New mountain bike ranger for North Wales
Posted on BikeRadar on 18th August 2009
After dealing with a murder, stabbings and working in areas riddled with World War II anti-tank mines as a safety adviser in Libya, Andy Braund is looking forward to a quieter life as Forestry Commission Wales's new mountain bike ranger in North Wales.
Andy also helped repair buildings in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and regularly clambered over the Britannia Bridge across the Menai Straits in a previous incarnation as a "rope access" expert.
Now the 39-year-old has returned to his first love of mountain biking and is relishing the prospect of looking after the world-renowned trails in an area that he has ridden in for almost 20 years.
"Being able to go home to the family after a day's work is fantastic, and to work on the trails I ride regularly is a dream come true," said Andy. "The challenge is maintaining all the trails and evolving the product so that it continues to provide an exciting experience for people."
Andy lives in Penmachno and has been looking after the village trails voluntarily for the past two years. He will now have the responsibility of upholding the reputation of the FC Wales trails in Gwydyr and Coed y Brenin.
"My background is climbing and hill walking as well as canoeing, orienteering and other outdoor activities," said Andy. "But I'm absolutely passionate about mountain biking and always come back to that."
He hopes to create more volunteer schemes for the trails and encourage a greater sense of ownership among local riders, but keeping up with mountain biking technology will also be a challenge. "Very often these days, the bikes people pull off their car racks are worth more than the cars themselves," he said.
MBNW Website Updates
Posted by Sausage Butty on 5th August 2009
Better late than never...
I have finally got round to adding Big Col's two new Flattyres MTB Routes to the Map and Routes pages of the MBNW website.
The two new routes are The Marin And Moel Siabod and Cadair Idris.
Don't forget, all of Big Col's North Wales rides can be found on the Map and Routes pages, and can be identified by the blue pushpin. If you do give them a go then stick a ride report and some photos up on the forum.
The other update to the website was the addition of a couple of subtle images to the main header image.
As usual, let me know your thoughts, good or bad...
Remaining MBNW Forum Rides Announced
Posted by Oggy on 4th August 2009
Ladies and gentlemen, some very important MBNW Forum Ride dates for your diary -
Saturday 26th September: "Marin Totally Twisted"
Sunday 25th October: Ceiriog Valley - Pheasant Track
Saturday 28th November: Location To Be Confimed
Sunday 27th December: Coed-y-Brenin Darkside
For more information, please have a look at the thread for each ride on the Forum Rides board.
Coed y Brenin trail regrading is go!
Posted on MBWales on 3rd August 2009
There have been some questions from riders about the grading of the trails at Coed y Brenin for a while, especially as they've become more heavily armoured and boulder infested to cope with more traffic.
As a result several of the major trails have been upgraded from red to black, while one of the classics gets a red re grade. Here are the exact details from ranger Andy Braund anyway:
"We've updated all of our trail info and revised the grading. The 'Tarw' and 'MBR' have been changed from Red/Difficult, to Black/Severe due to the overall rocky severity and technical nature of these trails. The 'Dragon's Back' has now gone from Black/Severe down to Red/Difficult, which is more appropriate. The other trails remain the same.
We are changing all of our info on the FC website and the new info is up on the boards at the CYB visitor centre tomorow. We'll also be withdrawing all the old leaflets and we're now selling our new packs which contain all of these route maps, grading info, forest code etc in a see through plastic wallet."
New trails open - new skills areas coming soon
Posted on the Coed Llandegla Forest website on 23rd July 2009
Coed Llandegla Forest, the largest privately owned mountain bike centre in Wales, has just opened 1km of new Red graded singletrack trails. Also in the pipeline is a further 10.5km of trail and four new skills areas - enabling mountain bikers and leisure cyclists of all abilities to test their skills and learn new ones!
Coed Llandegla owners, UPM Tilhill, are working with funding from Forestry Commission Wales, to upgrade existing trails and open 10.5km of new singletrack. New routes will provide exciting new challenges for beginners and expert riders alike.
Skills Area: Which trail is for you? The new Coed Llandegla Forest 'Skills Area' offers a safe place to learn mountain bike techniques and build confidence before setting out on the trails. This area will also be used for mountain bike training courses run by the Centre operating company One Planet Adventure.
Free Ride Area: for the more experienced rider, this area offers access to dirt and built jumps, drops and manmade stunts.
Pump Track: how far can your momentum take you? The pump track is a loop of rollers and berms - teaching riders to maintain and gain speed, with the minimum of pedalling.
Dual Slalom: test your skills in a head to head race on this purpose built trail. It's fast and furious as you tackle berms, jumps and bumps on near identical tracks - then switch sides and race again!
The opening of the new facilities is being phased, and all will be open to the public by September. Visit www.coedllandegla.com for up to date details.
Phil Johnson, Regional Manager, UPM Tilhill said: "Extended car parking, new trails and the four new skills areas can only improve our visitors' experience of Coed Llandegla. Over 120,000 people visited Coed Llandegla last year, and with the help of the Forestry Commission, Wales Tourist Board and Cadwyn Clwyd, we can extend the facilities available to our visitors."
