afan argoed - skyline
Discussion
Anyone on here done it? i've done the W2 quite a few times now and is one of my favourite rides. i live about 45mins from there so it's not THAT far, but, if i go there, there isn't any point doing just the wall/penhydd or whites level as i'll spend more time preparing and getting there/back than i would riding so i normally just do the W2. it took me just under 4 hours today, based on that pace how long would skyline take?
i've heard it's not as good for single track, but how hard is the single track compared to on whites level? i'll be honest and say there are some bits on whites level that i can't do, there is 1 small bit on darkside right near the end i can't get the nerve to do it, not least because i often just ride on my own!
so, as an all day ride is it still good fun? if i ride it on my own and something happens, am i f
ked? and what is the difficulty of the single track like? (i don't want to ride all those hills and find i can't do the downs!!!).
thanks chaps
i've heard it's not as good for single track, but how hard is the single track compared to on whites level? i'll be honest and say there are some bits on whites level that i can't do, there is 1 small bit on darkside right near the end i can't get the nerve to do it, not least because i often just ride on my own!
so, as an all day ride is it still good fun? if i ride it on my own and something happens, am i f
ked? and what is the difficulty of the single track like? (i don't want to ride all those hills and find i can't do the downs!!!).thanks chaps
to be honest, skyline is a classic trail, but not necessarily a better ride that W2 and the Wall. There is a lot of fire road sections on the skyline trail. Its an all day ride thats for sure.
Last time I was there, I did the W2 trail with the wall section, as I found the wall to be the best singletrack there
Last time I was there, I did the W2 trail with the wall section, as I found the wall to be the best singletrack there
Jettagti said:
to be honest, skyline is a classic trail, but not necessarily a better ride that W2 and the Wall. There is a lot of fire road sections on the skyline trail. Its an all day ride thats for sure.
Last time I was there, I did the W2 trail with the wall section, as I found the wall to be the best singletrack there
the W2 is the wall + whites level, with the high valley link fire road linking the 2, so if you do W2, you'll do every bit of the wall. the wall on it's own can be done in under 90mins hence i always make it worthwhile going there by doing the W2. not sure whether to do skyline as i'm not sure whether i'll be disappointed.Last time I was there, I did the W2 trail with the wall section, as I found the wall to be the best singletrack there
cheers
any other thoughts?
ysnnim said:
The fireroad is a bit boring, but there are some cracking sections and last part, JetLag is quite a finish. Last time I did it, there was some maniac on a singlespeed... I mean, what is the world coming to.... :-)
Its worth it, just so you can tick it off the list...
skyline on a single speed!? what the hell!? have you done W2? if so, what's the more physically demanding ride, that or skyline?Its worth it, just so you can tick it off the list...
i would like to do it...just to be able to say i've done skyline
edit - trouble is, my best mate who likes mountain biking seems to moan when it comes to up hills. he REALLY hates the up hill at the start of whites level/skyline, says it's stupid and boring (i prefer it to fire road as it's more physically demanding, i admit it's not easy though), yet i can guarantee you if there was a fire road uphill instead, he'd moan that's boring too, as he always says he hates fire roads too. so either way, he'd moan. he likes the downhill but says he doesn't like darkside or zig zags on the W2 as they aren't fast enough and are a bit too technical. so i don't think he'd like skyline and don't know anyone else who does mountain biking so it'd probably end up me riding it on my own. i do the W2 on my own no problems, would skyline be ok to do this? again, anyone have any rough idea as to how much longer it takes to complete vs the complete length of W2?
thanks again guys
Ross.
Edited by E21_Ross on Sunday 3rd July 12:22
Edited by E21_Ross on Sunday 3rd July 12:22
Antony Moxey said:
Sorry if this appears stupid, but why not just ride it and find out? You say you only live 45 minutes away so it's hardly the hardship of the century if it doesn't turn out to be as you'd hoped, but at least you'll know and all you'll have wasted, at worst, is a day.
fair point. BalhamBadger said:
I've tried to do the Skyline and got lost both times as it's not very well signposted.
can anyone else comment on this? when did you last try it...maybe they've put in more sign posts since? i've found all the other routes there very well posted indeed.thanks chaps
Ross.
