New website for mountain biking in Wales

TrailGuru

Hi everyone

I have just launched a brand new online guide to mountain biking in Wales. I'd just like to give it a quick mention and hopefully you guys can take a look and let me know what you think.



The main feature is the "trail guide" area which lists all the popular locations catering for all levels of rider from Downhill racers to total beginners. The guide provides useful information about the length, technical difficulty and other characteristics of each trail and there is a simple ratings and comments system so you guys can provide feedback to help other bikers choose where to ride.

As the number and quality of mountain biking locations in Wales increases I will be adding new trails to the site as they are completed.

In addition to the trail guide there is accommodation, food and drink, bike shops, bike hire, guiding companies, bike skills courses and more with the list of features growing all the time.

So I hope everyone likes it and I would love to get your feedback. If you like what you see, don't forget to click the Facebook "like" button to stay updated and help spread the word.

Here's the link - http://www.trailguru.co.uk/

Happy riding and see you on the trails.

Cheers,
Kev

drumandguitar

Nice well laid out site. Would be good if you could link to individual trail maps unless there is a copyright issue.

welshkev

alright kev, kev here

just a quick question, your star scoring system, is that done by just you or by you and other people? just because from experience people i ride with like different trails better

but great site, really well put together 8)

see south wales weekend warriors on facebook

TrailGuru

welshkev wrote:

alright kev, kev here

just a quick question, your star scoring system, is that done by just you or by you and other people? just because from experience people i ride with like different trails better

but great site, really well put together 8)

see south wales weekend warriors on facebook

Hi, thanks for the compliments I glad you like it. The ratings are done by users of the website so if you are viewing a trail you can rate it yourself. An average rating is then calculated and that is what shows on the website.

The idea is that when hundreds of users have submitted ratings, it will be easy to see which are the most popular whereas at the moment many trails don't have ratings. I haven't rated any myself because I want that feature of the site to be driven by user input rather than my own opinions.

I'll check out that facebook group you suggested.

Cheers,
Kev

welshkev

TrailGuru wrote:

welshkev wrote:

alright kev, kev here

just a quick question, your star scoring system, is that done by just you or by you and other people? just because from experience people i ride with like different trails better

but great site, really well put together 8)

see south wales weekend warriors on facebook

Hi, thanks for the compliments I glad you like it. The ratings are done by users of the website so if you are viewing a trail you can rate it yourself. An average rating is then calculated and that is what shows on the website.

The idea is that when hundreds of users have submitted ratings, it will be easy to see which are the most popular whereas at the moment many trails don't have ratings. I haven't rated any myself because I want that feature of the site to be driven by user input rather than my own opinions.

I'll check out that facebook group you suggested.

Cheers,
Kev

perfect answer..thank you very much

stubs

Nice clean looking site its not too fussy looking like some. Only improvement I can think of is an alphabetical list of all the individual trails. People might not know the area a trail is in just the name of the trail.

Keep up the good work I have bookmarked it.

jvn01

TrailGuru wrote:

Hi everyone

I have just launched a brand new online guide to mountain biking in Wales. I'd just like to give it a quick mention and hopefully you guys can take a look and let me know what you think.



The main feature is the "trail guide" area which lists all the popular locations catering for all levels of rider from Downhill racers to total beginners. The guide provides useful information about the length, technical difficulty and other characteristics of each trail and there is a simple ratings and comments system so you guys can provide feedback to help other bikers choose where to ride.

As the number and quality of mountain biking locations in Wales increases I will be adding new trails to the site as they are completed.

In addition to the trail guide there is accommodation, food and drink, bike shops, bike hire, guiding companies, bike skills courses and more with the list of features growing all the time.

So I hope everyone likes it and I would love to get your feedback. If you like what you see, don't forget to click the Facebook "like" button to stay updated and help spread the word.

Here's the link - http://www.trailguru.co.uk/

Happy riding and see you on the trails.

Cheers,
Kev

Really nice site - has a lot of potential definitely. Now if you could incorporate a user forum on there too it might be possible to rebuild a local community-based biking website which hasn't existed since the sad demise of the once-mighty mtb-wales.com. Piggy backing on forums like on here or STW is fine but you only ever feel like you're integrating with a small part of a much bigger system. that's fine in itself but completely misses the point (and advantages) of a local-focussed website, ie for regular news items, updates on local mtb events etc etc. All of that kind of stuff can be on the front page of such a website. I don't know whether you ever saw the old mtb-wales.com site, but it did a lot of that stuff pretty well (so long as it was kept up to date) and there's nothing like it at the mo for Wales/S.Wales mtb.

You could also develop relationships with local bike shops - nice to see that's already part of your site - ie offer them advertising space on the site, perhaps in return for site member discounts at those shops, that kind of thing. They could highlight special offers, demo days etc. mtb-wales.com was really good in that regard in that it connected an awful lot of people (customers) with passionate bike shop owners/mechanics like Kev at Skyline and Colin at Rush, and hopefully those shops saw the benefit as a result.

