Coedy Carnage
Well Coed-y-brenin lived up to expectations especially on the Carnage front...
I arrived at Ian's a wee bit before 5pm on Friday, bikes were loaded, Alan showed up, more kit was stashed in Ian's Volvo and before long and after just one more cup of coffee we were speeding towards Wales in the Silver Bullet.
Our tea stop was in the next village west of Welshpool where we stopped at a great family run chippy and consumed fried food a plenty.
We arrived at the Camping Barn called Cae Gwynat 9ish and settled in for the night having unloaded the Volvo and opened the beers.
Just as we were running low on beer Pat rolled up in his Campervan with a couple of six-packs of beer which were opened immediately.
Midnight rolled around, everyone was getting sleepy but The Swisser and his mate Dave hadn't shown up yet, it was decided that they had stayed in Telford overnight. It wasn't like they could have gotten in touch with us as there is pretty much no mobile signal in the valley. So we zipped ourselves in our sleeping bags and headed for the land of nod.
At 1:07am (yes I looked at my watch), Lex and Dave stumble into the camping barn. swearwords were uttered by not much notice was taken. Good job we forgot to lock the door.
It turns out Lex had plugged the postcode of the Camping Barn into his GPS (which the web link Ian sent out to everyone, said very clearly not to do) and was sent wildly off course and had been driving about in the dark for an hour and a half looking for us. Ha ha.
Ah well, the next morning, after a cup of coffee we were off and riding with a minimal amount of faffing and heading straight to the Coed-y-Brenin visitor centre for breakfast. After Brenin Breakfasts all round we headed out (after I fell down the stairs in the visitor centre - an omen?) into the rain to tackle the Brenin Beast, 46km of welsh trails.
The first hour or so passed uneventfully apart from Dave having a minor tumble jarring his back and heading for the carpark.
After a short steep downhill, a quick stream crossing and steep pitch up, Pat found himself on his back in the stream having fallen down bank having been unable to unclip upon stalling on the pitch. The hilarity.
The next normal wet service was resumed until on a steep downhill with water flowing down the trail, Alan had a minor off and I had a proper over the bars incident and came off with a bruised hand, bruised man boob and grip that no longer has an end on it.
/it gets a bit hazy from here on in.../
More slippy slidey fun until we got the half way cake stop and cake and hot drinks raised spirits.
We chugged around the rest of the route, enjoying the climbs and enduring the descents. Or vice versa.
Comedy rotating grips added an extra level interest to the proceedings. But zip tying them to the bars seemed to help matters.
Back at the bunkhouse people got warm and dry and the pub was invaded. The Tyn-y-Groes served up fine ales and mediocre food but extra baskets of chips for the Lees boys kept us happy. A few carry out Leffe's to see us on our way and we were all asleep by half eleven.
The next morning we were greeted with blue skies, so we got ourselves down the road to the visitor centre in record time and were waiting for the cafe to open. More brenin breakfasts allround and four of us were of to ride the Tarw trail (formally known as the redbull). Pat headed home after breakfast as his back was sore after his spill the day before. The trail was ace, just the right length for a morning ride, lots of good singletrack, very quiet with most riders seeming to ride on the other side of the valley. Two minor incidents,Iann snapped his chain and Lex had a proper off on a wooden bridge. The last section of trail was probably the best bit of singletrack I rode all weekend.
Back to the cafe for a quick piece of cake and a cold drink (not that we had any choice, they had run out of water again) and then back to the barn to shower and get on the road.
Once loaded up we were speeding back to the midlands stopping only to fill up with snacks from the spar in welshpool.
Back at homeI i put the washing on and then collapsed.
Carnage count:
Dan: bruised hand, two bruised hips (one from falling down visitor centre stairs), bruised man boob (possibly with cracked rib)
Ian: bruised knee
Pat: bruised forearm, bruised back.
Lex: bruised forearm
Fried breakfasts eaten:11
Kilometres ridden: 60 or so
Ace weekend!
