Boxing Day Outing

Went back to Llandegla again on Boxing Day - amazing what a difference a couple of days can make.

Given the current mixture of deep puddles, wet areas, patches of dry etc., Jenson Button would probably be brilliant around the red. Only a couple of small areas of stream yesterday, and the trail fairies even seem to work over Christmas as the fallen trees had been cut through making for a nice clear trail.

Cafe open this time, so chocolate and tea to finish.

Looped in a section of black this time - enjoyed it, as long as you keep the speed up!

Christmas Eve Voyage of Discovery (with too many trees)

I've been to Llandegla when the puddles have been deeper (the deepest was about 1/3 of a wheel, been there before when the puddles were hub depth), I think the tidying of the trails just after the top of the climb have put paid to the deepest puddle, but I've never ridden it when there was so much flowing water on the trails.  So today was definitely a voyage as a boat would be more useful in places and perhaps it shouldn't have been the red route, but the red river ride today.

Due to road riding commitments and mountain biking being constrained to the green and blue routes through the summer and autumn as son Callum makes his first moves into the sport, I haven't ridden Llandegla's red since last winter.

And what a surprise!  How did I not know that 30% of the trail has changed?  And very much for the better too.  Lots of lovely new Northshore (although some of the short uphill bits are a bit difficult to maintain momentum for), some screaming downhills that had me laughing out loud and some steep descents hidden behind crests that had my heart in my mouth and some involuntary exclamations of shock (not repeatable here).  The sting in the tail are the really steep climbs which are a challenge this late in the trail though.  Overall I found the new stuff very exciting, challenging and hard work, but also an inspiration to get out there and try them again very soon - the red has become a bit of a challenge again, which is great news.  Not sure about the grading though - there is much here that is borderline black, as I see it.

Oh, and if you ever needed convincing that its a bad idea to ride in high winds, there are 6 trees lying within 0.5 metres of the trail up near the top, and there are fallen trees lying fully across the trail in 2 places near where the red and black split by the downhill bridge.  Plus there are other trees down where their roots were partially under the trail, eroding the surface at the edges.

Downside today - when I finished about 10:50, the cafe was closed - no cake!

Llandegla Blue on New Frame

First time out on the new medium framed Bianchi Mutt today.

After some first doubts, now its actually built up with the Pace forks, better components etc., I'm happy with the look of the 120 year anniversay frame's metallic black, metallic silver and celeste colour scheme.  Don't think I'll miss the Desert Bronze bike when its gone.

Climbing is somewhat easier - because I'm not reaching forward so much, there's more room for me to breathe deeply when climbing and some of the stomach cramping I used to get has gone.  Agility is also up - easier to throw the bike in a different direction, when its needed.  Overall it feels much lighter but I don't think that's down to the physical weight difference in the frames - I'm sure that's only a few grammes, so it much be more down to the riding position and the feel.

First run was on the Llandegla blue run today as my son Callum (he's 9) accompanied me.  We usually ride the green together, but that has a water splash over quite a large stream - its about 10cm deep and about 3m wide, and we decided that would be too cold to go through as you need to cross it about 6 times - once per lap of the reservoirs peripheral tracks.  So we did the blue which includes the full red route climb.  We took our time, but Callum on his steel framed, single speed, 20" wheeled bike got up there - what a great performance, and he got a round of applause from a group of 10 or so other riders at the top.  He found some of the berms and the speed of some of the downhills on the very bumpy surface a challenge, but came through it all really well.  Great ride Callum!

Parallel Universe Is The New Black

Llandegla today was damp, warm (16 deg!) and shrowded in mist.  Only half the car park was open and that was about 75% full, so not exactly busy.  First time up there for a few months and the second time out for the Mutt for this autumn / winter period when the weather and the daylight is less roadie friendly.

I chose to do the Black as I wanted to give the new "alternative" black section a try - its called Parallel Universe because it doesn't replace the existing Black route - it runs as an option.

The main climb was despatched in under 20 minutes, I didn't need the granny ring and felt good enough at the top to just stop long enough to put the saddle down a couple of inches and then keep going.  The second section after the main climb was closed again - more trail maintenance going on there, so the 3 or 4 black table tops along that mainly red section weren't possible today.  Worth noting that there's some more trail building going on up there too.

So far so good.  The new Parallel Universe section is part way down the main Black descents on the North side of the forest.  There are large signs up about how its a "jump specific" section and that its "designed to get you airborne".  You should have "excellent skill levels" and "don't go here if you're not completely sure".  "Look at the jumps before riding them" etc. etc.  Sounds like they're throwing down the gauntlet to me!

