Christmas Surf Ski & MTB
The weather wasn’t very Christmassy this year as there was no sign of snow, not even any first and it was unseasonably mild. There was some sunshine on Christmas Day but then things deteriorated into greyness and drizzle. There wasn’t much in the way of wind though which makes a change for here and there was plenty of surf.
Christmas Surf Ski
Way more surf than needed for a surf ski session but I wasn’t complaining at that. I waited for the tide to drop and then headed over to the beach. I managed to paddle out the back without too much difficulty and then decided to play it fairly safe by picking off the last wave of the bigger sets quite a way out to sea. This allowed me to ride these big waves for 2-300m before they broke properly and then peel off and paddle back out without having to contend with the whitewater.
I did of course have a nice long ride back to the beach after an hour or so of this and did fall out in the whitewater right at the end but by then I was heading home anyway and was quite glad of the cooling little dip.
You can’t beat a Christmas Surf!
Christmas MTB Ride
I had a day off from such excitement on Saturday with just an indoor bike ride and a short run but it was then out for a social MTB ride on Sunday morning. I drove to Pendam and then rode over to the Nant yr Arian Visitor Centre to meet up with people from the Ystwyth CC MTB Club. This gave me a chance to ride parts of the the new Blue ‘Melindwr’ Trail on the way there. They are lovely and smooth with loads of flow and lots of nice high berms – easy to ride, good fun, but they could be lethal as they encourage you to push just a little too hard and go too fast!
Once at the Visitor Centre there were quite a few of us gathering and lots of kids which was good. The plan had been to set off at 10am but as usual there was a lot of pfaffing going on and I think it was gone 10:30 by the time we eventually rolled out of the car park.
Once onto the Italian Job it was time for more of the flowy Melindwr Trail whilst following everyone else. We then had a nice easy, relaxed ride out around the Pendam Trail with me taking a few people on the longer route to Hippity Hop out towards Syfyddrin. We all regrouped at the lake and then I took a couple of people out over the moorland for the Summit Trail taking in The Mark of Zoro and the subsequent Legburner whilst everyone else headed back towards the Visitor Centre.
We had a good ride from here at a slightly faster pace and with fewer stops and then met up with everyone else for hot chocolate and cake. I then had a short ride back to Pendam before heading home. A nice day out in the hills and a nice easy ride in decent conditions.
It’ll be back out on the sea tomorrow hopefully.
