bike park wales 15/10/13 review

ednino

The Northern Monkey wrote:

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 wee-wee 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.

Surely you could just park at the bottom somewhere and ride up, turn left and help yourself to the trails without paying or going near the trail centre :?:
Unless you need uplift

The Northern Monkey

ednino wrote:

The Northern Monkey wrote:

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 wee-wee 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.

Surely you could just park at the bottom somewhere and ride up, turn left and help yourself to the trails without paying or going near the trail centre :?:
Unless you need uplift

Mainly because you can get banned/fined if you're found to be riding without a wristband (all riders need a wristband).

Northwind

ednino wrote:

Surely you could just park at the bottom somewhere and ride up, turn left and help yourself to the trails without paying or going near the trail centre :?:

Yes, in the same way as you can just put things in your pockets in shops and leave without paying. If you're a thieving cunt.

Stevo_666

The Northern Monkey wrote:

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.

Compared to BPW, CC is a bit short on choice but if it's choice between that and riding in thick mud I'll take CC.

Bl00dy well hope that there aren't 2 different companies running the CC uplift next year. That said, even if Cwmdown is doing both, it's not going to be easy managing 2 totally different van routes/drop off points if one is more popular than the other.

ednino

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Mainly because you can get banned/fined if you're found to be riding without a wristband (all riders need a wristband).

I see. I guess its not like most places where your paying for the parking.

rockmonkeysc

Stevo 666 wrote:

The Northern Monkey wrote:

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.

Compared to BPW, CC is a bit short on choice but if it's choice between that and riding in thick mud I'll take CC.

Bl00dy well hope that there aren't 2 different companies running the CC uplift next year. That said, even if Cwmdown is doing both, it's not going to be easy managing 2 totally different van routes/drop off points if one is more popular than the other.

It would be good if Cwmdown had some competition, they provide the worst uplift service I have used. The driver is more interested in chatting to his mates than actually driving up the hill.

The Northern Monkey

ednino wrote:

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Mainly because you can get banned/fined if you're found to be riding without a wristband (all riders need a wristband).

I see. I guess its not like most places where your paying for the parking.

You pay per rider, not per car. £5 each!

Stevo_666

RockmonkeySC wrote:

It would be good if Cwmdown had some competition, they provide the worst uplift service I have used. The driver is more interested in chatting to his mates than actually driving up the hill.

I know who you mean - they could get more runs in a day but if they do the advertised number of uplifts (11-12, or 8 in winter) then you can't really complain. Usually I've felt like I've had enough by the end of the day. There was one time when they fell short - partly due to tw@ts parking on the access road on a busy day - and riders got a part refund.

The Northern Monkey

Stevo 666 wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

It would be good if Cwmdown had some competition, they provide the worst uplift service I have used. The driver is more interested in chatting to his mates than actually driving up the hill.

I know who you mean - they could get more runs in a day but if they do the advertised number of uplifts (11-12, or 8 in winter) then you can't really complain. Usually I've felt like I've had enough by the end of the day. There was one time when they fell short - partly due to tw@ts parking on the access road on a busy day - and riders got a part refund.

Plus they NEVER start on time and take longer than they need for lunch.
It was good when Darryl was driving, but the hired help has been poor.

One of the drivers left to work at BPW and is just as crap.

Stevo_666

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

It would be good if Cwmdown had some competition, they provide the worst uplift service I have used. The driver is more interested in chatting to his mates than actually driving up the hill.

I know who you mean - they could get more runs in a day but if they do the advertised number of uplifts (11-12, or 8 in winter) then you can't really complain. Usually I've felt like I've had enough by the end of the day. There was one time when they fell short - partly due to tw@ts parking on the access road on a busy day - and riders got a part refund.

Plus they NEVER start on time and take longer than they need for lunch.
It was good when Darryl was driving, but the hired help has been poor.

One of the drivers left to work at BPW and is just as crap.

I only ever saw Darrell and Kenny driving - and I'm sure Darrell drove when I was there in may earlier this year. Anyhow, it's not like I've got a lot of choice on the uplift front where I am. But roll on 2014, a new DH track there can't be a bad thing?

welshkev

RockmonkeySC wrote:

It would be good if Cwmdown had some competition, they provide the worst uplift service I have used. The driver is more interested in chatting to his mates than actually driving up the hill.

I found that BPW uplift was the worst so far. I know they're busy, but waiting 30 mins for a bus is taking the wee wee.

I took a walk up a trail under construction at CC the other night. looking good

rockmonkeysc

It was nearly an hour on race day but I thought that was just bad planning for the extra riders.

Mojo_666

At least they put uo queuing barriers now to seperate bookings and single trip riders, so it's organised and hard to push in, saves me spending my queue time getting vexed and eyballing people.

Stevo_666

welshkev wrote:

I found that BPW uplift was the worst so far. I know they're busy, but waiting 30 mins for a bus is taking the wee wee.

