Cwmcarn, Afan and BPW - Which Trails?

vulva65

Hi guys,

There are 9 of us heading to South Wales for a long weekend of riding in a couple of weeks, but it's been left to me to organise so was wondering what trails everyone recommends for the two days before BPW, we don't want to ruin ourselves in preparation despite having uplifts for BPW. it's worth noting that we have varying levels of skill and fitness but all can ride reds fairly confidently but would probably be fitness that would play a big part for a couple of the riders.

Cwmcarn - Twrch or Cafall?

Afan - Y Wal, Blade, Penhydd or Whites Level?

We want to challenge ourselves but don't want to be so tired that it puts a dampener on the experience. We regularly ride Cardinham and Haldon, for about 12-18 miles each ride.

Any advice would be great, cheers guys!

prawny

I went to afan in the summer, rode Penhydd and Y Wal on separate days.

What bikes are you taking? I had a 140mm hardtail and Penhydd was Hell. One huge climb and one rough as arseholes not fun decent. Might be ok on a full suss but I was underwhelmed.

Y Wal was much better, similar to Cardinham but much longer, quite enjoyed that and would be good on any bike I'd have thought.

There's some Blade love over on singletrack world this week, so might be worth a look, also a lot of people rave about Cwmcarn, but I've not been there.

For an idea -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCECKhYtGKo&t=2s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jStE4RGmOeY

vulva65

prawny wrote:

I went to afan in the summer, rode Penhydd and Y Wal on separate days.

What bikes are you taking? I had a 140mm hardtail and Penhydd was Hell. One huge climb and one rough as arseholes not fun decent. Might be ok on a full suss but I was underwhelmed.

Y Wal was much better, similar to Cardinham but much longer, quite enjoyed that and would be good on any bike I'd have thought.

There's some Blade love over on singletrack world this week, so might be worth a look, also a lot of people rave about Cwmcarn, but I've not been there.

Cheers Prawny, will take a look at those.
We are taking a mixture of 140mm full sussers and some 120mm hardtails. We have had Y Wal recommended by a friend who went last year so is looking to be a favourite.

Thanks again for the advice.

prawny

No worries, Blue Scar is meant to be worth a look too, a couple of sections are shared with Penhydd and are much better, really fast and flowing. I wouldn’t recommend Penhydd on a 120mm HT unless you’re a riding god or going very slowly.

fat daddy

I go to CwmCarn more than Afan but never ridden anything more than the red runs.

Cwmcarn has a bit of everything but the climb (if you dont uplift) is hard work, its technical.

Afan - there is a lot more to do here, if I was spending a weekend in one spot it would be Afan, the Wall is my least favorite, its quite smooth and rolling bar a couple of rock sections, but its also quite boring, there is a lot of riding and not so much technical. Penhydd is my favorite, probably because it was the trail that the wife liked to do so spent most time on this. There is a climb, but all climbing is non-technical so just an exercise in cardio ... some great descending though, Dead sheep gully is great fun. Its totally doable on a 50mm 1997 Klien attitude as proven by my wife before she upgraded to a 100mm superlight and halved the time to get around . Whites level - this would be my favorite I recon if I was allowed to do it more ... its got some Northshore style sections in it and some epic berms. Its also the longest but so sections are dull.

Go to Afan

vulva65

fat daddy wrote:

I go to CwmCarn more than Afan but never ridden anything more than the red runs.

Cwmcarn has a bit of everything but the climb (if you dont uplift) is hard work, its technical.

Afan - there is a lot more to do here, if I was spending a weekend in one spot it would be Afan, the Wall is my least favorite, its quite smooth and rolling bar a couple of rock sections, but its also quite boring, there is a lot of riding and not so much technical. Penhydd is my favorite, probably because it was the trail that the wife liked to do so spent most time on this. There is a climb, but all climbing is non-technical so just an exercise in cardio ... some great descending though, Dead sheep gully is great fun. Its totally doable on a 50mm 1997 Klien attitude as proven by my wife before she upgraded to a 100mm superlight and halved the time to get around . Whites level - this would be my favorite I recon if I was allowed to do it more ... its got some Northshore style sections in it and some epic berms. Its also the longest but so sections are dull.

