The Coed y Brenin Enduro seemed like the perfect way to exploit the balmy early Autumn Temperatures. A day spent riding the best of Coed y’s trails, smooshy ups and fast technical downs, just the job. Except it wasn’t. The weather held good, so no complaints there. The trails, what trails?
The start bore well, wide fire road allowing the 600 or so riders to spread out, then into a rocky, basically unclimable up within the first 4k, pushing being the order of the day, even if you could ride it, Joe Public couldn’t so nor could you with rider three abreast across the trail occupying any possible route. Trail etiquette doesn’t exist it seems.
Continuing only to lose the hard earned climb on a tarmac descent, purpose built technical challenging trails, where? The first promising single-track hoves into view, a 20 minute queue to ride 400 yards of trail, perhaps that’s why we did the tarmac descent, this is nuts.
More fire road, a rooty gnarly singletrack leading to a grass track across clear cut, purpose built trails, I don’t think so. Crossing the road to the original trails and we take in what was the Red Bull climbs, but there’s no evidence of us using Snap, Crackle and Pop to get back down the hill, a gully, fire road, loamy, muddy trail to the bottom with as I recall a 250m section of nice technical trail through another clearcut.
Pay your entry fee to an event like this or save your money for T and cakes and ride the trails you want to seems like a more sensible choice to me!