[Closed] Cwmcarn which trail?

Have a look on the mtb ranger South Wales Facebook page , see if any sections are closed.
If I was only doing 1 trail after all this rain id do Twrch.

I think both are ok when it’s been raining. In the past I’d instantly have said Cafell was my favourite, but since they’ve felled the main swoopy descent it tends to be less fun than it used to be if you have a headwind.

I’d say go there and do the Twrch but see if you can fit in the short little blue they’ve added as well - it’s only 15 mins long and it’s really fast / swoopy / jumpy / bermy.

If its fairly dry I'd do Cafell, always used to prefer Twch but after a revamp last winter, the cafell is running really well.

If you have the time at the end, ride up the road to the Twch final descent, takes about 15 minutes and you then get the best part of that trail as well!

I'd ride Twrch if I only had time for one.

If you have extra time then you can ride back up to where the blue splits off right but turn left and come back down K-Jam, the last section of Cafell.

Twrch every time for me. Cafell is a long boring climb and the descents don't warrant the hard work as far as I'm concerned. YMMV obviously.

. Cafell is a long boring climb

I quite like it as a climb, carry enough speed in the dips and it pops you up the other side. Twrch has some great techy climbs too.

I hate the Twrch climb tbh - prefer the Cafell as it’s less steep / technical. Last time I went I blipped round the blue, then Cafell with the Pedalhounds DH, grabbed lunch, then Twrch but I climbed the fireroad to the top of airstream, then finished with another lap
of the blue.

I definitely knew I’d climbed some hills by the end of that - the first little climb out of the car park is a bit horrible the 3rd and 4th time round on the same day!

Thanks all. Think it's going to be twrch this time round 🚴🚴

Rode the Twrch today - riding well and not as wet as I'd feared.
That might change by the weekend, unfortunately... 🌧️

Going to venture to Cwncarn on sunday,I've read the car park is open and the parking machines turned off, is the cafe open does anyone know?

I can confirm that the car park machines are not working (or weren't on Saturday). We went and did all the off piste stuff after a week of heavy rain and it was perfect. Didn't need to change my shorts to drive home or wash the bike to go in the shed. The trail centre runs would be better again.

Parking is free until January 2021. Although sneakily the sign saying so is at the uplift end of the car park while the machine opposite the shop (by the walkers trail) is switched on and the binbag to cover it has ripped off so some people are still buying a ticket.

Cafe is closed for the foreseeable according to their website.

The toilet though, are at last open!

I installed some Super P-nuts and that fixed it.

Phew!

Cafe is open?
https://www.cwmcarnforest.co.uk/

Or am I just being dim?

I’m going on Sunday, haven’t been there in probably 7/8 Years. Looking forward to it😃

Both were running well last weekend. The biggest challenge is dodging ebikes on the downs that have whirred past you on the ups. I think they have bred during lockdown. For some reason there were loads a Cwmcarn and very few at Afan

Yeah, I noticed the Ebike thing last weekend! First time riding at a trail centre in Wales this year, and I was shocked how many there were. Maybe two thirds of riders that day.

As for which trail, I love Caffall. The climb is varied (not much fire Road). Fun, natural ish feeling descents, if a little spoilt by all the tree felling. Still prefer it to twrch though.

Do the new features on the Twrch increase the time taken to ride it?

I always thought I'd crack the hour for a lap but never quite managed faster than 1h03m

I was there on Monday and there seemed to be far more clockwork bikes than eBikes to me.

I found the biggest challenge was dodging the clockworks bikes I didn't whir past on the climbs on the descents.

1h03m is fast! I struggle to get below 1h20m. The new surface and lines on the resurfaced and re-profiled final descent before the bridge have knocked about 30 secs off my times on that section so it's running slightly slower but not much.

Lots more E-bikes at all the Welsh centres, a steady increase as afar as I can tell. Did see a cheeky so-and-so using the electric chargers in the car park at Cwmcarn to recharge his to do another lap. Never seen an actual car using them mind so at least they're getting some use.

Did see a cheeky so-and-so using the electric chargers in the car park at Cwmcarn to recharge his to do another lap.

That's brilliant! I'll have to do that next time I go.

I reckon you'll easily break the hour barrier Snaps. I used to ride it in a similar time to you but now average 55 minutes unless I'm held up by someone riding with a dog. Love getting home and having to clean dog shit off my tyres and clothes.

The biggest challenge is dodging ebikes on the downs that have whirred past you on the ups

Was riding Cwmcarn/Risca yesterday, lots of ebikes around, almost envious when doing car park to the up lift drop off point! The visitors centre toilets were open, one on the outside and the disabled inside, when riding past the back of centre could smell bacon cooking all morning so assume the cafe is now open.

Made the mistake of arriving just after 10.00 and the car park was rammed, more annoyingly was that every vehicle was parked further apart from each other than needed, white lines looked badly needed! The car park was quite empty in the afternoon though, not sure if the surprise downpour did it or a time of day thing.

I was there yesterday, first time for a few years. It was heaving first thing, I think there was more cars in the car park than in the other 5-6 visits combined.

Rode both trails, not sure which I prefer, both good fun. I got caught in the surprise downpour just as I started the final descent of Twrch which was nice 🙂