First up there was news from France that, thanks to lack of sponsorship, Didi the Devil, the iconic Tour de France supporter is due to retire.
I took a long weekend over a wedding to go for some riding in Wales. This was a chance to brave the rain and hit some trails I have been thinking about riding for a while. Suffice to say I got absolutely soaked both by the rain and the trails, which in places were little more than streams.
First up I rode the new trail at Glyncorrwg. The Blade seems to be basically an extension to the Whites Level route and adds a serious amount of climbing to the initial ramp. In the wet, with a deadline to be at a wedding rehearsal, it was a tough exposed climbed, made tougher by adding in the Black extension to Whites, just to give myself an extra climb. I found it brutal, but it may well ride better in the dry.
So, one new trail at a favourite centre down and more beckoned on Sunday when, with a wedding hangover, I arrived in Bike Park Wales in the rain. I was determined to ride through the wet and to experience the trails I had missed last time. This meant Sixtapod, the fast fun blue run and then a couple of trips down the red trails, including the new massive jump line of A470 which felt like it had loads of potential for an on-form rider the dry. I was neither, but enjoyed the rolling lines.
To finish a long weekend of riding I rode the famous classic Gap route on the Brecon Beacons. This is a genuine old-school mountain bike ride, with the highlight easing up and up along a valley side on rolling bedrock and loose boulders, and then plummeting back down over the top on rocky tracks that were freely flowing with water. With a couple of wet punctures from hedge clippings and a bit of muddy spray at every stage of the ride it was an excellent loop, with a real mountain feel. Well worth its status as a classic.
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