iv never timeed myself but i tend to take about 1hr 1/2 for cwmcarn with a few stops and a chat.
not really rode afan that much so i would be interested in what people can do around there, i know my mate can do cwmcarn in 50mins and his friend dont ask me how but done it in 37mins!! but he does race xc and knows it like the back of his hand.
If you want to "race" people why not enter a race. 😉
37 mins for cwm carn? Thats an AVERAGE of 20mph more or less. If they're capable of that, kudos to them.
not asking to race just interested in knowing ur times. his name is anthony boyle i know he can beat the uplift van to the top!!
u r 12 and i claim my 5er
37 mins for cwm carn? Thats an AVERAGE of 20mph more or less. If they're capable of that, kudos to them.
you sure about that? i was under the impression that cwm carn was c9 miles for a lap. which gives a speed of c13mph fast but believable.
Last time i went i did it in an hour-ish
singlespeedstu, run that by me again??
Fastest ive ever done Cwmcarn was 54 minutes. I dont race XC.
It'd be pointless so i won't bother.
but some 1 i now rann from here to like there and did it in like 13 minintes even though it seams imposable. 🙄
ok i get you u fella ur one of them!!
the gulf between semi pros to your everyday amateur is a massive gulf. you only gotta look at golf so for a guy who is riding 5-6 times a week with all the top kit is going to be a lot fitter and more tech sound that than a good rider who does 3 days a week.
ok i get you u fella ur one of them!!
What? someone that can sniff out a bit a interweeb BS?
Yes your'e right I am. 😆
cubemeup - you do realise that you're arguing with one of the best bike handlers i've ever met dont you.
by the sounds of it i am!! i will have to hang my head in shame
i will have to hang my head in shame
There ain't no shame in a bit of STW BS.
Or so it would seem from a lot of the posters. 😉
no BS here i was asking a question, so stu if a weekend warrior can do a sub hour around cwmcarn ur saying the a semi pro/pro rider couldnt smash their time??
Let the willy waving commence...
I did it in 36:50 last weekend on my rigid singlespeed. Wasnt very dusty though.
There's quite a difference between "just under an hour" and just over half an hour on a route like that.
At just over half an hour there must have been a huge dust cloud over the whole of south wales.
I did them both in 4 min 26 seconds on my fixie...
Cwmcarn 55 mins odd on the big bike. Would imagine I could shave 10 mins or so if I went on the race (not as fun) bike.
Did it on my stag do with some new chaps to biking and it took 3.5 hours 🙂
More of a challenge is to get up the entire climb without stopping/dabbing. Best I've managed with one dab, so far....
i found it hard to swollow and asked tim in martin ashfields and he said he was well capable of doing that time. my mate can do 52mins around and smokes and drinks for fun.
loddrik - MemberI did them both in 4 min 26 seconds on my fixie...
Did that include riding between the two trails?
Was it a brakeless fixed gear?
What gear inch?
Road tyres of cx?
Dropbar or silly narrow flatbar?
What tyres for time based riding willy waving?
Did that include riding between the two trails?
But of course!
Was it a brakeless fixed gear?
That'd just be silly given the necessary velocity. I am merely supremely gifted, not burdened with a deathwish.
What gear inch?
I'd say cucumbers, radishes or maybe some celery.
Road tyres of cx?
Slicks baby.
Dropbar or silly narrow flatbar?
Ive eschewed the conventional steering apparatus and have found a nice praying mantis with rudimentary navigational skills. He's a little deaf though some sometimes there can be a delay in my wanting to turn and his registering the instruction. Having said that, it didn't adversely affect my time, as I'm sure you'll agree..?
Well, only one thing for it really:
SSStu V Cubemeup's mate.
RACE!
Money where mouth is time...
And if anyone makes up some excuse why they can't do it, then they're a Bottle-Job and they'll have to give all their bikes away (to me) and take up kitting.
Don't worry about it Cubemeup, some regulars on here are just too cool to mention times etc, don't take it personally.
