GWYDIR MAWR - The trail formerly know as the Marin

Back in Oct 2017 Simon and I went to do this trail but a comedy of errors regarding inner tubes prevented us from finishing the ride. Fast forward to early June 2018 and we were back to finish this unfinished business!
This trail is one of the bona fide classics in the UK. It features a couple of monster climbs which are thankfully on fire road. There is loads of fire road on this trail but much of it is limited to climbs which I'm sure you'll agree is nice.
www.mbwales.com...

[@ShutUpandRideMTB]

Hey Andrew, this is a great channel! (I can tell because I am a MTB KZbinr myself) This is great content, happy to be your 13th subscriber!

[@AndrewJMatthews]

Mountain Bike Advice thanks mate! Really appreciate the sub! Just want to show the world what great trails we have in the UK and how much fun mountain biking is 😎

[@robhines4537]

I did both the red and purple trails on my Pitch Sport , too many rocks I need a full suspension! Last descent was amazing, if you're brave the jumps and air are immense

[@AndrewJMatthews]

That's great, it's definitely doable on a hard tail, just gotta dial it back a bit. Full-sus does mean you can monster truck through the worst of the chop.

[@robertsjames16]

Try Penmachno 10 minutes away from Marin. Well worth a visit

[@AndrewJMatthews]

It's on the list dude! Hopefully I'll get back up to North Wales as there's still loads for me to ride up there!

[@zackevans6302]

Cwm penmachno is brilliant

[@adambellows4908]

Yeh i live in penmachno

[@robertsjames16]

Same terrain, Brilliant technical stuff rocks & roots

[@meltedwheeliebin]

Is this the one with the Dragons back? Did it years ago when it was The Marin. Looks much more gnarr now. How did the guy on the hardtail get on?

[@AndrewJMatthews]

Hi Dan, I think the dragons back starts about the 3 minute mark in my video, I'm no expert as this was the first time I'd ridden the full loop. That was my brother on the fat-bike hard tail, he got on fine considering it was a warm day and the midges were out in force. He's since swapped to a full-sus 29er and his knees are thanking him for it! I think the trail has taken a pounding over the years and people are fine with it as bikes are so much more capable now. When I started mountain biking I'd have never thought a bike with 150 out front and 140 out back as a bike you could do a 26km loop with 900m of climbing on, machines like that were for the bike park. How times change!

[@WilliamMurfitt]

this looks like great fun, once the lockdown has lifted i think i'll try this out.

[@AndrewJMatthews]

Totally worth it, some stunning riding to be had in a 20 mile radius of this area.

[@5492sparky]

Great vid Mate. I have been wanting to get up and ride this one for quite some time. Think I need to just bite the bullet and make the two and a half hour drive...

[@charliegarbett8631]

Hi mate sick video, how long did the loop take u?

[@AndrewJMatthews]

Depends how fast you wanna go, we were taking it easy on the ups so it took about three hours.

[@darrennash7706]

Is that the long Marin trail?

[@AndrewJMatthews]

Yea the full loop, all 24km of it. Have to say it was a hard day in the saddle that day!

[@cspower7259]

Cool vid. I did this a month later and it was bloody awful. It rained for three days straight. Its still fun tho and some cracking views.

[@AndrewJMatthews]

CS Power it’s like middle earth in places, cracking trail. The final decent to the car park is the nads! It would be interesting in the wet....

[@alasdairbachmtb273]

CS Power rain is always the weather in Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@simonmatthews2149]

Think that trail is what has done for my knee, note to anyone riding this trail go full suspension unless your a masochist 😂😂😂

[@simonmatthews2149]

Owwwww owwwww owwww that is probably the roughest trail I have ever ridden

[@AndrewJMatthews]

Yea it's definitely in my top three rough trails.

[@alasdairbachmtb273]

I did this yesterday (I’m 10 )

[@AndrewJMatthews]

That's awesome, I hope you had a great time.

[@alasdairbachmtb273]

I did thanks On the skull and crossbones bit it was slippy and I don’t have disc brakes so my back wheel was hanging by the side 🤣