I’ve been thinking about doing a mashup video edit from some old footage and have just been looking at some clips from last year’s trip to North Wales and found this run from Antur Stiniog.
Such an amazing place and remarkably more rideable than I thought it would be.
Its definitely quite intimidating to start with as its very steep, but its all rollable and if you control your speed anyone can find a way down the red trail.
The Blacks step it up a little but you can see that my Vitus Escpare with 150mm front, 135mm rear travel was more than capable of dealing with the rocks.
Here are some more pics from the rest of the weekend…
This time last week I wont deny I was a little nervous. I’d seen the centre before and it looked scary, it looked bare and it looked like it was going to hurt.
I’m not a fast rider but I do like riding steep trails – Antur Stiniog was going to deliver the steep side and the speed like it or not!
First thing to notice was how under dressed we all felt. This is a purely gravity assisted bike park and 75% of the riders were on full DH rigs and wearing as much body armour as they could. What were we doing?
The Blue run was a belter and enough for some of the group. Recalibrate your trail grading here as this is a Blue DH run not a Blue XC trail.
The Wild Cart (Red) trail was a blast and treats you to some steep chutes, good sized drops and plenty of steep turns and jumps. Gary and I coped well so we stepped up to Black Powder and buckled in for our first go on the Black! And we survived!
Basically it was an amazing day and its a spot that will push your riding to another level. However I would also add that its not as scary as I thought it would be.
Take your pads and a full face helmet, take your time and you will have an awesome day.
The uplift is pretty slick and smooth as it takes you up tarmac roads rather than bumpy fire road. And the food in the cafe is great too, but it small and gets busy at lunch time so get in early.
The uplift stops for lunch and there’s no push up track, but there is a small gravity fed pump track for you to practice on.
I’d thoroughly recommend a day at Antur Stiniog – so go and book yourself on the uplift now!
I put Bwlch in brackets cos everyone calls it Nant yr Arian, or actually just “Nanty” most of the time, but lets give it its full name for a moment – Bwlch Nant yr Arian. It translates as “Silver Stream Pass” or “Pass of the Silver Stream” and is named after the silver lead ore that was mined in the area. There’s an old mine and museum just down the road, that would be a great spot to drop off the non-mountain biking members of your family while you have a ride or an additional activity if you wanted to have a longer stay. Continue reading “(Bwlch) Nant Yr Arian”→
TimFromWales 