End of Month Ride – Llandegla

The first ever trip to Llandegla for an Ystwyth-MTB end of month ride and it was a roaring success.

There were only three of us from Ystwyth-MTB, Dave, John and myself, but we met up with the Bristol contingent of Jay, Brad, Matt, Beale and Woody in the car park and were already looking forward to our bacon baps as we set of around the trail at Llandegla.

The BBC were forecasting atrocious weather, but the forecast I usually use looked much better, cloudy but very little rain, Thankfully the BBC were wrong and my forecast spot on. The first climb had a thin covering of snow, ice and slush which made it a little interesting in places, but it isn’t too steep so it’s a nice warm up ready for the real action. We caught Kev (a kite-buggier that I met through Forces-of-Nature) on the first climb. We were expecting to meet up somewhere and he joined us for a while.

The descents were good, a little muddy in places thanks to all the recent snowmelt but they just keep encouraging you to go faster and faster. Kev left us as we went onto the black-graded trails, and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

We only had one mechanical when I snapped my chain, but thanks to John lending a second pair of hands we soon removed a link re-joined the chain and were back on our way. We even managed to catch-up with the Bristol lot who had continued on as we fixed the chain.

The end came a little too soon, but we had a quick play on the new pump track and in the skills area before washing off the bikes and having a well earned bacon bap in the cafe. All in all a good day out and a good group of people to share it with. I did take a few video clips which you can see below, I really should make an effort to take more as it looks pretty good when put together.

Just a nice photo of a Wooded Knoll in the Dyfi Valley with snow-capped hills behind. Taken from the Ynsyhir RSPB reserve on Sunday.

A Wooded Knoll

Only one month to go until the Mawddach Goldrush so I thought I’d better get some longer rides in. That was the plan for Saturday, but the surf was going off so I had to go for a surf at Ynyslas first. The surf turned out to be pretty much as good as it gets here, but I still had a ride to do so I was soon out of the sea and heading off for the hills.

The Mawddach Goldrush is a 3 lap race with each lap being about 10 miles in length. According to my GPS readings from last year (where I did a single lap as part of a team) the climb involved in that 10 miles was 1185 feet. So, the total for all 3 laps should be around 30 miles with 3500 or so feet of climbing.

My route today went from the sea along the flat roads across Borth Bog to Tre-Ddol. A nice 4 mile warm up and then straight up the beast of a climb behind Tre-Ddol. It is always a struggle but my legs felt tired today so I was pleased to even make it up without having to get off my bike. It really is quite steep mind you, just take a look at the topography on the graph below and the steepness of that first hill.

Today's Training Ride

After the initial climb I headed off towards Artists Valley and as you can see it leveled off for a while before I had what is essentially a 6 mile climb up through Artist’s Valley. This is always quite a slog and today was no different. The conditions however were perfect, no wind, not too warm, sunny and with great views down the valley to the Dyfi Estuary. I eventually made it to the top and then headed off down the MX trails towards the mines and then along some more MX trails through the forest to the Nant y Moch road. From here I looped back up once again to the high point above Angler’s Retreat before dropping back down into Artists Valley via ‘Al’s Descent ‘ which was riding really well. The bottom part of the descent wasn’t great though as it had been pretty cut up by recent forestry work.

I then carried on down through Artists Valley. With 20 miles under by tyres I was now beginning to feel pretty tired so even the small climbs up through the woods were pretty hard. Thankfully though from here on it was just a matter of two little climbs and then a descent back to the flat roads to the sea. The final 4 miles along the flat were OK, but I was certainly glad that I didn’t have another hill to climb.

The total distance was 28 miles with 3108 feet of climbing. Not quite as far or as much climbing as the Mawddach Goldrush and quite a lot of it was on the road so I’m still going to be struggling this time next month. Hopefully a couple more longish rides will get me in better shape for it though.

Back at home after a bath and some dinner and my legs are pretty tired, my knee hurts and my back is sore. I think I’ll take it easy tomorrow, but with only 1 month left I need to get some training in!

We had a good Ystwyth-MTB end of month ride today, even if I was the only person from Ystwyth MTB club.

We had planned to meet at the Bryngwm car park for 10am, so I set off from Aberystwyth at around 8:45 with Dave and John just behind me. The journey there was just as exciting as the ride itself. By the time I got to Llanrhystud there was quite a bit of snow on the ground, but I just made it up and over the hill. A car in front of slid off the road and into the bank a couple of times and gave up and as I pressed on I spotted a few other abandoned cars as well.

Dave and John couldn’t make it up over the hills because of the snow so gave up and headed back to Nant yr Arian for a ride there. I eventually made it and only about 6 minutes late too. Jay, Brad, Matt and Beale were there (from Bristol) getting ready and Kelvin, Jim and another guy from South Wales were there as promised as well.

