New Year at Llandegla
Christmas was over and the last day of the year almost upon us, so what better way to finish the year off than by biking somewhere different?
With no plans for the New Year we decided to make our way to North Wales and bike one of the many trails. Our plan was to ride Llandegla and then spend New Years Day at Penmachno, but not all went to plan.
The drive up to North Wales started early so we can get a real good day on the bike. Have you heard of Llandegla Bike centre? I’d say with hand on my heart that this is one of the best in Wales, as it keeps improving. It has every thing from huge fun factor black runs to long red runs and blue trails, plus a freeride section, pump track and a skills area!
This is privately owned woodland and then leased to a company, which builds the trails and runs the place very well. There is a café which has great food and cakes! I know, and a bike shop with good kit.
The revenue from the car park goes to the land owner and gets matched pound for pound and then goes back into the trails, so with over 350 car parking spaces it gets full at weekends. It’s not just for biking there is also walking trails for the family.
So we arrive at the centre and it’s time to get ready, we pull my bike out and then AJ say’s, where’s my wheel? It’s in their somewhere in the car, NO it’s not…! Oh no, I forgot to put the front wheel in the car and it’s still in the house, a 4 hour drive away.
I’m not happy to say the least but Amanda is cool about it, she say’s I’ll go for a run there’s a 7 mile walking track around the forest. That means I’ll have to go around on my own. Amanda gets her running shoes on and off she runs!
As for me, I’m going to do two laps at full speed. Off I go and the first bit is a steady climb up to what seems to be the top. Most of the climb is amongst the trees with one exposed bit, which if the wind is blowing from the west it gets a bit slow at that section. To be honest it’s not hilly at all, as I can big ring it all the way up.
Then the fun starts, you hit two berms then cross a bit of doubletrack, then it’s a fast smooth downward section with some humps that you can get a little air. So much so Adam some time ago blew two tyres on one jump, I’m sure you remember that one Adam!
Then the trail turns off to the right for the easy section and I head left. It heads into the open and zig zags over to the next tree line with some berms jumps and semi rocky sections. You can make this real fast and fun.
I enter the woods again for a short while till I make a left turn onto the black run, oh yes this is where it gets FUN.
I’m peddling hard down the single track and get held up by two bikers which pull over at the interchange, I make a right and carry on to the table tops and rock garden, which is fast, it’s wet and the bike slips a little on my summer tyres but I lunch of the tabletop and land the other side nice and clean with speed and then it’s the next jump, then the next and the next, then a hard right and join the red trail again.
It’s a short uphill so I push hard on the pedals and I notice some guy on a carbon hardtail trying to give chase, no chance. It’s back onto the black run with a little bit of woodwork which gives you a bit of a surprise. The first time you do it you think it’s a 7 foot drop off and think oh poo, but it fools you into thinking it. Good fun the first time.
No time to recover and then back into the dark again and pushing hard along the black run. All of a sudden there is a group of ten or so looking down on someone who had just wiped out. He’s good and back up on his feet in no time. Just a little blood leaking form his body, no worries.
Now it’s a little up hill and then with some fun factor corners and descents. I have another guy pushing hard behind me trying to keep up, not for long. Now unknown to me the digger has been working hard since I have been here last and I see a new trail open, Black it say’s, oh yes I’ve got to have some of that.
It’s a steep drop onto the woodwork and a small drop off onto the trail, now if you look at the link you’ll see what it’s like, sweet fun riding. One tabletop I went over, there was this guy wrapped around a tree backward with his bike upside down chain ring wedged into the tree, this guy couldn’t move for love nor money.
I helped him back onto his feet, he said he was OK, more blood coming from his face. All he said was ‘I shouldn’t be on this trail’. I have a feeling he could be right. He had a kid with him about ten years old, just looking at his dad, I said to the kid, ‘lad that’s not how to do it…’ The kid just smiled and nodded.
