Dirty Bikers

The early September 2009 ride took us to the Marin Trail, near Betws-y-Coed, North Wales.

The sub-title top the ride was Pete’s Big Birthday Bash, to celebrate Pete’s 35th birthday, but he was to rename it as we’ll soon discover.

From the car park, there’s a short single-track trail through the forest that leads to the main climb. Definitely a good way to get heart, lungs and legs warmed up but this is an awful way to start your day. A word of warning at this point, do not even think of doing the Marin trail unless you have a reasonable level of fitness.

Once reaching the top of the first section the views are pretty spectacular and almost worth the climb .. almost because it’s bloody difficult!

This is the point when Pete renamed the Marin trail, the Killer of Hopes and Dreams, a fair description of the feeling we had after this highly demanding start.

Most of the Marin trail is single track with lots of small rocks and is quite technical in many places. The trail has been well thought through and includes some man-made sections that fit seemlessly into the natural elements of the trail. These single tracks are complimented with reasonably wide fire roads, quick technical downhill sections and in one or two parts, actual roads – thankfully these are short sections and help to fit this 16 mile circuit together.
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Marin Trail Summary

Trail Name: Marin Trail
Location: Gwydyr Forest, Betws y Coed, North Wales
Distance: 25km – 16 miles
Climbing: 450m
Time: 2 – 4hrs (nearer to 4 hrs)
Bike Trail Grade: – Difficult / Red
Suitable For: Proficient mountain bikers with good off-road riding skills.
Surface Types: Steep and tough, mostly singletrack with technical sections. Variable surface types. Plenty of rocks.
Technical Features: A wide range of climbs and descents, many of which are challenging. Expect boardwalks, berms, large rocks, medium steps, drop-offs, cambers, water crossings.
Suggested Fitness Level: Higher level of fitness and stamina. Mainly to ensure you get the most out of the trail.
Trail Map: Map of Marin Trail
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The inaugural meeting of the newly formed Dirty Bikers Mountain Bike Club was in July 2009.

For no reason, other than Bamford and Alan had decided upon the location, we met at Llandegla, North Wales.

As is the norm for those wanting a decent ride, we met at 9am .. strike that, we planned to meet at 9am but certain members couldn’t get their arse out of bed – Mike – and then the Cheshire lot got stuck in traffic on the M56, or so they say.

From memory, and it is failing at my age – 29, cough cough – we set off at around 10.30am. Weather started off ok-ish but later on in the day it turned to heavy rain, ah well.

The first part of Llandegla is a slow, steady climb. It’s not difficult and to be honest it’s a good way to get the lungs working. So after 20-30 mins, most of us were puffing and panting like old men. Speaking of old men, we had to wait another 20 mins for Pete to catch up, some excuse about pedals being loose. I reckon he was pushing!

The group was made up of a few novices and a few more experienced riders. So given the option of a beginners blue run, a more challenging red run, or a technical black run, it was of course logical for all of us to go down the black run – thanks Bamford!
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Member Profile for Mark Taylor

Llandegla Trail Summary

Trail Name: Llandegla Trail
Location: Llandegla Forest, North Wales
Distance (green): 5km – 3 miles
Distance (blue): 12km – 7.5 miles
Distance (red): 18km – 11 miles
Distance (black): 21km – 13 miles
Time: 1 hr – 4hrs, depending on route
Bike Trail Grade: – Something for everyone; green, blue red, black
Suitable For: Beginners to more experienced mountain bikers, black route is not too technical.
Surface Types: Forest paths with some more technical sections on the red and black routes.
Technical Features: Gentle climbs and descents. Expect boardwalks, medium rocks, medium steps, drop-offs, cambers.
Suggested Fitness Level: Entry level of fitness and stamina to medium to enjoy the more challenging routes.
Trail Map: Map of Llandegla Trail

Llandegla Review

Llandegla, or Coed Llandegla, to be precise is a dedicated mountain bike track in North Wales.

The trail is set in forest and has a range of mountain biking trails suitable for all types of MTB’ers from beginners and family groups to routes for more experienced bikers. The trails are marked along skiing markings, ie. green for beginners, blue for newbies or those just wanting a decent introduction to mountain biking, red for those wanting a good ride but not too technical, and finally black or those who want the full works.

All the trails are kept within the forest, and with no main roads to cross, Llandegla is a great place to just get on with it and not worry about what’s coming in the opposite direction, ‘cos there isn’t anything!

The car park costs just a few quid for half a day or just £4 for a full day. There is a fantastic Cafe that rightly boasts the best breakfasts and bacon butties in Wales – I’d actually say the best in the UK personally.

Llandegla is located 7 miles from Wrexham and 14 miles from Chester, and as such is very easy to get to from both the M6 and the M56.

The site is open 7 days a week, and bike hire is available for those wanting to see what all this mountain bike stuff is about.
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Welcome to the brand new, just out of it’s packaging, smells like a new car, type of cliched sort of stuff, website!

This is the online home for the newly formed Dirty Riders mountain bike club.

The idea is for us to have a place to keep track of where we’ve been, what we did, where we’re going and all the other stuff we talk about.

It’s also a good place for us to bore each other, I mean inform each other, on the new gear we’ve just blagged, bought or stolen.

The rest of the site will just happen, as we make it up. Anyway, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Leave a comment to say what you think, and what you want to see on the site.

Alternatively, drop us an email using the online contact form – OMG, have they thought of everything .. er, no!

This is the part where we go on and on about the latest, must-have, piece of kit we’ve just bought.