Facebook groups are also fine but by definition they can be a bit cliquey and limited to the kind of people who use facebook regularly.

Above all else a decent user forum and fresh front page content is the key to a successful local website to keep people coming back on a daily basis.

really like the colour scheme too - 'Hopetech' green' works well with the blacks and greys :-)

just a few ideas anyway :-)

TrailGuru

stubs wrote:

Nice clean looking site its not too fussy looking like some. Only improvement I can think of is an alphabetical list of all the individual trails. People might not know the area a trail is in just the name of the trail.

Great idea, I had been deliberating over that but you're right, there probably are a lot of riders who only know a trail by name as opposed to the location its in.

Thanks,
Kev

TrailGuru

jvn01 wrote:

Really nice site - has a lot of potential definitely. Now if you could incorporate a user forum on there too it might be possible to rebuild a local community-based biking website which hasn't existed since the sad demise of the once-mighty mtb-wales.com. Piggy backing on forums like on here or STW is fine but you only ever feel like you're integrating with a small part of a much bigger system. that's fine in itself but completely misses the point (and advantages) of a local-focussed website, ie for regular news items, updates on local mtb events etc etc. All of that kind of stuff can be on the front page of such a website. I don't know whether you ever saw the old mtb-wales.com site, but it did a lot of that stuff pretty well (so long as it was kept up to date) and there's nothing like it at the mo for Wales/S.Wales mtb.

You could also develop relationships with local bike shops - nice to see that's already part of your site - ie offer them advertising space on the site, perhaps in return for site member discounts at those shops, that kind of thing. They could highlight special offers, demo days etc. mtb-wales.com was really good in that regard in that it connected an awful lot of people (customers) with passionate bike shop owners/mechanics like Kev at Skyline and Colin at Rush, and hopefully those shops saw the benefit as a result.

Facebook groups are also fine but by definition they can be a bit cliquey and limited to the kind of people who use facebook regularly.

Above all else a decent user forum and fresh front page content is the key to a successful local website to keep people coming back on a daily basis.

really like the colour scheme too - 'Hopetech' green' works well with the blacks and greys :-)

just a few ideas anyway :-)

Fantastic feedback, thank you this is really helpful. The idea is to evolve the website to meet the needs of riders living in or visiting Wales so to have these comments coming back gives me a great picture of what people would like to see on the site.

I don't think I remember the mtb-wales.com website you mentioned but you raise a good point about the other forums being too broad to really provide a local rider community. In fact, that is one of the reasons why I saw an opportunity for this website. Wales has enough places to ride and a vibrant enough scene to warrant a website all to itself!

I have had a fair bit of interest from some bike shops and other businesses so my aim is to establish relationships with some of these which will mutually benefit users of the website and the business owners/staff.

I had better move the forum up the to do list then! Any suggestions for key forum topics would be really helpful.

Thanks again
Kev

TrailGuru

jvn01 wrote:

Really nice site - has a lot of potential definitely. Now if you could incorporate a user forum on there too it might be possible to rebuild a local community-based biking website which hasn't existed since the sad demise of the once-mighty mtb-wales.com. Piggy backing on forums like on here or STW is fine but you only ever feel like you're integrating with a small part of a much bigger system. that's fine in itself but completely misses the point (and advantages) of a local-focussed website, ie for regular news items, updates on local mtb events etc etc. All of that kind of stuff can be on the front page of such a website. I don't know whether you ever saw the old mtb-wales.com site, but it did a lot of that stuff pretty well (so long as it was kept up to date) and there's nothing like it at the mo for Wales/S.Wales mtb.

You could also develop relationships with local bike shops - nice to see that's already part of your site - ie offer them advertising space on the site, perhaps in return for site member discounts at those shops, that kind of thing. They could highlight special offers, demo days etc. mtb-wales.com was really good in that regard in that it connected an awful lot of people (customers) with passionate bike shop owners/mechanics like Kev at Skyline and Colin at Rush, and hopefully those shops saw the benefit as a result.

Facebook groups are also fine but by definition they can be a bit cliquey and limited to the kind of people who use facebook regularly.

Above all else a decent user forum and fresh front page content is the key to a successful local website to keep people coming back on a daily basis.

really like the colour scheme too - 'Hopetech' green' works well with the blacks and greys :-)

just a few ideas anyway :-)

Hi, just a quick update on this.. I've now added a forum which I hope to launch tomorrow. As an avid user of the old mtb-wales.com website would you be interested in helping me kick things off? The website is generating quite a bit of interest already so I reckon we could build up a really vibrant online community.