Coed Llandegla boasts a purpose-built, log cabin style visitor centre - an example of successful sustainable development - with a spacious café, shop, bike hire and repair, and meeting room facilities. Designed to complement the surrounding environment, the building is of a solid log construction using timber from certified and managed forests. The energy to heat the building and the water comes from a geothermal heat pump which has 2km of pipes buried in the ground, coupled with solar panels. There is also a rain-water collection system which provides water for the toilets and the bike jet wash.
MBNW Kit Shop Has Shut Up Shop
Posted by Oggy on 7th July 2009
The Mountain Biking North Wales Kit Shop is no longer open. There wasn't enough interest after the first order to keep it going so we have been forced to let it go. Thanks to all the forum members who bought some kit, and to Sausage Butty for all his effort in setting it up.
We are now looking in to getting some team MBNW race and trail ware by Endura so watch this space for further developments.
Great Local Knowledge Site For North Welsh Riding
Posted by Oggy on 13th May 2009
Yep, that's Mountain Biking North Wales we're talking about!
We recently received an email from Guy Kesteven, content editor for MBWales.com. Guy wandered onto the MBNW website via a link on another forum and he was impressed with what he saw. So much so, he has written a little piece about us which can now be found in the news section on MBWales.com!
Here's what he had to say -
Every so often you stumble onto something great. A new bit of secret singletrack, a crumpled muddy tenner in the bottom of you Camelbak, or a great new website like www.mbnw.co.uk
This great looking and super friendly site was set up by North Welsh rider Oggy in April last year, but we only found it when we saw them offering advice on a forum thread. We got in touch to ask if we could tell more people about their community and this is what Oggy said:
"We set up the site because there was a massive lack of info that concentrated on the mountain biking available in the North Wales region. The website itself is more or less aimed at visitors who come to North Wales to ride either with mates or family. The forum itself is mainly made up of locals and some members from outside North Wales who regularly get together for rides all over the region, you will see the ride reports on the forum. It's been a massive success in bringing people together for rides and through this they have ridden new trails all over the region that they never would have without the forum. If visitors wanted to join us on the wild rides rather than trail centres then they should join the forum and let us know when and where in the region they intend to visit from there. They will no doubt get plenty of volunteers to take them out."
Well, you can't get friendlier or more helpful than that, so if you are heading up north this summer and fancy hooking up with the local trail guru's get online at www.mbnw.co.uk!
Link to story - MBWales.com
Forestry Commission Parking Permits
Posted by Oggy on 14th April 2009
I have looked into this in an attempt to help save you die hard trail center ninjas some money.
I contacted the Forestry Commission this morning and fair play to them, they got back to me pretty sharpish.
Here was the reply with all the info that is relevant to us as mountain bikers -
The permits are from the 1st April till the end of March at a cost of £15. This will be valid in the Gwydyr Forest area (including the Marin Trail car park), Coed Y Brenin, Bwlch Nant yr Arian and Abergwyngregyn. The only exception is Newborough as this requires a separate permit.
A cheque made out to "Forestry Commission" for the sum of £15 and the car registration details will need to be sent to the Dolgellau office: Coed y Mynydd District Office, Forestry Commission, Arran Road, Gwynedd LL40 1LW
Personally I think the £15 they are asking is pretty fair and will possibly look at getting one myself.
New Website Content... Again!
Posted by Oggy on 2nd April 2009
Our brand new MBNW Forum Rides Gallery has been launched today.
Ever been on a MBNW forum ride? If so, your ugly mush may well feature in our collection of photos from all the forum rides that have ever taken place. We have photos from the first forum ride back in August 2008, all the way up to the most recent ride. Have a look here!
MBNW Online Route Resource Relaunch
Posted by Oggy on 9th March 2009
The brand new MBNW Online Route Resource has been relaunched today. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we had to remove the previous MBNW Online Route Resource shortly after it was launched.
We have been working on new content for this area of the website in association with our new friend, Colin from www.flattyresmtbroutes.com. Colin is an established mountain biker, he holds professional MTB qualifications, and has many years' of experience.
His website includes several excellent MTB routes throughout North Wales and the North West of England. We thought the North Wales routes were so good that we wanted to promote them on our website.
MBNW Kit Shop
Posted by Oggy on 10th February 2009
We now have a (small) range of personalised MBNW merchandise available for you to buy!
We can offer you a small selection of good quality clothing featuring an embroidered version of Mountain Biking North Wales logo. They can also be personalised with your name or nickname if you wish (point to note: for obvious reasons items that have been personalised to yourself cannot be returned!). We have tried our very best to keep the costs down, hopefully you will agree!
For the ladies - the t-shirts, performance t-shirts, hoodies and fleeces are all 'unisex' so hopefully there will not be a problem with size / fit.
February 2009 MBNW Forum Ride
Posted by Oggy on 4th February 2009
The next MBNW Forum Ride will be The Dragon's Back Trail at Coed-y-Brenin.
We are meeting at the trail head at 0930hrs on Saturday 28th February, and will be riding by 1000hrs.
Click here for more details.
