Downhilling - great fun, but strangely hard work. Why is pushing uphill so much harder than riding? Not something that keeps me awake at night but an issue none the less. However, it’s not an issue at Cwm Carn, arguably Wales’ premier permanent downhill course (there is an excellent XC course there but I can’t bring myself to go there and not take a downhill bike!) opened in August 2005 and is served by the Cwmdown uplift service.
One prebooking (essential) and £22 later provided unlimited uplifts for a day. Bike-wise I took my Specialized Big Hit which performed as faultlessly as ever. The course is steep and technical enough to warrant a full downhill rig, tyre-wise (the most important consideration after shocks says me). I was expecting mud, so took along a pair of Swampthings, however I was selling short the quality of the track surface which was as solid as ever. I ended up keeping a pair of Minions on (always super tacky). Interestingly, I spent the day with several riders on Specialized SX Trails, a ‘do it all’ bike that seemed more than capable. The SX is an excellent choice if you’re not as obsessed as myself and don’t own a different bike for every day of the week!
The course itself is superb, about 1900m long, dropping a healthy 250m. Fast and smooth in some sections, fast and lumpy in others. It contains enough jumps, berms, switchbacks and rocks to keep anyone happy and you WILL NOT get it dialled in one day, not by a long way (if you do, then you better start entering some races if you haven’t already ). I wont try to describe it any further as written descriptions of such trails make little sense to anyone. I will instead direct you to the video of Rowan Sorrel nailing the course (Mojo, Dirt magazine writer/rider and trail builder par excellence) on the Cwmdown site. Watching said video footage is quite frankly depressing - inspiring as well but mostly just depressing. I didn’t realise just how much I suck.
He (Rowan) was riding when I last went there. We both left the start together but he was out of sight by the first corner and by the time I got to the finish, feeling quite pleased with myself I might add, he was there looking like he’d been there all day. I knew he was going a LOT faster than me, but having seen the afore mentioned video realizing just HOW he was riding is as I said before, frankly depressing.
This track is not all ‘do or die’. There are chicken (sensible!) lines through all the sketchiest sections making it all ‘rollable’, just ride within your abilities, push yourself of course (wearing as much body armour as you feel you need, and of course a full face lid).
However it’s certainly not a track to have your first offroad experience on, better to get acquainted with tracks like The Wall and Penhydd at Afan Argoed or Whites level at Glyn Corrwg first, and remember that unless you’re a regular on D/H podiums there’s always going to be someone faster coming up behind you so use some common sense and courtesy, e.g. don’t stop or loiter in the middle of the track. In short, Cwm Carn is a world class downhill track and it deserves an even bigger reputation than it’s already got.
Posted by Chris
