EDITOR’S LETTER

Our resident routes expert Max Darkins has come up with some fantastic rides over the years (see the pull-out maps and Big Ride on page 132 for his latest). And perhaps one of the finest is his Welsh Coast to Coast. An epic ride that starts from Conwy in the north and finishes at Port Talbot in the south, taking in some of Wales’s most dramatic changes in landscape, plus a few of its best trail centres along the way. When Max devised the route, it was intended to be a four or five-day adventure, giving riders a chance to take in the scenery and beauty of the Welsh hillsides. Perhaps a factor lost on our guys, who wanted to try and do the whole journey in one hit. No overnight stopping, no sleeping – just riding from north to south in as short a time as possible, hopefully no more than 24 hours. The guys hadn’t factored in flooded singletrack, swarms of vicious midges and angry, overprotective farm dogs. Plus the fact that riding through the night meant they’d miss out on some of the most scenic parts of the route. But deep into the middle of a challenge like that, if you want to succeed, you have to put those sorts of things behind you and crack on. See whether they made it on page 56 and check out the video of their experience on mbuk.com. Maybe it’ll get you thinking about the challenges you can set yourself in 2018. In the meantime, have a very

happy Christmas from all of us at MBUK!

The guys hadn't factored in flooded singletrack, swarms of vicious midges and angry, overprotective farm dogs…