Cwmcarn Mountain Bike Centre

Cwmcarn was the first trail centre I visited and I keep going back. Its a convenient location for me close to family and friends in South Wales. Trail is a good technical and physical workout for any experience level. The Twrch climb is one of the most technical of any trail centre in the UK - you need to be able to shift your weight about with ease and front and rear wheel lifts are core skills for this climb. In the wet (which is often in Wales) the exposed rocks and roots become more of a challenge but the trail itself drains really well due to the steep terrain.

The Twrch Trail descent is long and flowing and is great fun! You can pick up some high speeds on the descent that takes you back to the car park where you will arrive breathless and wondering if you have enough leg power left to do the climb again.

At the top of the Twrch there is the free ride park, that you can use to hone your jumping skills on the table tops and your turns on the huge berms. You can also link up with the Y Mynydd Black rated DH track... Mostly rollable but you can push yourself and there are some white knuckle switchbacks and drops to test your mental and riding ability.

Altogether a great trail centre on a steep hillside with new tracks being built by Rowan Sorrell opening up late in 2013 to add to the appeal.

Overall rating		4.8
Grin Factor		5.0
Trail Variety		4.5
Skills Development		5.0
Trail Quality		4.5
Facilities		5.0

Reviewed by _timfromwales March 28, 2013
Last updated: March 28, 2013
Top 10 Reviewer - View all my reviews (3)

Come to Cwmcarn

Cwmcarn was the first trail centre I visited and I keep going back. Its a convenient location for me close to family and friends in South Wales. Trail is a good technical and physical workout for any experience level. The Twrch climb is one of the most technical of any trail centre in the UK - you need to be able to shift your weight about with ease and front and rear wheel lifts are core skills for this climb. In the wet (which is often in Wales) the exposed rocks and roots become more of a challenge but the trail itself drains really well due to the steep terrain.

The Twrch Trail descent is long and flowing and is great fun! You can pick up some high speeds on the descent that takes you back to the car park where you will arrive breathless and wondering if you have enough leg power left to do the climb again.

At the top of the Twrch there is the free ride park, that you can use to hone your jumping skills on the table tops and your turns on the huge berms. You can also link up with the Y Mynydd Black rated DH track... Mostly rollable but you can push yourself and there are some white knuckle switchbacks and drops to test your mental and riding ability.

Altogether a great trail centre on a steep hillside with new tracks being built by Rowan Sorrell opening up late in 2013 to add to the appeal.

User Review

Good Points

* Excellent technical features for both climbing and descending.
* Short enough to visit with only a couple of hours to spare.
* Its in Wales!

Bad Points

* Its very popular with both beginners and advanced riders so be prepared to have to get out of the way fast especially on the Y Mynydd or to have to ask to pass a slow climber on the Twrch.
* Being in Wales you are likely to have to pay the Severn Bridge Toll to get there. This plus parking makes it a £10 trip before you take into account anything else.

Would you recommend?

Yes

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The uphill on the Twrch is one of the most lung busting technical climbs I've done. It is also set in awesome scenery. The down is as fast as the up is hard. It is flowing and tons of fun. The visitors centre has all you would want from a top trail centre. Being a London based mountain biker this is the closest welsh piece of heavan to us so is v v loved.

Overall rating		3.7
Grin Factor		3.5
Trail Variety		4.0
Skills Development		3.0
Trail Quality		4.0
Facilities		4.0

Reviewed by stumpy_dan October 25, 2012
Last updated: October 25, 2012
#1 Reviewer - View all my reviews (122)

The Twrch Trail

The uphill on the Twrch is one of the most lung busting technical climbs I've done. It is also set in awesome scenery. The down is as fast as the up is hard. It is flowing and tons of fun. The visitors centre has all you would want from a top trail centre. Being a London based mountain biker this is the closest welsh piece of heavan to us so is v v loved.

User Review

Good Points

-Technical up
-Great scenery
-Fast flowing down

Bad Points

-Could do with some more features on the down e.g. more jumps

Would you recommend?

Yes

Comments (0)

Was this review helpful to you?

