Coed-Y-Brenin

This weekend I went on a 3 day trip to Coed-Y-Brenin with 20-odd guys from my local club, Walden Velo for some much needed riding and socialising. Cambridge isn’t exactly close to North Wales to a 4am meeting was required in order to get there in time for a few hours of riding on Friday before dark.  We were on our bikes by about 11am and managed a loop of MBR before lunch at the café. In the afternoon the group split and we managed another good couple of hours before heading back to the Tyn-Y-Groes hotel. It’s the first time I have been to this trail centre and my first impressions were good but looking at the maps there was still plenty of riding to be done over the next couple of days.

After the 4am start it was no surprise that everyone was knackered and ready for bed by 10. At least this meant an early start was feasible and the 8am breakfast wasn’t too much of a struggle. On Saturday the group split early as we headed out to ride the beast. The weather had closed in quite a bit and any puncture stops or waiting for people to catch up was very unpleasant and kept to a minimum. The group split up further during the ride and it ended up with Callum and myself by the top of the long climb after the café with everyone else either taking short cuts or falling behind. This worked well as we were able to ride the singletrack without much waiting around and spin gently on the fireroads. By the end of the ‘Adams Family’ descent we had caught a few more of our group and we agreed to head back to the hotel in time for a pub lunch and the rugby. We clocked up about 45km and a descent amount of climbing.

The final day was a bit of a washout from the start and only 6 of us braved the trails. We cherry picked the best bits of the Beast and knocked it on the head after just under 2 hours of riding. It was great fun riding on empty trails but it was very wet and cold and the combination of tired legs and the 5 hour drive ahead of us meant people were keen to finish early. To be honest I wasn’t going to argue as coming away from a weekend or riding without crashing was a nice added bonus!

It was great to get out and ride some new trails, while also working on my confidence on the technical stuff and having some good banter on the side. The trails at Coed-Y-Brenin are in great condition and I enjoyed the riding much more than last years trips to Afan. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back there later in the year when it’s a bit dryer and warmer (if that ever happens in Wales). The biggest revelation was the Giant Trance 29er I borrowed for the weekend. I’ll get a review up soon but safe to say it is an absolute monster and great fun to ride!

Update: Giant Trance X 29er review here