We pfaffed for a bit and waited in case Dave and John turned up but in the end went off without them for a spin around the Raven Trail. I’d forgotten my phone so couldn’t contact Dave and John to make sure they were OK.

Despite the snow the trail was riding well. They’ve done some work on it and it is holding up well. It was a little sketchy in places but there was plenty of grip and the trail was easy to see most of the time. The climbs were just as hard as ever but it was a good ride. It snowed pretty heavily whilst we were out now and then as well, but it didn’t get too deep.

All in all a good day out and the journey back wasn’t too bad as I took a detour so that I could stay on ‘A’ roads. It’s a shame Dave and John didn’t make it but they had a nice ride at Nant yr Arian anyway and Brechfa will be there another day.

My photos aren’t great, as I’m not really used to my little compact camera and it keeps defaulting to program mode, but here they are anyway as the riders out there today will want to see them.

The temperatures here by the coast are nothing as extreme as those experienced inland. The sea has a moderating effect keeping us cooler in the summer months and much warmer in the winter. So, the temperatures we’re getting at the coast seem almost tropical compared to those recorded inland here in Wales.

However, the Borth and Ynyslas weather station that I run has just recorded a new record low temperature this morning of -6.5ºC. The previous coldest day was January 9th 2009 with a low temperature of -6.2ºC. It may drop lower yet before the sun comes up properly, so I may have to update this later today. But for now, it’s a new record of -6.5ºC here in Ynyslas since records began in December 2005.

I haven’t been out on my bike for ages. There are various reasons for this, my full-suspension bike has had various mechanical issues that I’m still solving, my car won’t start and I haven’t had the time. So, it was nice to finally get out for an off-road ride yesterday, and the snow-covered landscape made it even better.

Snowy Ynyslas Scene

Steve got here from Birmingham at around 9am and then we met John and Mark at the end of the road. The roads themselves were pretty icey but with a fresh covering of snow there was pelnty of grip and it was nice to ride along them with the snow crunching under our tyres. We rode into Borth and then down towards the Animalarium and along thr banks of the River Leri besides the caravan park. We then crossed the footbridge and rode around the southern end of Borth Bog with amazong views across the Bog to Aberdyfi and the hills beyond.

We then went through a couple of farmyards and then back out onto the snowy roads, down the hill to the Dol-y-Bont toad and then back up the steep hill and into Tal-y-Bont woods. We played around in the woods for a bit and then John and Mark headed back to Tal-y-Bont and Steve and I rode across the fields and over the River Leri again into the Riverside Caravan park, up out onto Glandfred Lane and back along the road to Dol-y-Bont. Here we once again crossed the River Leri and then rode along its banks for a while. We crossed it once again and then rode along the embankment all the way to Ynyslas. The snow had now melted at the lower levels.

It was good to be out on the bike and the conditions couldn’t have been any better. Only 15 miles at a very relaxed pace as it took over 2 hours but what better way to spend a crisp sunny winters morning.

Mark

John!

Steve

Talybont Woods

Like people all over the country, we made the most of the lovely winter weather and went for a walk on New Years Day. Nothing too adventurous as we had Morgan and ‘Granny’ with us so we just had a little stroll around the Ynyshir Nature Reserve. There were lots of Canada Geese on around and a few other birds too, and the snow topped hills made a lovely backdrop.

Dyfi Estuary and Snow capped hills

Hooray, snow at last on the coast here in Wales. It came after dark and there wasn’t much of it but Morgan and I managed to build a snowman under the cover of darkness!

Snowman

The beach is lovely in winter. Quiet, relaxed and just as pretty as in the summer.

Setting Sun

It was the last Sunday of the month at the weekend, so it was the Ystwyth MTB end of month ride. Usually we travel a little further afield for a longer ride but this time it wasn’t too far, just a short drive north to Coed y Brenin. There weren’t many of us either, just Dave,  and myself which was a shame.

The weather didn’t look great and the MBR trail that we had hoped to do was closed due to felling operations so we decided to do the Dragonsback trail instead. We started off slowly and had quite a few stops to chat. We had also decided to miss out the loop at the far end that is mainly a fire-road climb and then fire-road descent.

Dave was shooting off ahead and we gave him a couple of minutes on each section so that he could take some photos as John and I approached him. We were lucky with the weather, there was the odd bit of drizzle but it stayed mainly dry, and the trails were riding well. The new, heavily armoured sections are going to last a while, and we went back for a second go on lurch.

Before we know it though we were at ‘The beginning of the end’ having had a thoroughly goof day out in the hills and forests of North Wales. Its just a shame there wasn’t a few others out with us, we’ll have to work on that.

Dave and I then went to the visitor centre cafe for a well deserved hot chocolate and blueberry muffin before heading home. Back at home I cleaned my bike only to find that I had snapped 3 spokes in the rear wheel. Oh well, more repairs, and maybe a new wheel so that I have a spare!