That is an excellent ride. Very tech (certainly much more so than snowdon in places) with very fast Carn Ban Mor style bits. One of my favourite rides I've done- up there with Snowdon, Helvellyn, Peaks, Carn Ban Mor etc.
Weather were shit though.
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Nice pics, how long to get to the top?
Wow, it's on the to do list. 😉
We very much meandered up in about 3 hours including several long stops and a lunch break.
Looks good Luke.. 8)
could you ride most of the way up or was it hikey bikey? Looks ace!
It was maybe 50/50 riding/walking distance wise.
Is that Ollie on some pink monstrosity?
That's interesting, I walked it in the snow a few months back and initially thought it might be a good ride but then decided it was more like a fire-road up a lump? What route did you take, it may well ahve differed from mine?
It's a great ride isn't it? Nice pics too. I think that it feels very 'hikey' to the top but is definitely worth it. The singletrack from Conic Hill along is fantastic too, as is Conic Hill! I did it all the way from Glasgow once but that wasn't much fun if I'm honest.
We started at rowardenan and then just went straight up. There is about a mile stretch of open stuff (shown in the photo with teh guy in red) but the very top is pretty technical and switchbacky, then it opens up but is still rocky but very fast. After the smoother bit it roughens up again then gets steep with some fairly tight switchbacks before a fairly steady singletrack rocky wind back.
Ollie's on an RM slayer sprayed in the nastiest shade of sparkly pink I've ever seen. We looked very colourful though- graham's yellow NS, my lime green Norco, ollie's pink slayer, huw's red orange. Like someone had been sick on a pile of bikes.
Oh, and if it's any interest to anyone the girls put their bikes on the boat up there and did this route which they said was excellent-
Fortunateson09 - Member
Is that Ollie on some pink monstrosity?
Wouldn't be the first time.... 😉
It's great isn't it 🙂 Here's some photos from a slightly nicer day if anyone's interested:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuartmarshall/sets/72157621970479712/
Oh ... some are from Ben A'an in case that confuses anyone!
Went up a week ago in amazing weather. Very fun DH. I managed to go over my bars and smash my front brake to bits 1/3 of the way down, the rest of the way was more 'fun'.
Saw a 2 foot adder on the trail and chased it to get a pic but it was in the undergrowth before my camera had started up! Lots of little lizards kicking about as well.
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😯 😀 Stunning!