Cwmcarn

[croftsj]

Rode here today for the first time ever, I'm a novice, I bought my MTB as a winter training tool (triathlete) so this was a huge leap of faith that my bike handling skills and bottle was up to it.

What can I say, did 2 loops of Twrch trail and everything I read about it was spot on, a great climb up to around 300 metres through some really technical sections along the stream, I fell off at super low speeds about 4 times, embarrassing more than anything else but a great reminder to concentrate and really commit to a path through the rocks and roots.

To be honest it was beyond my abilities, I pushed hard and got a lot out of the day, no big incidents, me and bike made it home fine albeit a little bruised from some comedy low speed falls. Some of the DH sections are butt clenching but massive grin inducing at the same time, learnt a boat load and was able to put in a much better effort on the second loop of Twrch.

It reminds me of the Nurburgring, it really demands full attention and will bite you in the arse (especially a novice) if it goes wrong, don't take liberties until you really know the sections.

Awesome day out and much respect to you DH boys, nuts of steel.

[CharlieGee]

Sounds like a good day out. I'm planning a trip to Wales for BPW and Cwmcarn in May and I'm childishly excited already.

[Silvs]

I'm quite a regular up there. Did you do the red or black airstream at the top? The red is good fun. The black is very enjoyable even if your not much of a jumper. Great fun just to roll over them. Do Cafall, I much prefer it to Twrch. Twrch just feels a little manufactured and worn now. Cafall is fantastic. Harder climb (on the legs not technically) but DH sections are better I feel!

[CharlieGee]

Silvs said:

I'm quite a regular up there. Did you do the red or black airstream at the top? The red is good fun. The black is very enjoyable even if your not much of a jumper. Great fun just to roll over them. Do Cafall, I much prefer it to Twrch. Twrch just feels a little manufactured and worn now. Cafall is fantastic. Harder climb (on the legs not technically) but DH sections are better I feel!

Good tips. Cheers.

[joema]

Silvs said:

I'm quite a regular up there. Did you do the red or black airstream at the top? The red is good fun. The black is very enjoyable even if your not much of a jumper. Great fun just to roll over them. Do Cafall, I much prefer it to Twrch. Twrch just feels a little manufactured and worn now. Cafall is fantastic. Harder climb (on the legs not technically) but DH sections are better I feel!

Agreed!

[croftsj]

Silvs said:

I'm quite a regular up there. Did you do the red or black airstream at the top? The red is good fun. The black is very enjoyable even if your not much of a jumper. Great fun just to roll over them. Do Cafall, I much prefer it to Twrch. Twrch just feels a little manufactured and worn now. Cafall is fantastic. Harder climb (on the legs not technically) but DH sections are better I feel!

We did the Black Airstream, the forest sections after Airstream were dusty they were that dry. Some oddities in there as well, the slab of shame, what's that all about? Took some GoPro footage that might be x-rated due to me swearing most of the way up and down!