Post by misterg on May 1, 2015 23:14:42 GMT
MrsG has been mountain biking for longer than me and has a long-held ambition to bike up Snowdon so we decided we'd go for it this year before the "ban".
I walked up a couple of weeks ago, in glorious sunshine, to check out the Snowdon Ranger path descent and thought that it was worth a try, and that even if we had to carry/push all the tougher bits, that it was better to do a circular route than heading back down the Llanberis path.
The forecast was looking better towards the end of last week so we booked Thursday off. Sadly, her work got in the way, so I was left on my own with a day off, a plan and decent weather... What would you do?
The tops were in cloud when I arrived in Llanberis, but it was definately lifting, as forecast, and it wasn't long before the sun broke through.
The army(?) boys shattered the peace briefly
I ended up pushing some of the steeper cobbled sections of the track as I couldn't keep my speed high enough to smooth out the bump-bump-bump going over each big stone (not fit enough!) - It's OK for 50 yards, or so, but quickly becomes knackering (I was expecting to have to push/carry the sections just before and just after Clogwyn station, but had hoped to ride most of the rest).
Once the carry after Clogwyn was out of the way, the path was mostly rideable but almost covered by slushy, drifted snow with a narrow strip at the edge of the path where it had thawed. There was no snow at all two weeks ago.
There were only a few walkers about - most of them had a chat with me and were both incredulous and encouraging at the idea of biking up. Several questioned my sanity, one nice couple dashed over to open a gate for me. Everyone was pleasant and good natured.
It was quiet enough that I managed to ride right up to the start of the concrete steps by the cafe, and I even had the summit to myself when I arrived (I don't think that's happened for years).
It didn't take long for it to fill up again, though - they were a school party from somewhere who were well behaved and full of polite questions about how'd you get a bike up here? Isn't it bumpy? Where are you going now?
I was going to head down the side of the railway to the start of the Snowdon Ranger path, but there were railway workers around, so I thought I'd get shouted at if I did that. With a full and interested audience, I headed back down the path instead. Some guy near me slipped over and his mates shouted "Ha! Ha! You can't even stand up, but that bloke can ride his mountain bike down this". Feeling smug, I nearly stacked it all up on the next rock.
The start of the Ranger was full of snow, too, so I had to pick my way through the thinner stuff at the edge of the path. Once I was out of the snow, I thought I'd take a piccie before getting stuck into the descent proper
I lasted about two hundred yards - the path changed from gravel to that red, angular rock, and then to big, loose lumps of the red rock. I went off line and ground to a halt. It should just be a case of putting my foot down, getting back on line and heading off again... but the wheels were both on rocks so I tipped further than I thought before touching a foot down... onto another bloody rock... that rolled away from my foot... so over I went - nothing dramatic, except when I picked the bike up, I couldn't find the rear brake lever
The bars had turned as the bike fell and must have caught the brake lever on the ground and ripped it out of the master cylinder All the bits were still there, and no fluid had come out, so I 'just' needed to stuff the gubbins back inside and replace the circlip that held it all in place. Yeah, right. Thirty bloody minutes it took me to poke the little bastard thing back into its hole using an allen key that wasn't quite long enough and a penknife that kept snapping closed. The brakes *did* still work in the end though.
At this point, I was cross with the circlip, cross with the allen key, cross with the penknife, cross with the red rocks and cross with my own stupidity/laziness at such a silly fall - I should have been concentrating! I pushed for a while until I was past those red rocks and my head had cleared.
Once I was back in my stride, I rode far more of the descent than I expected to be able to - much to the surprise of a family having a picnic next to the path - they all had the mouth open, WTF?? look on their faces as I clattered past
I only minced down slowly, but really enjoyed it, and rode stuff that I'd never believed I could clear, but we were 'in the groove', the bike felt good and I was getting the hang of the extended concentration needed on line choice. There were a few dabs, obviously, but I feel I did actually ride most of it under control. I had another short push right at the bottom, where there are a few big steps in a narrow gully then we were away.
Telegraph Valley proved frustrating for me - I'd heard about the legendary water bars, but hadn't really appreciated how many there are, and how big they are - you may as well ride full speed into a kerb! I didn't trust myself to be able to hop them all at speed, so had to keep slowing down. It would be an absolutely superb run without them / with more skills!
Was it worth it?
Strictly for the riding? No, I don't think so.
