Being totally unfit - fucked knees and recent sprained wrist
I thought I needed to beast myself on some XC.
Thought I'd go back to Penmachno (near Betws-y-Coed) in order to get a few miles in and sample the new "loop 2" that has been built since my last visit. The last time I did "loop 1" was a few years back and I was on a Patriot 66 - not the ideal bike but fun on the downhills. This time I took the trusty hardtail.
"Loop 2" is really an optional extension to "Loop 1" rather than being a separate trail. You could do it on it's own if you knew the road crossing points but can't see the point really . The two loops offer a combined distance of 30.5km. Loop 1 has lots of climbs (mainly fireroad) and descents. It's a fine circuit in it's own right.
Loop 2 is different in character as the climbs and descents are much smaller but I really enjoyed it. It offers 14km of nearly continuous singletrack which is fun, in places quite technical and although you're never really far from a road it has a wilderness feel to it. I only saw 3 other people on the loop and the views are stunning.
So all in all a nice day out. Due to my level of fitness I hogged the granny ring and had a lot of rests and it took me 3.5 hours. If you're fit and didn't stop you could knock an hour off that.
The fast loop 1 descents became a bit of a handful at high speed on the hardtail and I've knocked my (very strong) rear wheel out of true. A light full susser would be better for those. The HT was just fine on Loop 2 though.
