Severe weather what?

Last night the MET Office released a sever weather warning for South Wales. To be honest if I hadn't prepaid my £24 for the uplift service at Cwmcarn then I probably would have just stayed in bed.

Looking back most of the bad weather and drama happened in England. Whilst driving down the motorway in the foulest of foul weather a bird flew into my windscreen wipers and completely mangled them.

I floored it onto the hard shoulder and bent them back into place before they broke my windscreen. My temporary fix didn't last long and after another three mends I gave up and called the RAC. Whilst waiting for them to arrive my two favourite blonde brothers the Smedley's arrived to poke fun and keep me company.

Once it was fixed we set off again and convoyed it the rest of the way. As we pulled into the trail centre car park the rain eased up and we began building our bikes up and getting changed.

This was the first time myself and Mark had ridden at Cwmcarn but Alex had raced here at last years student champs race. The black run is the best downhill track I have ever ridden in the UK.

Even in the wet the ground still had plenty of grip and you could really fly down the course. The speeds you get in some of the corners are unbelievable. It was almost impossible not to ride the track without a constant grin.

Unfortunately I was the first one to crash. Riding through the wooded black section I caught a pedal on a tree stump and was sent flying shin first into my handlebars before hitting the ground.

At the time Mark was riding the quicker and truth be told, more fun red route and caught up just as I was rolling on the floor in pain. I moved my bike onto the red route, watched mark fall over and pick himself up then followed him down the rest of the course.

We didn't get any riding shots or film but for anyone who's never been to Cwmcarn here's a video of the track's builder Rowan Sorrell, who I met whilst working for Singletrack, pinning it down his creation. Enjoy.