 Love riding at Afan. The climb at the start of whites is awesome. Havent long had my singlespeed together so getting used to climbing on it before i take it there. Defo couldn't manage that climb on the singlespeed atm.
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 Slow steady constant cadence, I can see what all this SS was about, learns your technique good and proper
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 The first time I rode the Energy bit I dropped my seat at the top 'cos it looked proper jumpy. 50 yards in it went uphill. Haven't bothered since 
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Oh, and it's nice to have the seat down a bit for the rock drops on Windy Ridge. Probably not essential, though.
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 Perhaps I should learn to ride faster/harder? Maybe I'll invest in one of those fangled quick release seat collar things one day.  I seem to recall that the uphill, open section of Energy is the dangerous bit.
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 The most important thing about singlespeed is to make sure to use both gears - sitting and standing... My local stuff is too steep and variable for me to ever justify building a singlespeed for off road use though - especially if there's a few miles on the road to get there in the first place. My commuting bike and trials bike are singlespeed alright though .
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You forgot the "24 inch" gear.
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Still getting used to using the "2 gears" Cormac. Really isn't easy when it get real steep though!
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I've found that on gears when you stand it's to sprint...so when you go to SS the temptation is to sprint when you stand.
If however, you keep the same cadence you were spinning just before you were forced to stand then you climb properly and more smoothly keeping momentum flowing, plus being stood up already you've got that 'spurt' to get you through tricky bits.
In fact the only time i've ever had to really push a bike SS is when i've span the rear wheel and 'stalled' on steep climbs it take quite a lot of oomph to get that flow back so normally i'll just push to a level spot.
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 ........but after a hard first day, followed by a night on the piss the second day was sheer bloody hard work.......
Going on the piss doesn't help the climbing much either. It's not just the lethargy that a few beers brings but the dehydration that alcohol causes, I read somewhere that a 2% drop in hydration levels (how it's measured I don't know) results in a 10% drop in muscle performance. Having said that we all fall victim to a few beers when away from the missus for a weekend.
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Yeah, me n my bud had an ace but knackering day up there last year, up at 5.30, on the road by 6.30 from N Devon, riding by 9.30... took in Whites, Wall and penhydd including riding between 'em!! In the car and the long journey home by 7pm!! We slept well that night!! Probably spread it over two days next time methinks Fun times!!
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having just done w2 , i'd say the wall is a much harder climb than whites level it's the ferking graveyard bit i hate, i know i can ride it but my brain is scared of all those pointy evil rocks!
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