Singletrack

That’s LegoLand down there in the distance.
There’s a reason Snowdon is a popular topic. It’s the big tick, a
proper mountain, a ride from sea level to the top of Wales and
back. A ride up Snowdon is a ride you’ll remember. The climb
is tough and unrideable in places, but satisfyingly tricky and
reaching the summit feels like a real achievement. At the top,
the views are incredible and if they’re not it’s because you’ve
hit bad weather and are in for the full mountain experience.
Either way, it’ll be unforgettable. And the descent is exactly as
it should be. Head down via the Ranger track and there’s not
a metre of wasted height, with rocks, switchbacks, fast open
sections and slow technical bits the whole way. Basically, it’s
ace, and I’ll take any excuse to ride it.
But there’s an elephant in the room. Or on the mountain.
The Snowdon bike ban means no riding on Snowdon between
ten in the morning and five at night during the summer.
Footnote
The bike ban is a voluntary agreement asking that cyclists
stay off the Snowdon bridleways between 10am and 5pm
from 1 May to 30 September. This isn’t actually a bad thing.
Snowdon gets busy, really busy. And as stopping your descent
every 30 seconds to wait for walkers is no fun – you might as
well obey the ban and get a clean run. Not only that, going up
at dawn or dusk makes the whole thing more of an adventure.
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