After a hard days ride uphill yesterday, today we were going to Dyfi bike park and getting an uplift. This is where you pay a chap to drive you and your mates up the hill in the back of a Landover, with the bikes in a trailer. You then spend 20 mins coming down the hill, back to the start, where you catch another Landy to the top again, rinse and repeat. So much easier than pedaling to the top, and before you say it’s cheating, I did enough uphill pedaling yesterday not to feel even slightly guilty about it!
Continue reading Dyfi Bike ParkSnowdon Struggle
Well that was equal parts exhilarating and exhausting!
It’s funny how the human mind has the capacity to ignore, and even forget, the suffering of the human body, when the suffering is in pursuit of a goal. For us, it was the summit of Snowdon. This was not the end goal, but actually the start of the reason we had travelled here; to descend on mountain bikes.
Continue reading Snowdon StruggleSnowdon Preparation
Oh god what have I agreed to…
Steve has been pushing me to come mountain bike down Snowdon for a while and finally I had relented.
Continue reading Snowdon PreparationYou Spin Me Right Round
One of the major costs in converting the van has turned out to be getting seat swivel bases. These have to be very strong components to hold the weight of the passenger and seat, not only during normal driving, but also so they don’t move in crashes. Last thing you need in a crash is your seat becoming detached and throwing you around the cab.
Continue reading You Spin Me Right RoundYamaha Offroad Experience ’21
I had forgotten how much I like the smell of two-stroke, pine forest and sweat.
The chap in front had brought his own bike which was just singing along. We blasted along the fire roads and every now and again he would give it a cheeky squeeze sending gravel shooting back at me. It wasn’t a race, we were heading to the next area of technical trail to tackle, so I just hung back and enjoyed the view, the smell and the experience of handling such a wonderful machine.
Continue reading Yamaha Offroad Experience ’21Admiral Rodney’s Pillar
We rose slowly, enjoying the last of the “best room” hotel luxury. We also made the most of the large welsh breakfast which was amazing – all the food had been amazing actually.
It had been a mixed holiday but definitely improved through the week. It was time to head home and while we were feeling tired, we also wanted to go for a walk to enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery some more.
Continue reading Admiral Rodney’s PillarThe Gap
Today we tackled “The Gap” mountain biking route through the Brecon Beacons. It was definitely type 2 fun* my butt bones have never hurt so bad by the end of the day. But it was all worth it for the long descent after.
Continue reading The GapDate Night
We had had enough and we left.
I packed up the van with all our stuff and retrieved all my cooking gear from the kitchen (we hadn’t trusted the supplied utensils). Left it in better condition that we found it, and rolled out in search of some holiday for our holiday.
Continue reading Date NightWorking In Wales
Now we were established in the wonky welsh house, it was time to do some work. This is the first experimental excursion, for Aimi, where she is “working from home”, away from home.
Continue reading Working In WalesBike Park Wales
This is what we are here for, sitting in a sweaty transit grinding up a forest road to the top of a soggy welsh hill listening to Guns N Roses and choosing our next mountain bike route.
Continue reading Bike Park Wales