CyB - has it changed much in 25yrs, what to ride?

Depends what you like.

I like the stuff on the visitor centre side of the A470.  The slabs mess with my head on Tarw Du.

It's worth downloading the maps and then working out where you can cut between trails.  The fact every map is at a different blooming scale doesn't help though.  I've got various squiggles and writing on mine to link bits up.

Dragons Back and Beast have a long uphill road slog from the end of Big Doug.  We've always skipped Beefy and sometimes Hermon and just smashed the road until you can cut across to Gomez.

The top end of the Beast is about as rough as it gets between Brutus and Abel IIRC.  Cannot recall if False Teeth is similar.

Hope that helps a bit.

Also whole I am quite happy on Beast - Minor Taur (blue) and Cyflym Coch (light red) have a nice flow to them so don't rule them out although a lot easier going.

I remember The Beast being quite rocky and slippy from the start, especially as it was wet. We'd not got our heads in so were dabbing a lot - one mate suggested if we'd ridden on a parallel track for the first mile or so it would have been better. We didn't do the top end of the Beast as a mate was struggling and I was coming down with the flu, so we cut it short. We do remember passing someone who had totally shredded their tyre beyond any repair.

If you're on an Ebike, then the fire-road/tarmac slogs on The Beast suddenly get a lot more pleasant. That would be the one I'd do, the only changes being to start on the first couple of sections of Minotawr and rejoin at marker 52 (as the first section of Beast is just no fun to ride), and continue up the very steep road straight to the top of Gomez, as mentioned.

I did try to like the stuff on the opposite side of the road, but failed.

I remember 1 route, think it was the MBR ? But I think it was on the opposite side of the road to the car park (which was just a car park back then.

Yep the MBR is indeed very similar to what it used to he. Still got the techiest bit of CYB just after the huge climb from the visitor centre, largely unchanged from 25 years ago. But it's now got a nice jumpy section just aftereards

The other ride was a 20 odd miler which I remember being a fire road climb for ever .

That's the old Karrimor, much of which has been incorporated into the current Dragon's Back, and it still has that exact same Pointless Fireroad Climb of Pointlessness. The other bit of Karrimor from the west side of the river is now tagged onto the old Red Bull and named Horns or something

So what should I ride there on Friday ie what’s the best routes to ride today (emtb)

MBR - no question. It's the most interesting. If you're feeling fit then do the Horns of Dragons back too, but MBR is by far the best bang for buck.  BTW MBR + Dragons Back ~= Beast

and what are the routes I very vaguely remember, probably due to too much alcohol back there n the day

As above.

Ah thanks , got it all wrong , I was thinking the old red bull and karrimor !

Im guessing Red Bull is now mostly Tarw Du?

Im guessing Red Bull is now mostly Tarw Du?

Yes believe it translates it to Black Bull.  It's the one  that is mostly 'over the road'.

Thanks I might just ride the red bull and MBR.

I only live 1hr or so away so can go back again

I ended up going today as the weather was so good.

Wasnt as impressed as I thought I would be. Started riding the red bull route only to find it shut by fallen trees but nothing at the start of the trail to say it was closed. Still did some of it going the wrong way ish

Did the MBR. Bloody hell they like rocks. I didn’t think it flowed very well.

At least it was free parking.

i will go back again but I didn’t think it was as good as llandegla.

i can see why the visitor centre is closing , its huge and must have cost a fortune for not much return 

Did the MBR. Bloody hell they like rocks. I didn’t think it flowed very well.

That was my impression too - not sure why trail centres think slab after slab makes a good trail - it just shuts down any flow and makes it difficult to ride clipless. Its like this isn't 'hard' enough for the required grade so we'll just stick a slab of rock in to ride over in an otherwise fast but easy trail and call it a red etc.

Still enjoyed riding the centre though - scenery makes up for a lot!

Pointless Fireroad Climb of Pointlessness

I remember calling it that too!

I can't remember if I suffered it once or twice before looking at the map and realising that there was a short firerooad climb that could skip the whole there-and-back fireroad loop, but it was a mercy when I did.

I love the slabby bits at CyB. It was my first proper trail centre years ago and I dabbed and walked plenty. I loved going back over the years and riding more, better and smoother.

I didn’t like Tarw much initially and avoided it for a few years. Then tried it again and had got better enough that whole sections worked in completely new ways. Add in the big slab rolls and it’s great fun now.

Yeah I love its anti-flow, it's so different to most trail centres. Tbh I reckon most of the worst bits are where they tried to make it more normal, there's some fairly empty pedally bits of singletrack etc. Though the pointless fire road is still total bullshit, at least the tarmac climb alternative is hideous but short.

The skills area is brilliant too. And I love how the Minotaur has that superb first section then gets progressively worse and then gives you a proper CYB hideous fire road to slog back up.

I like Tarw Du. But it still has a fair amount of fire road climbing.

I have some motion-sickness-inducing video footage from ten years ago of various sections of CyB on my YT channel. Video camera attached to handlebars in the days before s/w stabilization 🤒 🤢 😨 It's totally unwatcheable.

Hmm this new forum stuff 🤣 

Anyhow one of the few bits with a bit of a view

My assessment of my own riding ability has never recovered from CYB

Yep i can ride those slabs as you leave the visitor centre . Go me.  It was following some one here’s kid on a rigid 20 inch wheel bike, over those slabs, that put me in my place