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

Easter weekend saw the first round of the British 4X championships at Afan, I seldom get 2 days in a row off work so decided to go along and see what was going down. GF and I set off at around 8am and arrived at lunchtime after an easy M4 trundle. The 4X track is at Bryn Bettws in the Afan valley, easy to find and with plenty of parking. The track is rough and rocky and the racing was close and eventful.

Here's some pics from the day's racing

Scott Beaumont flying the pro line in an early moto

Beaumont again, low and rapid in the finals

Manon Carpenter on take off

And nosing it in

The pro line was BIIIGGG. Nathan Parsons needs oxygen

Come in number 8, your time is up.

Closer racing for some than others

Paul, 66yrs old, holding it down to win his moto

Video of the day here, I'm central in the background at the crash.
http://mpora.com/videos/AAdfsimjmjd6

Also rode the new park, very fun and smooooth rolling.

Our initial intention was to stay at Afan and ride again the following day, but GF has a hurty knee, so we headed off to Cardiff for the evening to be near the Cwmcarn Uplift for the following morning. Yes, that's right, got a hurty knee, better do the uplift...

As Easter Monday dawned we snuck onto the uplift, no prebooked ticket, but you can pay-as-you-go if you're lucky, so it was a sneaky run down the DH Red for both of us (GoPro had a bit of a moment and so the recording is super glitchy) then I headed out for a quick loop of the XC Twyrch Trail. Didn't get overtaken by anyone!

My first ride on the big bike since before Xmas and an excellent weekend for both of us. Wales in the Sun? Unheard of...

Really? I thought the new park was boring, so smooth, might as well be a skate park. Guy who owns the lodge told me some kid broke his neck and both shoulders a couple of weeks before, going too big, too soon. Doh!

I prefer the more established trails, more rocky, more tech, less 'gnarly dude', dick-wavery.

It might be smooth at the moment but give it a few weeks/months and it'll get rough.

There's still something tech about smooth trails, trying to clear a tabletop, or manual through a couple of rollers keeps me happy. I still prefer a nasty rock garden or rooty nightmare but that little section is compact and allows you to work on skills that might otherwise get rusty. There's plenty of seasoned MTBers out there who cannot manual for toffee, and a park like that is the ideal training ground.

On the way back from Afan we stopped at Cwmcarn for an uplift session. Here's a lame-ass vid of me following the GF down Cwmcarn's DH run. It's not in slow-mo, though it might as well be as it's the first time back on the bike in two months following an injury.

Cwmcarn DH Descent on Vimeo

I'm pretty muddy after a trip to Hebden Bridge, the bike is a lot of fun.

I'm down a rear mech after my last outing. Would love to use this as an excuse to upgrade, but that'd mean cassette, cranks, shifters... Just going to throw on a cheap, donated 8-speed mech for now.

Also, the new front wheel I bought doesn't make much sense. It's a Hope Hoops on a heavy Mavic DH rim. But the rest of the bike is firmly XC. My bike is a Frankenstein.

I can't manual, and it really doesn't bother me.

I can't manual, it bothers me.

I had an SDW in a day thing planned with a local group but on advice googled the date. Turns out there's a marathon, bike and run relay and.an mtb event planned over that weekend. Time to bail me thinks.... Not sure if relieved or sad.

I can't manual very well, but I like practicing

I'm trying, my wheelies are getting better and I can hold the front end up long enough to jump off shit. Need to do better bunnyhops too.

I can't manual or wheelie for shit, but I can hold it enough to to drops. Good enough.

Bunnyhops is easy, especially with clipless.

It's not really a bunnyhop if you're just lifting the bike up, I can do that fine clipped in or not, I'm after big proper hopping to do tricks and shit with.

I'm after big proper hopping to do tricks and shit with.

a hop-up manual would be the ultimate trick right now

^ Probably meant upgrading to nine or ten speed.

Yep, it's all 8-speed. Makes sense to go 10-speed, but only when I can do it all in one go.

If you want to learn to manual get down to a bmx or pump track - plenty now in London.
It's a skill that unlocks so much in trail riding. Plus massive grin factor.

Yep, it's all 8-speed. Makes sense to go 10-speed, but only when I can do it all in one go.
You could do the mech now (as long as you get one with the same actuation ratio).

Don't the 10 speeds pull a slightly different amount of cable, I don't think you can get away running them on an 8 or 9 shifter. As for manualing, I've bought a BMX to practice on, almost the same thing.

And one of the main reasons I want to learn.

The 10 speed stuff makes sense to upgrade to for the clutchy magic, it was just out of my budget.

It's apparently pretty good and means you can lose your chainguide for a lot of stuff.

Mulling over modern ten speed for the weight weenie cross country bike.

Sell it to me.

If I'm not carrying stuff, or doing a lot of flat road work. 1 x 10 with a 11-36 cassette keeps stuff simple for my idiot brain. I struggle to organise a compact double on the road bike, and I'm not even considering terrain then. Just incline.

Then I'd rather SS, and be generally slow and knackered. I use my brain too much at work.

It's the new clutch mechs that are the main draw of 10-speed. I've ridden with a couple of guys recently who have it, and it's good. One showed me how you can drop a bike from a few feet up and the chain barely moves. Apparently there's no extra friction, either. It's magic.