Magura Race Suspension Fork 2008 Recall Notice
Posted by Oggy on 25th January 2009
During our ongoing and continuous Product Evaluation and Testing Process we have discovered that the initial production batch of our Durin Race 80/100 (MD 80R, MD 100R) Suspension Fork could potentially be faulty. This fault if present will affect the performance of the lower fork leg and in the minority of cases could potentially represent a risk to the user.
For this reason we are issuing a recall of the concerned suspension forks Durin Race 80/100 (MD 80R, MD 100R) in both disc only and canti/disc (for V-brakes) version. As a result of the potential risk to the user MAGURA recommends that affected units are no longer used as they may not be fit for the purpose intended!
Durin Marathon and Durin SL are not affected by this recall action.
The affected suspension forks must be sent either directly to MAGURA or through an authorized MAGURA distributor.
We will make every effort to ensure that this Recall action is concluded as smoothly as possible whilst causing a minimum of inconvenience to our valued customers. We would like to take this opportunity in advance to thank you very much for your support and understanding in relation to this matter.
During the course of our product testing we have established that the affected units in the severest of circumstances could potentially fail causing the breakage of the lower leg of the Durin Race 80/100 and that this could eventually result in a crash and possible injury to the rider.
The recall issue initially manifests itself with a crack on the front fork arch between the horizontal and vertical portion of that arch. The fork remains rideable at this stage, because the 2nd rear arch acts as a stabilizer for the lower leg, but the fork will feel indirect with a reduction in steering precision and the front tire will rub on the inside of the fork legs. If the rider continues with the broken front arch, the breakage of the 2nd rear arch is inevitable and this could then result in a crash.
This Recall only applies to a limited number of Durin Race 80/100 from the initial production batch, which can be identified by serial number or potentially through an optical assessment of the front fork arch radius.
http://www.service.magura.com/en/start.html
New Website Content... Again!
Posted by Oggy on 21st January 2009
Our brand new MBNW Online Route Resource has been launched today.
There has been a bit of a buzz on the forum recently, with several members wanting a central place to keep, and share, their own track logs, route maps, Memory Map files, GPX files, etc.
The MBNW team have been working on this in the background for a while now, with the main reason for it's delayed launch being due to the fact that we must ensure that every route we hold is strictly legal, i.e. we must observe Public Rights of Way, access rights and boundaries.
If you would like to share one of your own routes with us then get in touch with one of the MBNW team, our contact details can be found on the website. We will only accept routes from MBNW forum members so, if you haven't already, you need to register before you can submit your resources.
As a taster, Oggy has created a route map and a Memory Map file for this weekend's forum ride. Enjoy!
January 2009 MBNW Forum Ride
Posted by Oggy on 28th December 2008
The next MBNW Forum Ride will be a Crafnant - Capel - Cowlyd loop on Sunday 25th January 2009. The route is approximately 25km and takes in some really dramatic scenary. This is a true Welsh off-beat ride. We are meeting at the Lake Crafnant car park at 0930hrs and will be riding by 1000hrs.
Click here for more details.
New Website Content
Posted by Oggy on 17th December 2008
Our brand new MBNW interactive map has been launched today.
Our aim is to fill it with as much MTB related information specific to the North Wales area as we possibly can. At the time of launch the map is a little 'sparse'. Our first objective is to remove certain areas from the forum and put the information on the map instead, starting with the local bike shops and then moving on to the MTB-friendly hotels, bunkhouses and pubs.
The map will be constantly updated so don't forget to keep checking back regularly.
RockShox Recall Notice
Posted by Oggy on 30th November 2008
Certain RockShox Domain 302 and 318 models deemed to have faulty steerer tubes.
SRAM has issued a recall of certain RockShox Domain 302 and 318 fork models produced with a steel steerer tube. The manufacturer has determined there is a potential for the steerer tube to fail.
SRAM is retrieving these RockShox Domain forks from the marketplace. Consumers with these forks should stop using them immediately and return the fork to dealers for verification of steerer material and serial number. Forks with steel steerers within the concerned date range should be replaced with a similar model fork by dealers who will be refunded.
SRAM Dealer Action
SRAM Dealers should contact their regional distributor or SRAM DSD (Germany, Austria and Switzerland only) to obtain a return number for a replacement fork.
Distributor info can be found at www.sram.com/en/locator/distributors.php
The steerer tube material is visible under the center of the crown. A magnet placed on the inside of the steerer tube can be used to identify the material of the tube. Forks produced with aluminum steerer tubes are not affected by this recall.
Domain Production Codes
09T8XXXXXXX to 42T8XXXXXXX. The production code is located on the fork crown.
Check out the forum for more details.
MBNW Goes To Glentress
Posted by Oggy on 28th November 2008
On Friday 28th November, a convoy of MBNW riders travelled over the border and up north for a weekend of riding at Glentress, one of Scotland's excellent 7stanes trail centres.
Trail reports and ride photos from the weekend can be found on the forum here.
Join the MBNW Facebook revolution!
Posted by Oggy on 26th November 2008
You can now join the MBNW group on the Facebook social networking website.
Click on the Facebook image and spread the MBNW word to all of your friends!
