Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

Rode out to the Surrey hills then rode back again. 120km. I'm fucked.

Continental X-Kings

Thanks, will get myself a pair of these.

Next question: holidaying in close proximity to Afan next week. Without car, so I think other trail centres will not be an option, but is there much in the way of non-sign posted local stuff in the vicinity?

Next question: holidaying in close proximity to Afan next week. Without car, so I think other trail centres will not be an option, but is there much in the way of Non-sign posted local stuff in the vicinity?

You mean you are at Afan, but were wondering if there's anything other than Afan in the area? There's the Masts, and trails around Swansea. @t_w could help you out there, but maybe just with a map, coz he's broken at the mo.

There's also some trails at Blaengarw http://www.trailguru.co.uk/garw-valley-mountain-bike-trails

Never ridden them, but they're pretty close to Afan

I live in the flatlands of the Thames Vally so almost all riding would be confined to footpaths and bridleways... plenty of mud but nothing even vaguely resembling anything gnarly without getting in the car. Going for a spin along the Ridgeway also sounds pretty fun.

My neck of the woods...I spend a lot of time in the Ridgeway

Much the same as you in 2010. Bought and rode a Boardman FS for a couple of years. Tried various FS and HT thereafter. Would say on balance a 100mm 29er HT does everything in this area well apart from more than a few hours in the Ridgeway in Summer.

I really like my Whyte 29er - try Rides on Air in Wallingford for a demo.

Ouch.

Lots of trail closures at Swinley.

Anyone got any 26 inch rigid forks they want to sell?

Thanks both. Given the weather forecast over the next few days I reckon riding everything at Afan will be more than enough.

When?

Train tomorrow morning, staying in the vicinity till Sunday.

Mating birds. Or slugs, possibly. Everything that moves there > XC whippets

I think we're only heading to Afan on Sunday according to @furious_tiles but if you're riding on Sunday before you head home and you want people to ride with...

XC ponderous large dog more like. The new natural section on the red is rather good actually. Speed in Labyrinth is inversely proportional to the effort put in on the horrible steep hill immediately preceding. I went into it blowing out of my ass and was truly comically awful.

Yeti has just been given an update in the form of 1×11. And a saddle as the other one had developed some serious rail squeakage.

Spinning out on the ride to the woods was getting a bit tiresome so have upped to 34 at the front. There wasn't anything I couldn't tackle on a 32 x 36 so popping a 42 rear on will actually gain me a bit of top end and also low end.

XTR 10 SPD Rear mech and shifter to appear hear in a few days time along with the bike in new form.

If you have time, as @Howard said, go up the Masts. Very close to Afan, quite easy to find the trails. Message me if you want directions.

Scrub-a-dub-dub:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUPiCOWBROy/

Thanks! Think I'm going to have to find that another day though, we're staying in the valley over from Afan, so what I thought would be a reasonably quick 30 minute 15km ride to the singletrack actually involves 600 metres of climbing and takes more than double that.

Rode most of the trails on the Glyncorrwg side yesterday and heading to do the more westerly bits tomorrow. Pretty tough on the hands with a rigid fork, but surprisingly actually no worse than Swinley. Also more pedally and less trail centre than I was expecting.

Which trails did you do?

Eastern half of W2 and the outward bit of Skyline, which despite what most people seem to think I quite enjoyed after being bashed around for the past few hours, though lots of it was under water.

Are you going to take a look at Blue Scar and Penhydd at the Afan Argoed center? Blue Scar is particularly good for rigid bikes and hardtails, a lot smoother but still really good fun.

Big thanks to whoever it was on this thread recommending the cheap droppers. Haven't tried it out properly yet but seems decent, altho looks a little skinny shimmed from 27.2 to 31.6. Project budget MTB is finished now, I think.

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Rode Penhydd before I wore out a pair of brake pads. Luckily it was mostly uphill home from there.

Anywhere in Swansea likely to have a decent selection?

What brakes do you need pads for?

Newer XTR. Take the rectangular pads.

Getting the train back tomorrow and I'll probably make it back on the sliver of pad remaining on the front but i'd rather not risk it.