Go to Afan

Thanks for the input, definitely helpful. We don't have the uplift at Cwmcarn but will just take our time and walk some of it if necessary.

As a group we would probably benefit more from fast flowy singletrack as opposed to anything too technical like rock gardens etc, I want to avoid any of the less experienced riders feeling disheartened by struggling on technical stuff but if you guys managed Penhydd on 50mm then I'm hoping some of our guys can manage on their 140mm HTs. Whites level could be the one for us if its got a bit of everything. I've been a proper nerd and printed out all of the trail maps and will advise but will let the guys pick themselves, that way if they struggle then it's on them!

fat daddy

Well I showed my Wife Prawnys comment ... and she reminded me that she was "very" slow as opposed to a riding god .

and as I remember when she upgraded to the Santacruz her time massively dropped. ... The whole of Afan is great though, If me and the wife can do it, I am sure you can ... We are both scared witless of most stuff so thats testament to being able to do everything slowely

and the climb at Cwmcarn ... the only walking is when you screw up getting your wheel up something or your back spinning out and you suddenly stop, once you have cleared that obstacle its get back on and continue, so not massive walking just really short sections "IF" you screw it up

prawny

On Penhydd, I've heard (as evidenced on old youtube vids) that it was much smoother a couple of years ago, so not sure when fatdaddy last rode it but it's possibly worse since then?

The bits in the woods were fine (if a bit dark, it was about 6am) but the open sections were badly eroded, which made it difficult and uncomfortable to carry any speed. It would need to be much smoother to be loads better, I don't want it to be a BMX track, but it's proper harsh.

Agree that Y Wal might be a bit dull, I was just enjoying being out on my bike and not being battered. The climb up is looooooooooong.

vulva65

prawny wrote:

Agree that Y Wal might be a bit dull, I was just enjoying being out on my bike and not being battered. The climb up is looooooooooong.

When we say long....we talking as long as the BPW climb if you don't get the uplift?? or Longer?

fat daddy

prawny wrote:

Agree that Y Wal might be a bit dull, I was just enjoying being out on my bike and not being battered. The climb up is looooooooooong.

I admit it was a couple of years ago .... they normally close Penhydd every couple of years to rebuild it back up again due to erosion, perhaps its time to close it again !

it sounded like I was being harsh on y wall ... but it isnt boring ... I just find it dull compared to Whites and Penhydd .. its still an aesome trail .. and the fast flowing descent down the zigzags with the odd rock step built in is great fun for getting your flow on

fat daddy

Vulva65 wrote:

prawny wrote:

Agree that Y Wal might be a bit dull, I was just enjoying being out on my bike and not being battered. The climb up is looooooooooong.

When we say long....we talking as long as the BPW climb if you don't get the uplift?? or Longer?

Its long .. but its not as steep or technical as other rides, so you get to the top quite refreshed in comparison

wmorgs

The whites my fav, killer climb straight away but some good mixed sections:

http://www.cognation.co.uk/whites-level

vulva65

wmorgs wrote:

The whites my fav, killer climb straight away but some good mixed sections:

http://www.cognation.co.uk/whites-level

Thanks, 90% singletrack sounds pretty damn good to me....I'm ignoring the 6km climb for the moment! A couple of the guys have hired bikes from the Afan Forest centre so we would need to start the ride there, does Whites go via this?

vulva65

UPDATE - It didn't all go as we had planned, we didn't have enough daylight on the drive up so decided to stop in at Haldon Forest instead of Cwmcarn, Haldon was awesome fun and perfect warm up, did three loops, approx. 19 miles. Then we rode Afan on Sat but because we met at the main Afan visitor centre we ended up doing The Wall loop, it was really good fun but took a lot longer than we expected as one of the guys buckled his wheel, unfortunately for him he had to ride back down the fireroad from the burger shack, whilst the rest of us got to have the fun of the downhill! Finally sunday we did BPW and as always it did not disappoint, due to a few more technicals we only managed to get 8 runs in but no injuries and plenty of smiles. Awesome weekend!