bike park wales 15/10/13 review

MaJeeKa

Rode bpw today for 1st time. got there just after 10am.( the road up to it is only part tarmac so take your time) You cant just buy a ticket, 1st you have to go on one of two ipads to fill in your details and claims waiver( so u cant sue them). I joined the queue which was 4 people, this took 5 minutes, if there was a huge queue, this could be a massive problem and spoil your day. did that then went and got my wristband at workshop. All this could be dodged as there was no checks to see if u had paid. I went back to my car and got my bike and gear out and headed to beast of burden ( the 4.6km hill climb to top), i was too tight to buy uplift pass and as i found out later im glad i didnt pay for it ( hillclimb aint too bad and bus stops for dinner so no uplift for over an hour even though i seen 5 buses and trailers in their car park). There are 2 routes to top 1st is stay on the beast of burden and other is slightly shorter but steeper fireroad which took 30 mins to do as beast was 40 mins( beast is entertaining as it has obstacles all the way).the top is just a clearing which was slightly muddy with signs showing you which way to each route down( needs smartening up a bit as its a meeting point for all and if it was worse weather then it would of been a swampy quagmire).
After hearing the rumours the routes are harder than other parks i decided to do a blue to warm up. I did melted welly, into blue belle into bushwacker. After about a minute into melted welly i did a 2 wheel jump which shook me a bit ( didnt expect this on a blue run). As im not very fit or good at riding my speed werent very fast (went over a berm and had 2 wheel lift on way down from it). Then it was back up the hill for run 2 which i decided was a blue again, i did sixtapod, into willy waver, into norkle. Again a small but less freightening 2 wheel jump in sixtapod.
I usually ride afan and all its red routes and these blues are as tough as them.
i decided to call it a day (school run) so since the bike was caked in mud i decided to use the bike wash stations. There was only 2 of the 3 working and its a quid for 5 mins. You get a bay which has nothing to put your bike on just the side walls ( A nice bike stand would be good). it was a hose with a hozelok nozzle on end ( pressure was ok but only i was using it ). chucked the bike back in car then decided to have some grub in cafe. I had poached egg on toast but no drink as coffee machine was broke ( was really looking forward to a coffee) . Food was lovely but a bit pricey, 4 quid for poached egg on toast

roundup :
great park but wouldnt go there when its busy or been raining ( bad organizing and tracks will be too muddy...bogged down in alot of places). it might be quiet there but ALL uplift passes had been sold out and you stop it for dinner...WHY

Will i go there again....yes but not at weekend or when its been raining few days before

rockmonkeysc

Nearly all uplifts stop for lunch breaks. Not sure what the uplift is like on a normal day but for the Welsh Downhill Champs it was hopeless, hour long que to get on but there were 250 racers.
I thought the black graded trails were a bit of a soft touch, there's noting committing, you can roll everything. Nothing like as tough as Gawton black trails. It's a shame they didn't keep the old Gethin Dragon Downhill track, that was nuts!
Afan's red trails are the easiest red trails I have ridden anywhere.
I think you can avoid queing up to sign in by booking a day pass online.
What's a 2 wheel jump? I'm confused, surely if only one wheel leaves the ground either it's a wheelie or endo, if no wheels leave the ground then your just riding along. If more than two wheels leave the ground then you have been eating some of the mushrooms I spotted in the top woods.

MaJeeKa

2 WHEELS = IN MID AIR...NO GROUND CONTACT....NOT SOMETHING U SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO ON A BLUE RUN ..IF I WAS A BETTER RIDER I WOULD OF HAD IT MORE

ednino

I was there Sunday. It was so busy I had to park down the road :-/

Enjoyed the beast of Burden (28 minutes bottom to top) and did the blue runs like you. They have very good flow with nothing too steep / dangerous. That said, I was at Coed y Brenin today & their blue runs are like a garden path just flat, smooth and boring.

peter413

MaJeeKa wrote:

2 WHEELS = IN MID AIR...NO GROUND CONTACT....NOT SOMETHING U SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO ON A BLUE RUN ..IF I WAS A BETTER RIDER I would have HAD IT MORE

Erm what? Most of the blue routes at Glentress have small jumps and if someone bunny hops on a trail, does that not make it a blue in your eyes?

rockmonkeysc

Most good blue trails have rollers which are jumps or even doubles when you hit them at speed.
It keeps it fun for everyone no matter what their ability.

The Northern Monkey

They usually stagger uplift breaks so there is always at least 1 bus running...

I'd say the wall descents are more challenging than the blues at bpw tbh.

Kowalski675

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Most good blue trails have rollers which are jumps or even doubles when you hit them at speed.
It keeps it fun for everyone no matter what their ability.

