t really do it justice. The video paints a completely different picture.

Where about is it exactly? North Wales?

@ tpbiker. Its in the slate quarries in Blaenau Ffestiniog North Wales. Here is the link.

http://www.anturstiniog.com

The photos do flatten the trail but in a couple I do get the desired affect.

There are other videos on their face book page. It is a new venture but its a ‘NONE PROFIT’ company that plough everything back in to the centre. A new visitor centre and XC trail planned to open by spring 2013.

aerialvue – is this your setup in this video?

The black wasn’t open when I was there, but black powder is great fun! Some of it is smooth at the moment, but that wont last long and the rocky bits are very rocky! Your bike takes quite a beating at times.

Did an uplift day here on Sunday.
Its a great venue, really friendly folks running it and a short uplift.

The black run pictured will be opening this coming weekend so the guys running it say. There are already 3 tracks open at the moment, a blue, a red and a black.

If you think about where the tracks are, that will tell you about what to expect. There isn’t any roots, and there are no trees. What there are is rocks….and lots of them. 🙂
Saying that, I rode all day on my Prince Albert hardtail, but then, I am an internet riding god 8)

The blue run is a fantastic swoopy trail and probably the longest track there with the most bang for your buck. Lots of really nice berms that have yet to be ruined by skidders, lots of nice little rock-kickers and lots of sustained rocky sections. The blue was the most fun for me on my bike that day and so I stayed on there mainly.

The Red is very similar to the blue but tended to have several steeper sections, with the odd blind-ish jump landing on slabs, and several short-sharp-steep rocky banks. midway down the blue and the red merge just before you go into a just fantastic section with a beautiful smooth tabletop and then another with an extra-high kicker on the right hand side which is just awesome for getting air, then another few smooth rollers before going under a bridge and then some steeper, rockier, slabbier sections. You then had to go on a temporary diversion through a manky muddy bit which saw a few casualties, but its only temporary.

The Black was fantastic too. Much more steep bits with an awful lot of sections which took a bit of thinking about as you threaded your front wheel down steep banks of slabs and gaps and rocks. You don’t get much of a let up on this run as its mostly slab-constructed with slab-made tabletops etc. Its a brilliant run to bash down but I had the wrong rear tyre on, a single-ply Crossmark and so got 4 pinch flats on a single hit and missed a few runs after that.
It also has several sweet doubles in, which are all rollable if you don’t feel you can jump them.

All the tracks eventually come into the same very last section before bringing you down to the uplift trailer.

Great venue, something really different from your average DH race venue. I’d say its more like doing all the best descents at trail centres, only with an uplift. 🙂
Whats not to like?

Looking forward to the new run being open, it looks to have some lovely doubles from the road as you drive up and some great looking step-downs higher up.

Will defo visit again.

I was there Sunday as well, myself and my riding buddy were both on trail bikes so stuck to the blue (if you’re used to the usual trail centre fair then blue is more akin to what you’d expect from a black run). Had loads of fun although suffered a rear puncture from the sharp slate (in hindsight a 2.25 Nobby Nic was probably a bit on the weedy side!)

Will definately go back!

Thats the blue run on google earth

Like the digger obstacle though

yeah i liked the digger obstacle, but preferred the tapes-across-the-trail obstacle

I was hoping to sneak in a run or 2 Sunday eve as we got there after a day at CyB. Arrived at 5pm, but unfortunately were too late 🙁
The venue and the track looked fantastic! Annoyingly my mates werent keen on going to the venue when we booked up our trip – until of course we drove passed and then it was “wtf arent we doing an uplift day here?!” gits!

Perhaps invite STW Towers for an uplift day, in exchange to an article in their Mag?

if people want to try and increase the size of their Internet penis by slagging it off

🙂 Brilliant!

I cant wait to go here but looking at the vids I think I might just **** myself right up with a massive crash.