Afan....better than Bedgebury!

SE_Rich

Thought I'd give a bit of a write up following my recent trip to Afan on Mon and Tues this week.

Monday morning, bikes all in the car ready to go so its a quick breakfast (Weetabix of course) and a cup of tea and its off to fight with the morning M25 traffic, luckily we had the Stereophonics to take our minds off the dull drive and get us ready for some Welsh fun! First trip to one of these bike specific parks so not really sure what to expect, I'm thinking mud...?

Arrive about 12ish, quick hello to our lovely B & B host and it was out to the trails! Whites was first...

Oh my god - rocks! And wet slippery rocks at that! Wet and slippery and uphill rocks on top of all that! Technical singletrack uphill? It'll never catch on! Found myself wondering about what I had let myself in for, but overall a nice intro into what these hills, sorry, mountains had to offer. Couldn't pass up the black run sign, dived down it, thought brilliant - two berms, I can handle that! What do you mean theres more to come? Oh crud... Great fun up to the last part where it drops away into a mess of painful looking rocks, I bottled it :oops:

The rest went OK, finally getting comfortable on the bike and how it bounced and vibrated over the rocks so was feeling more confident coming up to Darkside. Needless to say the bike and me went our seperate ways and I found a nice big rock... Finished the ride a bit shaken but with a big grin on my face which is the main thing.

Small bacon sandwich eaten at the centre - anything but small!!

Next day, early ish frosty and cold start. The Wall was our target for the morning, good climbs on some fireroad to start, great views and crisp air, great start to the day. I think 373 put the biggest smile on my face out of this lot. Bones got a good shaking on the final descent zig-zag, but thats probably a mix between my fork giving up and my lack of ability!

Quick rest then on to Penhydd. Have to be honest here and say we weren't expecting much (not exactly the trail celeb like the others), but seriously good fun was had! I know its all pretty much fireroad climbs, but it was quite nice to get your head down into a lung bursting slog, A Ridge too Far my fav here probably. And then my most enjoyable descent of the whole day - Hidden Valley followed by Side Winder. Rooty muddy singletrack through forest - what more could you ask for?

And then we had to go home

So to summerise - blooming marvelous!

Damage to me: Bruised knees / leg / bum / pride
Damage to bike (GT Avalanche 2.0 2006...): wobbly bottom bracket / scratched brake handle / fork (now does a fantastic impression of a rigid fork!)
Forthcoming damage to wallet: NEW BIKE! (now wondering if it might be better to go full suss route rather than light / race hardtail...)

GhallTN6

Bedgebury, better in the dark!

Afan is Great, we usually do the Wall 1st to get you into the rhythm then crack the Penhydd trail, day two it's whites level.. twice! As the confidence if brimming after the two previous trails and you can fly down it!

Want to go back and do the final decent to the skyline as last time I was too knackered to enjoy it!

pittpony

Afan is great but is it REALLY better than Bedgebury??!

Hell yeah it is!! I've been twice this year and can't wait for the next trip. I love that singletrack climb on Whites and the descents on all the trails are incredible. Oh i wish i was there now!!

breezer

Not been to Afan but I can't think of anything better than paying £7.50 to ride in the granny ring through 6" deep muddy slop like at Bedgebury, thats mountain biking

(lol, must get back to wales next year!)

SE_Rich

That sounds like a more sensible way of doing it Ghall, now we know the trails I think that could be a plan - warm up on Penhydd and the Wall before launching into Whites (hopefully with thebike this time!)

Looking at going back soon, hopefully with a new bike in tow, and maybe tackle Skyline.

pittpony Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 3:33 pm Post subject:

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Afan is great but is it REALLY better than Bedgebury??!

I know pittpony - close run thing for a second there!

Theres a Stumpjumper FSR Comp 08 on sale in Evans - anyone know if its any good? Also had a look at the Trek Fuel Ex 7 (2009), which looks rather nice.

buzz1

Stummpy FSR? What ya waiting for, go get it.

deadpool2e

you can check out my stumpy fsr action at Afan in my vids (in Sig) Its a very capable bike at trails like Afan.

If bedgebury ever gets as good as Afan i will give up biking and become a Zen like hermet.