I rode Skyline about a month ago with Miss Notax. Enjoyed it far more than I remembered doing the last time I rode it! Took us about 3 hours going at a reasonable pace (to give you an idea the initial climb takes us 30-35 mins). When we did it there were several big diversions which appeared to be long term, however the diversions were good fun and included some footpath sections surprisingly!
Signage is definately the worst of all trails there, not helped with diversions, and in one annoying place towards the end you fly down a fire road descent and have to stop to see the tiny sign at a crossroads and then climb a hill having lost all your speed...
Definately worth riding - although you can experience the excellent final descent by turning right and right again when you reach the top of the initial Wall/Skyline climb.
Signage is definately the worst of all trails there, not helped with diversions, and in one annoying place towards the end you fly down a fire road descent and have to stop to see the tiny sign at a crossroads and then climb a hill having lost all your speed...
Definately worth riding - although you can experience the excellent final descent by turning right and right again when you reach the top of the initial Wall/Skyline climb.
http://www.mbwales.com/en/content/cms/Centres/Afan...
print a copy of the map and take it with you. it helps if you have a trip meter on your bike computer too.
print a copy of the map and take it with you. it helps if you have a trip meter on your bike computer too.
pablo said:
http://www.mbwales.com/en/content/cms/Centres/Afan...
print a copy of the map and take it with you. it helps if you have a trip meter on your bike computer too.
Have a Garmin gps watch which I wear without fail! Next time I go i'll try skyline. print a copy of the map and take it with you. it helps if you have a trip meter on your bike computer too.
village idiot said:
big fan of w2 here... a real 'bit of everything' route... does give your bike and you a bit of a hammering though.
can't wait to get back... just need to straighten out the crest rims first from the last visit!
as an all day ride, i think the W2 is probably my favourite i've done so far. just, for some reason, feels a little more polished than the beast of coed y brenin (the karrimor was better when it was around IMO, and harder). my other joint favourite ride is the marin trail near betws-y-coed, but the ONLY problem with that ride is it's too short. i can do it in a shade over 2 hours. the W2 is a good 4 hours or so which is a nice length to get you pretty worn out, but worthwhile for actually going out for the day.can't wait to get back... just need to straighten out the crest rims first from the last visit!
the only one i've yet to do at afan/glyncorrwg is skyline. does anyone know if penhydd is open yet? it was closed last time i went to do it, but that was about 13-14months ago!! i used to enjoy riding penhydd as a nice warm up and then head straight off and do the wall, that was a good combo. like penhydd as it's not overly technical but just has a nice shine to it for some reason. stunning views, nice bit of single track but not too demanding.
i wonder if one day i could do penhydd + the W2. would be a good 6 hours+ of riding though!!! hmmmm....
again...anyone know how long skyline takes in comparison to the W2? don't want to attempt it just yet if it's about an extra 1.5-2 hours as by the end of W2 i was getting pretty tired.
As mentioned above, I recently did Skyline in around 3 hours so I think you'll be able to do it in a similar time to the time it takes you to do W2. Penhydd is still closed and not due to open until 2013! 
Real shame as it was one of our favourite trails - ideal whatever standard the rider was. Apparently it will be very different when it reopens...
Real shame as it was one of our favourite trails - ideal whatever standard the rider was. Apparently it will be very different when it reopens...notax said:
As mentioned above, I recently did Skyline in around 3 hours so I think you'll be able to do it in a similar time to the time it takes you to do W2. Penhydd is still closed and not due to open until 2013! Real shame as it was one of our favourite trails - ideal whatever standard the rider was. Apparently it will be very different when it reopens...