I fancy giving this blue trail a visit. It's only short, but looks like it flows really well, and would be good for practicing getting the fundamentals right without getting distracted by anything too technical, but at the same time looks like it would be fun for experienced riders too (judging by the pace the designer's flowing down it in the video). And they definitely leave the ground briefly...

http://vimeo.com/49563118

Myster101

Do fancy a trip to Wales to try out a few of the trails, seems the place to go at the moment (shame it's so far away from me).

As for jumps on blue runs, don't most of them have a least a couple? I know my local one has quite a few (Whinlatter), thing is you can either jump them or roll them. It's up to you.

Kowalski675

Myster101 wrote:

Do fancy a trip to Wales to try out a few of the trails, seems the place to go at the moment (shame it's so far away from me).

As for jumps on blue runs, don't most of them have a least a couple? I know my local one has quite a few (Whinlatter), thing is you can either jump them or roll them. It's up to you.

Might possibly be going to Whinlatter at the weekend. What's it like?

ednino

The forest of Dean blue trail has loads of jumps & tabletops. You can just roll over them or pump them if you can't jump so its still classed as blue.

rockmonkeysc

Roller jumps that you get on blue trails are good to learn on so that when you move on to harder trails you have the confidence to ride the bigger jumps.

welshkev

MaJeeKa wrote:

2 WHEELS = IN MID AIR...NO GROUND CONTACT....NOT SOMETHING U SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO ON A BLUE RUN ..IF I WAS A BETTER RIDER I would have HAD IT MORE

on the last blue run (can't remember what it's called) I was doing about 30mph and I took off like a demon, it felt ace, you can hear me giggling to myself in the video

rockmonkeysc

welshkev wrote:

on the last blue run (can't remember what it's called) I was doing about 12mph and I barely left the ground like an old woman, it felt ace, you can hear me giggling like a little girl to myself in the video

fixed for you

Runtothehills

Kowalski675 wrote:

Myster101 wrote:

Do fancy a trip to Wales to try out a few of the trails, seems the place to go at the moment (shame it's so far away from me).

As for jumps on blue runs, don't most of them have a least a couple? I know my local one has quite a few (Whinlatter), thing is you can either jump them or roll them. It's up to you.

Might possibly be going to Whinlatter at the weekend. What's it like?

I really enjoyed Whinlatter - the blue is a fun warm up and goes straight into the south red if you want it to. Also some good technical climbing on both the reds which I hadn't really come across before. Last section of the north run is probably the highlight - nice downhill that goes in and out of the trees.

Only thing is you might want to miss out the little loop at the top of the south red trail. I didn't think it really added anything to the route, although when I went the final climb was covered in ice so I may be biased by that.

welshkev

RockmonkeySC wrote:

welshkev wrote:

on the last blue run (can't remember what it's called) I was doing about 12mph and I barely left the ground like an old woman, it felt ace, you can hear me giggling like a little girl to myself in the video

fixed for you

ah so someone saw me, dammit

Kowalski675

Runtothehills wrote:

Kowalski675 wrote:

Myster101 wrote:

Do fancy a trip to Wales to try out a few of the trails, seems the place to go at the moment (shame it's so far away from me).

As for jumps on blue runs, don't most of them have a least a couple? I know my local one has quite a few (Whinlatter), thing is you can either jump them or roll them. It's up to you.

Might possibly be going to Whinlatter at the weekend. What's it like?

I really enjoyed Whinlatter - the blue is a fun warm up and goes straight into the south red if you want it to. Also some good technical climbing on both the reds which I hadn't really come across before. Last section of the north run is probably the highlight - nice downhill that goes in and out of the trees.

Only thing is you might want to miss out the little loop at the top of the south red trail. I didn't think it really added anything to the route, although when I went the final climb was covered in ice so I may be biased by that.

Cheers. I don't think I'll be going if it's cold enough to be icy, lol.

Stevo_666

welshkev wrote:

MaJeeKa wrote:

2 WHEELS = IN MID AIR...NO GROUND CONTACT....NOT SOMETHING U SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO ON A BLUE RUN ..IF I WAS A BETTER RIDER I would have HAD IT MORE

on the last blue run (can't remember what it's called) I was doing about 30mph and I took off like a demon, it felt ace, you can hear me giggling to myself in the video

It was probably 'Willy Waver' which is the most fun I've had on a blue run in a long time. That doesn't sound right does it :P

rockmonkeysc

I particularly enjoyed Zut Alores and Coal not Dole. Neither should be graded black but they are lots of fun and crazy fast.

Stevo_666

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I particularly enjoyed Zut Alores and Coal not Dole. Neither should be graded black but they are lots of fun and crazy fast.

Didn't try Zut Alors but Coal not Dole was very good. Also the red from the top - wibbly wobbly - was a good one.

