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Now this could be another simple tale of stair-steep singletrack but halfway down this great big gobble of gorgeousness is a rocky outcrop the trail cuts through. This is pretty technical stuff with angled slabs and a severe step leaving only the banked grass side of the gully as the rideable option. The trick as usual is not to ride too slowly, go right at first to set yourself up
for a left and stay relaxed so the bike finds it's own way over the embedded rock.
Obviously you need your weight pretty far back but don't over do it. Once you've finished playing on here there's still a good long drop to the reservoir road and heading right along here adds some fast and easy miles. Eventually the cycleway ends and the terrain changes drastically to rolling hills of open grassland. A good surfaced, gradual climb leads on to the moor top where predatory Red Kites soar high on Summer breezes. Dodge any guano raining down from legally protected posteriors, these are big birds and boy will you know it if they drop one on you. Hop across the small bog on top-o-the-moor and accelerate down the singletrack on the far side.
Now we're having fun with criss-crossing sheep trodden ruts in the grass, setting us up for a dual eliminator. Long and swoopy without losing too much height the trail brings you on to the road which you climb to the top of the final downhill.
Not as pretty as the rest of the ride it begins inauspiciously as a deeply rutted doubletrack filled high with dank water. We attacked this with gusto, it was a warm day and we felt we could use the soaking. By the fifth splash things were getting a bit silly, this water was deep and long and we were hitting it at top whack.
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We found our limit with one section when pedals hit the sides and an early bath was on the cards. I admitted defeat and we made a reluctant diversion around it. I'm all for crashing through puddles to avoid erosion but you could have lost a Landrover in this one!
We crested a rise and began descending on fast stone doubletrack, eroded rock strata lies across the track all along it's length, forming drop-off after jump after drop-off. This is air-time heaven with our wheels off the ground more times in five minutes than in half a dozen other rides. We were whooping and hollering, good job we had the whole trail to ourselves, we were simply ecstatic. If anyone knows of a downhill in the UK with more air possibilities just please let me know at the usual address. Before you get too carried away and decide to sue us for your pain and suffering, one or two of those drops are close together, so just don't throw caution completely to the wind or you'll need mountain rescue...
You'll know you've
done some truly quality descending by this time and it's an easy
chip back in to Rhayader on the road to finish, nice.
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