Awesome Welsh trails or a day in bed?

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May 23, 2012, 03:11:44 AM

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[Dick]

Please help.

I'm looking at the weather forecast for tomorrow, Sunday and thinking it's pants but i need some good riding.

I'm thinking of heading for Penmachno and then Coed Llandegla on the way home. 400mile round trip and 2 trails seems like a decent day out!

Will these trails cope with a bit of rain? Are they worth the trip? Should i ride Marin instead? I've not ridden any of these before so any 'local' knowledge would be great. We can ride a bit and are reasonably fit but don't want day long fire road hacks or 40' gap jumps!

Cheers

Dick

[Bippa]

the marins a bit fireroady (though the last descents good) so that might not be what you're after

penmachno's good though

[Mr.SandmaN]

allways  ride man regardless of weather you will only regret it when you gotta wait another week to ride

[Steve P]

Not a whole day surely?

Was thinking of Llandegla myself for Sunday but as you say, the forecast...

Marin.
Quite a lot of fireroad climbing (15-20 mins near start and more further on).  Seems to spend the climbing too quickly but some very good techy & rocky type singletrack.  Can be slippy (wet rock) when wet.  One of the more exciting runs I've ever done was a wet day on the Marin on my old Genius with it's original non grippy 'Scott Cougar' tyres.  A lesson in balancing the need to brake against the need to stay on the track    but it's fine with decent grip.
The final dowhill sections are quite simply fantastic and you can just do the initial climb followed by the final downhill if you desire.

Penmachno.
Still a fair bit of climbing but seems like less than the Marin.  Not as technical as the Marin but lots of good fun pumpy 'attack position' singletrack.  It's very good when dry however I've always found it quite miserable in the rain.  Parts of it seem very open & remote so if the weather's poor carry an extra layer.  It's possible to cut large parts of it out if the weather gets really bad ... if you have a map (and thereby hangs a tale).  New extended section supposedly open now but haven't done that yet.

Llandegla.
Fun with berms & rollers.  Not really rocky or technical unless you're going for it over the jumps    Black sections optional but not too demanding unless you do them at speed.

I would say all three cope well with rain long as you don't mind the wet arse.

Marin & Penmachno are close together and have the Conway Falls Cafe inbetween 
Llandegla has it's own nice cafe but is a bit of a drive from the other two.
Unless super fit the Marin will take anything from 2 - 3 hours depending on conditions, snack breaks etc.
Penmachno probably 2 hours, maybe less.
A round of Llandegla including the black bits perhaps 2:30 - 3 hours?
If you're driving 200 miles before starting you might run out of daylight.  Start early.

Forecast could be showery, windy & cold or not too bad depending on which forecast you believe.
Better later & inland.
http://www.mwis.org.uk/mountain/SD.PDF
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/loutdoor/mountainsafety/snowdonia.html

[Dick]

Fantastic reply Steve, Cheers

I'll set the alarm and see what tomorrow brings!

Cheers

Dick

[Ant]

I'd personally get up, and hit penmachno at about 8am, leaves a nice wedge of time to get round. Say it takes you 2.5 hours, that's 10:30 by the time you get back to the car. If you take as long as i do at packing the bike up, and stop fannying about, then you'll be at llandegla at 11:30. Bike out, hang up at the café, sit down for a bacon butty and a cuppa, another sit off for a few to let the lunch settle, then get onto teh trail for about 12:30pmish. 3 hours round, and you'll be back in time for last orders at the cafe for another bacon butty, and a cuppa, then clean the bikes, and go home!

[ginjadave]

A wise man once told me theres no such thing as bad wether, only wrong clothing, i try to live by that these days with all the shite weather we've been having.

[Steve P]

So right about the clothing.....

Worst time I've ever had on a bike was on the Penmachno a couple of March's ago.  Started off with a steady drizzle and a breeze.  Got worse, and worse and worse.  Only had a thin fleece and naff 'windproof' nylon top.  By the time I was halfway round it was really windy, cold & hurling it down.  I was seriously cold.  Working as hard as I could I couldn't do enough to keep warm.  I had sweat running into my eyes and had to stop every 10 mins or so to wipe the sting away  .  Couldn't shortcut the trail as I didn't know where I was - just had to keep following the markers.  Got back to the car, started the engine, heater on, climbed into the back (hatch with seats down) stripped & and shivered for 15 minutes before starting to feel better.

Makes me shudder even now thinking about it.

[ginjadave]

Had a similar experience as you steve. Set off round helly hansen route in glentress on a nice enough day in april last year, never ridden it before and didnt know how exposed some bits are, by the time we were at the top of the massive switchback climb it was pissing down, freezing and you ccould barely see 30 feet and id forgot to pack my waterproof shell and found out the hard way race face quanton jackets aint that waterproof, i was ill for about 2 weeks after that one.

[Dick]

Well.....
The alarm got me up at 4.45am, then i realised it was actually 3.45am. Hit the road, changed vehicles at a mates n settled on Coed y Brenin, Got in the car park at 9am. Hit the MBR trail, then the purple one  ( can't remenber the name) then stopped at the van for a sarnie and some dry clothes and off round the Tarw trail. shower and back to mates for roast dinner! Then home by 10pm, top day out, 460 miles and lots of fun riding. Loved it but wouldn't want to do the same again tomorrow!!

Cheers

Dick

P.S The Meta 5.5 was fantastic but the back wheels has developed lots of play. Can i tighten the cones? Standard 5.5.2 2008?

[Steve P]

Well.....
The alarm got me up at 4.45am, then i realised it was actually 3.45am.

Oh dear god ! What time !!!  Bet you're suffering today. 

I think the rear hub is a fairly standard Shimano effort and should be adjustable.
Have a look.