Now that I am taking my mountain biking a bit more seriously, I thought I should create a little section dedicated to the sport. Here you should be able to find a few links to the more useful MTB sites that I know of. You should also be able to read a few tall tales about my mountain biking exploits. I have some photos lying about from weekends at Coed y Brenin, so I'll try to incorporate those into the site too.
As you will notice, there is a certain emphasis on Coed y Brenin. So far, I haven't been able to find anywhere to compete with it for providing a quality weekend away riding. If you feel that there are other locations that I should try, please let me know. One of the projects I am working on with this site should let you state your own opinions about any of my reviews. This should be available quite soon, but don't hold your breath ... I'm not always reliable at updating the site.
MTB-Thrashers.com
A few of us folks who head to Coed y Brenin regularly(ish) have set up our own little mountain biking web site. It covers a little bit of news about mountain biking things and a few collections of photos from our excursions. So far just about all the photo collections are from Coed y Brenin, but we're hoping to spread our net further afield.
Afan Argoed
A great place to ride in South Wales. It's growing fast, with various trails going out from the visitors centre at Afan Argoed and a number of others getting started at Glyncorrwg Ponds. You can find out more about the trails at the singletrackmind site and maps are available at mbwales.com. And as you might have expected, I too have another page covering more about Afan Forest Park.
Coed y Brenin
I have started going riding for the occasional weekend at Coed y Brenin due to the excellent riding and the quality accommodation and food. A small of us made our first trip there in July, and now we are addicted. After the first visit, we all bought full suspension bikes. We went again in August and are planning another trip in October. There are three main routes around the area, which are all excellent: the Karrimor, the MBR and the Red Bull. All of them are worth riding, but if you are thinking of riding the Karrimor, make sure you have eaten plenty of food full of energy.
Some worthwhile general MTB links
In case you are interested in mountain bike things, but you haven't got around to hunting down any decent sites, here are a selection of some of the better ones I have found:
- http://www.bikemagic.com/ - News, reviews, routes and a forum for discussion. Geared towards the UK.
- http://www.mtbr.com/ - Mostly reviews but generally similar to bikemagic.com with more of a US emphasis.
A few manufacturers of bikes and accessories
- Camelbak - I have a Camelbak Rocket. It's quite a light pack, but there's just enough room for all my tools, a pump, a few energy bars and my wallet. No big things though.
- Hope - My current bike has Hope XC4 disk brakes. So far the performance is superb. Not as light as my old v-brakes, but much more control.
- Marin
- Marin UK - Andy (my usual riding partner) rides a Marin Attack Trail. An excellent trail riding bike, which combines light weight (not much heavier than my bike) trail ability with long (variable) travel suspension. He's finding that it climbs even better than his old Kona Muni Mula hardtail, and obviously it descends like a very fast descending thing.
- Santa Cruz - Jon (one of the Coed y Brenin crew) rides a Bullitt. A cool bike for hammering downhill. I haven't come across any other bikes that can downhill this well, but can still climb to a reasonable extent. A bit heavy, but it can really take a pounding. Jon's the only one who already had a full suspension bike when we first went to Wales. His major change since then has been to fit three rings instead of the huge single ring he had back then. At least he can climb most hills now without walking.
- Scott - Leanne (my girlfriend) rides a Scott Timber. A bit of a heavy bike, but not bad on a budget. The frame is strong enough to take a real bashing. Though Leanne doesn't ride it hard enough to really merit such a strong frame. I'll probably upgrade the front forks at some point since they are currently rigid.
- Trek - My old bike is a Trek 850 rigid bike. I still have it since I wouldn't dare leave the new Whyte tied to a lamp post. I has lasted well, but it's in dire need of a service.
- Whyte - I ride a Whyte PRST-1 Superbike. So far I love it. It's almost light enough to compare to a pure XC bike, but it can take a bit more of a bashing than most of those. And the suspension is longer than many. The suspension is quite stiff, which helps on the flat sections and the uphills. However the stiffness means that it isn't nearly as smooth and easy on the downhills as Jon's Bullitt, but it is enough to smooth them out a bit and absorbs the larger bumps and rocks comfortably. It gives me much more comfort and control than my previous bike (a Trek 850 rigid bike) and on my second visit to the Red Bull at Coed y Brenin (straight from doing the MBR) I was able to complete the course in almost half the time it had taken on my previous visit. I suppose that some credit should be given to slightly improved fitness and using PSP22 instead of water, but the majority of the credit goes to the bike. All of a sudden, I seem to be the first to the top of most hills instead of the last. Michael (another of our Coed y Brenin crew and one of the ex-Worldgate gang ) got himself the Deore class PRST-1 and upgraded various parts including an upgrade to disk brakes.