Cwmcarn

Jake2.0
Jake2.0 Posts: 46
edited May 2014 in Routes
Going to Cwmcarn tomorrow. How does the xc trail cope with the rain?

Comments

  • rockmonkeysc
    rockmonkeysc Posts: 14,774
    Should be fine on the old trail but probably not so good on the new one.
    Transition Patrol - viewtopic.php?f=10017&t=13070235
  • welshkev
    welshkev Posts: 9,690
    RockmonkeySC wrote:
    Should be fine on the old trail but probably not so good on the new one.

    What he said.

    I was there Thursday and the new cafall trail isn't as bad as it has been. It's all fully rideable but parts of it are a bit sloppy
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 61,461
    welshkev wrote:
    RockmonkeySC wrote:
    Should be fine on the old trail but probably not so good on the new one.

    What he said.

    I was there Thursday and the new cafall trail isn't as bad as it has been. It's all fully rideable but parts of it are a bit sloppy
    Tried Cafall last Thursday - fully rideable but didn't really enjoy it much :( The climb was a right b1tch, though probably not helped by me having DH tyres on for uplift the next day. Parts of the middle section were a narrow muddy trench with no outstanding features. The descent was pretty decent - some bits like the DH track, would like to have another go at that part but for me not worth slogging through the first 2/3 of the trail to get to it.

    Also pretty soggy compared to the other side of the valley - not sure if its design or different soil type on that side of the valley but it seemed to suffer more from rain than the older trails. Would definitely be better when properly dried out.

    Think I'll stick to uplifts at Cwm.
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • jimothy78
    jimothy78 Posts: 1,407
    As above, Twrch tends to cope very well after rain as it's predominantly rocky and drains/dries very quickly. Some parts of Cafall are very muddy, although this is generaly improving as time goes on and things bed in a bit.

    As a general rule, the established trails at Afan (most notably The Wall and Whites Level) are also a good bet, as they hold up very well in wet weather, too.
  • benpinnick
    benpinnick Posts: 4,148
    Stevo 666 wrote:
    welshkev wrote:
    RockmonkeySC wrote:
    Should be fine on the old trail but probably not so good on the new one.

    What he said.

    I was there Thursday and the new cafall trail isn't as bad as it has been. It's all fully rideable but parts of it are a bit sloppy
    Tried Cafall last Thursday - fully rideable but didn't really enjoy it much :( The climb was a right b1tch, though probably not helped by me having DH tyres on for uplift the next day. Parts of the middle section were a narrow muddy trench with no outstanding features. The descent was pretty decent - some bits like the DH track, would like to have another go at that part but for me not worth slogging through the first 2/3 of the trail to get to it.

    Also pretty soggy compared to the other side of the valley - not sure if its design or different soil type on that side of the valley but it seemed to suffer more from rain than the older trails. Would definitely be better when properly dried out.

    Think I'll stick to uplifts at Cwm.

    Got to agree on the assessment of the trail, its a good trail waiting to bust out of a bit of a let down. After that beeatch of a climb it does get pretty bad through the tight stuff. Definitely some scalpings needed to rescue it - I rode it Sat and it was all rideable, but still no fun through what had been the muddy sections - they just cant flow without a hardr surface. I love Rocky Valley but thats only a few 100 yards. I missed most of the XC DH as I did the Pedalhounds DH... What a let down. :(

    Will go back soon and do the whole thing and see if I get a better view second time round, but I do think that unless the final DH is epic I will be sticking to Twrch and Y Mynedd. Not really all that enthused about the soon to be 50/50 uplft policy running Y Mynedd in the morning and Pedalhounds in the afternoon. I would prefer the other way so I can XC in the morning and then DH in the afternoon (incase I crash and burn on the DH!).
    A Flock of Birds
    + some other bikes.
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 61,461
    benpinnick wrote:
    I missed most of the XC DH as I did the Pedalhounds DH... What a let down. :(

    Will go back soon and do the whole thing and see if I get a better view second time round, but I do think that unless the final DH is epic I will be sticking to Twrch and Y Mynedd. Not really all that enthused about the soon to be 50/50 uplft policy running Y Mynedd in the morning and Pedalhounds in the afternoon. I would prefer the other way so I can XC in the morning and then DH in the afternoon (incase I crash and burn on the DH!).
    I hope you're wrong about Pedalhounds Ben, but I have a bad feeling that you're not. Will be there on the 23rd to find out for myself...
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • benpinnick
    benpinnick Posts: 4,148
    Stevo 666 wrote:
    benpinnick wrote:
    I missed most of the XC DH as I did the Pedalhounds DH... What a let down. :(

    Will go back soon and do the whole thing and see if I get a better view second time round, but I do think that unless the final DH is epic I will be sticking to Twrch and Y Mynedd. Not really all that enthused about the soon to be 50/50 uplft policy running Y Mynedd in the morning and Pedalhounds in the afternoon. I would prefer the other way so I can XC in the morning and then DH in the afternoon (incase I crash and burn on the DH!).
    I hope you're wrong about Pedalhounds Ben, but I have a bad feeling that you're not. Will be there on the 23rd to find out for myself...

    I dont want to put you off, but when I got to the bottom I thought to myself 2 things:

    That was shorter than I expected.
    I didn't want another go.

    The main issue is that the top is kind of FOD like (which is cool) but suffers the same claggy mud as the new XC trail mid section, then it opens out onto the drier rocky stuff, where it promptly becomes a selection of fairly featureless and dull berms, jumps and drops before the most poorly thought out run out/queuing area ever.

