Last weekend saw some hardy muni-ers trekking over to the Afan Valley in
South Wales for the latest instalment of the British Muni Weekend.
Evidently Red Bull wasn't enough to put people off for life with many
participants making an appearance, with thirteen riders (I think)
turning out for the first ride.
In keeping with last year I turned up four hours later than I had
planned due to being forced, totally against my will of course, to join
friends elsewhere for a huge dinner before getting to the site at
approaching 10pm on the Friday. They must have gone for their night ride
before I arrived, I think, because they were all sat around the fire
drinking beer. They must all be fitter than me, too, because they didn't
look like they'd been on a ride at all! Wow.
Saturday morning saw us getting up at the crack of about 10-ish,
watching the grey clouds roll over just in time for our first ride.
Apart from two rather heavy downpours the weather was alright, enough
rain to give some puddles to splash through but no serious "goop" like
the Red Bull.
On reaching what Des called "the last uphill bit", about a a quarter of
the way round, the trail proceeded to go up and down lots of big hills
before returning to the campsite once more. For some reason I can't
actually remember very much about that ride other than everyone
acquiring deep suspicions whenever Des says anything about the steepness
or length of uphill sections... 🙂
After lunch in the site cafe much umming and arring was done about what
to do next; the afternoon was passing away and we couldn't decide
whether another long ride or a shorter play ride was in order. In the
end we did both; Des, Steve R, Matt and myself went out to ride the full
length of The Wall, while the pansies decided to go to the top of The
Wall by car (wimps!) and ride down, twice.
Discounting the tedious bit between the site and the proper start of the
trail The Wall was an excellent ride, more enjoyable than the first. The
track gains height very gradually as it goes from one end of the hill to
the other, then winds its way back along the top and descends steeply to
the end.
Some of the singletrack along the top was excellent, slightly downhill
for a good distance, with some really challenging rocky sections thrown
in. The last section, from which the trail takes its name, is the
highlight; a steep descent winding its way down the side of the hill. It
was that perfect mix of speed and bumpiness to make it a real challenge;
riding down right on the edge of losing control, bouncing from rock to
rock in an incredible run down to the bottom. I both amazed and annoyed
myself by only falling off once, but that one UPD was on a wooden
bridge, the only flat bit of the section. Bah!
The thought of beer and barbeques drove us onwards, and the rest of the
evening was spent around our "barbeque" (the ranger had said no fires,
but strangely enough our barbeque never did die down, even after piling
loads of logs onto it...). Some bikers camping nearby joined us, as did
the ever present noise of loads of kids staying in the campsite that
night. Bah humbug, and all that.
Sunday saw a trip to the White's Level trail a few miles away. This was
probably the most fun ride of the weekend; the first half was fairly
steep and rocky, but we were going pretty much the same rate as lots of
bikers and the second half was absolutely amazing, well worth the
uphill. We were passed by two people doing the trail on a tandem;
off-road tandem-ers must be the most tolerant people in the known
universe (even above people who use Internet Explorer!), I think I'd be
screaming at my fellow rider after a few metres...
As usual Des was powering up hills as if they weren't there; Steve never
did find where the energiser batteries went. Whenever any bikers caught
us up on the ups he'd be there nipping at their heels after they'd past,
held up only by having to wait for the rest of us.
The last half of the track was several miles worth of constant, slightly
downhill singletrack around the side of the hill. There were loads of
obstacles and rocks to add a challenge; Des was absolutely lapping it
up, flying off ahead to ride the really hard stuff without making it
look remotely difficult. I was flying off in a slightly different
manner, doing a superman impression and making my knees leak from
bouncing off the muni on a rocky bit. It was an incredible trail,
however, I thoroughly enjoyed it... but oooooooo my rear was aching
after the flat section back to the car! For three intense muni rides of
a total of 35 miles, I think Alan's idea of two pairs of cycling shorts
is very appealing... :s
I had a field day with the GPS's first outing to a BMW; it was
interesting to see how far we'd gone and high high we'd climbed, and see
a purtty map of the route so far. Sunday evening nearly went pear shaped
as I accidentally deleted the track from the third ride, but the makers
of the undeleting program Restorer 2000 deserve knighthoods because it
got it back from beyond the bitbucket. I'll post pictures of the tracks
when I'm done flying around... 🙂
Many thanks indeed to Des for organising such an incredible event... the
riding was awesome, the views stunning and the company the best.
Phil
--
phil - ex-studenty type
"Cattle Prods solve most of life's little problems."
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