Riding in North Wales

Slim Middleton

Hi Guys

My family and I are contemplating a move to Bangor. Can someone tell me what the riding is like in that part of the world? I enjoy long challenging road rides (and I suspect that NW can offer that in spades) but it would also be good to know that I have easy access to reasonably local rides for that 1- 2hr evening blast - some variety would be good too - after living in NZ for a few years it would be nice to know that there are more than 1 or 2 loops to choose from.

I know N.Wales is great for MTB'ing too but is there much within riding distance of Bangor or is it a case of putting the bike on the car? Any info from locals would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Simon

redddraggon

Plenty of good riding around Bangor. I don't tend to get out that far from the North East though.

LingfieldXC

I'm hoping to go to uni in Bangor so am quite interested to find this out too. I went there on the open day for the uni. I'm hoping to do marine biology. I guess for a quick circuit you could go round anglesey. Any info on local clubs would be good too. Thanks all.

steve23

my girlfriend used to go to bangor uni, and i used to visit most weekends.

its a perfect spot for training IMO.

not far from big climbs like Llanberis pass, which was my fav ride. around the foot of Snowdon, to Bedgellert, Betwys-Y-Coed and back to bangor.

anglesey is great too. very very quiet roads, and short sharp climbs!

fantastic riding area!!!

Simon Notley

Snowdonia is pretty awesome for riding. I guess the only disadvantage is the relative sparseness of roads means repetitive routes... but given the quality of the routes it's hardly a complaint! you could always avoid the mountains and ride the pensinsula or anglesey if you want some variety.

And of course you have Bwlch Y Groes, the highest road pass in Wales (and no less than 11 chevrons on the OS map up the steep side...) within a long ride.

Simon

giant_man

I would love to ride round Snowdonia cos i love the area. Any know of any good routes in North Wales around that way?

fausto copy

Checkout http://www.chesterandnorthwalesctc.org.uk/
for loads of info on rides in North Wales area.
They are certainly the ones for Slim to help with family rides etc.

Personally I can recommend venturing slightly further north and east to the Clwydian range of mountains. If you want some decent climbs you can zigzag back and two over them using great lanes for days without repeating yourself.

DavidBelcher

steve23 wrote:

my girlfriend used to go to bangor uni, and i used to visit most weekends.

its a perfect spot for training IMO.

not far from big climbs like Llanberis pass, which was my fav ride. around the foot of Snowdon, to Bedgellert, Betwys-Y-Coed and back to bangor.

anglesey is great too. very very quiet roads, and short sharp climbs!

fantastic riding area!!!

As Steve says, some good riding around Llanberis - I also studied at Bangor for a while, and Bangor-Caernarfon-Beddgelert-Nantgwynant-Llanberis-Bangor was a good long loop I used to ride, with a few stiff long climbs and some excellent scenery! Main roads were mostly relatively quiet as A-roads go, too.
Anglesey was somewhat flatter, which made for unpleasant riding on the coastal bits - especially near Newborough Warren - on a windy day!

David

simon_e

You've got plenty of hilly challenges around Snowdonia! C+ had a nice Snowdonia loop a couple of months ago - Deiniolen, Mynydd Llandegai, Bethesda, Nant Ffrancon valley on the old road to Ogwen, A5 to Capel Curig, then across to Pen Y Pass, and down the Llanberis Pass. Pen Y Pass from Llyn Gwynant is another lovely route too (only done it on the motorbike to date though).

Some gorgeous and scenic coastal rides around Anglesey, though I certainly wouldn't say it's flat. Some parts are low-lying, but it has lots of undulations (due to N-S alternating bands of resistant and softer rocks) and it's easy to create loop rides. Some steepish bits on parts of the North coast. Ynys Môn has more sun and considerably less rain than the mainland too.

Should think there are plenty of good routes on the Llŷn peninsula, just down the road beyond Caernarfon.

Some Sustrans rides and there are plenty of quiet roads close to Bangor - places like Tregarth, Pentir, Llanllechid, Bryngwyn-Waunfawr and the A4085 towards Beddgelert, Dyffryn Nantlle..... Some good roads further south around Ffestiniog and towards Bala.

Northern Snowdonia (Llanberis and Ogwen in particular) is very busy in the summer months, and quite busy most weekends.

Phew, that's enough for now.

Tomonabike

Great riding around North Wales & Anglesey, Anglesey particularly good if training in the wind and rain, good local club scene too, weekly time trials and racing this year.

Choice of two clubs: Clwb Rasio Mona - http://www.freewebs.com/crm_results/ or Energy Cycles - http://www.energycycles.com/

Little difference between them really, Energy has a few more active racers and the nicer kit while CRM runs many of the time trials, probably best you come out on a Club run and then decide, both meet at 10 am Sundays at the Menai Bridge.

Slim Middleton

Well I think that's me sold then!! I checked out the C+ article too. Thanks for the tips guys. Hopefully be there before the end of the summer. I'll certainly look to head out on a club run or two.

One other thing, what woudl be the nearest track/velodrome? I know that both Manchester and Newport have world class facilities but wonder whether there may be something more local for training and club stuff?

Thanks again - I never thought it would come to this!! Choosing where to live based on the riding!!

LingfieldXC

Wow - looks good, now all I have to do is sit my last 5 exams! Thanks for the help all.

halvis

:twisted: I personally do not think bike riding around Bangor is very good. :twisted:

DavidBelcher

Tomonabike wrote:

Great riding around North Wales & Anglesey, Anglesey particularly good if training in the wind and rain, good local club scene too, weekly time trials and racing this year.

Choice of two clubs: Clwb Rasio Mona - http://www.freewebs.com/crm_results/ or Energy Cycles - http://www.energycycles.com/

Little difference between them really, Energy has a few more active racers and the nicer kit while CRM runs many of the time trials, probably best you come out on a Club run and then decide, both meet at 10 am Sundays at the Menai Bridge.

If still going, there also used to be the CTC Sunday runs, which from memory usually met near Ysgol David Hughes on the outskirts of Menai Bridge - good social runs with a reasonably-sized CRM contingent in the off-season. Occasionally the route involved the mainland rather than the island; one Sunday we ended up as far south as Tremadoc - not a bad day's effort.

David