It's part 3 of our ultimate Welsh Road trip we've just left Abergorlech and we've done 60km of trails since 8am this morning. We're running late as we head north to Nant yr Arian though:
It's a direct route to Lampeter according to the Sat Nav, but as we run back down the road to pick up the wing mirror we're praying the singletrack farm road it's taken us on doesn't get any narrower and nothing comes the other way. We're certainly glad to get down to the chip shop, and the weather times it's sudden cloudburst perfectly for when we're sat in the vans scoffing fish.
There's plenty of time to digest them too as we head due north through increasingly stunning and mountainous scenery to the Devils Falls and Nant yr Arian, where Joe from Summit cycles in Aberystwyth is waiting to meet us. His van is still full of assorted junk from the Dyfi Enduro he organised the previous weekend, but he digs out his bike from somewhere underneath. We slap on the nappy cream and as the sun drops postcard perfect over Aberystwyth we decide to strap on lights too just in case. Joe's always been a superb rider and despite the heavyweight Bullit bike and his proper "you sure are purty" wildman of the woods beard, we're having to work hard to keep up with him. The thought of keeping up totally dissapears as he dives off the Summit trail proper onto some 'secret' diversions plummeting towards the valley floor on inch wide slippery grass, switchback singletrack. It's a real change from hardwearing hardcore singletrack and we're loving it. The freefall buzz certainly takes the sting out of the top half of the infamous 'Leg Burner' climb and soon we're ripping up more singletrack round to the sunset skinned lake where Summit and Syfydrin trails split.
Sweeping swerving double track ups the pace and adds a nice element of natural riding into the mix -something Nant Yr Arian has a deservedly excellent reputation for. More Kamikaze steep, fork flexing, brake cooking, ball shrinking 'Old Skool' local trail drops us down to rejoin the official trail at the base of the valley. We're still giddy with excitement as we head back up Leg Burner for the second time, though by the top exhaustion is definitely edging euphoria and the final pebbley kicker is a real painfest. It's soon forgotten as we flick lights on and dive into the final flat out singletrack section though, Joe dissapearing into the darkness as we try and spot stumps, rocks and racing lines with fried eyes. Summit and it's special extras have been a superb bit of highlight riding though, and with Machynlleth not far away we're back on schedule and back in good spirits.