The downhill track at CwmCarn in South Wales is one of my favourites. It was designed by Phil Saxena of Full Contact Racing (guy who built World Champs 4Xand Hamsterley) and built by local riders including Rowan Sorrell. In my mind it has everything and for Londoners it is reachable even in a day trip.

You get dropped off a few hundred feet from the top. If it is your first time you are preparing yourself mentally for the unknown. If not, you are still preparing that mind to take your riding to new heights.

The start has a black and a red run. Start with the red. They cross over a lot and there is not an enormous technical difference between them.

With a steep start you hit a couple of sweet tabletops. Then you corner around to enter a woody section. Nice drops, roots and some decent speed are here. The gradient steeply descends to smooth and tight corners and rocky switchbacks. Through the tunnel and you are traversing along to hit steep succession of some awesome rock steps that take you to a neat corner dropping steeply over a road over a big quarry drop gap to an off camber section. You are now fully aware that you are truly alive! From now on you just grin, and grin and grin some more. Steep kickers and drops tthat lead you through to a lovely massive berm to the largest of doubles if you dare. A bridge and sweet drop off it to more fun....pure bliss. Go!!!

"So it has lots of berms, a few switch backs, doubles, a tunnel, rock steps, the bridge, hip jump, then there’s the quarry gap if you’ve got the balls, and the bottom section which is just nuts, totally flat out" quote from the CWMDOWN web site.. You could not say it better.

Good for two days riding if you are making a weekend of it and you could always do the XC if you have both disciplines and something else to ride.

You could probably manage about 6-8 uplifts a day maybe more but more to the point what you get is enough.

Accommodation. Again CWMDOWN have the best list so here it is. http://www.cwmdown.co.uk/accomodation.php NB: If you have a big group between 4-8 I really recommend the Tudor Lodges.A place to treat with respect and wear a full face and as much body protection as possible

Overall rating		4.9
Grin Factor		5.0
Trail Variety		5.0
Skills Development		5.0
Trail Quality		5.0
Facilities		4.0

Reviewed by stumpy_dan October 25, 2012
Last updated: October 25, 2012
#1 Reviewer - View all my reviews (122)

CwmCarn Y Mynydd Downhill Track

The downhill track at CwmCarn in South Wales is one of my favourites. It was designed by Phil Saxena of Full Contact Racing (guy who built World Champs 4Xand Hamsterley) and built by local riders including Rowan Sorrell. In my mind it has everything and for Londoners it is reachable even in a day trip.

You get dropped off a few hundred feet from the top. If it is your first time you are preparing yourself mentally for the unknown. If not, you are still preparing that mind to take your riding to new heights.

The start has a black and a red run. Start with the red. They cross over a lot and there is not an enormous technical difference between them.

With a steep start you hit a couple of sweet tabletops. Then you corner around to enter a woody section. Nice drops, roots and some decent speed are here. The gradient steeply descends to smooth and tight corners and rocky switchbacks. Through the tunnel and you are traversing along to hit steep succession of some awesome rock steps that take you to a neat corner dropping steeply over a road over a big quarry drop gap to an off camber section. You are now fully aware that you are truly alive! From now on you just grin, and grin and grin some more. Steep kickers and drops tthat lead you through to a lovely massive berm to the largest of doubles if you dare. A bridge and sweet drop off it to more fun....pure bliss. Go!!!

"So it has lots of berms, a few switch backs, doubles, a tunnel, rock steps, the bridge, hip jump, then there’s the quarry gap if you’ve got the balls, and the bottom section which is just nuts, totally flat out" quote from the CWMDOWN web site.. You could not say it better.

Good for two days riding if you are making a weekend of it and you could always do the XC if you have both disciplines and something else to ride.

You could probably manage about 6-8 uplifts a day maybe more but more to the point what you get is enough.

Accommodation. Again CWMDOWN have the best list so here it is. http://www.cwmdown.co.uk/accomodation.php NB: If you have a big group between 4-8 I really recommend the Tudor Lodges.A place to treat with respect and wear a full face and as much body protection as possible