2 Mammoth bike days

After Sunday mornings bike ride, I am super psyched to go riding loads now. Proper mountain rides too. So today I dragged James out for a biking mission we planned on doing around this time last year, stumped by my back wheel totally locking pushing it from the house to the car... I was not a happy bunny. This time round though, the wheel was fixed and everything looked good to go.

Our ride took us from the bottom of the road to Ffynon Llugwy, up to the leat system, along this, down past Llyn Cowlyd, then up over the shoulder on the right, down to the end of Llyn Crafnant, and back up over the hills at the back of the Cwm to Capel Curig, and along the old A5 back to the car. It totalled about 24km, with a fair amount of climbing in it. Some good sections to ride, others that were un-ridable nearly (super rough ascents). unfortunately it did feel like we rode 90% of the day uphill. But some of the trails were good, but I think the joy of the ride comes mainly from the incredible remote setting. I was surprised at how many people must ride this as there are loads of tyre prints in the soft mud.

We were totally boxed by the time we got back to the car. I feared James would never go out riding with me again.

James pushing up Allt Noah

He did come out whit me again luckily. The next day in fact. We went up Snowdon, up the Llanberis Path, and then descended down the Ranger path, up again to Telegraph Col and down Telegraph Valley. The push up wasn't as bad as we thought it would have been. Certainly the easiest i have ever found it. It's still a long way though, took just over 2 hours.

Nearing the top

It was freezing at the top. Hoar frost was forming all over the rocks and cafe on the summit. And we were freezing. So very quickly, we donned the pads and full face helmets in preparation for a rapid descent. And got going.

On the summit

We flew down to the top of the Zig Zags on the ranger path, my little computer tells me I hit 46km/h down there. Hitting the rocks and flying off clearing the others. Brilliant fun.

Flying down, nearing the top of the Zig Zags

The zig zags next, not so fast here. With some drops that are boarder line ridable. Super tight lines need to be chosen, and stuck to perfectly to get down some of it. It's fantastic rough technical riding. Not for the faint hearted mountain biker. I dabbed a rock once which annoyed me. In exactly the same place as I did last time I rode this. I do love that bit of trail.

Now it gets rocky

Then we pushed up to Telegraph Col, and totally flew down it. Fastest I have ever done it. I hit my all time high speed on the bike too at 56km/h. I nearly lost my balance on bunny hopping over the lethal drainage ditches. Very annoyingly near the bottom, I ploughed through a section of rocks without slowing down, and managed to pinch puncture both wheels. So annoying. I only had one spare tube on me, and a single patch, so I didn't have the means to fix them both. So pushed home. I cant believe that happened! Well I can, I did hit the rocks fast, but my tyres are massive and super tough.

The route in the background

Anyway, all in all it was a fantastic ride. I think it might end up being a training circuit for after the bike curfew over the summer months.