Cwmcarn, i don't get it... what's the appeal ?

weeksy59

Rode Cwmcarn y'day for the first ever time... and the last.

The trails don't flow, the climb is bloody disgraceful with too many rocks/roots to enable you to get any flow going...

The downhills are not downhills, you may as well just fling yourself of the side it would be smoother...

What am i missing here ? i thought it was poor beyond words.

Anonymous

weeksy59 wrote:

The downhills are not downhills, you may as well just fling yourself of the side it would be smoother...

I don't understand. Are you complaining that the descents are too rough?

weeksy59

yeehaamcgee wrote:

weeksy59 wrote:

The downhills are not downhills, you may as well just fling yourself of the side it would be smoother...

I don't understand. Are you complaining that the descents are too rough?

Partly yes, but also poorly planned, poorly routed and poorly thought out. The fact they have rocks and stones you can't do a lot about .... but they don't seem to make the best use of the available terrain.

Silversladey

weeksy59 wrote:

Rode Cwmcarn y'day for the first ever time... and the last.

The trails don't flow, the climb is bloody disgraceful with too many rocks/roots to enable you to get any flow going...

The downhills are not downhills, you may as well just fling yourself of the side it would be smoother...

What am i missing here ? i thought it was poor beyond words.

Cwmcarn is a little different and not for everyone.

The Climb is tough, real tough but can be cleaned to the top, i find the routes and rocks a good challenge.

The Downhill and I assume you are talking about the red section is amazing. I admit it is not as smooth as the Gorlech at Brechfa or maybe Y Wal at afan but to me that is part of the fun.
Ridden on a descent bike the only real rough rocky section is the Dragons teeth just before the final descent. And from what I am told it is nothing compared to some of the Great trails in North Wales.

But each to there own sorry you didn't enjoy it.

tugger

there is a road down if you prefer!! thats pretty smooth

Wicked trail, did you go to the wrong place?

Silversladey

tugger wrote:

there is a road down if you prefer!! thats pretty smooth

Wicked trail, did you go to the wrong place?

Due to the bad winter the Forest Drive has a couple of potholes so best avoided

Nick Cod

Cwmcarn, great trail. Been there a few times, it never fails to disappoint

Thewaylander

LOL,

So you couldn't make it up the climb and cried? and then coming back down you can't use your knee's and arms and cried.

Cwm Carn is the by far and away in my opion the best trail cetner trail in S.Wales unlike afan the decents actually go down with speed, and haev good features to make you work the bike and float it. And the climb stops me falling asleep, did W2 climbs yesterday and totally fell asleep nothing to challenge at all.

I really got no idea how you can say it has no flow as i think this is probably one of the best flowing trails there is, you just have to learn to ride rocks and roots instead of having someone concrete a path for you.

Have to admit to feeling properly spoiled having Cwm car on my doorstep but each person likes there own thing so would be a boring world if we liked the same crap

weeksy59

Thewaylander wrote:

LOL,

So you couldn't make it up the climb and cried? and then coming back down you can't use your knee's and arms and cried.

Neither mate. I just didn't find either particularly enjoyable. I can climb at a decent pace, although my descending is sometimes more luck than skill.

I was with an older mate of mine who was struggling so a bit of waiting at times, however i'm 100% confident i could climb it in one go without too much of an issue.

lostboysaint

Weeksy,

You're just a bit too much of an XC/head down-arse up kind of guy and like to judge your rides on pace to appreciate the tech stuff at Cwncarn. Simples.

weeksy59

lostboysaint wrote:

Weeksy,

You're just a bit too much of an XC/head down-ars* up kind of guy and like to judge your rides on pace to appreciate the tech stuff at Cwncarn. Simples.

Entirely possible mate yes.

Thewaylander

But cwm is really fast, thats the bit i don't get, flowy fast, just rough.

What machine were you riding it on?

Squarepants

To add to the thread (I think 95% of my thinking has already been noted) but I find CC a great mix of challenging ups (yes the red is very technical and I have to be in the mood for it) and very rewarding XC/DH. Having ridden Nant Yr Arian yesterday (35km) I see CC as having a little bit of everything in a relatively short distance.

Saying it's rough and doesn't flow doesn't really compute with me, like sladey said Dragons Teeth is the only really rocky section but I find that technical and a great buzz, then directly afterwards you have the final decent which is as fast and as flowing as you'll find.

Not forgetting the DH run that's a proper adrenalin rush.

Maybe you'll learn to love it weeksy, maybe not. tbh I do think CC is indicative of most AM riding, out of curiosity, what/where do you prefer riding?

weeksy59

Thewaylander wrote:

But cwm is really fast, thats the bit i don't get, flowy fast, just rough.

What machine were you riding it on?

Commencal Meta5

weeksy59

Squarepants wrote:

Maybe you'll learn to love it weeksy, maybe not. tbh I do think CC is indicative of most AM riding, out of curiosity, what/where do you prefer riding?

I've not ridden many trail centres, only really Afan and Swinley.

Afan is IMO a far more enjoyable decent.
Even Whites whilst a rocky at times ascent is a 'nice' ascent for me... certainly more rewarding than CC was

Thewaylander

See i can not stand whites decent, and its acent is a bit dull now they smooth any roots and rocks out of it lol.

I think you must ride very much as someone above said, arse up head and pedal...

welshkev

weeksy59 wrote:

Squarepants wrote:

Maybe you'll learn to love it weeksy, maybe not. tbh I do think CC is indicative of most AM riding, out of curiosity, what/where do you prefer riding?

I've not ridden many trail centres, only really Afan and Swinley.

Afan is IMO a far more enjoyable decent.
Even Whites whilst a rocky at times ascent is a 'nice' ascent for me... certainly more rewarding than CC was

It's horses for courses I guess, I love riding cwmcarn and the more I ride it the more I like it. Yes it is rough in places but we're mountain biking here not playing lawn bowls!!!