A good time round Cwncarn is about 50 mins or less. My mate used to do it on his SS at just under 50 mins he's quite quick, but not a racer type. Although a mate of mine did do it in 37 mins, he is pretty quick thou and races road quite a bit. I do believe that Magnus who used to be a local did it in about 28mins, although i might of got that wrong, i think that he holds the unofficial record anway. You could look at the student champs that they had there a few years back, but i think that they used the road a bit on the ups.
Just ignor the daft comments, it's just STW.
I'm sure Magnus Backstedt is still local? I can't see there being much truth in a 28 minute lap, it would be about 24mph average... but I have also heard he did a quick lap.
Anything under an hour is a good time.
Wasn't there an issue of MBUK a few years back where a few English XC racers (inc. Oli Beck I think) and a few Welsh racers were challenged to set the fastest lap, I seem to remember times of the very low 40s being recorded. Not sure what conditions etc were like. As someone who has participated in road and XC races torn to shreds by O'Boyle I can confirm that he is very quick indeed, 37 sounds incredible but not impossible. He'd soundly thrash me round there and to put it in perspective I once managed a 55 on a 38lb Patriot and have done sub-50 on more XC orientated bikes (though never singlespeed - did Whites once on the Dirt Jump bike though ;-).
I do think it's interesting knowing what a course is possible in... just hammers home how inadequate we are despite (perhaps) leading home a group of our own equally hungover, proper job + family = minimal training mates.
I have often thought about starting a thread like this. glad I didn't do it now.
i'd be well chuffed if I could get a couple of laps of Cwmcarn in under 1h 40m (one lap is too much of a sprint for me).
Last week in the wet I didn't get under the hour so got a way to go yet but nice to have a goal.
I thought that cwmacarn was only 8 miles? Not sure really. Good racers could easily do an average of 16mph plus on a course like this not problem. Work it out from that.
They did a BUSA XC race there in 2008, the quickest riders were Elite XC racers, no one got sub 40 IIRC. I can see 37 minutes being possible by literally a handful of people in the right conditions. Not 28 minutes though, I reckon even Nino Schurter would struggle with that!
Edit: double post!
Smee could do it in 27.
He could do laps all day at a consistent 27 minutes! After riding down at 24mph too.
Elfinsafety - MemberWell, only one thing for it really:
SSStu V Cubemeup's mate.
RACE!
Money where mouth is time...
I can't see anywhere on this thread I've claimed to be fast.
The only claim i made was that i could smell a bit of BS.
Seems like a few others can too.
Oh and you wouldn't want my bikes as you don't like them. 😉
I finished it before I started.
i held the record before records began 😛
Radoggair - You and Andy Barlow set up a date for that race round GT black yet? 😉
maybe come summertime when its a bit dryer, he'l lose and he knows it!! 😛
The OP can always have a browse
[url= http://connect.garmin.com/explore#activityType=mountain_biking&eventType=all&activitySummarySumDistance-unit=kilometer&activitySummarySumDuration-unit=hour&activitySummaryGainElevation-unit=meter&bbMaxLat=51.668083748868135&bbMaxLong=-3.0291366577148473&bbMinLat=51.60373194140027&bbMinLong=-3.1741905212402326&sortField=relevance¤tPage=1 ]here[/url]
if he wants to avoid the wrath of the STW scribes - it also demonstrates there are plenty of folk out there who are curious about their time for a ride and to see how it compares with others (none of those entries are mine BTW)
If I go solo round a trail centre then I take usually keep an eye on the clock - if I am with others then time doesn't matter (record on GT black was 5hours - that did get a bit tedious in the rain)
Having ridden Cwm Carn and knowing how much faster the likes of Raddiogair will go the OPs rane of times sound reasonable to me
The other thing to take into account is that some of the sections at cwmcarn have changed slightly over the last couple of years. I hadn't been for a good year until August and they have definitely made a couple of the up sections easier with slightly different route.
Sub 30mins would be an amazing time though!
And I too time myself round trail centres when on my tod, something to do I suppose.
