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Saturday saw a lot of early risers, especially those that were mad enough to join me for a ride through the Welsh hills. The riders for the National Trail ride were…..
Me (BeddowsM)
Tim (TheTimKirby)
Al (Tendays)
Baz (Bazza)
Chris (Mudwiz)
Nick (EastCoastAdventures)
Aggy
Rolly (RollyTTR)
Colin (Dick Dasterdly)
And a surprise meet with BobOneLeg and his mate Steve.
We left the campsite at 0915 for the short road ride to Capel Curig where Rolly and Colin were already waiting for us.
The first trail was an easy warm up around the back of Capel Curig.
The next trail was the difficult uphill section that I mentioned when I originally posted this rideout. A rocky fairly steep trail that is not easy. After the first few meters Colin managed to fall (and Colin doesn’t fall much…infact before this rideout I’ve only seen him off his bike once!!). Half way up Aggy came off…..where I was perfectly placed with the camera.
After the uphill section it was a nice muddy moorland track. Here we all are waiting for Nick. Its obviously Tim and Aggy explaining that the trail ahead isn’t so bad and that he was holding everyone else up.
A few more trails including a few uphill climbs and lots of water splashes and mud.
Baz coming through a puddle.
And then onto the “Car Wash” at Corwen. After all the rain we had we thought the water level may be too high. The river was flowing and people were apprehensive so they sent me through to test the depth. And I tried keeping the revs up but water got into the exhaust again and the bike died. It would start up but wouldn’t keep going….so Chris and Baz kindly joined me in the middle of the river to help get me out. And then the others followed (well, not all….but to be fair the water would have probably killed the bikes so the right decision was made to go round).
Here’s me showing how not to do it.
And the others that managed it all by themselves. Trust me, this crossing is not easy. The bike jumps about all over the place and getting traction is really difficult.
And then onto the Wayfarer which is one of my favourite North Wales trails. And then we bumped into BobOneLeg and his mate…small world.
Bob coming through a water splash
And followed by Tim
This was as far East as we were going so it was time to start the return leg and a few more trails including a short but very steep, very loose surface trail that had a few of us struggling to get up. Infact the only 3 that managed it unaided were Tim, Rolly and Bob. I managed to bin it on the way up, as did Al. Chris didn’t get a fast enough approach and had to get help pushing up. Baz did really well
Note Als bike down, and mine down a bit further up.
And here’s Al coming off…and doing the splits. Ive done this trail 4 times now and only made it up once. Not easy. The best line is over a horrible slab rock, which is normally wet. And apply the revs too early and this is what can happen.
And here’s some of the other attempts
Arrived back at the campsite at about 18:30 completely knackered. Lots of falls during the day. Only 2 survived the full day with a clean sheet, Chris and Tim…..the rest of us had at least 1 fall….me leading with 4 falls. And I’m suffering today because of it.
Fantastic day out. Thanks all for coming.
Me (BeddowsM)
Tim (TheTimKirby)
Al (Tendays)
Baz (Bazza)
Chris (Mudwiz)
Nick (EastCoastAdventures)
Aggy
Rolly (RollyTTR)
Colin (Dick Dasterdly)
And a surprise meet with BobOneLeg and his mate Steve.
We left the campsite at 0915 for the short road ride to Capel Curig where Rolly and Colin were already waiting for us.

The first trail was an easy warm up around the back of Capel Curig.

The next trail was the difficult uphill section that I mentioned when I originally posted this rideout. A rocky fairly steep trail that is not easy. After the first few meters Colin managed to fall (and Colin doesn’t fall much…infact before this rideout I’ve only seen him off his bike once!!). Half way up Aggy came off…..where I was perfectly placed with the camera.

After the uphill section it was a nice muddy moorland track. Here we all are waiting for Nick. Its obviously Tim and Aggy explaining that the trail ahead isn’t so bad and that he was holding everyone else up.

A few more trails including a few uphill climbs and lots of water splashes and mud.
Baz coming through a puddle.

And then onto the “Car Wash” at Corwen. After all the rain we had we thought the water level may be too high. The river was flowing and people were apprehensive so they sent me through to test the depth. And I tried keeping the revs up but water got into the exhaust again and the bike died. It would start up but wouldn’t keep going….so Chris and Baz kindly joined me in the middle of the river to help get me out. And then the others followed (well, not all….but to be fair the water would have probably killed the bikes so the right decision was made to go round).

Here’s me showing how not to do it.
And the others that managed it all by themselves. Trust me, this crossing is not easy. The bike jumps about all over the place and getting traction is really difficult.
And then onto the Wayfarer which is one of my favourite North Wales trails. And then we bumped into BobOneLeg and his mate…small world.
Bob coming through a water splash

And followed by Tim

This was as far East as we were going so it was time to start the return leg and a few more trails including a short but very steep, very loose surface trail that had a few of us struggling to get up. Infact the only 3 that managed it unaided were Tim, Rolly and Bob. I managed to bin it on the way up, as did Al. Chris didn’t get a fast enough approach and had to get help pushing up. Baz did really well
Note Als bike down, and mine down a bit further up.

And here’s Al coming off…and doing the splits. Ive done this trail 4 times now and only made it up once. Not easy. The best line is over a horrible slab rock, which is normally wet. And apply the revs too early and this is what can happen.
And here’s some of the other attempts
Arrived back at the campsite at about 18:30 completely knackered. Lots of falls during the day. Only 2 survived the full day with a clean sheet, Chris and Tim…..the rest of us had at least 1 fall….me leading with 4 falls. And I’m suffering today because of it.
Fantastic day out. Thanks all for coming.