Ride it again weeksy, maybe with us lot and you'll appreciate it more I guarantee, watch our lines and follow our flow :-)

P-Jay

Kev's beaten me to the 'horses for courses' line but it pretty much sums this thread up.

I love the place, I live in Cardiff and count Afan, Cwmcarn, Brechfa, Brecon, etc as local rides and ride CC more than anywhere else.

It's a tough course perhaps, but I never found it much more technical than anything else red graded, but it is different.

Thewaylander

I don't think it's even tough, I just think alot of people are either used to the old 90's style of distance which often followed alot of firetrack, and was miles. Or the more modern super smoothed out trail centers which pose minimal challenge.

welshkev

Is this not fast and flowy enough for you?

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jokeJkkI ... ata_player

I'm the one in front of Darren whose filming

GhallTN6

Have to admit, I wasn't too impressed with CC, can't put my finger on why, but I just didn't take to it, maybe it was because I did it on my own, or wasn't in the right frame of mind, I'd like to try it again though to give it a second chance.

lostboysaint

Thewaylander wrote:

I don't think it's even tough, I just think alot of people are either used to the old 90's style of distance which often followed alot of firetrack, and was miles. Or the more modern super smoothed out trail centers which pose minimal challenge.

Nail, head, hit.

Weeksy is a mileage merchant who prefers to see big numbers on both odometer and speedo rather than doing a tricky, techy trail and get his rewards that way.

As with most sports people get different things from it, he's very much a numbers man, I'm (and I'm guessing a few on this thread) are much more about the terrain, the challenge, the bike handling and I couldn't really give a stuff what my numbers were!

Anonymous

Do you know that, or just making assumptions?
See, I guess that too, but it's just that, a guess.
I also see a lot of technically limited riders, who complain about techy trails. He could be one of those, but I just don't know.

You sound very certain.

lostboysaint

I am making assumptions but it's on the basis of "knowing" Weeksy virtually through a few forums for a few years now. MTB is very much "training" and "fitness" for Weeksy.

Anonymous

Ah, fair enough. In that case, he should quit his whining

(Is it the classic case of "owning a motorcycle does not make you a 'biker' " in action? )

welshkev

GhallTN6 wrote:

Have to admit, I wasn't too impressed with CC, can't put my finger on why, but I just didn't take to it, maybe it was because I did it on my own, or wasn't in the right frame of mind, I'd like to try it again though to give it a second chance.

I do get that when I ride on my own at new places, it's better when you know somewhere or ride with others so if you come off someone knows you're there :-)

Stiff_Orange

weeksy59 wrote:

Rode Cwmcarn y'day for the first ever time... and the last.

The trails don't flow, the climb is bloody disgraceful with too many rocks/roots to enable you to get any flow going...

The downhills are not downhills, you may as well just fling yourself of the side it would be smoother...

What am i missing here ? i thought it was poor beyond words.

I think the mean answer here is MTFU

I've not ridden many trail centres, only really Afan and Swinley

I love Swinley but it's is XC, and there are no real climbs (aapart from that short steep loose bugger around the back ot the labyrinth :twisted: )
Afan (Whites) is groomed so it's bound to be easier (but still enjoyable).

AM riding is meant to be about tricky climbs and descents, the skill is to be able to ride them well enough to make them flow.

The Northern Monkey

weeksy59
As it was your 1st ride... it is to be expected.

When I moved to South Wales, the 1st 2 or 3 rides at Cwmcarn didn't exactly give me any inspiration... But then I got to know the trail and the correct lines and where I need to put in more effort to get the most fun.

It is a really good trail, but you do need to have a bit of knowledge of whats coming up next. You just have to give it a chance.

The climbs however are crap... we don't usually ride the red up as its rubbish. We tend to ride off the trail and on bridleways around and up to the "freeride" bit at the top and join it from there.

weeksy59

LOL i've been dismissed, analysed, and accepted all in 1 thread.

Some interesting replies and some people seem to have gained a lot of knowledge of me from just a few posts... However most people are along the right lines.

Without doubt, my techincal ability isn't wonderful and my riding is predominantly about training and fittness/weight. However of course i like to enjoy myself in there as well. Sometimes the enjoyment comes from the technicality of the trail but also a good chunk comes from my fitness and feeling like i can ride hard all day.

Thanks for the psychoanalysis gents

welshkev

weeksy59 wrote:

LOL i've been dismissed, analysed, and accepted all in 1 thread.

Some interesting replies and some people seem to have gained a lot of knowledge of me from just a few posts... However most people are along the right lines.

Without doubt, my techincal ability isn't wonderful and my riding is predominantly about training and fittness/weight. However of course i like to enjoy myself in there as well. Sometimes the enjoyment comes from the technicality of the trail but also a good chunk comes from my fitness and feeling like i can ride hard all day.

Thanks for the psychoanalysis gents

no problem, i'll put my bill in the post

but deffo let us know when you're up again and you may enjoy it more

Anonymous

The thing I understand about Cwm's DH course is it's designed to be anything from hard core DH to rollable by the more beginner DHiller or regular trail rider. You get out of it what you put into it.

A bit different from a dedicated DH course where you find everyone wears the PJs and armour with full face (though get the uplift at Cwm and most will be kitted out like this). The DH at Cwm is enough to throw off those used to trail centres like Afan if they're not careful, and it's more advisable to beef up protection, if at least just a full face, but you can get away with standard trail protection and roll most of it.

The DH course is not supposed to be a smooth flowing XC though. This is DH stuff. If you're looking for awesome XC climbs & descents, Cwm is not your place (well, the red XC is okay).
(edited to specify the DH course)