There was a BUSA mtb races there a few years ago. 3 laps.
Laptimes here
[url= http://www.bucs.org.uk/core/core_picker/download.asp?id=9737 ]www.bucs.org.uk/core/core_picker/download.asp?id=9737[/url]
Fastest lap time
36:48 oli holmes swansea
fastest I've done Cwmcarn is 58mins, usual time is about 1hr 5/10min. Whites quickest is 1hr 8min, normally ride it about 1hr 15/20.
Kev
Fastest lap time
36:48 oli holmes swansea
beat 'surrounded by zulu's' time by 2 seconds. Gutting ( altho he was on a ss rigid ) 😉
singlespeedstu used to be such a nice chap.
singlespeedstu used to be such a nice chap.
must have been before i met him 😉
Now I'd have tried if I knew it was a race.
under 40 mins must be balls to the wall - i managed a 45min lap when I had a race bike - not exactly fun though! when we go it now tends to be over an hour with sessioning the freeride section and coming down the dh track, more of a laugh!
Agree that cwmcarn has been sanitized over the last couple of years so those times are all the more impressive.
does anyone know if the route has changed more fundamentally over the years? my memory isn't up to much but I'm sure the xc used to be a bit shorter? especially the last bit of downhill.
stravaiger, what garmin are you using i wouldnt mind getting one, im a glutten for stats and stuff like that. might even help me with my fitness logging rides. also nice to see my local loop on the yuysuddu and cwmfelinfach just done it today with a ride to machen mast.
what garmin are you using
I have sportstracker on the phone and can export a gpx file for a "manual upload" to the connect garmin site for the stats anorak type stuff tho the wris****ch garmin forerunners are now looking neat - but I don't feel so keen that I want to to fork out nearly £200 on one. I tend to browse the garmin site as it is handy for picking up ideas for routes and as I am now getting senile it also means I can keep track of where I have been 😉
The first lap of the BUSA xc race went up the road, only laps 2 and 3 were the traditional loop! So no one even went sub-45, slower than I remembered!
Makes a 37 even less likely frankly, although as I said I suspect there are literally a handful that could do it, it certainly won't be your average bloke who 'does a bit of xc racing'!
oboyle is an elite njee?
could it be done if you didnt have to think about the next two laps?
Makes a 37 even less likely frankly
i agree, to take a further 8 minutes of an xc lap time would be very very difficult, nigh on impossible, especially when you think half the lap they'll be going the same speed (roughly) on the downs, so taking 8 minutes out of climbing........... na, i dont think so
The conditions werent ideal, so there's maybe a couple of minutes there, and everyone had a lap in their legs with the road climb, which was mental, but I reckon anyones mate down the pub who claims to have done 37 is definitely talking crap!
no ones mate down the pub said that, i got told by people who ride cwmcarn so i wondered how others do against elite riders. i myself would not stand a chance
My 1st and so far only time at Cwmcarn:
http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/Superfli/52cgsm0448thg6h5
GPS must have lost signal for the climb. 29mins without most of climb then.
Whites is 1:19 (have done it 4times now).
http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/Superfli/7em74subdvu8qmji
Both are with my mate who does hold me up quite a bit, but then these times are w/e away times, not by any means racing.
nonk - Membersinglespeedstu used to be such a nice chap.
You've obviously never met me as i've always been a bit of an unaproachable elitist. 😉
no ones mate down the pub said that, i got told by people who ride cwmcarn so i wondered how others do against elite riders. i myself would not stand a chance
I was paraphrasing based on the comments that said about mental times from people who do a bit of XC racing. If Oli Holmes, Seb Batchelor, John Whittington, Ben Thomas, Euan and Ross Adams (all Elite XC racers) can't go sub-45 in race conditions then I just don't believe many people can do 37 minutes, certainly not 'normal' people. Unless the course has changed markedly from the course raced in 08.
when cwmcarn first opened - 2001 ? Im sure that some guy did do less than 30mins and for those that remember there was a very steep bit of climb which last time I went was replaced by a switchback. At the time I was pretty fit and used to do 40 something flat out (once!) as have never seen mountain biking as a competitive past-time ....
