Fanylion Mountain Bike Team
Official site of the Fanylion Mountain Bike Team. Includes mountain bike ride guides, gear reviews, bike maintenance, team reports and rider profiles of the Fanylion Racing Team.
Cwmcarn, Afan Argoed, CyB, Gwydyr
October 03, 2003, Welsh Roadtrip
Click here to view photo album
Thursday 2nd Oct:
Boy Band stays at my house ready for an early start in the morning. A few beers and a curry and we retire to bed.
Friday 3rd October:
Planning to awake at 4.45am, we actually awake at 4.15am, both Boy Band and I suffering indigestion the whole night from our curries. Feeling far less than refreshed, we eat breakfast, pack the car and depart.
7.30am: Rendezvous with Team Ra near Birmingham, convoy towards Wales. 9.15am: collect Team Sambo from Newport railway station. 9.45am: arrive Cwmcarn, it is deserted. Unpack bikes, riding by 10am. Cwmcarn is awesome. The initial climb out of the valley is excellent and the return leg equally entertaining. Too short though, and 58mins later we are back at the car park and packing up. 11am: leave Cwmcarn. Hit M40 and head for Afan Forest park, 45miles away, with stop en-route for car and body fuel. 12.15pm: arrive Afan White’s Level. Eat food, unpack, Jamie messes about with his front derailleur, we eventually get riding by 1.30pm.
White’s Level is a good trail, obviously the local trail hounds have been busy, but the first half is uphill and the second half downhill, which is annoying. Can’t we have a bit of variation, some ups and downs on the same leg? The downhill isn’t particular technical except for the very last section, and Boy Band sees fit to stack it, twice, in the space of 100yards. The second crash is a full OTB humdinger, with Boy Band dropping down a big step and going over the top onto rocks below, then, with absolutely no concern for himself, jumping up as fast as possible to make sure his new bike isn’t scratched.
We had discussed at the start of our Team FanyLion Elite Squad additional day that we would take it easy and not tire ourselves out, ensuring we held plenty of strength in reserve for Saturday when we would be attempting to ride all 3 routes at CyB in the one day. We wanted to make sure we were still able to do all 3 routes and be in the lead pack. However this plan is soon ignored at Afan as we ride faster and faster and ride several successive sections at full race pace. Awesome yet stupid.
3.30pm: we are packed up and set off for Dolgellau, what should be a max 3.5hr drive away. After Boy Band (never let him map read for you!) takes us on a 30mile detour we arrive at Dolgellau at 8.30pm. The windie, twisty Welsh roads have taken their toll and I am absolutely exhausted. Sambo had been dozing in the back of the car whilst Boy Band and I argued over directions in the front. Now all we want is ale, food and our beds. The hotel restaurant has just shut, so we go to a local restaurant, endure the worst service I have ever seen (and no, not because we were English. Welsh people were being totally ignored too), share a couple of bottles of wine, had pint in the pub next to the hotel and retire to our beds. Except there were 2 rooms and 2 double beds. Between 4 of us. Gaytastic.
Saturday 4th October:
8am: Awaking next to Boy Band is a harrowing experience I do not want to ever repeat. 8.30am: breakfast. Choices: Full English with poached or fried egg, or a kipper. Boy Band advised that eating a Full English was a bad idea and we should have kippers, as the body uses a lot of energy and water to digest all the fat of a Full English. So Sam and I dutifully ordered our kippers. And Boy Band orders a Full English. Sam asked for his kipper with a poached egg, and the bloke looked baffled. Fearful even. Apparently his wife (the cook) would go ballistic if he wrote that down (it isn’t a choice you see), so Sam made do with a solo kipper. 9am: we set off for CyB, arriving at 9.30 and in the saddle for 10am, bang on schedule. After a Reunion en-route with one of Sam’s University buddies we complete the MBR Route in 2hrs. 12noon: still bang on schedule, we meet the rest of the riders who have just arrived. By now the Elite Team have ridden 33miles in total and I have to admit I am feeling tired. The Oldham faction arrive late (as usual), we saddle up, and take the obligatory pre-ride photo. 1.30pm: we hit the Karrimor. By now I am feeling the pace and yesterday’s riding hangs heavy in my legs. Boy Band is relentless, looking like he has just started riding today. Sambo powers along like an unflappable carthorse. Ra’s knees are killing him and he is forced to get off and push up any climb steeper than 1:50.
The weather is very changeable, cold winds and heavy rain interspersed with sunny spells. I split my front derailleur cable outer and have to remove the derailleur completely, having to lift my chain into a different sprocket by hand at the top of big descents and bottom of steep climbs. Me and my bike are slowly falling apart.
5.00pm: the Karrimor is complete. Sambo, Boy Band and I want to do the Red Bull route in order to fulfil our intentions of riding all 3 routes in one day, but I am so tired it will take me a good 90mins to complete the route and it will be dark by then. We have to admit defeat. We will return to do all 3 in one day, oh yes, we will return.
6.00pm: we have changed into warm dry clothes have had tea and coffee at the café and are en-route to Criccieth. 7.00pm: arrive in Criccieth, disembark into Hotels, s.s.s. and heading to the Prince of Wales for Team Issue steak and chips and beer. We return to the Youth Club Hotel bar (see Wales Report 20.7.02) but the night passes uneventfully (despite some Welsh bird coming over and saying “My mate fancies you” to Boy Band and Ra). Oh yes, nearly forgot, Boy Band pulled a midget. 11.00pm: we stumble back to our respective B&Bs and collapse into our beds. I find it difficult to get to sleep without the comforting warmth of Boy Band next to me.
Sunday 5th October:
8.30am: we awake, eat Full English (sod Boy Band’s advice, I need full on lard influx) and pack ready for the trip to Betws –Y-Coed. I ride some steep steps down to the beach (see vid), and we are off. 11am: we arrive at Gwydyr and get kitted up to ride. We have heard that Marin signage has been added and are keen to see if the trails have been altered at all. They haven’t, except for the final blast back to the car park, which is very fast and swoopy, with huge jumps and maKsimum grin factor. Worth coming just for that last section. Wicked.
Biggest technical of Team FanyLion’s history sees Sambo snap his rear derailleur clean off his bike. Team Starkey took control of the FanyLion Trackside Repair Squad and soon had Sambo mobile once again, albeit in singlespeed mode. 2pm: we are packed up and hit the road for home. By the time I get home I have ridden 80miles off road and driven 660miles in my car. I am pleased to have spent 3 days biking, gutted to have failed to ride all 3 routes at CyB in a day, but vowing to return.
Another Team FanyLion weekend is a complete success.
Ultimate rspKt. Team Hodgson, Out.
Riders present
Team Hodgson
Team Sambo
Team Boy Band
Team Ra
Team Shack
Team Starkey
Team Cliff Diver
Team Downhill Maniac
Team 10-Ton Kona
Enjoyment level
Good to bad