Rode a few spots in Wales over the bank holiday weekend. First stop for the full day on Friday was Coed Y Brenin. I hadn't been there in 15 years and I still have great memories of blasting the trails there on my 26 inch hardtail back in the day, the Redbull MBR and Karrimor trails, so I was expecting great things! We did the short red loop Temtiwr, then did most of the red fox and linked it in with the Dragons Back from Big doug onwards, so 40km or so total. First thought that sprung to mind afterwards was that whoever rebuilt or resurfaced or designed these new trails must have a serious rock or stone fetish. I was a bit disappointed after enjoying myself so much on the old trails back in the day (along with my gf -who had never been there but I had been going on about how good it is). It just seemed to be rocky for the sake of being rocky, and a lot of the time, the rockiness didn't really add to the flow or fun factor of the trail. If anything - quite the opposite imo. I would say I'm a fairly accomplished rider and had nothing to do with the technical skills. There were fun parts, but seemed short lived , and always felt like you were climbing for a much greater distance than you were descending, unlike well built trails. I was chatting to other people afterwards in bike shops and cafes etc, and the view is mixed but half the people I spoke to seemed to agree that the trails there were much better 15 or 20 years ago. I might be being harsh but where did it all go wrong.
Next up was ClimachX trail on Saturday. Such a fun trail, lots of whooping and hollering all round. Always felt like the descents went on forever, and the climbs were flowing together in a way that they were barely noticeable. Loved how the singletrack is so narrow and almost feels like its being reclaimed by the earth again. And that last descent - those eight big berms in a row are fantastic. I had the final descent before as part of races but never the full loop. It didn't disappoint at all.
Lastly - Nant Yr Arian. Again, we loved the trails here. We did the black loop (which is clearly black mainly because of the distance), but was a great mix of never ending descents for the first few km, then open mooreland with stunning views, then back into singletrack. Stoke levels finished quite high there! The other two I was with were hating life on the last long fire road climb, but forgot about it by the time we got back to the carpark.
Had hoped to get to Penmachno too, but were too tight for time in the end. I had asked on here for advice on where to hit up, so just thought I'd fill some of you in! And possibly open up a can of worms about CYB?
Here you go, might fill in some of the gaps for you between your CyB visits...
I like the rockiness as it makes a change / challenge for me. Good thing you didn't try the old Red Bull again 😉
I love cyb also love the back at nant yr arian. I do not like penmachno. Can't get along with it. Always wet. Boring. Different opinions I guess.
I love the MBR at Coed y Brenin, but I sort of see what you mean about rocky for rocks sake. That said, I'm sure it has always been a bit of a rockfest, I used to pinch flat all the time before tubeless!
I Rode there Saturday on my new soul. I expected it to be rough as I last rode it on a 160mm enduro bike and used to ride it 3 times a week when I worked close. But was pleasantly suprised how good the condition of the trails were after the shitfest that was winter.
It was riding really fast over the weekeend. I don’t think its any rockier than what it was 7 years ago. As far as trail centres go its one of the best I think.
Interesting article regarding CYB Owen, hadn't seen that before.
By the mid ’00s, it seemed that Coed y Brenin was lagging behind in terms of excitement and contemporary trail design. And while there had been money to initially build Coed y Brenin’s trails, little was put aside for their ongoing maintenance. Slowly, parts of the Karrimor, Red Bull and mbr trails eroded from red grade riding to flowless blacks.
Glentress had berms and jumps and drops. It had a remarkably fun blue trail, some very natural-feeling rides and some expert-only trails. This corner of North Wales only had its reputation.
It's a shame really. I wouldn't be in a rush to go back , or recommend it to others to make the trip there. There was definitely parts I enjoyed, the Adams family sections being the main ones. But I just found it a bit dead pan and dull overall. Do the people that built the new trails even mountain bike? I was just about to ask if anyone actually enjoys that rocky for rocky's sake stuff but clearly some people do. Maybe it's partly because bikes these days have more travel - so they just added in more rocks to try keep up with this trend. I don't know, that's another way I looked at it. I don't really agree that the trails are now "custom-made for trail bikes and riders with a few more skills than we used to have back then."
The guy in the bike shop in Dolgellau seems to prefer the old trails and says they are still very rideable.
I also have to say a big thanks to the lads who lent me a chainbreaker! Proper ace. My gf snapped her chain and I stupidly had taken mine out of the camelbak.
Sounds like you'd have been better off at Llandegla for berms and stuff. I actually really like the rocky stuff at cyb, great fun on a hardtail. Wales is rocky, rooty and big hills, there's plenty to choose from.
I'm another liking the rocky stuff, actually find it a bit of a challenge rather than having to pick up the speed on other sections to make them interesting. I have a suspicion that a lot of the rocky sections are there so that trail maintenance is a bit easier
The rocks are there because of the amount of traffic. They can take a lot of hammer, so don't need so much maintenance - no braking bumps! It's not all rocky - Pink Heifer, Uncle Fester, Dreamtime are all super flowy.
And Nant yr Arian is rubbish. Don't bother going there. Please.
And Nant yr Arian is rubbish. Don’t bother going there. Please.
Sorry not sorry, too late. Did you even read my original post.
Yeah I guess it's easier to maintain the rockyness. But I guess part of it is that it didn't seem to have enough gradient in some of the rock sections to carry enough speed, without having to pedal like crazy. I wouldn't be complaining if the gradient and terrain were well matched. Don't get me wrong, I love the tech rocky natural stuff when it flows well, I'm not a berm worshipper or anything. I've done Iron Bike and the Megavalanche!
Trail centre riding is only a small percentage of the mountain biking I do. Kind of a last resort, but usually a safe bet 0 almost an insurance policy if you don't know the natural riding in an area. I've been to Llandegla two years ago and really liked it there. It just makes me sad that CYB has changed so much. But I did enjoy sections like Pink Heifer and so on.
I don't think CYB has changed much in the last 10 years apart from the skills area and the swoopy start of the blue. Certainly don't think rocks have been added - maybe exposed by the weather a bit? There's only really Cane and Abel that are very rocky and challenging but I like that along with the more flowy elements like Big Dug and the adams family. If it's getting boring you can always go faster and seek out the rocks at the side of the trail to take a jump off :->
Sorry not sorry, too late. Did you even read my original post.
I did, yes. Perhaps a smiley would have helped?
First time at CYB on Sat, rode Dragons back and loved the rockyness! It's a nice change from the hardpack flowy stuff you find at most trail centre's.
Rode Penmachno Monday and couldn't believe how wet it was. Loop 2 seemed to be riding through a river for most of it. Still really enjoyed the loop 1 descents, but wouldn't bother with loop 2.
I was in Machynlleth for the weekends comedy festival and even though the Dfyi Enduro was cancelled due to bad weather ( oh the irony) I rode up to the forest for a spin round the Climachx trail. Ridden parts of it before on the Dfyi Enduro but the some of the singletrack sections were new to me and I thought it was really good. The last descent is superb. Weather helped to make it a great ride.
Returned to CYB last year after a couple of years and really enjoyed that too. Will be going back this year.
The improvements to the Marin trail are nice but its still a bit of an old school style with lots of fireroad interspersed with short blasts of singletrack.
When it first opened I used to love Penmachno for the feeling of remoteness and more ' natural' riding but the changes made including the new extension and the fact that it is always wetter than an otters pocket mean I don't think I'll be going back.
