Dragons

It's no coincidence that Wales has a dragon on its flag, and just recently the mighty Ronnie James Dio, legendary singer of dragons and demons, passed away. Well...maybe there is no connection, but anyway myself and the Tachelet Brothers headed up to Wales after RJD's recent passing for some trail riding.

Su-per trails! Maybe the best I've done in Europe. Big mountain riding as it should be. Heaps of climbing followed by seemingly endless singletrack descents. Our first day was to Afan, the most famous of the Welsh riding centers. Multiple marked trails according to different skill levels gave us some choices. We went right for the meat - the W2, a 44km slog fest made up of 80%+ of single track. Heaven! Long descents, technical singletrack climbs, big views, and perfect weather. Awesome day.

After a culturally diverse night (mingling among the Welsh knuckleheads and their terrible tattoos), we went out for another big ride. This time in a smaller trail center, Brechfa. Super nice guy at the Drop-Off Cafe gave us some tips and we headed out for another 40km ride. This time, instead of going up and then down, we went up, down, up, down, and so on. Lots and lots of climbing. But that gave heaps of scrumptious trails, and more diverse terrain than at Afan. It took us about an hour longer to complete this loop than at Afan, and we were pretty destroyed at the end, but it was worth it.

Finally, back (for me) to Cwmcarn for 1.5 hours of 100% singletrack goodness. We got up early as we had a ferry to catch, and were clipping in just after 7am. Peter had hurt his back the day before, so it was just Stijn and me pedaling up the very technical climb. What a fantastic ride! To get so much exercise and thrills in just an hour and a half. Hour and half on the road bike and I'm falling asleep. Mountain biking rules!!

So there you have it. 3 days of some of the best riding I've done. Trails like big west-coast USA trails. Top that off with English beer and Indian food, and you have a pretty ok trip. Except...for the English breakfasts. But you can't have everything, right?


Dio, RIP

UK, here we come!


All those squiggly lines? Trails!


The big blue van saw us through the trip.


Motley crew


One of the rare moments not on singletrack


Some "north shore" features. Clearly I was riding so fast I came out blurry...


The next day at Brechfa. First big climb, Peter breaks a chain


Flowers are pretty


Here we go...


Trails, trails, trails


Stijn getting his groove on


Well-deserved beers at the end.