Cwmcarn Mountain Bike Trail    Back to: Cwmcarn Mountain Bike Trail Feature      Home

Secret Trail
An inauspicious and very minor right turn on a council estate, leads (after three quarters of a mile) to the pretty setting of the Cwmcarn visitor centre. At time of writing the route is not officially open. Risk assessments still need to be completed and this means there are no direction indicator arrows or maps available. Apparently the organisers simply would not be covered if they told you where to go at the moment. This doesn't mean the trails aren't there though, so we took a trip to get a preview of what's on offer.
Sizzling Singletrack
On the day we visited they were taking even less chance of being sued and had laid brush wood over one hundred yards of the first section of trail! (which climbs directly from the overflow car park). To circumvent this we followed two local riders John and Matthew, Eastwards up the Forest Drive beyond the visitor centre. After a quarter of a mile the road splits and we took the right fork down to and then across the Nant Carn river and continued up the Forest Drive road. Once you reach the lodge a further half a mile up the riverside road (passing a road closed sign, were these guys trying to tell us something?). it's possible to join the riverside singletrack as it follows the river cutting below the road, crossing bridges twice on it's way up to the picnic area near the top of the valley (follow the valley up-stream, it's impossible to miss). When you reach the picnic area, have a snack ready, this is a popular Sunday barbecue spot and the aromas are excruciating! the route continues behind the green road barrier to your right.
Disconcerting Drop
One hundred yards along here is a post marker and a steep little singletrack up the grass bank which climbs for about 200 yards and can be ridden without a dab if you've still got the energy. After this steep little climb you reach a grassy forest road where you turn left for a pleasantly graded climb to a T junction, turn right here. Not much more climbing and you reach the highest point of the ride. After a couple of hundred yards of double-track descending look for a wooden V shaped barrier on the left, leading on to a snaky open singletrack where you'll ricochet off numerous tree stumps on a gradual descent back towards the road. More motorbike unfriendly barriers cause pedal clearance problems at the start of the first of Cwmcarn's trademark narrow and slightly off-camber singletracks. The spice to many of these is the disconcerting drop at the edge, on this fast trail you ride six feet above a minor road which either slows you down or is way up in the dangerous sports league.
Tree Hugging
From here on it's single all the way with as yet unimproved, winding and undulating dirt under your tyres. This dark route through the wood leads to a speedy slalom style singletrack descent which will put a grin on your face. Soon after a high speed descent through the woods lulls you in to a false sense of security before spitting you out in to the open for some high speed dips and a narrow finish where the trees will threaten to love tap your bars and roll you in the dust. Ten yards of Tarmac lead to a slight switch in tactics, the camber drops off to your left now. With some top views in to the valley this part of the trail is the bumpiest at present. On our third lap (yes, third') I suddenly felt my bike yanked back as if my rear wheel had become snagged in a barbed wire.
Quick Release
Once we stopped it became clear that my rear wheel had fallen clean out of the frame! This could have resulted in a horrendous crash had it happened ten minutes later on the final descent. Unfortunately after leaping inconsiderately out of the frame the dropout landed smack on top of the rear disk rotor' The rotor was bent beyond repair. We swiftly removed it, 'Look' I said nervously, 'Air brakes'' Well the Calliper would certainly be braking on air. The spectre of a fatal accident still loomed over me. Cwmcarn's final and hair raising edge trail, with no rear brake'
Slippery when wet
No more route description, it's impossible to get lost from here. We thundered on along a swoopy, woodsy singletrack, quite hard work on lap three as it climbs gently. A final steep pitch leads on to a double wide trail with a single wide smooth line. Bumping rapidly down here you suddenly come out of the woods and see the spectacular drop in to the valley to your left. By spectacular, we mean you soon feel like you're right on top of it. The narrow trail follows the hills contour around to the right with a very steep slope only a couple of feet to your left. As you reach the sharpest bend of the descent the illusion is complete, you've figured out exactly which house roof you're going to land on if you mess up. If this fear doesn't slow you down nothing will. Don't get me wrong here, this trail is only dangerous if you're pushing the envelope, careful riders will have nothing to fear. It's those of us who simply have to fly who need to be concerned. Going over the edge here would surely have to hurt. A lot. Once around the hill and back in the visitor centre valley the trail goes 100 yards along a quiet road before doubling back through a gate on the left for another slightly less hair-raising (and therefore faster) plummet down to the overflow car park. This last descent is a nice mix of long fast straights and deceptive little bends, on the video I manage to ace past both Lenseman and Rob as they miss time their turns. Not very often I get that pleasure: sweet' You don't have to restrict yourself to two or even three laps of the main trail at Cwmcarn like we did. There are two or three other top downhills on the route if you need to add some more extreme descending to the main trails off-camber mix. The bottom end of the first is close to the pit wheel monument, go up the valley road beyond the visitor centre, take the slightly steeper left fork and you can't miss the wheel a few hundred yards later. The trail is up the bank to the left of the road opposite. The big downhill of the day is also easy to find. Whilst you're riding around the main route look out for your first view down on to the housing estate in the valley. The downhill crosses this obvious clearing from right to left. Look for the only singletrack that crosses here, to find the start head right up through the wood. Take care when crossing the main trail on the way down! From the bottom of here it's possible to ride back around and up the main Cwmcarn entrance road to the visitor centre. In this way, once you've found it's start you can use it as an alternative final descent. This downhill has some excellent jumps!
Cwmcarn: definitely worth the drive even if it can't yet compare with Coed y Brenin's vast trail network.