Butterd2

ednino wrote:

I was there Sunday. It was so busy I had to park down the road :-/

Enjoyed the beast of Burden (28 minutes bottom to top) and did the blue runs like you. They have very good flow with nothing too steep / dangerous. That said, I was at Coed y Brenin today & their blue runs are like a garden path just flat, smooth and boring.

I assume you mean the Minotaur Trail at CyB? That's what I ride with my 9 year old daughter, if you want lumpy then give MBR or Tarw Du a whirl.
Blues at downhill courses are of course quite different to trail centres, I wouldn't take her on the blue at Antur Stiniog!

rockmonkeysc

Having to book two months in advance for an uplift is a real pain in the butt. Hopefully when the new trail at Cwmcarn is opened that will help.

Woody80

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Having to book two months in advance for an uplift is a real pain in the butt. Hopefully when the new trail at Cwmcarn is opened that will help.

I'd guess a lot of it is the initial demand as well though. Saw a Facebook post earlier saying they are doing more uplift days now as well so that's got to help.

I'm looking forward to going back. Putting more pressure in the tyres though as I came out of the rock gardens on Rim Dinger with 2 flats! Slashed the front tyre , running tubeless, and pinched the rear with a DH tube. Both were at 25 psi which haven't ever been a problem before.

rockmonkeysc

Thats not tyre pressure. You need to have another look at the rock garden. There is one good line which won't destroy your rims and tyres. Speed helps as well.
25psi is more than enough, I was running 18psi for yhe race, most people were around 20psi.

Woody80

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Thats not tyre pressure. You need to have another look at the rock garden. There is one good line which won't destroy your rims and tyres. Speed helps as well.
25psi is more than enough, I was running 18psi for yhe race, most people were around 20psi.

Ah, I did think that 25 psi wasn't silly low. I'll try faster and a better line next time then!

rockmonkeysc

Turn in on the centreline of the rock garden, hold it tight in the turn and stay tight right after the turn and huck off the rock. You need to keep up your momentum.

Northwind

MaJeeKa wrote:

2 WHEELS = IN MID AIR...NO GROUND CONTACT....NOT SOMETHING U SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO ON A BLUE RUN .

MINCE.

Stevo_666

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Having to book two months in advance for an uplift is a real pain in the butt. Hopefully when the new trail at Cwmcarn is opened that will help.

Cwmcarn is always a decent alternative and its available - there's spaces every day next week that the bus is running apart from Sunday. Especially good in winter as the place is hardpack and holds up really well in the wet. From what I'm hearing parts of BPW are suffering a fair bit with mud.

ednino

I was there again yesterday. Got there for 9am and was one of the first people on the trails.
Went up the beast of burden first lap then climbed the fireroad on the next couple of laps. The fireroad climb is almost as technical in parts. 14% on loose wet stones That's my kind of thing

I guess the downhill bit is fun too lol

rockmonkeysc

Stevo 666 wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Having to book two months in advance for an uplift is a real pain in the butt. Hopefully when the new trail at Cwmcarn is opened that will help.

Cwmcarn is always a decent alternative and its available - there's spaces every day next week that the bus is running apart from Sunday. Especially good in winter as the place is hardpack and holds up really well in the wet. From what I'm hearing parts of BPW are suffering a fair bit with mud.

It's a bit boring just riding the same trail all day and it seems that everytime it feels like im on a good run I get held up.

The Northern Monkey

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Having to book two months in advance for an uplift is a real pain in the butt. Hopefully when the new trail at Cwmcarn is opened that will help.

Cwmcarn is always a decent alternative and its available - there's spaces every day next week that the bus is running apart from Sunday. Especially good in winter as the place is hardpack and holds up really well in the wet. From what I'm hearing parts of BPW are suffering a fair bit with mud.

It's a bit boring just riding the same trail all day and it seems that everytime it feels like im on a good run I get held up.

Get off the bus 1st then ya lazy git haha.

But yeah, Cwmcarn can get a bit boring by the early afternoon... new DH trail is coming, but its on the other side of the hill so I'm not yet sure how the uplift will work.
IIRC, Cwmdown only have rights to the main Cwmcarn Drive forest road, so will have to apply to run the other side of the hill as part of the tender that goes out. If they don't, then there will be 1 company for Y Mynydd and then someone else for the new one.

I've had a peek at some of the new xc trails going in though, and they look superb. As everyone is bumming BPW, there is noone riding the new trails before they're ready so the workforce are free to build them properly without disruption.

The biggest thing that annyoys me about BPW is the way its run... it really is piss poor. I'm local (literally 20 mins away) and I've been once as I prefer to park up and just ride instead of all the arsing about with tickets, wristbands and waivers.