So the first obstacle is definitely designed to challenge / put you off / vastly increase the profitability of your favourite chainset manufacturer.  "Sponsored by Truvativ" might be a good one to add to the sign (please note that other chainset manufacturers are available - see your LBS for details).  It's supposed to be approached as speed, of that I'm very sure.  You go up a large flat rock which is raised at the trailing edge where it overlaps another large flat rock which is near enough horizontal.  At the end of the horizontal rock there's a big step-off - at least 18 inches - either side of which there are supposed to be vertical slate "gates" about 2-3 ft high.  Today though, the left hand gate post is lying a foot or two down the slope to the left - somebody has hit it and I suspect bent aluminium, broken bones or a minimum of some big bruises will have been the result.  The edge of the step-off is solid rock and even though this part of the trail has only been open a few weeks, there are dozens of grooves on the trailing edge, evidencing much grief for many chainsets.  I don't have the confidence for this bit, so skirt around the edge.  It seems to be the toughest step off though as the later ones are less severe and / or aren't built out of such solid material.

From there on in it's clear that the trail fairies must have been in a very bad / evil / sadistic / crazy / loopy mood when they designed and built their Parallel Universe.  This section is WAY above the technical standard required for the rest of the Black and will be good for those who've grown in skills and bravery enough to be feeling underwhelmed by the standard Black. For once the safety notices make some sense.

There are many and varied table tops (I roll over them), some of which, if you were in the air, would require you to launch the bike at an appropriate angle to enable a safe landing back onto the trail path, there are some great step-offs and lots and lots of berms and yumps - all strung together by some seriously quick downhilling.  Yikes and whoop whoop would be a family friendly translation of the language going through my head.  Berms.  Good grief - never seen anything like them.  Are they actually vertical or is it just some kind of wierd illusion.  They're very rideable though - its another one of those things that makes me realise that the bike is still capable of much more than I am - confidence and more speed than seems reasonable makes these berms work well.

Not all plain sailing for me though.  About just over half way down there is a series of large flat rocks placed in a very broken pavement kind of way, with some of them steeply inclined downwards, a short series of steps and some yumps in the mix too.  I did the first quarter or so, then discretion got the better of me and I walked down the rest.  Am I disappointed in myself?  Not really - I still have all my limbs intact and I don't need a new helmet!  Today the surface of these rocks was very wet and slimy with mud - I'm sure they're rideable (see the vid below - they're ridable at a very high speed!) but not for me today.  Would like to build up the confidence by riding them in the dry first (so that'll be June 2011 then!).

I hope all this about the new section doesn't sound too negative - its not meant to be - I'm trying to explain that, with my "just about happy to go for it on the Black" level of skills, this is a serious challenge and will take some time to get used to and to feel confident about attacking rather than treating with caution.  Perhaps next time I'll sit off to one side of the pavement section and see how it should be done as other riders go through.  I think its a superb addition to the trails at Llandegla.

The rest of the Black was up to its usual standard and tricks - there were a couple of sections where the climbs were very tough today, but perhaps I haven't had enough sleep this week to be really up for the exertion.  I need to check my tyre pressures too - I think the new track pump I've got is putting in substantially more air for 40psi that the old one did (using the built in gauges on each pump) - I'll have to verify with a separate gauge.  I'm saying this because I feel particularly battered after the ride, much more so than usual, and the bike was a bit skittish from time to time.

Another change from last time I was up there towards the end of the red - they've taken out the Notshore section - its still there, but it has been disconnnected at each end by 20 or so feet.  I never really enjoyed riding that stuff - the logs hadn't been graded so it was difficult and painful.  Having got the hang of it for the last 5 or 6 rides up there and been able to ride it end to end with little problem, its now gone.  Replaced by and extension of the approach - a flat singletrack running alongside a ditch with a token hump in the middle - hopefully something more imaginative will be added soon.

Had my photo taken again today - coming off the top of the big Northshore drop on the Black - I was so pleased to have gone over at a reasonable pace I forgot to slow down for the turn into the following climb (its not even a turn, more of a gentle bend) and ended up parking in a clump of bushes.  Not so cool!  Got passed on the final meandering black climb up through the trees by a couple of guys on single speeds.  As my local roadie mate would say "chapeau".

So a good, but hard ride - this stuff certainly packs a lot of strenous exercise into a shortish route and amount of time - hopefully it'll keep my fitness up during the winter.

This, of courese, is the way it should be done!  http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/video-jay-hoots-rides-llandeglas-new-black-section-27669

Black Llandegla 13 May 2010

The car park's open until 9pm now its light at night and the cafe stays open that long on Wednesdays too, with stews, curries and such available to hungry riders and walkers.

