A quick ride-along with me of the skills area just off the upper car park at Coed Llandegla, with my usual commentary and a few skills-tips for beginner mountain bikers :)

This is suitable for anybody (man, or woman) new to or getting back into MTB, and will allow you to sense-check and refine your bike handling skills.

The Skills Area will give you a good idea of what to expect when progressing to red-graded trails from blue, though a fair few of the sections don't really resemble much of what you actually find on the trails.

The Jumps area is probably good for learning to jump - but as you know, that's not really 'for me' right now (who knows - I might give it a go in the future). There are some smaller ones on the left, then some bigger ones on the right, all rollable.

The Corners sections doesn't resemble much of the corners you actually find on the trails at Llandegla - Do work on them though, as they are quite 'flat' turns, so worth working on!

Northshore / Boardwalk sections do feature at Llandegla Forest, so if you aren't comfortable riding it, then this is a good place to practice. there are even corners and a skinny!

Beware the drops area! there are drops for everybody here, handily growing in size and difficulty from 1 dot through to three 'dots'. There is a pretty big jump in size from the still rollable 2-dots to three, and that can catch you out, as the two lines flow into each other (ask me how I know)...

I like to use skills areas at trail centres as a 'warm-up', and to re-fresh my bike handling before heading out on a ride.
It helps me get comfortable and remind myself that 'I can do it'...

I actually think that even as an intermediately skilled rider, you can really refine your skills on these, and you'll occasionally find coaches at the skills areas, putting their clients through their paces...

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