Real shame as it was one of our favourite trails - ideal whatever standard the rider was. Apparently it will be very different when it reopens...
that's a shame as i really liked penhydd for the same reasons you said. i hope they don't change it for the worse to be honest, though i trust they'll do a fine job! think i only did that trail 3 times or so. have done the W2 a good 6-7 times now. good to know it takes similar time to W2, i didn't want to try it and find i'm out there for hours longer!! but 3 hours....blimey you must be shifting!! i'm not a cyclist by nature, running is my 1st sport so don't actually get out on the bike that much, but when i do, i love it thanks again chaps, much appreciated! you've just disappointed me about penhydd though
Don't worry, Penhydd will be open before 2013, last update I saw it will be "mid 2011" which I guess is now, not that I think any work has started yet - Sadly in keeping with the new project it's going to be downgraded to a blue trail, it was never the toughest trail (but I still managed to mess myself right up on it) but to make it a blue they'll have to take out or sanitise some of the best bits.
But I can understand the confusion. It's part of the Cognation Project which will be completed by the end of 2013 (new collective name for the South Wales trail centres) it will probably be the first of the large project to be completed which includes a new network of green / blue trails for Afan, a new Black loop around the top of Y Wall (where the small centre up there with the 4X track is) refreshed centre. They're also going to improve and refresh the White's and Y Wall (which as has been mentioned the W2).
At Cwmcarn there's going to be a whole new XC trail, graded red/black 25km long, and a whole new DH option (a start to finish new track rather than extra bits on the Mojo)
Then finally a whole new centre at Gethin which is being touted as Whistler in Wales, but is probably over-hyping it. The current forerunning for the contract to build it started a FB page with pictures of chairlifts etc and lots of people got very excited, until it had to release a statement explaining that the pictures were just ideas and in fact it hadn't even submitted it tender yet. (but it's in now, due to be awarded in Sept).
As for Skyline, I've never done the whole thing, there's some great bits there, all strung together with lots of fireroads, I ride an old 6" bike with 2.35 tyres so fireroads are long boring slogs for me so I've never been tempted to ride the whole thing, other than to say I've done it. A really good blast is up the main climb, down the black section, back down Windy Point (so far so Whites) and then instead of carrying on to the Energy Section, back up the fireroad that goes past the Black Section, turn right at the top of the White's climb, follow the fireroad for a 1km or so and down the long final skyline descent.
But I can understand the confusion. It's part of the Cognation Project which will be completed by the end of 2013 (new collective name for the South Wales trail centres) it will probably be the first of the large project to be completed which includes a new network of green / blue trails for Afan, a new Black loop around the top of Y Wall (where the small centre up there with the 4X track is) refreshed centre. They're also going to improve and refresh the White's and Y Wall (which as has been mentioned the W2).
At Cwmcarn there's going to be a whole new XC trail, graded red/black 25km long, and a whole new DH option (a start to finish new track rather than extra bits on the Mojo)
Then finally a whole new centre at Gethin which is being touted as Whistler in Wales, but is probably over-hyping it. The current forerunning for the contract to build it started a FB page with pictures of chairlifts etc and lots of people got very excited, until it had to release a statement explaining that the pictures were just ideas and in fact it hadn't even submitted it tender yet. (but it's in now, due to be awarded in Sept).
As for Skyline, I've never done the whole thing, there's some great bits there, all strung together with lots of fireroads, I ride an old 6" bike with 2.35 tyres so fireroads are long boring slogs for me so I've never been tempted to ride the whole thing, other than to say I've done it. A really good blast is up the main climb, down the black section, back down Windy Point (so far so Whites) and then instead of carrying on to the Energy Section, back up the fireroad that goes past the Black Section, turn right at the top of the White's climb, follow the fireroad for a 1km or so and down the long final skyline descent.
notax said:
As mentioned above, I recently did Skyline in around 3 hours so I think you'll be able to do it in a similar time to the time it takes you to do W2. Penhydd is still closed and not due to open until 2013! Real shame as it was one of our favourite trails - ideal whatever standard the rider was. Apparently it will be very different when it reopens...
What a shame. I used to live quite locally (some years ago now) and I really liked the Penhydd. There seemed to be a lot of fun descents for very little climbing, particularly if you cut out the boggy bit early on. Whytes Level and The Wall were open, but after the first couple of visits I just took to doing two laps of the Penhydd. Real shame as it was one of our favourite trails - ideal whatever standard the rider was. Apparently it will be very different when it reopens...Just getting back in to this whole mountain biking lark and I really enjoyed Y Wal the other week (took me 2 hours though not up to doing it in 1.5 yet, lol). Cwmcarn's Twrch trail nearly gave me a heart attack last night - such a long hard climb, great fun on the way down though. I don't know what Penhydd was like but I had looked at it as one that the girlfriend would be able to do as it seemed a lot less technical than the other trails at the centres.