I wanted to give the black a run on my own to check if I could get around in a reasonable time, so me n the Mutt headed out straight after work to give it a go.  Despite a few showers over the preceding day and a half, pretty much all is dry again.  Its well over a year since I last did the black and its quite a bit different to how I remember it.  The first section is relatively straightforward, but some of the bermed corners and scary to look at (they seem to be almost vertical), but no problem to ride, as long as you attack with reasonable confidence.  Main problem for me are the very rough, tight and VERY steep hairpins which are strewn with loose rocks - a couple of dabs of the feet here.  The descents are longer and faster than on the red, which, inevitably, means the climbs are longer and harder too, with many of them being single track which is more challenging than the climbs on the red.

Quite happy with a 1:39 time and no walking, so the climbing seems to be getting better with all the practice.  And the bike was faultless again.  Both the car parks were half full, and the lemon cake in the cafe was top notch, but only seemed to last about 3 minutes!

20/04/2010 When is a Plate No Longer a Plate?

When its a bit of twisted metal that used to be part of a bike chain, that's when.

And here's the blog's first ever "regular maintenance is a good thing" posting.  Its not aimed at anyone in particular, lets just say that to utterly humiliate your biking mates, first you need a bike that's ridable!

Llandegla first evening ride for 2010.  Sunny but chilly. Some brave enough to be out in shorts, some not.  Dry, utterly dry, again.  About 2 weeks without any rain to notice.  So much for April showers then.

So let's talk about lube.  Hmmmm, nice.  Lube, lube, lube, then some more lube.  Lube before, lube after.  If you wash your bike, or its been a wet ride, get bike home, apply lube to chain.  If not ridden for a while, lube the chain.  When you've done a few miles, lube the chain.  If its a dry and dusty ride, lube the chain and preferably clean first.  Clean and re-lube your chain every 100 miles or so of off roading.  If you have the patience, have 3 chains available for your bike and rotate them every 250 miles or so with those off the bike being cleaned and stored in, you guessed it, heavily lubed condition.  Chain rotation means you can wear 3 chains down for every 1 set of chainwheels and cassette, making those major components last 3 times longer than wearing 1 set of components and chains at the same time (ask me, I might explain why).

So 15-20 minutes after being ready for the ride, S's bike had the damaged chain link removed, a couple of stiff links freed and lubed and the rear disk brake caliper re-aligned, so we could set off.  And I need to think about priority of spend - I have a really good chain tool in the garage and a cheaper one with the bike.  Given that conditions to fix a chain out on the trail are way harder than in the garage, perhaps the better tool should be with the bike?  One final word on chains (oh, maybe there will be more later, but that comes back to the humiliation bit) - I've had 2 Shimano chains snap on me (both on the MTB), but none of my SRAM chains have ever snapped (road and mountain) in 25 years of riding.  Now that might tell you something.  It might also mean Murphy's law will feature in the next posting/...

So the red was rough, hard, fast, dry and dusty. Great fun and soooo different to the wet and snowy conditions on the same route earlier in the year.  The weather can make the ride feel like you're in a completely different place.  There's a fair chunk of route roped off at the moment - from just below the first short black section, around to near Snowdon view.  I understand that there is much repair work going on and lots of smoothing of the damaged tracks.  Of course, only those that rode the closed section would know that...

Really pleased with the pace last night.  Did the route in 1hr 11mins which is a new PB.  The humiliating bit is finding that riding partner Stuart has completed the route (including leaving me behind on a number of the climbs) using only the middle ring at the front and the middle cog at the back, for the entire route.  Someone needs to buy the guy a fixie MTB!  Well done Stuart.

Where Did All The Water Go?

I'll get around to posting it up soon, but last time at Llandegla, and the time before, there was snow, much water and deep puddles.  Now, about 4 weeks later and it's incredibly dry up there.  Dust more than mud today.
Arrived at 9:20 this morning and the main car park was already packed - had to squeeze into the last space in the furthest corner.

Now, I moaned preivously about the cost of having the Mutt's Pace RC39 forks serviced, but today, I understood the need for it.  The bike was like new.  So its really worth having a service done, but I still think there should be longer between the need.  I had the rebound wound to about half way on the scale but backed it off half a turn part way round and the forks are now super plush.  Great for giving much more confidence.

My lower back was not at its best today, so low gear spinning was the order of the day on the climbs as that puts much less pressure on the back.  Seemed to work OK.  The main climb on the red is very smooth now and didn't present much of a problem, soon at the top for some looning.  Did the small section of black just past the summit, but stuck to the red for the rest of the way.  Dryness and dust all the way pretty much, there were about 4 places where there was water - where the stream runs along the track for a while in the newly felled area, plus one or two shallow puddles where there used to be seriously deep puddles.