I arrived at Ian's a wee bit before 5pm on Friday, bikes were loaded, Alan showed up, more kit was stashed in Ian's Volvo and before long and after just one more cup of coffee we were speeding towards Wales in the Silver Bullet.
Our tea stop was in the next village west of Welshpool where we stopped at a great family run chippy and consumed fried food a plenty.
We arrived at the Camping Barn called Cae Gwynat 9ish and settled in for the night having unloaded the Volvo and opened the beers.
Just as we were running low on beer Pat rolled up in his Campervan with a couple of six-packs of beer which were opened immediately.
Midnight rolled around, everyone was getting sleepy but The Swisser and his mate Dave hadn't shown up yet, it was decided that they had stayed in Telford overnight. It wasn't like they could have gotten in touch with us as there is pretty much no mobile signal in the valley. So we zipped ourselves in our sleeping bags and headed for the land of nod.
At 1:07am (yes I looked at my watch), Lex and Dave stumble into the camping barn. swearwords were uttered by not much notice was taken. Good job we forgot to lock the door.
It turns out Lex had plugged the postcode of the Camping Barn into his GPS (which the web link Ian sent out to everyone, said very clearly not to do) and was sent wildly off course and had been driving about in the dark for an hour and a half looking for us. Ha ha.
Ah well, the next morning, after a cup of coffee we were off and riding with a minimal amount of faffing and heading straight to the Coed-y-Brenin visitor centre for breakfast. After Brenin Breakfasts all round we headed out (after I fell down the stairs in the visitor centre - an omen?) into the rain to tackle the Brenin Beast, 46km of welsh trails.
The first hour or so passed uneventfully apart from Dave having a minor tumble jarring his back and heading for the carpark.
After a short steep downhill, a quick stream crossing and steep pitch up, Pat found himself on his back in the stream having fallen down bank having been unable to unclip upon stalling on the pitch. The hilarity.
The next normal wet service was resumed until on a steep downhill with water flowing down the trail, Alan had a minor off and I had a proper over the bars incident and came off with a bruised hand, bruised man boob and grip that no longer has an end on it.
/it gets a bit hazy from here on in.../
More slippy slidey fun until we got the half way cake stop and cake and hot drinks raised spirits.
We chugged around the rest of the route, enjoying the climbs and enduring the descents. Or vice versa.
Comedy rotating grips added an extra level interest to the proceedings. But zip tying them to the bars seemed to help matters.
Back at the bunkhouse people got warm and dry and the pub was invaded. The Tyn-y-Groes served up fine ales and mediocre food but extra baskets of chips for the Lees boys kept us happy. A few carry out Leffe's to see us on our way and we were all asleep by half eleven.
The next morning we were greeted with blue skies, so we got ourselves down the road to the visitor centre in record time and were waiting for the cafe to open. More brenin breakfasts allround and four of us were of to ride the Tarw trail (formally known as the redbull). Pat headed home after breakfast as his back was sore after his spill the day before. The trail was ace, just the right length for a morning ride, lots of good singletrack, very quiet with most riders seeming to ride on the other side of the valley. Two minor incidents,Iann snapped his chain and Lex had a proper off on a wooden bridge. The last section of trail was probably the best bit of singletrack I rode all weekend.
Back to the cafe for a quick piece of cake and a cold drink (not that we had any choice, they had run out of water again) and then back to the barn to shower and get on the road.
Once loaded up we were speeding back to the midlands stopping only to fill up with snacks from the spar in welshpool.
Back at homeI i put the washing on and then collapsed.
Carnage count:
Dan: bruised hand, two bruised hips (one from falling down visitor centre stairs), bruised man boob (possibly with cracked rib)
Ian: bruised knee
Pat: bruised forearm, bruised back.
Lex: bruised forearm
Fried breakfasts eaten:11
Kilometres ridden: 60 or so
Ace weekend!
Labels: bikes
posted by Dan Lees at 10:19 PM
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