CyB Karrimor March 18th

The first big ride of 2006 saw the web unite seven friends in mid Wales who were all pumped up for some great riding that was sure to challenge everyone. Over beer on Friday night we unanimously agreed that the first ride of the wkend would be the long Karrimor trail which would be attacked with fresh legs and also takes in sections of the shorter RebBull and MBR routes, thus giving us a taste for Sunday's ride. Only DangerousDave had ridden the route before although Farqui had previously tasted small chunks and even then both of us rode portions that were new to us due to the building work associated with the new center, not yet complete.

The ride itself started off at a pace which gradually calmed down after a few of the initial fireroad climbs - which seem to be a feature of this long route :-( The posse dived into the fun downhill RedBull sections of Snap, Crackle and Pop which got most smiling and a few alarmed at what the rest of the ride would be like ! Onwards we cranked and as we completed more and more sections we began to realise that most were very technical with little flow to them which was unfortunate but boy were they challenging. The rocks were often awkward to clear without dabbing and the roots were always keen to cause havoc, even though they were mostly dry. Actually, for the time of year and the amount of rain the area had recently experience I was surprised at just how dry the trails were.

At the halfway point we were all pleased to find a small cafe that helped rest our weary legs, refuel our empty belly's and warm us through with some hot coffee and soup. Whilst suppin', a fellow rider handed us a fab tip to cut out a long fireroad drag just around the corner and instead hit a steep tarmac section over a shorter distance, which still brought us out at the next fun downhill descent.

Three quarters of the way around, back at the valley floor the Notts posse decided to call it a day and head back to the car park while the rest of us hammered on up the next climb. Unfortunately they missed a few of the most fun sections of the whole trail, with some brilliant stone bridges over streams interconnected with some fast flowing and sweeping descents that finished the day off nicely for the rest of us. I can't blame the guys from opting out early as I felt that overall the Karrimor didn't ride sweetly in the fun bits and was just plain tough. They all deserve a pat on the back tho 'cos the trail was fierce out there today with some serious height gains and even the flat bits were tricky.

We also rode the MBR the following day and ll the wkends pic's can be found here.

Posse: Ben, DangerousDave, Farqui, Rob, Roger, Sicknote, Uphilla.

Injuries: We all had offs of some kinda but only Roger drew blood as he slithered off the trail - to his credit he carried on like nothing had happened.

Mechanicals: DangerousDave suffered a front puncture and Farqui gradually adapted to his low performance rear brake. All the bouncing gave Rob a squeaky headset which was stripped, cleaned and re-assembled later that evening whilst the beer flowed back at the cabin.

Weather: Dry, overcast with a cool 3c-ish and a biting wind on the more exposed sections.