If you fancy a weekend of great trails, aprés-ride entertainment, the opportunity to try out some shiny new bikes and a whole bunch of other fun stuff, mark 23-25 September in your diary/year planner/electronic Organise-O-Matic. For those are the dates of the 2005 Afan Bike Fest, based at the new MTB centre at Glyncorrwg.

The fun kicks off with a night ride on the Friday, rolling out at 9pm. There’ll be hot food at the Drop-Off cafe to follow. Saturday features a “treasure hunt” ride (which we’d imagine is something vaguely orienteery), plus trials demos during the day. There’ll be a live band and barbecue in the evening (bring your own beer, it says here). Festivities conclude on Sunday, described as “Chill-out day”. There’ll be guided rides and demo bikes from Kona, Santa Cruz, Commencal and Nicolai. And of course, you can just ride about on the ever-reliable Afan trails if you like. Apparently they’re sponsored by npower now, which bodes well for the future.

More details at www.skylinecycles.co.uk or www.the-dropoff.com. If you want to book a ride on a demo bike, call Skyline Cycles on 01639 850011.