vaguely exciting!!!! best sums up the day.
So ive gone ad bought a Pugsley off ebay. Thought id better try one though first ( a bit backwards i know ). Called Hux asked him if i could borrow his for the day. Met up with Ian at Rhayader at nine and rode approx 32 miles over some very interesting terrain. Wow what a pleasant suprise, we rode stuff that we would never have got across on the hardtail with my 2.1's on. We decided on a route that took us across Monks trod which was great fun then we took on a great descent of nant egnant ( those big wheels just run away ) nearly staking it halfway down due to far to much speed. The climb back up was very interesting and a new trail for both of use. We took the track east upto and past llyn gynon and eventually climbed up onto esgair garthen. For anyone wanting to do this route its a great ride and mostly rideable ( on fats ) but really hard going. The grassy tracks across the top are very nice to ride and we found ourselves back down at the dam in no time due to another good descent. by this time we were both pretty beat up so decided to cut the route short and climb one more time over past the mast on rhos y gelynnen before calling it a day. And what a fantastic day it was too!! Next time ill make it a bivy ride as there is a great spot west of claerwen up on the esgair.
Heres a few pics
PB160089 by mjc_226, on Flickr
PB160099 by mjc_226, on Flickr
PB160104 by mjc_226, on Flickr
PB160106 by mjc_226, on Flickr
PB160111 by mjc_226, on Flickr

I'm on the look out for another......the ground is so waterlogged here and I'm close enough to the coast to justify it I think......

/man logic

That was a proper ride. Lots of boggy stuff and hard going, but on a fat bike 95% RIDEABLE

Here's another one of me not falling into that drainage ditch. Skillz.


Monks Trod by ianbarrington, on Flickr

Big respect to anyone who even contemplates riding the Monks Trod after the rain we've had recently

I've always believed fat bikes only have a place (as in beeing the most efficient bicycle) in snow, sand and perhaps thawing Yakutian or Changtang permafrost.
I'm starting to be convinced that Wales has some places for it too.

Alpinum wrote: I'm starting to be convinced that Wales has some places for it too.

I can vouch for that

Alpinum wrote:I'm starting to be convinced that Wales has some places for it too.

Absolutely!

A fat bike has opened up a lot of new riding opportunities for me around Mid Wales. Not necessarily boggy stuff either - some of the insanely rocky bits that would be 50/50 on a normal bike (if you can call a SS 29er a normal bike) are pretty much all do-able on the fat tyres.

But for this winter, Welsh bogs will feature highly on my riding schedule as it's the closest I can get to simulate snow riding in preparation for Finland.