P-Jay said:
Don't worry, Penhydd will be open before 2013, last update I saw it will be "mid 2011" which I guess is now, not that I think any work has started yet - Sadly in keeping with the new project it's going to be downgraded to a blue trail, it was never the toughest trail (but I still managed to mess myself right up on it) but to make it a blue they'll have to take out or sanitise some of the best bits.
But I can understand the confusion. It's part of the Cognation Project which will be completed by the end of 2013 (new collective name for the South Wales trail centres) it will probably be the first of the large project to be completed which includes a new network of green / blue trails for Afan, a new Black loop around the top of Y Wall (where the small centre up there with the 4X track is) refreshed centre. They're also going to improve and refresh the White's and Y Wall (which as has been mentioned the W2).
At Cwmcarn there's going to be a whole new XC trail, graded red/black 25km long, and a whole new DH option (a start to finish new track rather than extra bits on the Mojo)
Then finally a whole new centre at Gethin which is being touted as Whistler in Wales, but is probably over-hyping it. The current forerunning for the contract to build it started a FB page with pictures of chairlifts etc and lots of people got very excited, until it had to release a statement explaining that the pictures were just ideas and in fact it hadn't even submitted it tender yet. (but it's in now, due to be awarded in Sept).
As for Skyline, I've never done the whole thing, there's some great bits there, all strung together with lots of fireroads, I ride an old 6" bike with 2.35 tyres so fireroads are long boring slogs for me so I've never been tempted to ride the whole thing, other than to say I've done it. A really good blast is up the main climb, down the black section, back down Windy Point (so far so Whites) and then instead of carrying on to the Energy Section, back up the fireroad that goes past the Black Section, turn right at the top of the White's climb, follow the fireroad for a 1km or so and down the long final skyline descent.
wow, some useful info there. a shame they are "downgrading" penhydd But I can understand the confusion. It's part of the Cognation Project which will be completed by the end of 2013 (new collective name for the South Wales trail centres) it will probably be the first of the large project to be completed which includes a new network of green / blue trails for Afan, a new Black loop around the top of Y Wall (where the small centre up there with the 4X track is) refreshed centre. They're also going to improve and refresh the White's and Y Wall (which as has been mentioned the W2).
At Cwmcarn there's going to be a whole new XC trail, graded red/black 25km long, and a whole new DH option (a start to finish new track rather than extra bits on the Mojo)
Then finally a whole new centre at Gethin which is being touted as Whistler in Wales, but is probably over-hyping it. The current forerunning for the contract to build it started a FB page with pictures of chairlifts etc and lots of people got very excited, until it had to release a statement explaining that the pictures were just ideas and in fact it hadn't even submitted it tender yet. (but it's in now, due to be awarded in Sept).
As for Skyline, I've never done the whole thing, there's some great bits there, all strung together with lots of fireroads, I ride an old 6" bike with 2.35 tyres so fireroads are long boring slogs for me so I've never been tempted to ride the whole thing, other than to say I've done it. A really good blast is up the main climb, down the black section, back down Windy Point (so far so Whites) and then instead of carrying on to the Energy Section, back up the fireroad that goes past the Black Section, turn right at the top of the White's climb, follow the fireroad for a 1km or so and down the long final skyline descent.
Ross.
I'd forgotten Penhydd was becoming a blue That must mean they'll miss out the Hidden Valley section which was reasonably tricky - I just hope they include it as part of another route...
If the work on Penhydd hasn't even started yet I think 2013 is a reasonable guesstimate of when it will open...
That must mean they'll miss out the Hidden Valley section which was reasonably tricky - I just hope they include it as part of another route...If the work on Penhydd hasn't even started yet I think 2013 is a reasonable guesstimate of when it will open...
Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff