Post by roger on Jun 15, 2014 20:58:07 GMT
Fancied doing this when I first saw it & was part way down there on Friday so stayed the night & had a go. It was the first event they'd organized with the idea of using the best bits of trail from the Afan & Glyncorrwg trail centres linked by off piste paths & tracks.
Result was 60km of trail & 1500m of climbing with very little fireroad, 1/4 mile of tarmac & loads of red grade singletrack with the odd bit of black. The Blade trail being exceptional with more berms than I've ever seen, fast to begin then hairpin after hairpin really steep full lock turns with berms to catch you after every drop followed by well thought out singletrack to regain the height.
There was about 3 extra loops as an option & by the time the group I was with got to the final option down to the finish a local guy said the last climb was easy but everyone moaned about no more climbing so just the 2 of us did the final climb. Turned out really well with 2 red descents followed by a very good black, very steep with blind drop offs & berms all built from slabs. A good end as the other descent option was a blue.
Organizers messed up a bit with route marking though & I followed a load of people right from the start the wrong way for about a mile before coming right back to the start. Then about 1/4 distance met the lead group coming back up a fireroad right from the valley floor luckily I hadn't gone very far down. Lot of moaning, swearing, sweating unhappy people
But a brilliant route following the Afan valley on one side & coming back down the other.
Added bonus being the car parking fees in the trail centres being £1
Result was 60km of trail & 1500m of climbing with very little fireroad, 1/4 mile of tarmac & loads of red grade singletrack with the odd bit of black. The Blade trail being exceptional with more berms than I've ever seen, fast to begin then hairpin after hairpin really steep full lock turns with berms to catch you after every drop followed by well thought out singletrack to regain the height.
There was about 3 extra loops as an option & by the time the group I was with got to the final option down to the finish a local guy said the last climb was easy but everyone moaned about no more climbing so just the 2 of us did the final climb. Turned out really well with 2 red descents followed by a very good black, very steep with blind drop offs & berms all built from slabs. A good end as the other descent option was a blue.
Organizers messed up a bit with route marking though & I followed a load of people right from the start the wrong way for about a mile before coming right back to the start. Then about 1/4 distance met the lead group coming back up a fireroad right from the valley floor luckily I hadn't gone very far down. Lot of moaning, swearing, sweating unhappy people
But a brilliant route following the Afan valley on one side & coming back down the other.
Added bonus being the car parking fees in the trail centres being £1