Daytrip to Afan on The Spare Day 29th of Feb

I'd not done a long ride on a mountain bike for a few week. Plenty of long training rides on the road bike in the bank but not off road. With a new saddle to test and 24hrs of Exposure only 5 weeks away I took a day off on the Spare Day of the year. A spur of the moment thing due to the good weather we were having.

The plan was to catch the train to Port Talbot from Paddington, London and ride up to Afan Forest on the road from there.

Waiting for the Train at Paddington

One thing I have to do once a week is travel from Wales to London and back. I don't always take a bike but when I do I fear the journey on the train. You have to leave the bike in the baggage cart. Problem is your not in control of your bike for 2-3 hrs and anything could bloody happen.

Strapped in and ready to roll

Last real food of the day as I'd be just on Gels and Energy Bars for the day. That Bagel was pretty good. The coffee was rancid. At Paddington some Mars reps were handing out little 'In case of emergency' Snickers gift boxes. Nice touch. I ate it straight away. I had a few Accelerade Gels for emergency.

Snacks for the journey

The train was delayed for almost an hour so that was riding time lost as I wanted to catch a train back that got me back to London before midnight if possible. Last time I took this trip on the train was two years ago and it was similar weather. I couldn't believe my luck when I got off the train at Port Talbot Parkway.

The sun is out in South Wales (Time to ride up to Afan Forest on the road)

Pontrhydyfen Aquaduct (Which is now a bike path)

Enjoying the need for sunglasses

Skyline

The Excellent White's Level

Out enjoying myself (White Assos top was probably not the best idea)

Lots of fire road on The Skyline Trail (lights needed for later)

Nice view of Llyn Fach lake

I had a good ride around the 1st 2/3 of the Skyline trail. The climb is good fun but then you get too much fireroad. Great for training as your always pedalling but not so much fun. Anyway I missed a way marker and went a little off course. I rode back up the fire road I had been down retracing my steps. I found where I had gone wrong and went down a nice bit of single track i had shot past. About 20 mins later I'm riding down some more fire track and the yellow arrows run out. Where the hell had I gone wrong this time. I had my Garmin with me so I was never that bothered about getting lost. I followed this trail until it ran out. It came to an abrupt end with a bit of a swamp. I could see the trail centre so I put my bike on my shoulder and walked it through the marsh and down a steep field to the road. What a cock up1?!

Impact puncture number 1 (Not tubeless on my training wheels)

Back to the trail centre to top up my bottles with Accelrade 4:1 drink and time to head up the White's Level trail. This has the same starting climb as The Skyline trail but heads South rather than North. About 2/3 up the climb I hit a rock and a flat fast part and blew the rear tyre. I took my time fixing the puncture and put the wheel back, took a bit of food and carried on.

Used one of the Lezyne patches for the 1st time. (Worked a treat)

Impact Puncture number 2

White's Level is amazing. I had so much fun on it. It flows so well and i was bombing through the sections with a bit of caution as it was the first time I had ridden most of it and it was dark. Part of my plan for the day was to get a good bit of riding done in the dark on my own. By the time I got to the 'Two Tombstones' section of single track it was pretty dark in the trees. I hit a log with my left pedal when I was going too quick for my skill. Although I didn't crash bad I seemed to have another impact puncture to the rear. This time I fixed it really quick and continued.
The Trail just seemed to get better and better. I have bugger all experience on duckboards/Northshore (only the very small amount at 24hrs of Exposure (still need to right that up) so I took a bit of care as I rode in the dark through it.
One thing was clear by now that I wasn't going to get the amount of riding I wanted in. The train being late and getting lost on Skyline ment I was never going to get all of W2 done and ride to the train on time. (Looking back I could have but if I had a miss hap I'd be staying the night in Port Talbot)

The gate for CX Bikes

The gate for MTB Bikes

So I decided that when I finished the descent of White's Level I would ride down the trail to The Afan centre and do the Climb and descent of The Y Wal trail joining them up with the fire road. It started to get a bit misty up on Y Wal so I tuned my lights down a bit. The climb was a bit easy and crap compared to the White's Level and the descent was fun but not a patch on what I had done earlier. I had done Y Wal before. Thing is it wasn't very memorable.

