BAD BRAINS MBC WELSH TOUR 2004

MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

The weekend started with Stan and Shaun travelling down Thursday to set up camp
and generally check out the lay of the land (find where all the pubs were etc.)
Camp was pitched by the side of the river , and then it was of to Bala to watch England get cheated out of Euro 2004
much to the amusment of the Welsh locals who had spent all of their Giro money on Portugal shirts .

Friday morning started with clear blue skies and brilliant sunshine .
So it was off to Coed Y Brennin .
First off we tried out the Red Bull route .

Shaun on the Red Bull

The 7 mile route was just enough to clear the hangovers but not enough to quench our offroad thirst , so after a quick butty it was on with the MBR route .
This was more like it some proper climbs and some really sweet singletrack all in hot sunshine .
Part way round we came to an old copper kiln and decided it was time to chill for a while.
The vibes must have been good 'cos Stan managed to levitate his bike (must be the 'xen'helmet)

The MBR route in the sun was sweet .

Friday evening saw the arrival of Big Al , Rich and Dave and after the tents were up it was time for a campfire and some beers .
Although Al is scout leader , it soon becam apparent that he was not Ray Mears . The fire decided it wasn't playing , so Dave saved the day by producing his laptop and a mountain bike dvd from the boot of his car (I thought we were supposed to be roughing it).

Saturday we woke to pouring rain and the arrival of Steve and Mark , who were just in time for one of Dave and Richs excellent bacon and egg sarnies .
Not letting the weather deter us we set off to Coed Y Brenin . We were soon suited and booted and ready for the off . Al decided to hit the Red Bull , Steve and Mark the Red Bull then the MBR , and the rest of us the Karrimor .
The rain kept on coming , but we didn't let it put us off.Whilst Steve and Mark were busy trying to out-do each other on the jumps at the end of the Red Bull the guys on the Karrimor were plowing up every hill and down all the singletrack in fast pursuit of a nice hot pot of tea at the cafe half way round the route .
After a refreshing brew it was onwards and upwards to the highest point of the days ride.

Dave,on top of the world

Everthing was going fine and the end of the days riding was clearly in sight .Then quick as a flash Dave lost it on the very last section of singletrack and took a nasty gash to the elbow , but worse than that , he also bent his rear mech hanger .
The nice man at the shop fixed his hanger and his elbow was botched/patched up , so it was back to camp for a quick change of clothes and a shower.
After scoring some beer for later , we headed into Doleglau for a pub meal .
Not to be without fire for 2 nights on the trot ,Shaun and Al went chumping for wood on the wayback from town .In no time at all a roaring campfire was lit and the beer began to flow , and flow and carry on flowing all night , even to the point that when we had gone to bed someone realised there was still some beer left , so some of us got back up and carried on 'til it was gone .

Sunday morning . Once again Dave and Rich did a sterling job with providing everyone with a bacon and egg sarnie .
The weather was fine , and after we had packed the tents away it was of to Betws Y Coed and the Marin trail.
All of us set off on the Marin together with Al opting for some serious downhill only stuff by only riding to the top off the first hill and then doing the final descent . This prooved to be a wise move .
After lots of climbing on what seemed like endless fire roads we were greeted by the frst down hill

Then it was back up more endless fire road.
So endless in fact that Steve decided he'd had enough and made Mark cog him all the rest of the way round

Still at least it was sunny and quiet.
The peace and tranquility soon ended . Shaun was stung by a wasp , not once but 3 or 4 times as it tried to escape from his jersey ,and he screamed as he tore it off .
Seriously if anyone needs a male stripper , see Shaun , he went from clothed to unclothed in seconds getting rid of that wasp .

As if the site of a semi clad Shaun wasn't enough it also began to rain .Rain like you've never seen before , big fat drops , fast and cold .
But as always we were prepared , rain proofs were donned and we carried on relentless , until we were held up on a piece of singletrack by some numpty wearing just a cotton t-shirt and riding his dads bike >
We soon got passed him and carried on at our own pace and before long we were descending the last and best section of the day .This was the bit that Al had rode earlier and really was a good bit of track , fast sweeping , not very technical though .
That was it .It was all over .A full weekends riding on some of the sweetest trails that UK has to offer.All in all a good weekend was had , we rode 'til our legs fell off and laughed 'til our heads fell off .

SWEET !

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