"Raven", the new black trail at Brechfa

[Moose.]

Had a great weekend biking round Brechfa forest, probably the furthest west of any of Wale's trail centres. However, it's well worth the trip if you've never been. I've got friends who live in Pembroke, which makes things a little easier

Things started badly, as we'd planned on going for a couple of hours on Friday evening but annoying my derailleur hanger snapped in the car:



Still, managed to do the last downhill section chainless, so the evening wasn't a total waste. Luckily one of my friends (who wasn't riding that weekend) has the same bike, so I borrowed his hanger for the rest of the weekend.

Seeing as though the weather was hopeless on Saturday, we decided to go for the whole day on Sunday and do both the existing red trail (Gorech) and the new black trail (Raven) which can be linked up into one, near 40km, long trail.



First the bad bits, there's a fair bit of climbing, some of which is quite steep, so you'd better be fit!



It is however, mainly done along single track winding through the forest rather than fire roads (although there's still a bit of that too).

The fun bits are bloody awesome though There's a great section near the end which consists of 4 large (10-12 foot across) table tops which are really nice to ride:







although I recommend shin pads:



as this is what happens when you try to clear a 10ft table top jump but don't lean back far enough. As I took off, I was bucked of the bike, landed back on the saddle without any feet on the pedals and somehow didn't fall off but did catch my shin on the left pedal. Dam those V8s hurt! There's a video here of my mate Si showing how to do it without falling off:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egeak-wFtpo

There's also a couple of log ride sections:





which is about as "North Shore" as it gets There's also a number of excellent steep descents through the forest with some beautifully formed berms. One of the sections has bloody huge berms, probably 15ft high in places and near vertical, allowing for some lovely swooping turns as you scythe your way down. I didn't manage to take a picture as it was so steep, you couldn't really climb back up again!

All it in, well worth making the trek to and plenty for all as there's also both a blue trail and green trail there too. The blue's very nice in places with some lovely fast flowing single track. More info here:

http://www.mbwales.com/en/content/cms/Bases/Brechf...

PS anyone know the cheapest place to get a new derailleur hanger for an 06 GT Avalanche?

Edited by Moose. on Tuesday 12th August 10:15

[snotrag]

They will all be roughly similar price, about a tenner. Buy two.

I reccomend anyone to make sure thye carry a spare hanger just as part of your usual kit in your bag, saves you spoiling a ride or even a weekend away.

Trails look great!