The first demo bike of the day!
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Worth the climb!
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The weather forecast was dreadful for the latest Specialized Challenge event last weekend (12-13th May 2007) but when we awoke from our tent on Saturday morning we were blessed with a blue sky and warm temps. The second Specialized Women's Challenge event was looking good with about 15 women specific mountian bikes to test from the Specialized Designs For Women range and also some from the 2007 Giant bike range. The Women's Challenge course was a10km long and headed off for a significant climb thorugh Gwydyr Forest, although mostly double track and fireroad the climb ranged from moderately to very steep with a fantastic rocky singletrack section to test even the most experienced hill climbers. The 30 minute (OK more like 40 minutes including chatting) climb was well worth the energy and commitment, the top sections had amazing views and we were drooling at the thought of heading down the Marin trail.
We were teased with glimpses and short sections of the marin Trail singletrack and when we finally let our legs rest and heading dowwards we were desperate to get some speed beneath our wheels. Banked and bermed corners, rocky sections, rolling jumps and fast drops had us whooping for joy and switchbacks through the steep tree sections kept us wired on the interconnecting firetrack climbs. We could have ridden this all day, it really was that much fun.
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Riding with a bunch of women is always fun and sociable, we took time to chat, wait for each other and compare test bikes, there was no competition to who was fastest or rode best. We each rode at the pace we fancied and pushed each other to ride better with encouraging comments. No one felt bad at being last up or down a bit of singletrack and even the novice riders found their strengths and overcame their weaknesses. Each women rider who finished the 10km lap got a cool medal, certificate and goodie bag and could test a demo bike on the demo circuit too if they still yearned for some more trail action for free.
As well as the demo bike sessions and Women's Challenge event the Snowdonia Bike Festival held free coaching and skills sessions and guidede rides through the forest. The Specialized Challenge rides for Sunday encorporated a 25 and 45km rides, more of that awesome Gwydyr singletrack to ride and some serious climbing to take in the stunning Snowdonia views too.
With night falling and the Snowdonia Bike Festival entertainment kicking off we were sad to leave and get back to rainy England, thankfully we had the photos to proove it was a dry and sunny day in Snowdonia despite everywhere else suffering from a monsoon. Well for Saturday anyway!
Singletrack at the summit
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Easy to follow signs
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