For the sense of achievement? Oh YES!!
Congratulations if you've made it this far through the drivel...
I walked up a couple of weeks ago, in glorious sunshine, to check out the Snowdon Ranger path descent and thought that it was worth a try, and that even if we had to carry/push all the tougher bits, that it was better to do a circular route than heading back down the Llanberis path.
The forecast was looking better towards the end of last week so we booked Thursday off. Sadly, her work got in the way, so I was left on my own with a day off, a plan and decent weather... What would you do?
The tops were in cloud when I arrived in Llanberis, but it was definately lifting, as forecast, and it wasn't long before the sun broke through.
The army(?) boys shattered the peace briefly
I ended up pushing some of the steeper cobbled sections of the track as I couldn't keep my speed high enough to smooth out the bump-bump-bump going over each big stone (not fit enough!) - It's OK for 50 yards, or so, but quickly becomes knackering (I was expecting to have to push/carry the sections just before and just after Clogwyn station, but had hoped to ride most of the rest).
Once the carry after Clogwyn was out of the way, the path was mostly rideable but almost covered by slushy, drifted snow with a narrow strip at the edge of the path where it had thawed. There was no snow at all two weeks ago.
There were only a few walkers about - most of them had a chat with me and were both incredulous and encouraging at the idea of biking up. Several questioned my sanity, one nice couple dashed over to open a gate for me. Everyone was pleasant and good natured.
It was quiet enough that I managed to ride right up to the start of the concrete steps by the cafe, and I even had the summit to myself when I arrived (I don't think that's happened for years).
It didn't take long for it to fill up again, though - they were a school party from somewhere who were well behaved and full of polite questions about how'd you get a bike up here? Isn't it bumpy? Where are you going now?
I was going to head down the side of the railway to the start of the Snowdon Ranger path, but there were railway workers around, so I thought I'd get shouted at if I did that. With a full and interested audience, I headed back down the path instead. Some guy near me slipped over and his mates shouted "Ha! Ha! You can't even stand up, but that bloke can ride his mountain bike down this". Feeling smug, I nearly stacked it all up on the next rock.
The start of the Ranger was full of snow, too, so I had to pick my way through the thinner stuff at the edge of the path. Once I was out of the snow, I thought I'd take a piccie before getting stuck into the descent proper
I lasted about two hundred yards - the path changed from gravel to that red, angular rock, and then to big, loose lumps of the red rock. I went off line and ground to a halt. It should just be a case of putting my foot down, getting back on line and heading off again... but the wheels were both on rocks so I tipped further than I thought before touching a foot down... onto another bloody rock... that rolled away from my foot... so over I went - nothing dramatic, except when I picked the bike up, I couldn't find the rear brake lever
The bars had turned as the bike fell and must have caught the brake lever on the ground and ripped it out of the master cylinder All the bits were still there, and no fluid had come out, so I 'just' needed to stuff the gubbins back inside and replace the circlip that held it all in place. Yeah, right. Thirty bloody minutes it took me to poke the little bastard thing back into its hole using an allen key that wasn't quite long enough and a penknife that kept snapping closed. The brakes *did* still work in the end though. At this point, I was cross with the circlip, cross with the allen key, cross with the penknife, cross with the red rocks and cross with my own stupidity/laziness at such a silly fall - I should have been concentrating! I pushed for a while until I was past those red rocks and my head had cleared.
Once I was back in my stride, I rode far more of the descent than I expected to be able to - much to the surprise of a family having a picnic next to the path - they all had the mouth open, WTF?? look on their faces as I clattered past
I only minced down slowly, but really enjoyed it, and rode stuff that I'd never believed I could clear, but we were 'in the groove', the bike felt good and I was getting the hang of the extended concentration needed on line choice. There were a few dabs, obviously, but I feel I did actually ride most of it under control. I had another short push right at the bottom, where there are a few big steps in a narrow gully then we were away.Telegraph Valley proved frustrating for me - I'd heard about the legendary water bars, but hadn't really appreciated how many there are, and how big they are - you may as well ride full speed into a kerb! I didn't trust myself to be able to hop them all at speed, so had to keep slowing down. It would be an absolutely superb run without them / with more skills!
Was it worth it?
Strictly for the riding? No, I don't think so.
For the sense of achievement? Oh YES!!
Congratulations if you've made it this far through the drivel...
