To get this high means a fair amount of climbing, so this is a relatively short Killer Loop, but don’t let that put you off…

It still offers around 1,000m of ascent and descent, with a few nice techie sections to keep you amused too.

>>> The Long Gap, Brecon Beacons route download

There’s something magical about climbing up into high mountains, and they don’t get much higher this far south. Pen y Fan — at 886m, the highest point in southern Britain — is just a stone’s throw away from the trail as it slips through the notorious ‘Gap’ between Cribyn and Fan y Big.

The opening climb is the biggest, with over 400m of stiff hillside separating the narrow, pub-lined main street of Talybont-on-Usk and the rutted, open moorland section of the tramroad, which straddles the hillsides of Bryn Cefnog at over 500m above sea level. But, over half of this is lost in the descent to Pontsticill, which includes some steep and stony challenges along the way.

The Gap is rightly considered a classic. It climbs high into the Brecon Beacons on great tracks amid awesome scenery. The standard version on a normal mountain bike is around a half-day ride but this is a longer version, with more climbing and downhills. And that’s where our choice of bikes really come into play.