The Gap 20/1/07

Weekend away with a few guys from windsurfing club. We stayed at a bunk house in Talybont on usk where we started the ride.
The ride started on forest road, old railway track nice and solid with a few mushy boggy bits with all the rain that we have had lately! we followed the trail around the back of the talybont reservoir then a short section on road to get back on another bridleway.
After the bridleway the proper part of the ride started once we reached the bottom of the old roman road up to the gap. The road is quite rocky but pretty much all rideable baring one gulley. This gulley was very steep and rocky with the only run off at the bottom into a pool of water if you get it wrong!
We soon reached the summit (well the gap between two summits, maybe thats how it got its name ) we were planning to have a bite to eat at the top but as soon as we stopped there was a really heavy hail shower quite painful at times so it was on with the knee pads and hit the Gap decent proper. The others walked the first part as last time Colin rode the gap he fell off 3 times in about 30 metres. I thought about walking it but thought what the hell got on the bike and went for it.
Most of it wasn't too bad but a few points were very touch and go if I'd had my brain removed and had 8 inches of travel would of been easy. A few of the rock steps were just on the limit of being able to drop the front wheel over to keep some control over the speed on the wet loose rocks between the steps.
The down hill seemed to go on for ever had to stop a couple of times to give the hands a rest and let the brakes cool down!
The decent was almost as tiring as the ascent!
It was back onto tarmac roads and the bottom then a diversion as we didn't want to go into brecon so we found a really steep bridle path hell knows how people got a horse down it or up the other side! we had to push and carry.
It was road all the way back to Talybont then apart from another diversion back up to Talybont reservoir so we could come back down the forest track to the pub Bunk house.
A really good ride the ascent of the roman road and decent from the Gap first class just let down abit by a fair bit of on road riding I'd do it again though

ps
we were lucky with the weather the morning after we looked up to the gap from brecon on the way to Afan and it had snowed over night on the tops of the hills
I won't write a report for Afan as most have been there other than we only done the Whites rather than the Skyline (I was full of snot and the others had hang overs)

Dazzler, I think thats the exact route I did last year starting off by the resevoir. Anyone have a GPS with track logs?

I used to stay in Talybont all the time when I was a kid as the parents had a cottage there. Shame they got rid of it !!! $$$$

None of us had a gps but I can show you the route on a map though.