Short-ish rides near Talybont-on-Usk

Morning Singletrackers

I’m here to ask for your route expertise again.

Does anyone know of good routes starting in Talybont-on-Usk?

• Max 20km (can probably push that out a little if it’s solid gold)
• Roughly trail centre red (really steep and rocky is probably out, but feel free to suggest it, flagging it may be a bit much)
• Doesn’t need a car

explanation:

We’re going on holiday to a cottage between Talybont and the reservoir in September. We’d like to do a couple of rides while we’re there. Both Mrs Andy and I were in an RTI earlier this year and both our fitness & sharpness are still recovering, so not looking for a massive outing. Mrs Andy also struggles with confidence when it gets very steep or very rocky so we don’t want anything too janky. We’re both on capable, full-bouncing trail bikes. Basically, we want to finish our rides wanting more rather than broken and emotional.

There looks to be a whole bunch of Rights of Way in the valley and just beyond, but I can’t work out which ones are worth doing and which ones are dross.

So, any suggestions welcome. Where should we go an ride?

This guide is worth getting hold of https://shop.beacons-npa.gov.uk/product/mtb-in-the-brecon-beacons/

There are a number of options from Talybont, a ride out to Talybont forest possible fits the bill?
Or possibly doing one loop of the Pontsticill crossover, which is a 36k figure of 8.

Hi Andy,

I am local. There isn’t a huge amount of singletrack style riding anywhere around Talybont, it’s more gravel/grassy bridleways. You sometimes need to do a fair amount of road to link it all together as well. There is the ‘classic’ Gap route which is about 34km: https://www.strava.com/activities/11926374321

Or you could venture over to Llangors/Bwlch area: https://www.strava.com/activities/11918197797 34km, or you can shorten it at Bwlch: https://www.strava.com/activities/11882925362 (29km).

There is then just the Brinmore tramroad climb which you could cycle up and then ride the first part of the gap route, but cut it short and come back along a fire-road towards Talybont: https://www.strava.com/activities/11540869844 This might be your best option given the distance parameter you have set. You end on a pretty boring five mile fireroad, but at least it’s all downhill! I guess you could do this route in reverse.

Hope that helps a little!

Mathsmc has summed up the possibilities pretty well.  It’s an area where the miles can be covered pretty quickly especially if the wind direction is helpful.

This shorter version of the gap has a lot of rideable climbing but you do spend a long time climbing.

https://www.strava.com/routes/3263520844943939116

This is a pretty quick blast but again lots of rideable climbing up the Taff Trail. Some nice descending back down to Talybont.

https://www.strava.com/routes/3263520305084066568

if you want an adventure the old Torpantau Tunnel makes a detour at the top of the big Taff Trail climb but it’s very waterlogged so you’ll be up to your knees at either end. The tunnel itself is rideable and pretty funky.

Thanks for the suggestions @mathsmc. I did the Llangorse & Talgarth stuff back in 2019 which was quite good fun. I’ll keep it in the back pocket as we ended up in Llangorse last May and did chunks of that on foot and it might be too soon. I did the Taff trail in April this year and, as you say, it’s a lot of gravel.

@chrisdavids gold star for working out exactly where we’re staying. That shorter version might be a go-er, but I’ll need to find a significant mid-ride re-fuel opportunity or at least one of us is likely to have a sense of perspective failure.

Going through the tunnel never occurred to me. Saw it in April and it looked a bit of an undertaking. Riding through knee-deep water isn’t high on Mrs Shan’s holiday shortlist.

Looking at the OS, there’s some bridleways around the head of Dyffryn Crawnon. Are any of those any good?