Well you do have a very light bike..

I have multiple very light bikes 🙂

I did do W2 and Penhydd last month with some friends, and got my arse handed to me on a plate, very comprehensively! It took me about 4 hours, while they had about 20 minutes less with all the waiting!

LOL @ torturous, you must have a really short attention span! And it's barely 10 mins really!

I took 3hrs the day after the Kona Mash Up in November. High winds and rain but it did clear to show some lovely views.
One or maybe 2x energy bars. 2Ltr Camel Bak with no pouches. 1x the usual under seat tool / inner tube / multi tool kit I have on every ride.
You might get 'phone reception out there in parts too.

Nice to be out in he mountains on your own.

Skyline is good, if you chose to ride it take a lunch and make sure you take the time to stop and enjoy the views as they are fantastic. I always enjoy looking down on the lake/big pond and watching the cars wizzing along

Skyline is a great route, I love it.

I dunno, I think it's worse if you do the Wall starting from the old centre, the first 15 minutes or so are really really boring, that whole fireroad bit. It's still pretty crap doing W2! I do have a short attention span too, we may not have proper mountains in the south, but you don't just plod along a very slight incline on a fireroad for 15 minutes either!

I quite like it away from the stormtroopers. And I don't mind the long fireroad slogs – time to think and chat and that. Then you get a little nibble of singletrack every now and then to spice it up. Bit like mountain biking really – remember that?

Home now.Knackered,mullered, and 1001 other descriptions!!

Great route, awesome views,but those fire roads . . . GRRRRRR

You survived then?

I don't think you took a big enough rucksack. You where lucky you made it al the way round without needing your flares and space blanket!

no helmet, better edit the photo,

looks a nice day.

It was a great day! Photo's don't really capture the scale of the views,although it was a little hazy.
Glad we didn't go today.Weathers crapped out big time!!
( didn't wear lid pootling up initial climb )

Nice, the snow has all gone then. Was quite a bit left when we looped round the July shortcut the other day. Helmet police will be along shortly. 😉

Yup was a beautiful day yesterday, I was out with work on a mystery tour of the valleys.

Today though I can even see the bottom of the hills from my office window in port talbot.

dp

Bit like mountain biking really

If real mountain biking is mainly fire roads with a little "nibble" of singletrack, you can keep it.
I don't mind a little fire road climbing (a la the wall) but descending? WTF?
Maybe I'm spoiled with afan and cwmcarn so close. I did the gorlech at brechfa recently and there's a lot of fire road on that (comparitively). I'd like to go again to try the black but wouldn't go out of my way to ride the red again.

Well no. I rather meant that mountain biking is all sorts of things and not the same every time. A long slog the length of the South Downs Way with no singletrack at all or a furious trail centre day of man-made twisties. Or lots of other things too. I just don't see why it has to be action-packed or nothing – I quite like fresh-air-packed, or time-to-think-packed, every once in a while.

Wonny j: Was such a good call having yesterday off.I cant see past the motorway in Baglan at the moment.Sandfields is just a fog bank.I'd hate to be up on skyline right now,although the Wall would be eerie in this weather

Is it my imagination, but in that 1st picture, are you sitting way back over the rear wheel and by the look of things, the saddle set quite low, although this might be an optical illusion?
Do you have the rear shock set up for XC pedalling or soft / DH stuff?

That's my Mate, not me.He built up the bike himself.Its more a DH beast to be truthful.Weighs about 17kg.not really best suited to climbing,hence my having time to get off and take a photo 😆