Home : Articles : Moelfre Uplift!!!

The day began as planned with a shockingly early wake up call from Pedro himself followed by strong coffee and frantic packing of food, warm clothing and body armour. It had dawned on me prior to the event that celebrations in honour of St. Patrick (the night before the journey) could affect punctuality in the morning, so I wasn’t surprised when Ben described his situation down the phone at 5am, consisting of “...in bed….very ill…might be late…”. Damn. So there had been scope for extra lie-in.

Nevertheless Ben did eventually show up (a good thing, him being taxi driver for four of us) looking tired, irritable and more than likely still brain-addled from Guinness. We crammed my bike in the back of the 106 and left the house for King’s Meadow.

When we arrived the rest of the nubike boys were already there (Dirk, Pedro, South African, Gerard and head-honcho Edi) and ritual loading of the trailer had begun. Fifteen minutes later (6am) we were en route to Wales.

Three hours and numerous mispronounced place names later (Rhydycroesau?!) the 106-posse rolled up to a farmhouse with an idyllic backdrop of Welsh countryside and many, many, hairy sheep, only to find that we had been beaten by the trailer despite driving at twice its maximum speed. This was attributed to Edi’s infallible GPS system.

Needless to say we were early anyway and so had a moment to appreciate the warmth of the cars in contrast to the bitterly cold, blustery surroundings. There was speak of giving up and going home (mainly from Ben) but I was eager to try out my new ride and South African was already changing into riding gear using a barn wall to shield himself from the wind. The other lads followed by example, and Ben was donated clothes as he had neglected to bring anything but shorts and a t-shirt despite Siberian temperatures.

An elderly local walking his dog smiled at us and told us we’d “picked a good day for it”. Was that a hint of sarcasm in his voice? The first uplift tractor arrived, trailer in tow, and with no time to contemplate the old man’s word of warning we hauled the DH bikes onto the flatbed and held on as it trundled uphill.

Words do no justice to the hurricane-force winds that greeted us at the top. The farmer watched from the safety of his tractor cabin as we were blown from the trailer, a wry grin on his face. Gerard was the first to attempt the top section of the track. From a sheltered spot on the hill we watched him leaning into the wind just to ride in a straight line. As we followed it turned out that a right-hand turn was near impossible and the likelihood of getting air was laughable. OK so the top section was crap. Less wind and it would have been good fun, unfortunately not today.

Moving on down the hill the wind died because the track traverses away from the windswept top section. Braking bumps lead into two rolling drops (the first of which did try to punish Pedro and South African for overshooting, and Dirk for riding off a mini-cliff next to it!) before a long left-hander into steep heather-strewn stony switchbacks. This was my favourite section. By the end of the day everyone was riding it much faster and nailing the hip after. Third run saw Ben cock the landing up, throwing him off and putting him out of action for the rest of the day. I’ll put it down to the hangover!

From here the track shoots you down a rocky stream bed and across the uplift fire-road and onto a speedy and treacherously narrow singletrack strewn with rocks and with a steep drop to the right. With the wind on our backs it was tempting to speed up, which is why Edi found himself half way down the slope after a flight over his bars. A quick check of vital organs and he was back on it.

Following the contour of the hill the track heads round to the left then drops down over a rock kicker into an open field. You can either bear left and soak up the braking bumps leading onto the 4X track, or cut right, drop into a flat slab of rock and hit a step-down into the farmer’s field, with the latter being the predominantly favoured option.

In all, a good day’s ride for most, despite the schizophrenic weather (snow, sun, hail, rain, hurricane winds) and unpleasant smell in Ben’s car on the return journey. Good preparation for the BUSAs I think (who knows what the weather will be like in Scotland for you guys). Pedro’s looking strong on his spangly 224 but who knows who will come out top on the day?

Summary for the day consists of 4 crashes, 1 injury, 2 mechanicals, 1 blagged turnip, 12 hot cross buns consumed and post ride food of burger king AND macdo!!

Mal