30th July - Cwmcarn Uplift Day - Mountain Bike Rides

Details: Category: 2011 Ride Diary; By Pete Halls; 02.Aug; 02 August 2011; Hits: 2807

With only a few weeks to go to the big trip to Whistler it was time to dust off the "big" bike at the weekend and give it a run out. Nine of us were booked on the uplift at Cwmcarn but our numbers were down to eight before we set off as Shakey dropped out last minute and we couldn't fill his slot.

The drama started before a bike was anywhere near being ridden with Stu "Mad Dog" living up to his nickname and doing some stunt driving past a fireball of burning cars on the M42! Phone calls and more patience on the part of others meant we were later than planned meeting up at Cwmcarn but not too far off the mark.

Pete Halls

As usual we set off on the first run at a steady pace to get our eye in. It was Tom and Matt's first visits so they had to learn the track too. The middle section of the track (between the tunnel and road drop) has been re-built since we last rode it. It's a lot smoother now but was also surprisngly moist and a bit off camber in places. Tom had a crash on one of the off camber bits on his first run but no damage was done.

When I put my bike on the trailer to head up for a second run the rear tyre was fine. When I unloaded it at the top it was totally flat. Doh! I got a lift back down and then missed another run as I had to fit a tube. My nearly new tubeless High roller had split right on the bead :(

I was now out of sync minibus wise with the rest of our group but managed another couple of runs before the lunch break and felt I was now starting to get a feel for things.

We all sat around talking it up in glorious sunshine as we ate. Jamie had waitress service from Jenny serving him his packed lunch! :o I did a bit of tweaking on Tom's chain device as he was suffering with loosing his chain on most runs and we were soon back in the queue for the first uplift of the afternoon.

First run down Jamie and I decided to do the black options for a change. It was good: much more technical than the red but towards the bottom I pinch flatted my rear tyre and had to limp the bike down. That's what running a tube does! :( I've not had a puncture in my UST tyres for as long as I can remember until that tyre split.

Another tube fitted meant another missed run and a wait at the top to get back in sync with the posse. Oh well. One of those days. While I was swapping the tube a guy came down and started phoning for an ambulance near me. This got me worried and as soon as he finished the call I asked what had happened concerned that it was one of our lot. It wasn't but some poor sod had got one of the jumps wrong and had a suspected broken collarbone and concussion.

We continued getting in runs right until the end; mixing it up a bit on the line options including the last bit of the XC course.

A great day was had by all.