Im sure Russ will be along to tell you how much he loves Bedgebury but me and him did a 1 day trip to Afan and did the wall then whites and then the last sections of skyline. We was both total F ucked but every time i think about it i cannot help but smile

RussAlf

Ive not even read the post yet but Afan and Bedgebury in the same sentenance is helarious

mudsucker

Theres a Stumpjumper FSR Comp 08 on sale in Evans - anyone know if its any good?

Yes very good!! Bought one of these myself from evans last month (in large) and i would highly recomend it! Great spec, very light and very good value ifor money. Go for it!!

christk

A good mix of trails is to do the climb of Whites then the short Skyline route, known locally as the July trail. Then, where the decent meets the climb of Whites (by the switch back with a few bricks on the ground), go back onto the Whites climb and finish Whites or even W2. Takes about 2 1/4 hours but a good mix of climbs without being too tired for the decents.

SE_Rich

Now stuck back in the office and dreaming of those awesome trails...

Different route suggestions are not helping my productivity!

Looks like the new bike is not going to happen until after Christmas now so have to make do with my worn out avalanche for a bit longer, poor thing.

Although the GF just got a nice Kona Blast for Christmas, maybe I could take that out - she wont mind it being wrapped up and a bit muddy would she?

RussAlf

I must admit, i do think bedgebury is far better than Afan.

Papa Smurf

RussAlf wrote:

I must admit, i do think bedgebury is far better than Afan.

:shock: :roll:

Bmjboy

RussAlf wrote:

I must admit, i do think bedgebury is far better than Afan.

That is true - the Family Trail fireroad climb to the single track at Bedgebury is way better than the Whites Black run imho.

Ive got to also admit, cycling over waterfalls, technical rocky decents and flying singltrack at Afan is nothing compared to the new dodgy gravel 200m bermed section "plonked" in the middle of a felled forest - Man I could spend all of 3 minutes on that section at Bedge...

Coupled with the bargain parking fees of £7.50 at Bedge compared to the ridiculous £2.50 at Afan, Bedgebury wins hands down on value for money.

I think the people at Afan should pull their socks up, as Bedge is light years ahead of the game!

breezer

Not meaning to correct you but I think you will find that the dodgy gravel 200m bermed section at Bedgebury is now just mud if you follow the 1" wide line which you have to in order to avoid crashing on the loose gravel.

It may be expensive to park there but then they hardly get any visitors ever so have to put high parking prices on. Also don't forget that you get the free beauty treatment from the 1 metre deep mud that you find for 98.3% of the actual singletrack then when you ride on the gravel fireroads you get the additional bonus of all the stones smashing up onto your bike removing paint and therefore making it lighter and thus much quicker

Excellent

(lol)

SE_Rich

OK, I should probably add to this that the title of my post wasn't intended to invite complete Bedgebury bashing, more a way of expressing my enjoyment of Afan (and riding in Wales) for the first time.

Living in the South East, the only bike centre to reference was Bedgebury...

pittpony

SE_Rich wrote:

OK, I should probably add to this that the title of my post wasn't intended to invite complete Bedgebury bashing, more a way of expressing my enjoyment of Afan (and riding in Wales) for the first time.

Living in the South East, the only bike centre to reference was Bedgebury...

Its too late to backtrack now - you've used the dreaded "B" word and have upset the locals

breezer

Don't get me wrong, Bedgebury was great when it first opened, parking cost was always a bit excessive but the course was nice and fun and dry. Sadly over the years not much has been done with it and its now a joke most of the time. Ok there was the Pinetum there before but that only bought in the odd rambler, everything else thats there now is really due to the sucess of the mountain bike loop. They must be getting SO MUCH money from the car park and other stuff and yet none of it is being put back into the course. The forest is massive so why only 4-5 miles of xc? (I am ignoring fire road bits). All they do is chuck down gravel on really muddy bits which does nothing other than further block it for a couple of months, it does not solve drainage issues ARGH

Bmjboy

I dont want to get into the whole Bedge rant debate, but when you do see what some trail centres are doing then you do actually realise how poor Bedge is in terms of management, not just from a trail perspective. But from a total lack of thought and respect for the riders who go there.

You can see theyre are more tailoring the venue for young families now, and even so, that is not a cheap family day out, the menu in the cafe looks like its extracted from some gastro-pub in Chelsea.... c'mon! I dont crave a Brie and Walnut filling on "fair trade" eco-bread, I wanna big mug of tea and a bacon sarnie!

(OK I ranted a bit )

But I could go on..

But Im not, Im just going to Swinley - the women are fitter for a start.