Oli's report on the Cambrian 3 day Bike Fest

With a weekend to fill and not a huge amount of events to compete in, fellow CNP - Orbea team mate Darren Alexander and I decided to take part in the inaugural running of the Cambrian Bike fest by redkiteevents. A 3 day event based in Llanwtrd Wells, claimed to be the smallest town in Britain, 12miles from Builth Wells (home to the well established MTB Marathon series). Each day consisted of marathon style big loop with feed stations and on the whole was brilliantly signed all the way.

On arrival to the campsite it was clear to see that turn out was going to be very low whether it was the weather forecast, the fact that MTB marathon series has visited Llandovery just down the road the weekend before or people being unsure on taking part in a new event i'm not sure but it was the first headache but by no means the last for the organisers.

Having managed to set up the tent and easy up (sadly no Holmes team support this weekend) Darren arrived and we settled down for the evening ready for 1st day.

The weather closed in over night the rain wind started to howl, it was fowl but spirits were still good and by the time we had sign on it was time to depart. With the small numbers there was to be no timing or set start time and we eneded up setting off a good 10 mins behind. The course was short in distance only ~50km but with the weather the going was exceptionally slow the distance was therefore was spot on for the conditions.

The bike of choice for the weekend would be my Orbea Alma S team 29er and oh what a bike for these style events when your barreling down a descent you've never seen before you have no idea whats coming, having a bike that gives you so much front end grip is fantastic. Despite running summer tyres all weekend I never really struggled for grip it was just great fun to ride.

This grip was definitely needed across the slippery wet muddy singletrack that littered Day 1.

Day 2 was the big day 67km 2000m+ of climbing and a very strong 40kph westerly wind along with the rain made the conditions even worst than the first day. Having ridden together yeasterday Darren explain to me he would reduce his speed on day 2 to feel confident of not blowing before then end so I decided to forge on ahead up the long climbs and down the awesome steep rocky/rooty descents. After finally catching up all rides that were taking the designated short cuts I reach the head of the infamous doethie valley after a gruelling super steep climb from the first feed station. Sadly for me the valley wasn't to be the highlight of the event as I punctures 15mins down. I then realised I had forgotten my canister inflator and was forced to get a tube in. Overall the puncture took forever for what ever reason and 10-15mins later I was going again. Darren had passed me when I punctured so in my haste to catch him up I rode raggedly and punctured again 5mins later. After another relatively slow change I set about the challenge of catching Darren. After 1hr or so of chasing I found Darren who was fixing a puncture himself. We then got lost having missed an arrow and I was now cold fed up and suffering from the pace I had set earlier in the day. Once we rejoined the track it was all about getting to the finish and therefore time for a few CNP caffeine gels. On the second to last descent, which was a cracker down off the mountainside through the woods, at the bottom I had punctured for the 3rd time! Darren rolled down a small way behind having had a massive barrel rolling crash luckly him and the bike were okay and we were finally on our way. We finally arrived at the finished and both really needing the fantastic homemade cakes that were on offer at the end of each day.

Day 3 and the rain was pouring but the wind had dropped the legs were knackered but the route was great. The organisers kept the show running on the last day despite only about 6-10 people riding but Darren and I fully appreciated the effort they made to ensure the day wasn't cancelled. The organisers had to change the route due to the weather the day before but it still rode well. Taking in a few km of the local manmade trails along with some classic bridleways and long climbs. By the end the rain had stopped and sun started to come out and the hard 3 days had come to a end.

A big thumbs up to the organisers for keeping going despite all the problems they encountered for first timers they put on a great event. If they stick at it and iron out a few problems will have a fantastic event that should become a permeant fixture on the enduro calendar. The only thing it needs is for a few more of you to turned up and enjoy some true Epic mountain biking.

Well done to those involved in the redkitevents team thanks to team sponsors Orbea and CNP for providing the perfect bike and top quality nutrition to help us get through the event.