Ahh my old Uni mate Nick. I will be seeing him in Boulder in the summer

Straight back down the road to Port Talbot I found myself with 30 or so minutes to kill so I went for a bit of a ride down to the beach and back just to keep warm. Went I got back to the station I took off all the sweaty clothes I'd been in all day and changed into a fresh jersey and my new down jacket. I was glad I took the jacket as the temperature dropped a hell of a lot.

A change of kit and a sort out at the Station

Bloody glad I took my warm jacket and cans for the journey

I look forward to returning to Afan but next time I will go with some people. It was nice to have a day to myself just training but it would be good not getting lost. Gutted to get so bloody lost and miss out on some good riding.

White's Level

Strava Logs of Ride

Twrch Trail Winter Nightride

Sometimes there are not enough hours in the day. The training has to be done though. The plan was to get up early and get out on the bike before me wife goes to work. Normally I have to get back by 11:30 so a decent ride is possible but I woke up to find my dog wasn't feeling too good. He's been sick. by the time I'd checked he was OK and cleaned up the mess it wasn't worth it. I'll be honest I didn't get up super early either.
I took the kids out on the bike midday when I could have been watching the Manchester United v Liverpool game. My eldest on her little 20in MTB and the other behind me on the trailer bike. However much fun it is it's not training.
When my wife got back from work I cooked the dinner, found the Moon with my daughters telescope, washed up etc.. All this takes time and delays the start of my ride. 8:30 after reading my kids a story I manage to get out.  Lights charged and ready I was off to Cwmcarn for two laps. It was very cold. The days have been mild for the past week but as the sky was clear the temp dropped. No idea how cold but was below freezing I'm sure. I was dressed OK so I would be fine. I was thinking of riding up off road up the canal path but I guessed it would be better just to get there do my training and get home.

Lighter, Brighter, Faster? Diablo/Prolight Combi

I was going to use my Exposure Diablo for the first time. On my Giro Prolight helmet I don't think you can get as much power for such little weight. My helmet with light probably weights quite a bit less than quite a few helmets on their own. Hopefully will be an excellent combination for racing. Coulpe d up with my Hope 4LED it was out riding (hope replace this with an Exposure MaXX D asap).
By the time I got to Cwmcarn it was just past 9pm and there was not a soul in sight. The puddles in the carpark were already starting to freeze and there was an amazing frost. With my bright lights shinning on it it looked like someone had tipped a massive tub of glitter and spread it on everything. As I know the trail pretty well and the lights were good found I could ride pretty much as quick as I could in the day. I shot up the first few climbs up to the top. Some joker had randomly stacked rocks around the trial. Some were un-naturally balanced so there is no way they would have landed like this. This was all over the trail pretty much every section. I found it funny. I wonder what time some would have bothered to have done it. I probably wasn't the only person to have ridden in the dark but was probably the last person to have that evening. At the top on my 1st lap I must have had a good mobile signal and received a few texts and Twitter alerts. I stopped and answered and then carried on. The down hill was good fun in the dark. I'm not the quickest in the day but felt like I could go just as quick.
Starting my 2nd lap I put in a big effort. This was today's training. I might as well make it quality training. Big efforts on the climbs then take it easy on the down hills and as quick as it was safe on the flat. It feels a bit odd being out on your own so late. All you can hear is your heart beat most of the time. Anything that is reflective is a distraction. Sheep are just plain spooky at night, all you see is their eyes at first. Someone had dropped their Specialized thermal Winter Glove. You'd never see it in the day I'm sure but the reflective bits were clear as day with my lights shining on them. On my second lap just as you get to the concrete bit that you some times have to walk up if its a bit damp I totally shat myself when I caught a glimpse of what I though was some random person just standing there. I'd never noticed it before. I hadn't seen it on the previous lap as I'd put the bike in the granny ring and ridden up the concrete. this time I got off and walked. So I saw the big wooden statue for the 1st time. Spooked with my pulse racing on I went. I went a bit quicker on the final downhill bit knowing where the jokers had left the balanced rocks. I finished the lap just after 11pm. It was really cold so I stopped and put my Goretex jacket on. One very swift ride home on the road and it was time for a well deserved bath. Really impressed with the Exposure light. I can ride with confidence with it.

Lower down the trail.

A View from the top
Not a very impressive pic but the view looked fantastic to the eye

The Spooky Wooden Man