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Which will be the less hideous tomorrow? Destroy FS or man up on HT?
FOD off piste today was absolutely vial! But think that must be the constant rain and temperature rather than the trail condition. I only ever rode the waymarked trails at cwmcarn and only ever it seems in the pissing rain. Always held up well
Cwmcarn all day long
CC much better in wet / pouring rain.
There are some diversions in place on both XC trails though. I'd think they'll be sign posted.
Is it HT friendly. Only want to beast myself on the climbs really
Yeah nowt lairy on cc
Cwmcarn for me. That's my go to trails when it's wet. FoD blue trail will be fine, the red ok, but anything off piste will be messy
CC will be ok on a hardtail but quite bumpy in places. It normally takes me an hour to get to the top and half an hour to get back down on Cafell - but part of the top is closed / diverted. Twych has a diversion too but all you miss is the first bit of technical uphill- all the good bits are still open IMO.
Cwmcarn stands up well in bad weather. FOD does not, IME.
Only go to Cwmcarn when it's too wet for everywhere else, like this weekend.
If you want to beast yourself up the climbs then Cwmcarn is definitely the place, even with the diversions.
I ride both a lot, both a absolutely ‘fine’ to ride in any weather (I’m talking about the waymarked offical stuff and XC trails).
CC is slightly better in so much as whilst it seems and impossible task, a mostly 2 man volunteer trail crew have made both XC trails virtually puddle free and there aren’t many shiny polished roots to catch you out. On the other hand the red and especially the red extension at FOD are (by design I think) less man made so have more mud and more puddles to fill your shoes up for you.
Forgetting the weather CC beats FOD for waymarked XC trails, they’re longer, have more features, steeper and faster - Twrch is a classic and Cafal is harder to the point it’s now labelled at being “top of red grading” or something.
But I like both and they’re both fine to ride in any weather.
Ta - CC with Flux 'tis then.
How big is the diversion please thankyou?
Cafell diversion basically cuts off the section at the top of the valley, maybe 1/4 of the full trail. Misses out quadzilla climb and a nice bit of woody singletrack, main descent is unaffected. Twrch diversion misses out the first technical climb, and instead uses some of the Cafell climb before diverting to join Twrch further up the valley, probably not much difference in length to the original route.
Did Caffell twice, fun and pretty good considering. The divert for twrch ended up at a barrier for forestry so I retraced and redid Caffell.
No HR monitor or powermeter just me vs hill 🙂
TBH I prefer Cafell anyway, mainly go up Twrch to come down the DH run, although the very last section of Twrch is good fun.