Bike Park Wales.

xcman27

Afternoon,

Just wondering whats its like compared to somewhere like Afan??

I'm planning on going thursday, all the sections look pretty short. I'm guessing you join them up to make a loop? Sorry if this sounds stupid!!

im just thinking do i stick with Afan cos i love The Wall and Whites Level..

Cheers... 8)

welshkev

shortish 30 min climb. and yes you can do loops, there's a fireraod halfway down if you didn't want to go all the way to the bottom and back up again you can loop up from there.

I think my friend did 2 full loops and 2 1/2 loops on different descents and it was 27km IIRC

Green Meenie

Think below was 2 loops, both up the singletrack climb. First down was a blue and second was a red.

http://www.strava.com/activities/82591341

Overall thats 15.8km which tock around 2 hours.

Mojo_666

xcman27 wrote:

Afternoon,

Just wondering whats its like compared to somewhere like Afan??

I'm planning on going thursday, all the sections look pretty short. I'm guessing you join them up to make a loop? Sorry if this sounds stupid!!

im just thinking do i stick with Afan cos i love The Wall and Whites Level..

Cheers... 8)

The XC climb is easy, road climb easier, the descents are better because unlike the wall and whites you don’t actually have to pedal at all, there are enough different descents to suit everyone too. Rough climb decent is 8 kish, decents are 7mins+ depending on how fast you are.

I can’t see me ever going to Afan again tbh

jimothy78

xcman27 wrote:

Just wondering whats its like compared to somewhere like Afan??

Completely different kettle of fish, mate. Yes, you can link up the downhill sections into a top-to-bottom run and do repeated laps, but it's a different kind of riding and BPW is never going to feel like you're on a nicely-balanced XC loop like The Wall or White's. You climb to the top, and charge back down, then repeat.

Don't get me wrong, it's great fun and I feel lucky to have it on my doorstep, but if you love XC it's never going to feel as fulfilling as The Wall, White's or or The Twrch at Cwmcarn. You might actually be better served trying to plan a course that takes you up a bit, down a bit, up a bit higher, down a bit lower, etc, to mix things up a bit.

In case you haven't heard, they're in the process of bulding a new XC trail at Cwmcarn, which should be good, so keep your eyes on that one.

apple eater

jimothy78 wrote:

xcman27 wrote:

Just wondering whats its like compared to somewhere like Afan??

You might actually be better served trying to plan a course that takes you up a bit, down a bit, up a bit higher, down a bit lower, etc, to mix things up a bit.

That sounds a lot like Gorlech trail, 3 ups and 3 downs all consecutive to one another and a great ride in a great place.

BPW is highly enjoyable, i haven't done a whole day yet as i only get about a half day to play out.