It’s off again and I’m back on the red run, all the way to the centre. Wow this place just keeps getting better, shall I go for a second run, better not as AJ’s due back soon, so I’ll have a play on the freeride park. After about 40 mins playing I went back to the car still no AJ… I’m thinking she is running very slow 7 miles only to find out when she gets back that she had done 2 laps, 14 miles…
Now they rated the runs higher in the UK than other places in the world. In Canada this would only just make a red run, only just. I guess we’re in a PC culture, too many muppets around. It’s not hard like the Beast trail, which is just abusive to man and Bike, I love it…
This Bike Centre is an example of what can be done when a private company runs forestry. No Government run Forestry Commission involved. It works, trust me. Some time ago I put my name on the government petition to stop selling forestry. I’m now thinking again that perhaps the forestry commission should have been sold to private company’s and they lease the land of the government, then we might see investment in our woods for all to use and enjoy. But then this is stuck in its ways, backward England.
So if your looking for a weekend away from the wife’s weekend job list it’s easy, grab your bike, chuck it in the back of your car, jump in it and head North West to Llandegla Forest.
It’s worth the flack when you get home, trust me… I know what I’m talking about.
Links
- Photos on Flickr of Llandegla
- Mountain biking and walking in Coed Llandegla
- Oneplanet Adventure – Llandegla Visitor Centre
About the author
Darren spends his time riding bikes in the UK, South Africa and New Zealand. That's right, we're jealous too!
There are 11 comments on ‘New Year at Llandegla’
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DannyP says:
Funny, was just reading about Llandegla last night in MBR.
Sounds like an absolute blast. Defo on the list for 2012.
Why not get a date in the diary asap!?
The “Wheel at home” incident could have been much worse bro. It could have been yours! 🙂
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Posted on January 11, 2012 at 8:13 am
DaveW says:
Sounds fantastic. Must go there.
If it was just the front wheel, couldn’t Amanda have wheelied around the trail? C’mon!
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Posted on January 11, 2012 at 9:15 am
StevenD says:
How many other people like me looked at a map this morning and checked how to get to there ? 😉 Nice write up Darren, I think you should take the Tandem next time both for fun and to make sure you take the right number of wheels.
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Posted on January 11, 2012 at 9:44 am
Markymark says:
Jeez, i think i’ve just spunked in my pants… we’ve had a few chats about this place before Darren and its defo on the radar for this year! Sounds awesome. Bring it on.
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Posted on January 11, 2012 at 9:55 am
Matt says:
MarkyMark, you have a… unique… way of expressing yourself sometimes!!
I agree, it looks terrific fun and as for AJ being ‘cool’ about the lack of a front wheel – she is one special lady! I would have paid dearly for that one…
Of course I would never leave for a place like, say, Wales, with my wallet on the roof of the car, only to discover my error 200 miles later. No, not me. Fortunately a neighbour spotted my deliberate mistake and returned the wallet intact to my parent’s address which was still on my driving licence!!
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Posted on January 11, 2012 at 10:38 am
tony says:
D’Andy and I rode Llangedla, Penmachno and CdB on 3 consequectutive days last spring. llangedala is a great trail – the 7ft boardwalk looked scary as hell when you couldn’t see the ramp at the end as you started – fortunately D’Andy was in front! The building of the end of the llangedla trail wasn’t complete when we rode but it did look great, huge berms! The only negatives for llangdela was that it could be very muddy and I think that it has a reputation for getting very busy.
As a 3 day trip – Llangedla, Penmachno and CdB – it’s hard to beat. All great and varied trail centres.
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Posted on January 11, 2012 at 10:55 am
Karl says:
Now that…. looks good!
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Posted on January 11, 2012 at 10:36 pm
Dandy says:
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Posted on January 12, 2012 at 8:32 am
Dandy says:
Doh, that format didn’t quite work as expected. I’m sure I only had Matt’s quote in the 🙁
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Posted on January 12, 2012 at 8:35 am
Dandy says:
Must be an iPad thing, nothing to do with an old fart failing to get to grips with new technology, oh no.
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Posted on January 12, 2012 at 8:37 am
Dandy says:
The missing quote from Matt’s comment was:
“as for AJ being ‘cool’ about the lack of a front wheel – she is one special lady! I would have paid dearly for that one…”
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Posted on January 12, 2012 at 9:16 am