Just some suggestions for topics would be very useful input if you don't really have much spare time to write anything.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Kev

camerauk

Great website very well laid out
I am not from Wales but will be looking to come up to ride some of the trails and so will find the site of great use

andrewyzfr6

Very helpful with info for me who planning a few days in Wales when a few of us can get the time together!! Best I have used so far. I'll pass on comments from mates as we use the site more!

TrailGuru

andrewyzfr6 wrote:

Very helpful with info for me who planning a few days in Wales when a few of us can get the time together!! Best I have used so far. I'll pass on comments from mates as we use the site more!

Glad you like it... feedback always welcome. Have a great time when you go. There are so many awesome trails to explore!

Check out the facebook page too if you like to stay updated on future developments - http://www.facebook.com/trailgurumountainbikingwales

Cheers,
Kev

Mojo_666

Site is looking great, some good info on it.

Stevo_666

Just had a quick look and I like that site, looks very good & and has a fair bit useful info. My PC did hang up when I tried to click on Brechfa, not sure if that was a one-off?

AMcK

Great site (and thanks for responding to my post about Skyline on FB the other day).

Two thoughts - a google-style search function (sorry if there is one, I couldn't find it) as a quick search to what you're looking for.

Second thought - to provide a personalised set of content for individual site visitors, particularly those outside Wales thinking of coming to ride, based on an initial picklist, including stuff like length of visit, riding preference (XC/DH), difficulty level, fitness level, rough destination (south wales etc) - and that pulls the relevant content together:

suggested trails (within a given radius), local towns/places to stay, other facilities (bike shops), even as far as a suggested itinerary of the highest rated trails for the visit. - if one day, suggest riding x then y. If two days a then b, day two, drive to x and ride y & z.

Something that does the research we all do when we're thinking of a weekend's biking to somewhere.

You could generate revenue by linking up with specific bike shops, accommodations as a sponsored link to receive prominent positioning on the personalised pages.

I'll take my usual 10%.

mikewoods

The site has bags of promise - we really needed a site like this for Wales, great job!

Squarepants

Looks like an excellent site Kev with lots of potential, I'm all for backing this 100% and hopefully with more end user input we can build an online resource that really shines for MTB in Wales.

With the rider reviews and gradings being uploaded it may help to give a true indication of the trails' actual grade (there's been a recent thread on BR re the disparity of the trail grading system) so this could give a more 'real feel' approach to potential riders.

The two main advantages I see for me would be the intergration of local bike shops and deals that could be had if we go through your site (currently I'm spending most of my disposable cash on my habit, why not make it all of it ) and also the forum. BR is great for our South Wales rides and those looking to ride in SW but a dedicated site would of course be more focused.

The trail information is great too, I only tend to ride a few trails but I can see that being a very useful tool for those looking to broaden their riding or those who are not familier with the area.

All in all great work mate; this can only be a good thing for the future of biking in Wales

TrailGuru

Thanks again for all the positive comments and suggestions. I'm now working on implementing some of the ideas. In the last couple of days the forum has gathered a bit of momentum and has several active members already. It would be great if some of you Bike Radar forum goers might join and help to build up the community.

If you think there should be additional categories I am very much open to suggestion.

I've just added the classic "show us your bike" thread so it will be interesting to see what people are riding in Wales these days with so many bikes on the market.

I hope to see you over there - http://www.trailguru.co.uk/forum/

Cheers,
Kev

Squarepants

Hi Kev,

I've had a look at the forum and tried to upload of few pics of the Hanzz. The forum is telling me my pictures are too large however. I'm a complete phobe when it comes to this sort if thing and I'm hoping there's a way of getting around that doesn't constitute me having to reduce all the images I have that I want to upload? Just for info they have been uploaded to other sites without issue. No probs, just a bit of feedback

Cheers again


James

TrailGuru

Squarepants wrote:

Hi Kev,

I've had a look at the forum and tried to upload of few pics of the Hanzz. The forum is telling me my pictures are too large however. I'm a complete phobe when it comes to this sort if thing and I'm hoping there's a way of getting around that doesn't constitute me having to reduce all the images I have that I want to upload? Just for info they have been uploaded to other sites without issue. No probs, just a bit of feedback

Cheers again


James

Hi James, thanks for pointing that out. I've made a couple of changes so that you can upload any size file now. See how you get on with it.

Cheers,
Kev

Squarepants

Result! Cheers mate

EDIT: Same error message Kev, may be something for you to look at

The file is too big, maximum allowed size is 256 KiB

TrailGuru

Squarepants wrote:

Result! Cheers mate

EDIT: Same error message Kev, may be something for you to look at

The file is too big, maximum allowed size is 256 KiB

I've just tweaked some code, uploaded a massive file to test and I'm pretty sure we're in business now... the system will re-size your image automatically. Thanks for your perseverance.

Kev

Squarepants

Working now fella



Max upload of three images though, I'm a pic whore so not sure if this can be increased.

Cheers bud