Darren Fawr - Garw Valley Mountain bike trail centre

WyeMTB packed up the van to head for a days introduction to trail centres and met the group, we made our way along the M4 West. At Junction 37 we turned up the Garw valley to the village of Bleangarw, the road stops there and the trail starts. There is a free car park, however there are no formal facilities there e.g. Cafe, Shop or Toilets.

"There is free parking in the Parc Calon Lan Visitor Centre car park off Railway Terrace, Blaengarw (CF32 8AT)"

The Trail was officially opened on the 6th April 2013 and was constructed by a number of key parties including Cognation and Back on Track. The trail centre offers 2 purpose built trails, the Glengarw graded blue which is 3km long with a 100m climb. The second trail is the Gellideg graded Black and is 3.2km long.

The Glengawr trail takes you up slowly towards the forest, the trail at this point is a mix of single track and vehicle free tracks. Great for a beginner group or a group who are searching for some key trail features such as single track, Berms and rolling terrain but with the flexability of the trail being fairly easy for intermediate riders, like the group we had today.

Emma and the Taff making their way up the trail 

We rode the blue trail a number of times looking at a number of key MTB skills including:-

• Action Position
• Cone of movement
• Future trail

After a few runs along the route which only takes 20mins to ride from start to finish we asked the group what did they wanted to look at in more depth, Corning? Pumping the trail? Attack position? The group identified that the trail feature of berms would be good to look at and investiate how they are ridden. The 1st step of riding berms more effectively have been identified by WyeMTB as

• Wide angel entry
• Effective braking - set your speed in a straight line before the berm
• Look around the berm at the exit and beyond

The Pump track situated at the trail head

After the 2nd run on the Blue trail we made our way to the pump track. The track looked great from a distance however on riding the track it was clear that some bedding in was needed. The final layer of hardcore/stones have made the surface very slippery.

 Sam Heading up the steep climb on the Black route

After lunch we headed back up the Blue route where at the half way point the Gellideg route forks off and starts a very steep climb. The Black route is clearly a big step up and should only be attempted by confident and expert MTB riders.

The Gellideg route offered us some trail features to offer coaching on 'step downs' and 'drop offs' which Emma, who started on Zero ended the trail as an hero, Well done Emma. The group found the Black trail very challenging and we decided to make our way off the route half way down on the 'escape' route. The final part of this escape route has some well created berms and some steep rolling single track.

Drop off with Emma Davies

Great Trails and we would highly recommend visiting the area

WyeMTB is a mountain bike business based in the Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean. We run leadership course designed for anyone who wants to be become a MTB guide, we also run progressive skill courses at a number of Trail Centres in South Wales and England.

info@wyeMTB.co.uk

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