The Wales Trip (a family emergency!)

Day 1 -

So the three day trip finally arrived! Rich and Mark in car 1 and Tom and I in car two. We made our way to the Afan valley through the corridor that is the M4! We arrived around 10:30 – found our cabins and agreed that the best thing to do was get out on the trails! It had rained heavily the night before, so we had some expectation of wetness!!!

Our cabins were at the top of The Wall – at the start of the downhill section, so our first trail was a fantastic downhill through some dense woodland... it was wet!!! A little stop en route to sort Tom's handlebars (they would become a recurring theme!!) and off again to the bottom, and along to the trail centre.

No stopping – we set off on the first complete trail of the day – Penhydd. This is what we'd come to Wales for!! However, within 15 mins, Mark's chain snapped (this would also be a recurring theme for the weekend!). We spent 15 mins fixing Mark's chain..... or rather Mark spent 15mins fixing his chain while we stood and watched, and gave words of encouragement!!! Once fixed, we were off, taking in some great, fast singletrack, but having to negotiate some long fire roads in order to ascend the valley. But what fun... no more mechanical problems! We completed Penhydd and arrived back at the trail centre bang on Rich's estimated time – 14:30 – very, very wet and all so ravenous we could have eaten a scabby horse!.

The centre was quite basic – but the food was ok – and we needed it!! With our bellies full, and getting back into our wet clothes, we headed off again, to tackle the remainder of The Wall, back up to cabins. This involved a significant fire road climb, which seemed to go on and on and on and on.....although we did eventually find some singletrack. Hacking through the wet, my front wheel slipped away and I went crashing to the ground! Tom... travelling far too close behind me... tried to stop, but went over the handlebars, and slid along the ground, to eventually stop on the verge of hugging me!!! He hurt is shoulder a little!! After much moaning, we were off to try and get to our cabin. We were all tired and very wet.. and could hear the beer calling.

Back at the cabin, we had our first team photo



Jim had arrived while we'd been out, so we were just waiting on Briggsy. We all cleaned our bikes, showered, and got ready for the pub. We phoned for a cab to take us, only they didn't know where we were. “Couldn't you phone someone else?” the operator said... that didn't bode well. 20:15 arrived with no cab – Rich made the return call, and the response (which became our talking point and catch phrase for the rest of the weekend) came back “Well.... you see..... what it is right...........the driver of the 8 seater..... he had to go home... for a family emergency!!”. To say that Rich was not impressed was an understatement. So Briggsy drove us down the road, with Jim in the boot!!!! We arrived at the local hostelry, where we spent the rest of the night with a rake of beers and some fine food.

Day 2 -

We awoke early and loaded up the cars to take the short drive to Glyncorrwyg, The weather was better today, and the ground had dried out somewhat compared to the day before. The trail centre there was better than Afan, with a bike shop we could spend lots of money in. Having assembled our bikes we set off to do Whites Level Trail. It started with a singletrack ascent – which I enjoyed. Within 5 minutes however, Mark's chain snapped again (breakage number 2!). So another 15mins while he fixed it again. A number of riders passed us – it was busier today than yesterday. Chain duly fixed, we set off again. The climb took in some fantastic views of the welsh countryside -


At the top of the climb we rested, and Tom decided to tighten up his bars, by tightening his stem cap, and tightening, and tightening... until the bolt sheared!! Whoops. At the top of the trail, and the handlebars really not working now, he had to make the escape route down and back to the centre to get fixed up. As a caring team we left him to it and were all convinced he'd be fine! The rest of us headed off for the black run... having heard everyone else talk about it at the top, we did set off with a little intrepidation!! It was challenging, but not so difficult that we had to get off – unless, like Rich you fall off into a ditch at the very bottom!!! It could've been down to 2 people who bottled it on the last berm and stopped – affecting his line..... but you can draw your own conclusions!!

Again there were some fantastic singletrack, and a whole section of Northshore – which I'd not done before. Quite challenging, and something you feel a lot more insecure on – if you come off, you have a longer distance to fall. But is was fun, with some challenging corners and up and overs.

We arrived back at the trail centre, ready for lunch, and met Tom, who'd safely made it back (we knew he would!!), and fixed his bike (or so he thought!). Lunch was fantastic, and we again ate our fill. A quick visit to the bike shop, to spend some hard earned cash, and then back to the cars to travel back to Afan, so we could take Jim and Briggsy on Penhydd. It was much drier than Friday, and therefore much nicer, we really hacked some of the singletrack, knowing what to expect this time. We all had our favourite bits and took turns leading. One of the last bits, called Rocky Rebellion, was only tackled by me.. everyone else bottled it and took the fire road instead!!! Tom, Rich, Briggsy and I waited at the entrance to Sheep's Gully for Dunnie and Jim to catch up... and waited.... and waited........... and waited....... A number of riders appeared around the corner providing us with updates as to the situation. Dunnie got a puncture, and was busy changing it... and then changing it again!!!!! We waited for a good 30 minutes. Eventually they appeared and we set off for the last trail home...... We arrived back at the car, and waited for Dunnie again.... and waited.... and waited.......... his chain had snapped without about 1k to go to the car park. So.. how unlucky is he with his bike?

All v tired we headed off back to the cabins. Another bike clean, another shower and some more beers, followed by a fantastic fry up thrown (literally) together by Mark – it was spot on nosh. Chat and more beers ensued.

Day 3 -

It rained... and boy did it rain. We eventually (after much umming and arring....except for Rich who had made his mind up within seconds of opening his eyes), decided it was not a day for riding. Briggsy however, took up the challenge on his own and headed out to complete The Wall in some torrential rain – respect!!


The rest of us headed home!

A great weekend, and great location – thanks lads!!