Coed y Brenin regrade

Thewaylander

So i have read recently they are going through a trail regrade at CyB

The classic MBR/ Tarw are being changed to black. I really think this is a bad idea, having rode these recently with some changes on the mbr that have been made to the final decent i would say these trails have gotten easier than harder...

I also think will discourage people from riding these trails there fairly fun not too long fun trails. there really needs to be some unification onthe colour coding on trails centers i feel. B;ack should mean really hard. Llandegla for instance its black run every thing on there can be rolled its not a black its a red to me (and i love that trail)

The black section in Whytes is perfectly good example of black to me, the last bit is very steep and rocky and seen loads of good bikers slip on it.

some of the ones i don't get are trails rated black for there length.. not getting that at all i can read a distance and judge but its hard to guess how technical a trail will be till you are out on it...

What do you guys think?

Anonymous

i was there last week and i didnt ride the tawr route as it says at the beginning that it is a black route and i thought it might be too much for my limited skills.

im back in that neck of the woods later this month so am gonna give it a go, i wish i hadnt been such a coward. i managed mbr and thought it was ace, a bit ouside my comfort levels to be honest but it was an ace challenge.

as for gradin something black for length, thats plain bonkers, the grade should be related to technical difficulty, not to length, thats what the distance is marked on the map for i ould hve thought.

Gully0001

Totally agree on that thewaylander Llangegla black sections are only red in my opinion i think the grading is more based on distance instead of techical ability i think it should be the other way around.

Thewaylander

Yeh but Lladegla isn't long its about 20k, which is gernally a standard trail center route distance.

heard many random things about grading. but i think councils/forrestry commision and the private parks are getting more worries as people get more into biking more silly people are ending up on the wrong trails. i think they are trying to scare them off so there is less chance of suing over accidents or something.

On the black at llandegla i have seen people on very cheep rigid bikes with no skills teriffied looking at the berms.. and all i can think is idiot why didn't you read the giant 4foot sign saying danger you need to be able too...

mea00csf

haha, you really think there's going to be any kind of unification on trail grading . Not even snowsports have managed it. The problem is that places want to look like they have a range of riding for everyone. So on tame trail centres they'll bump up ratings of the harder stuff to a black, even if it's only a red. You start to get a problem when they do the reverse (grade things which should be red as blues, anyone who's skiied/boarded on the blues on Grand Montet in Chamonix will understand, steepest narrowest blues i've ever seen! :roll: )

Totally agree that grading should be done on technical difficulty not on length. Most people will know what length route to tackle and many will have an idea of how tough something will be from the ascent (eg over 20km, 900m ascent is tough, 500m ascent challenge, 200m ascent easy)

Anonymous

I think black for the Tarw, and MBR are about right. I find it easy enough to ride - I grew up riding those trails - but the more newbies I take out on the bike, the more I realise that they're actually pretty dangerous in places.
Also, the risk of quite a bas injury from falling off should be considered. I dread to think what would happen to you if you fell off on "snap crackle and pop", "the beginning of the end", or "kane and Able" :shock:
Kane and able in particular, as there's quite a cliff to one side. You fall off and go down there, and you're going to know about it.

Thewaylander

Not really that bad. there easily rollable.

I have taken virtually complete novice up there and they have coped fine. being slow and steady through. Red means difficult,.black means very dificult. how can you describe something virtual begginers can still get through as black?

Anonymous

Your begineers are obviously much more advanced than the people I'm taking out :shock:

I always want/expect "black" to be bloody hard though, to the extent that even a technically capable, experienced mountain biker would be pushed.

Thewaylander

exactly,

its meant to be of the highest dificulty but they are not.

i'm not sure if they are trying to sell the trails as more than they are.. or just trying discourage people from going on them to sae law suits if they mess up

lesz42

but any sort of trail is ridable? think about it, if you really want a black, why not just dump a few ton of rocks, on a trail and expect riders to go over it, they fail and you class it as black?



there is always a path thru a trail, and unless its a big dropoff or big jump, its rollable?

i tryed the MBR, and after 300 meters ,turned back, just dont have the skills to do it, but tbh, i didnt really mind


all i am saying is someones black is some else's red, and you will get riders who i guess dont notice, what ever obstical is in their way

you could build a trail thats totally technical for 20 miles, would that be a black? or an rollable bit would class it as a red or worse a blue?

Splottboy

TARW: Have ridden it since it was being built, in fact helped Dafydd to build it. Was training last year for the "Gold Rush" and found the new finish much harder. Dark, wet, greasy, and the slabs are unevenly spaced. ( I've raced it previously as an XC race over the years, doing 3 laps no problem. As an example, I've done the Marin Trail from Llanrwst - full Marin Trail - Llanrwst in 2hrs 10min on Ti Hardtail/Sids.)
But...as I was thinking of crossing under the road, getting back to the new cafe for tea/cake, and doing another lap... BANG! Slo-mo crash onto a pyramid-shaped rock. Result: Cracked femur.Air Ambulance, metal plate in leg.
Not blaming the trail, but... If I wasn't on a 120 travel FS, may have crashed earlier.
Prob the thought of nice cake distracted me!!! Haven't gone back yet, still recovering.
I did the Penmachno just as it was opening in just over the hour, on ice, but perhaps this is now longer/harder. Friend of mine who is excellent XC/Road/Enduro rider, did it and came off - in the dry - on one of the bridges, and broke his wrist.
So, it depends on many factors: Steepness, technical difficulty, conditions, and also bike riders ability/experience.

Anonymous

Splottboy wrote:

Not blaming the trail, but... If I wasn't on a 120 travel FS, may have crashed earlier.

Sorry, but that's crap, and you MUST know it, surely. We used to ride the Red Bull (original "tarw") on rigids, with cantis, and managed fine.
If you've been riding that long as well, then you must know what a rigid was capable of.

Thewaylander

The MBr? that rock garden at the start is only 300m and the rest is easy shouldn't have sotpped mate.

and as for rolable you can roll your front wheel of a 1 foot drop and take slowly, you can't off a 2foot drop or more as you cranks wont clear so you must fly off it. a more complex technique

And the bit your talking about on tawr i have a blow out there, its flat but there are sharp rocks, this is not an expample of technical riding but of an unlucky rock/tyre incident...

Simple fact is begginers or unconfident people should be thinking twice when going on to a red trail, and not considering blacks, but it is so unconsistent you just have to try.

Ian P

Not really sure what the difference between a black and a red should be and have a degree of symathy with the view that nothing at Coed y Brenin should be black.

But the previous grading failed completely to differentiate the difficulty of the different trails - I took my 9 year old daughter on the easiest red ( Cyflym Coch), the upper sections of MBR (Cain, the redone Abel and too a certain extent FalseTeeth) are a different level of challange and a grading system that rates these routes the same must be failing in some way.