So a a post ride report. I went up Rangers, down Rhydd Ddu, up Rangers again as far as Telegraph Valley then down that to Llanberis, up the Llanberis path, then back down Rangers.
After an evil 2 weeks at work, doing 20 hour days and sleeping badly on a bus inbetween, suffice to say by the end of it I was f….ed.
Rhydd Ddu is a toughy. Didn’t help that visibility up the top was poor, and there’s no “trail” as such for the first section, just patches of slightly less bouldery scree and I struggled to pick a worthwhile line – very much a walkers route rather than a bike path. After the exposed hike a bike bit things eased off, but for the most part the trail never really flows in the way Rangers does and there’s a lot of time forcing the bike rather than going with it. There’s a truly evil hairpinned gully about half way down full of wet slimy slate boulders and slabs, one traverse of which I couldn’t figure a way through. The rest was all rideable, although some sections took a couple of goes to pick a decent line. I reckon myself as a decent technical rider (I can clear all of Rangers, feet up, on a good day), but the sheer consistent brutality of Rhydd Ddu I found draining (especially solo). Wet, slabby, off camber slate makes for some proper “complete passenger” moments.
I nearly binned off the second lap, but figured 7 hours drive for 3 hours riding wasn’t on. Telegraph was fast as, with a strong tail wind, although the same wind prevented me riding much of the Llanberis Path once above the Cloggy Station tunnel (it was brutal just pushing).
Descent back down the Ranger was good, although I was feeling bloody tired by then. I’m reasonably impressed by how they’ve fixed up the hairpins – sure, they’re not as rocky as they were, but they’ve only slabbed the corners and the traverses are still suitably chossy. Given the amount of erosion that had taken place the last time I rode it, something had to be down, and this is a decent answer. There was one drop in the techy bit I bottled, which was boring, but a case of better safe than sorry. The moment when you drop out the cloud coming down the hairpins and the huge vista opens up in front of you, still makes my jaw drop. Final descent to the bottom was complete hoot!
As far as Ryhdd Ddu goes. I need to go and have another crack when I’m fresh, have got likeminded company, and ideally on a bone dry, clear day.