    Fair dos I was on a hardtail so not the optimal ride choice, but I did proceed to do 6 runs on the old DH after lunch so I think it had a decent shot to impress me despite the bike :(
    A Flock of Birds
    + some other bikes.
  • benpinnick
    benpinnick Posts: 4,148
    This video pretty much does it justice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pb1wbnrv1s
    A Flock of Birds
    + some other bikes.
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 61,461
    benpinnick wrote:
    This video pretty much does it justice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pb1wbnrv1s
    Hmmm...looks OK I suppose but it's not really got the character or 'stand out' features of the Y Mynydd. Like you say, quite short as well.
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • welshkev
    welshkev Posts: 9,690
    i spent a few hours on pedal hounds on sunday.

    it's ok. I spent most of the time riding from the Kaiser, down. but as ben said, the very top section is a bit poo.

    it's very man made (obviously) compared to y mynydd, it does have some nice drops and jumps in it and it's very fast if you let off the brakes. there's some bits that you can't just roll and have to commit - but these are nothing major, just 2 drops iirc.

    I spoke to Darrell on sunday and he says that yes, it will be y mynydd morning and pedal hounds afternoon for now and they'll review it and listen to peoples opinions after a while.
  • Thewaylander
    Thewaylander Posts: 8,594
    I think the new trails will bed in well over a few years, as its pretty naturaly built not just rock dust thrown down, as it compacts and so on will suffer less from the sludge :)
  • welshkev
    welshkev Posts: 9,690
    I'm not sure about the top section of pedal hounds bri. it looked to me as if it'd had just been done through the woods with no actual base layer put down, sort of like FoD with the natural, rooty bits
  • Thewaylander
    Thewaylander Posts: 8,594
    Depends, give it time, as it compacts hard with hundreds of riders i think you might be suprised after a few years. its stony ground underneath it all, the whole area is.

    nothing packs dirt like a lot tires.. or a frenchy....
  • The Northern Monkey
    The Northern Monkey Posts: 19,174
    benpinnick wrote:
    Stevo 666 wrote:
    benpinnick wrote:
    I missed most of the XC DH as I did the Pedalhounds DH... What a let down. :(

    Will go back soon and do the whole thing and see if I get a better view second time round, but I do think that unless the final DH is epic I will be sticking to Twrch and Y Mynedd. Not really all that enthused about the soon to be 50/50 uplft policy running Y Mynedd in the morning and Pedalhounds in the afternoon. I would prefer the other way so I can XC in the morning and then DH in the afternoon (incase I crash and burn on the DH!).
    I hope you're wrong about Pedalhounds Ben, but I have a bad feeling that you're not. Will be there on the 23rd to find out for myself...

    I dont want to put you off, but when I got to the bottom I thought to myself:

    That was shorter than I expected.

    My thoughts exactly... the xc is much longer! I'd be happy to uplift and do the xc back down!
    Santa Cruz Butcher
  • benpinnick
    benpinnick Posts: 4,148
    Thewaylander wrote:
    Depends, give it time, as it compacts hard with hundreds of riders i think you might be suprised after a few years. its stony ground underneath it all, the whole area is.

    nothing packs dirt like a lot tires.. or a frenchy....

    Hmm, not convinced there's enough there of interest to create a decent track no matter how worn out gets.
    A Flock of Birds
    + some other bikes.
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 61,461
    Thewaylander wrote:
    Depends, give it time, as it compacts hard with hundreds of riders i think you might be suprised after a few years. its stony ground underneath it all, the whole area is.
    Let us know in a few years and I might give it another go.

    That was the least enjoyable bit of XC I've done in a long time.
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • welshkev
    welshkev Posts: 9,690
    it is disappointing as I know there's much better DH tracks on that side of the hill, but I think the land ownership issue had a lot to do with what was produced
  • Thewaylander
    Thewaylander Posts: 8,594
    See i thought the new XC was pretty good, far more natural than the current lot of paving stuck in the forest we keep getting.

    Only issue i had was how tight and steep some of the later switch backs were for a red trail had trouble getting the bike round them with out locking the back and just sliding it round.
  • jimothy78
    jimothy78 Posts: 1,407
    Thewaylander wrote:
    See i thought the new XC was pretty good, far more natural than the current lot of paving stuck in the forest we keep getting.

    My thoughts exactly - there have been too many over-built trails recently - I was so relieved when I first rode Cafall to find it actually resembled the kind of trails you find in your local woodlands, and not some wannabe bmx track. :D
  • welshkev
    welshkev Posts: 9,690
    I should clarify that I meant disappointing about the dh track, not cafall. I really like cafall :)

    I like pedalhounds too, but I don't think it's a dh track really
  • Thewaylander
    Thewaylander Posts: 8,594
    I was refreshed by Cafall,

    Having been on the recent reopened Penhydd, which i loved all the old single track bits and got quickly fed up with the newer BMX style crap pretty fast. I found it refereshing to see something getting back to more classic MTBing.

    The only bit that suprised me were how tight and steep a couple of the switchbacks on the way down were, without locking hte bike to slide it round, i cant see how someone can get round which is a bit more advanced than the level of the trail is sold at in many ways. but still love it.
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 61,461
    welshkev wrote:
    I should clarify that I meant disappointing about the dh track, not cafall. I really like cafall :)

    I like pedalhounds too, but I don't think it's a dh track really
    Given what you and Waylander said about Cafall compared to how I found it, I'll probably enjoy Pedalhounds :) Will let you know later this month.
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • Lowride
    Lowride Posts: 214
    I did an uplift day at Cwmcarn on sunday and rode a DH only section of the new Cafell XC. It was super dry and really fast
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