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Jamaican Bob?
We've been on three rides in three months at Nant yr Arian and they couldn't have been more varied. The January ride was perhaps the most intense with bright sunshine and not a breath of wind. To add spice to the pot one or two of the double-track slopes had become glaciers worthy of manning a bobsleigh instead of a mountain bike. We began the ride on a high and ended up ecstatic, with almost maniacal "couldn't wipe the grin off our faces with a track pump" enthusiasm. The north facing slopes of sheltered valleys were covered in a blanket of snow whilst the remaining ground was clad in Winter colours of gold and muted green.
Wound up and ready to go...
The first climb of the day is one of the easiest as the main car park is high in the Plylimon mountains. Three hundred yards of dead straight forest road and one of single-track switchback climb brings you to a long sweeping left hander which suddenly tightens (steady now...) and dips in to the trees. This is fast, smooth and narrow until it drops down an easy rock staircase then makes a tight turn and spits you out on the high side of a deep and steep Welsh valley. The precipitous outlook is reminiscent of Cwmcarn but that's another story. A couple of tight flat turns (yawn) lull you in to a false sense of security before things start to wind up again with some nifty little bends dodging old tree stumps. One more flat hairpin sees you at the starting gate and ready for a fright as you build momentum along the valley wall. Now you know you're having fun and from here it's a swoop to a footbridge then up a short pitch (yes, up) to the second half of the descent where you build so much speed that the drop and the bomb-hole get pretty desperate, try and stay on the ground if you don't want to jump the whole lot! A final hump spits you out diagonally across a forest road. intended to slow you down, it just has us landing on the front wheel and screeching to a desperate halt frothing at the mouth somewhat. A short forest road haul brings you to a singletrack shortcut to the lake at Llyn Blaenmelindwr, don't ask us how to pronounce it!
Mud rationing
This is where you can move off on to the incredible doubletrack route. No other location we know of has such a great singletrack loop and quality doubletrack to compete with the best the Dales or Peaks have to offer. It's really a combination of factors that make this such a great ride, stunning scenery, fast and technical trail and a strict rationing of mud that can make you wonder how grass grows out there. Some riders come un-prepared for Nant yr Arian's wilder side and so when they reach the lake they immediately take the double track back towards the centre. For the inexperienced and poorly equipped perhaps this is a good call. The rest should get out their maps and follow the narrow road along the East bank. Once you pass the second lake (Llyn Syfydrin, a little under a mile from the first) the tarmac ends and you find a pot-holed road with several fords and huge puddles which often link up giving the impression you're riding in a river. You soon reach a major ford which is often rideable, if you don't mind getting your feet wet.
Scuba biking
On one unusually wet weekend we found a Range Rover which had conked out trying to get through, he had a snorkel exhaust! For the less aquatically ambitious there is a footbridge which can let you make it across dry, ya' wimp. The view after this, looking West across to Llyn Craigypistyll is pretty special. It's easy going then until you make the right turn off towards Nant y Moch Reservoir, which entails a short climb and perhaps a few minor diversions around oceanic puddles. One more clear water ford brings you to the reservoir and what a sight for sore eyes it is. A short tarmac trip along the West side of the water and the road climbs steeply before you double back on a broad, quarry style road. More wide open vistas unfold before the trail heads downwards and you hit top speed just in time to, realise you should have gone a teeny bit slower... Because this is no tarmac: folded solid rock gives way to jagged pieces of loose stone. The right side is probably the smoother, but sliding too far across has you launching over a big hole in heart stopping mode for a cross country rider. Although it's soon done you'll be laughing at the bottom if you made it down in one piece.
Hairy trails?
In January over one hundred yards were frozen solid. We're not talking snow or frost here, this was a glacier several inches thick and worthy of Torville and Dean. We hopped off in short order to ride the trail border, having tasted the ice already on the flat half a mile ago. You can ride this stuff, just don't brake, turn accelerate or make one of the several thousand imperceptible shifts of balance you need to stay upright in a days biking. A moderate climb follows, heading a little left of the Col. Once past the highest point a stone shelf signals the start of a hairy four hundred foot descent on deep, loose rock with lots of fish-tailing and water cut channels, brilliant. After this you have a further two descents with only one minor climb, the general impression is that you must be about five hundred feet below sea level at this point.
Forking off
Eventually the climb bears right and enters the forest again. Turn first right uphill and follow to a wide section of the forest trail where the singletrack can be seen forking off to the right. This section soon turns downhill and has some great roller coaster humps built in, which should see all but the novices of the ground and laughing. At the end of here you drop down to Llyn Pendam (yes, another lake) and you can pop up the short pitch to follow the East bank before a sudden, scary ninety degree left hander dumps you back on to the road. The next single begins soon after the start of the rough forest road here and takes you back to Llyn Blaenmelindwr, the unpronounceable, unspeakably beautiful pool of earlier.
Shiver me timbers
Through the gate with the multi-use route sign and you're back on the Summit trail. Although the climb here isn't too hard we're usually starting to feel it, solace comes from views across the eighth lake of the day! Hold on to your helmet because this is another fast and technical section, if you think it's tough when you're there, we've ridden it when much of it was solid ice. Sends a shiver down my spine just thinking about it.
Get me a drink
Do take care on this section as there have been complaints from horse riders with whom we share this trail. Shortly after the bottom you reach the top of the amazingly long 'Mark of Zorro' descent. Race each other down here and you'll all be gasping at the end as Zorro makes the best of the incline with several flat sections. On the last leg there are three humps which will squash you down and flick your rear end in the air most disconcertingly, leave off the brakes at your peril. Once you do get to the bottom you have to tackle 'The Leg Burner' this climb of over a mile and a half just never lets up. Eventually you reach the 'Drunken Druid' and quite frankly by now you'll feel in need of a stiff drink, if only to numb the pain. In a sadistic twist the Druid drops for a few yards then goes straight up a steep ten yard climb... Fortunately gravity relents for the remainder of this section and there is only one very short upwards bit on the way to the nearby 'High as a Kite'. This trail is as fine an example of what can be achieved with very little loss of height as we have ever seen. Riding along here will make you feel like you're on an Imperial Speeder Bike as you dodge trees a split second before impact and trust your feelings just as far as you dare. What a brilliant end to one of the very best mountain bike rides in Wales. Bartender! Set 'em up.