So it's obviously a lot slower than it was, which shifts the goal posts somewhat!
i have actually stu i met you during a merida once. you where nice back then 😆
You must have me mixed up with someone else.
I've never been nice. 8)
I think you right hitman and njee20, the course used to be a fair bit shorter that far back, I know my mates always had 45 minutes as a good time back then (for non-elite riders).
Actually talking crap about being shorter, but perhaps it was easier, more fire road? Anyway for a bit of nostalgia:
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
[url= http://www.bikemagic.com/ride-features/cwmcarn-fly-with-me/2825.html ]An archive write up here.[/url]
Anthony O'Boyle did indeed record a 37.3 something. Riding with his brother Sion (sub 39 min) and a couple of other Mojo team racers on a training ride.
He beat an uplift that I was on during an Orange dealer day. We stopped to get off at the freeride section and he came flying down the wallride to the gate to meet us having left just after we'd loaded the bikes up.
The fastest loop of White's I know of was by Dan Croci at 47 mins from the shop door and back to the shop. This was before the Black Run and Energy were added, but it's still fast.
Fastest tme on Skyline is 2h 16min recorded in 2005 by a marathon runner training for the Trans Rockies race. He had lunch and completed a 2nd loop in just over 3.3hrs.
hahaha cheers Kev, i didnt think my mates would lie to me 😉
The course has changed a little over time. The bit just before the totem pole never used to be there, that adds a few minutes. Plus when you get to the top they've mucked that around, again adding a couple of mins maybe. Also when they felled all those trees many moons back about 2/3rds of the way round it did change a little, not for the better. Then the decent changed about 5 years back too i think, it used to be a more direct route down. I've been riding there since 1997, so it's change quite a bit over that time. You used to ride down what now is the the initial climb, and do a river crossing, before the course became official. Those were the days!
I've been riding there since 1997, so it's change quite a bit over that time. You used to ride down what now is the the initial climb, and do a river crossing, before the course became official. Those were the days!
Did you used to ride Sirhowy as well?
Anthony O'Boyle did indeed record a 37.3 something. Riding with his brother Sion (sub 39 min) and a couple of other Mojo team racers on a training ride.
Do we know when that was then? Presumably 08/09? The O'Boyles are certainly the obvious candidates for that sort of time, although Sion raced the BUSAs and only did a 48, fair play to shave 9 minutes off whilst not being in a race situation!
Ha ha missed this thread over the weekend, I think Anthony wouldn't have too much trouble getting round in a 37, quite a few of the quick locals manage a 40/45 and even I can get below an hour on a good day 😕
EDIT: Not at the moment though before anyone challenges me to a race! Baby and business have added a stone or two 😳
hitman - MemberI've been riding there since 1997, so it's change quite a bit over that time. You used to ride down what now is the the initial climb, and do a river crossing, before the course became official. Those were the days!
Did you used to ride Sirhowy as well?
No, never ridden there, not knowlingly anyway. I used to visit my mate in Cardiff and ride quite a bit round there thou. Very old skool, flask of coffee, some lunch, 8 hours in the saddle, carrying bikes up silly climbs. That's what you had to do back in the day *go's all misty eyed*
cubemeup... I guess you mean me... did I meet you at Cwmcarn once probably over a year ago now, summer 09 I think ?
Kev
not to sure keva, last summer i didnt ride that much as i had knee recon in july.
where are you from?
50-60mins is very do-able, even for a middle-aged guy carrying a stone or two of padding ...like myself.
The real fit & fast riders do the sub 45min laps.
Chris, what have i told you about your soundtracks....
Newbury
mooman, i love my soundtracks!! just not my riding!! lol
i do recall u doing a sub hour over cwmcarn
Ant did 37:35, and thats from the horses mouth. Not sure when that was though.
SSSTU havent said to much latley
all i wanted to see was how much difference there was between pros/am by the looks loads!