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

Cwmcarn Twrch Trail then over the top of the mountain to Mynydd Maen & back

Riding up the road to the Cwmcarn Trail Centre

Sunday Morning I woke up early to get out on the MTB for 4hrs worth of  training. I open the front door at 8am and decided it was far too cold so I waited an hour and went out at 9am. I went straight up the road to Cwmcarn through Risca to get their quicker.
The road that leads up to the Cwmcarn Trail Centre was closed as it was really icy and although I've live in the area for over 30 years I had no idea there was an alternative route up there and the car park was half full already at 9:45.
Before I'd even got to the trail centre my water bottle was already starting to freeze up. I put the bottle in one of my pockets to keep it a bit warmer. I had another bottle in my bag side pocket. I didn't check that. I didn't hang about to see who was about I just set off up the trail. I was suprise how much snow was still about. lower down. Where there was no tree cover there was compacted snow and where the trees stopped the snow the trail was icy and solid. If it hadn't been so cold I'd say it would be very fast conditions if it was a used in a race. Grip was never a problem. I went up to the top and had a play on the jumps and a few trips down the XC switchback section.
Right up the top there is a gate that leads to the mountain above. I saw that at least two riders had gone up there from their tracks so I thought I would join them.

Some iced up single track lower down the trail

More icy single track

The bumpy fire road (smoothest I've ever ridden it)

Riding over the top of Twmbarlwm and then North over towards the OS trig point Mynydd Maen it was very cold. The snow was solid and there was a lot of ice. I had ridden up there in the Autumn with my daughter and the all the large puddles were frozen solid. Some of them were about 30ft long and I could ride over the edges of them OK. I was riding down a large rut that seems to be about 6 inches deep. I'd been riding down it for a quite a few metres when I heard some cracking. Suddenly I just dropped about a foot maybe more into the water below. I managed to stay upright and not get wet. It came as a bit of a surprise I must say. The temperature according to one of the riders at the top of the Twrch Trail was about -5. So over on Mynydd Maen with the wind chill it must have been quite a bit less.
The view from the top of the mountain was fantastic. Apart from some electricity pylons there was no sign of anything man built. I could see the Bristol Channel, England, The not so black at the time Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons the sky was that clear. To the South through West to North it was clear. From the East I could see dark clouds and feared some bad weather was coming my way so I thought it best I head back to the Cwmcarn Trail. On the way back I made my own way going over different tracks not following the two tyre tracks I had followed before. It's hard work not knowing the tracks and having them covered in snow. I met a group of three riders on their way up had a quick chat and headed back to the Twrch. Climbed over the fence at the top of the Jumps section and had a few more runs down them. On last run I met three blokes who were having issues with one of their bikes. looked like the one chap had blown his forks up. Not the nicest of rides back down for him.
On the way down the downhill part of the Twrch Trail I found it very icy. I don't think I touched the front brake once and took it very easy. when I got to the car park at the bottom I thought about going for another loop but thought better of it and headed home via the canal tow path. I certainly didn't expect to come across a fishing competition. Those guys looked cold all sat there with their Roach Pole trying to catch what exactly?

Bloody good day on the bike I say  Hopefully will get back up there on Sunday or maybe Afan Forest

Very icy single track that had no tree cover

At the Top of the Twrch Trail. Left or Right (I did it both twice)

Just above the Twrch Trail riding over to Mynydd Maen

OS trig point on Mynydd Maen at 459ft

Looking North towards the Black Mountains

The frozen canal on the way home

A bit of a cold day for a fishing competition