Find a (very out of date 2006) map of the trails here.

The first new section of red from Snowdon View (W72) down to the "double steep climb" (W74) is an absolutely storming sequence of shallow fast berms, yumps and small table tops.  With the dry weather and the serviced forks, managed to have enough confidence to get air (probably only about a foot of the ground, but it still feels pretty exciting at my age!) about 6 times.

There are still a couple of diversions, one just before the reservoir - and that's firmed up nicely now, not sure if there have been rocks put down or the grass has cut down to the rocks underneath, but it almost feels like a proper part of the trail now.  Another diversion at the end takes you around the top of the newly completed skills area and down the ultra fast descent on the other side and back to the visitors' centre, rather than through the last section of wood.  Not sure if that's a permanent change or not.

So some great fun then - just one let down today, the cafe were all out of chocolate cake!

Technique Alert!  I've been reading a book (so I'm clearly an expert now) on MTB riding.  It suggests trying one new technique each ride and really concentrating on it.  So today I had a go at pedal pressure when riding berms (these are banked corners, a bit like Brookland race track and some sections of the Nordschleif).  Now it seems pretty obvious that the pedal that is on the inside of the corner should be highest, to avoid the pedal grounding and throwing you off the bike.  What is less obvious is that if you push hard down on the outside pedal then the bike becomes very much more stable as its putting your centre of gravity much lower down on the bike.  More grip, more stability, more speed.  So this met with some success today.  Didn't really appreciate how much difference it would make, but it does.  But more practice is needed as sometimes you can go in with the higher speed, but forget to do the pushing down.  Ooer!

And I'm going to do it again, but this is the first time I've ridden them in the dry, the Panaracer Fire XC Pro 2.1s are just brilliant.

There was a photographer out on the fast descent not far from the end today.  Would be tood to know who it was and how the piccies turned out!
 13/04/2010 post script - the photographer was from One Planet Adventure at Llandegla and the photo is posted up here.  Thanks!

Llandegla - Water Wings Required!

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Rain, rain and more rain - given that's all we've had for the last few weeks, its hardly suprising the state of the red trail at Llandegla yesterday.

Dragged myself up there for a 9am start, but bad news when getting the bike out of the car - a small drip of fluid from the rear brake and absolutely no lever to speak of. Thanks to the guys at One Planet, all was sorted - it was great that they could deal with the problem without a booking. Looks like the banjo had loosened so a quick tighten up, bleed and decontamination of the pads had it all sorted in under an hour (not bad, given the need to get the hire bikes out). Thanks guys.

On the main climb, there were viscious head / cross-winds howling across the newly felled area - no protection from the lashing rain which had tiny lumps ice embedded - needed to ride one handed with the other hand protecting the face from thousands of tiny needles. Perhaps the decision to go shorts rather than my Humvee 3/4s was a bad call - legs looking lobster-like as if I'd been out in the meditteranean sun too long.

Once back into the trees, the rain stopped (typical!) and speed climbed from previous low of 4 mph! The descents were about 30% either under water or acting as streams. A few puddles here and there were almost hub deep and some really deep sticky mud just before the short bit of black near the top of the trail. Having just changed from Conti Gravity 2.3s (they came on the bike) to Panaracer Fire XC Pro 2.1s - looking for less drag on hard surfaces - I was concerned about the deep mud, but the new tyres are streets ahead of the Contis in pretty much any situation (but they are nearly twice the price of course).

It seems that all the recent felling demonstrates how much better the ground copes with extremes of rain when the trees are still in place - the water just seems to be running directly off the land at the moment.

A small part of the trail near to the end is closed off due to the rain washing the trail away - you can see lots of boulders but not much trail! The diversion is on pretty much unsurfaced moorland and is cutting up badly with thick (but not yet deep) mud to plough through. The new tyres performed really well here too. No problem with clogging though as you're soon back on the trail and the following 200m or so is pure stream, so the frame is quickly cleaned up again.

There's another closed section of trail and a diversion right near the end due to more felling. The diversion misses out the last bit of forest / downhill singletrack in favour of a smooth fast descent past the skills area, shared with the blue trail.

The newly opened sections on the trail are holding up well and seem to be better drained, but given they're still in amongst the trees its unlikely to flood so easily. So a 1hr 20min ride in what some would consider atrocious conditions, but for me it just added a bit of variety to the trail to make sure it doesn't get too dull.