Wales again?
You bet your bike I went again! But this time....I was racing.
Yes me, I entered the race at Cearsws, long story short, I popped my shoulder out in practice, so I had a bad Friday....
Simple - Effective - Welsh
I ended up pushing my bike around Coed-y-Brenin XC trail where I met some bloke from the North of England somewhere (bad memory).
I had fun though, but next year I will be back at Cwmcarn DH & XC again.
Fort Bill
Arrived up north on the Friday around tea time, went straight to the Lochy Camp Site & put up the tent.
Saturday - Arrived at the Nevis Mountain Range at 10:30am, While getting my stuff together, I met John (the man with an Iron Horse Sunday, nice bloke gave me a shot, in the car park)
We got chatting & decided to ride the trail together as we were on our own, well, bike wise anyway (his wife sat in the car all day), but, thats another story.
1st Run :- Went bad (for me), same as last time (2.5yrs ago), got off at certain sections & pushed down them.
Mind you, it was raining all day, it started during the night (kept me awake), came down all day & I fell asleep to it at night.
2nd Run :- Got off at my nemesis #1, got off & walked down! AAARRRGGGHH!!! I'm getting pissed now!! Charged the next (rough) section & hit a berm SMACK!! Right over the top of it! OUCH!!
Nice bruise on my right thigh.
Limped back to the chippy in Fort Bill, naff chicken kebbab & juice later, rushed me to Morrisons for Nurofen & Red Bull drip.
Sunday - Met Stevie in the dock side car park at 9:30am (with a limp), headed back to camp for a bacon roll & cuppa tea.
We arrived at the trail at 11:30am, my rear brake was dodgy to say the least & my leg?! How would this pan out?
1st Run :- Stopped at nemesis #1, Stopped!? We picked a line through & rolled down, this was working, could I do this all the way down?
Lunch-break - I headed back to camp for spare brake & had it fitted in time for 1 more run.
2nd Run :- Stevie went before me, I get this urge to chase him when he does that, so this is how it went....
New top section - Fast, Nemesis #1 - Took the wide line & cleared it & flow began to come, #2 - Took my roll in line, Cleared it! Aw man I was pumped, my forearms were burning!
This went on all the way down, until, Stevie - BIG STACK! Landed on his head, I nearly crashed watching him (he does this all the time by the way), but, by the time I stopped, he was back on his feet, Off again, huge rock in the woods (on the left), I was heading straight for it, launched it & landed just before the left hand berm, just before the fire road crossing & took the line straight through (1 bike lebgth between us), I tried to clear the tables & doubles & launched the Nissan Jump, hooked up on the step-down & dropped the drop!
Aw man that was fanfekintastik!!
Gotta do it agai!
Lift shut :(
Verdict : Gotta do it again!
Welsh trip
Monday XC : Got up real early for the 2hr drive to CwmCarn from our cottage at Cwm Irfon, ate breakfast & drank tea, then set off. The roads down there are twisty-turny from start to finnish, anyhoo, after a 2hr drive we arrived.
CwmCarn is set in a beutful forrest, great views & a forrest drive, along with an XC route & a DH route, anyway, got my bike off the rack & started to fit the wheels....DAMN! The rear wheel wouldn't fit?....What the....?
I had the Dh rotors on (8") & my XC rotors (6") were....erm?
Could be 2hrs away? Could be 500 miles away? Either way I wasnt going back for them, so, I put the bike back on the rack & drove 1.5 miles to the nearest bike shop.
Life saver! The bloke in the in the bike shop ahd 1 new rotor, Blast! I have 2 wheels!?
What the hell was I going to do? In came life saver man! "nd hand rotor, £5, aw man was I happy!
Anyway, fitted the new (ish) rotors & headed off.....What the?
My gears weren't working? They were working in the Workshop at home!? Aw man!
Bugger going back to the car, I'm off! Pushed up most of the trail after that....
The descents? Amazing, if not for one little thing (well, a few little things)....
These were placed on the trail every so often, supposedly to stop the mottorX'ers, it's an XC trail, no flow, no fun!
But, to my amazment, there is flow to be had at CwmCarn's Twych XC trail, Real nice!
The sun beat down all day, until I got back to the car & Crash, Bang, the heavens opened up, rain bouncing 6ft back up!
Clean Bike!
Thursday DH : My bike was ready from the night before (just incase), I have the midge bites to prove it. Got there a little after 10am & was ready for the up-lift when he got there, thats a nice set-up CwmDown have there, picked up from the bottom of the trail & dropped off 2min walk to the start line.
Well? The trail? I hear you say....If I said I did 9 runs, would you believe me? Tough if you dont, 'coz I did! hehehe.
By my last run, I was in a state of confusion, Mike (a Welsh nutter) reminded me how many runs he had done & added my other 5 runs to that.
The Dh trail, from the start line it looks easy, not much to see after the berm 30ft down, I went slow on the 1st run, but, I made up for it the next 8 runs. Nice drops, berms that have tricky rocks, steps, Huge off-camber sections where I got some 2 wheel drift going, eat your heart out Sam Hill, not!
It was dry & dusty all day, 8 runs in the sun, then on the last up-lift, down came the rain (again), mirror lens, warm & humid made them steam up, I had to run without htem, still, the bike was clean by the time I got back to Cwm Irfon, real plus that!
Cheers to mike (above) & his mate (I'm bad with names) for the chats & the last of your cola, to the bloke with the helmet cam & the Welsh postman who made me laugh (some comment about the man formaly known as 'Prime Minister').
Summery: Go to Wales!!
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