Funny that, as when I went there was no hanging around. Got 13 runs in, never more than about 2-3 minutes before the van showed up. If we had taken our time at the top/taken a breather half way/stacked it, he was already there waiting when we got down. (I don't think I'm that slow....). Mind you this was on a Monday, guess you were there on a weekend? - have heard stories of chaos at busy times.

rockmonkeysc

With a mix of xc and dh riders on the uplift descent times will probably range between 3 minutes and 20 minutes so some people will have longer waits than others.

ednino

RockmonkeySC wrote:

With a mix of xc and dh riders on the uplift descent times will probably range between 3 minutes and 20 minutes so some people will have longer waits than others.

Don't XC riders ride up

rockmonkeysc

Apparently the uplift is popular with xc riders as well.

The trails will get muddy in their first winter, they haven't had time to bed in yet and the drainage will probably need sorting. Any new trail will suffer in wet conditions.

Stevo_666

RockmonkeySC wrote:

With a mix of xc and dh riders on the uplift descent times will probably range between 3 minutes and 20 minutes so some people will have longer waits than others.

I'm comparing it with Cwmcarn where you could take as much time as you want and still make the bus with time to spare. Anyone who took 20 minutes to get down the day I was there would have missed the bus...

Northwind

Is it not a fleet of shuttles (like Antur) so you just ride then jump on the next bus? Unlike say inners where there's one bus and you need to make your pickup

The Northern Monkey

Its a fleet of shuttle busses run by idiots.

Stevo_666

Northwind wrote:

Is it not a fleet of shuttles (like Antur) so you just ride then jump on the next bus? Unlike say inners where there's one bus and you need to make your pickup

There was only one bus the day I was there.

ednino

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Its a fleet of shuttle busses run by Welsh people.

:shock:

Northwind

Stevo 666 wrote:

There was only one bus the day I was there.

Ah. If they're running less buses then they need for the bookings they're taking then that is shit frankly. Was there something up, do you know, breakdown or illness or something?

welshkev

Northwind wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

There was only one bus the day I was there.

Ah. If they're running less buses then they need for the bookings they're taking then that is shoot frankly. Was there something up, do you know, breakdown or illness or something?

there was a thing on fb the other day saying they'd listened to opinions and were putting on more buses during the week so I guess that was just the norm when stevo was there.

Stevo_666

welshkev wrote:

Northwind wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

There was only one bus the day I was there.

Ah. If they're running less buses then they need for the bookings they're taking then that is shoot frankly. Was there something up, do you know, breakdown or illness or something?

there was a thing on fb the other day saying they'd listened to opinions and were putting on more buses during the week so I guess that was just the norm when stevo was there.

Yep, that's it. There was only one bus that could be booked for that day, so no shortfall. I got on every time so got 13 runs in the day. Knackered at the end of it!

And seem to recall they've put an extra bus on for weekkdays due to demand since I was there early last month.

P-Jay

BPW are listening to people, they had a pretty disastrous (in terms of PR) idea to charge £7 a day for riders showing up to 'pay on the day' - whilst giving the option to book online for £5 because of the huge queues it caused. FB went wild that they'd tried to put their prices up so soon after opening so they backed down, now there's a monthly prize draw for people who book online. ultimately they're not making rider jump through all these hoops for fun or to stop riders suing if they hurt themselves, they're at the mercy of their insurers, no insurance - no bike park and the insurers want disclaimers signed.

In regards to stopping for lunch, they have too. Unsurprisingly the law doesn't allow Bus Drivers (which technically they are believe it or not) to drive for hours on end without a break - anyone whose driven to the Alps will testify things get a bit weird after so many hours driving and you really wouldn't want to be trying to thread a big Tranny with trailer up a twisty mountain road in that state.

Personally I've had nothing but great service from the drivers at BPW and from Cwmdown, My memory is long enough to remember when your option of an uplift day was pretty much Cwmdown or nothing, aside from the odd Dragon Downhill day and reading between the lines on their FB I think BPW is really hurting them, hopefully the new Trails will bring some more riders back to CC, because it's been a ghost town the last few times I've been there. Personally I like the fact Cwmdown is a friendly service and they chat to people, I'm all for competition but having two completing services at CC would be a nightmare - well unless you fancy restricting yourself to riding either the existing trails or the new ones, me, I'd rather ride a mix of the two on my uplift day.

Personally I'm loving BPW, it's not perfect but considering there really isn't a textbook for opening something like that they've done a great job, some riders will always moan, some think being asked to pay to use something that cost millions of pounds to build is an insult to them personally and everything should be free for everyone all the time.

In regards to "two wheeled jumps" and grading, there isn't a universal rule book on grading, BUT the signs do give you an indication of what obstacles and features to expect and it's up to you to ride within your limits - it's worth remember that BPW is a Bike Park and not a Trail Centre, the trails are designed to be faster and more challenging, you shouldn't think just because you rip around The Wall at Afan that you can do the same on Welly Waver because of the colour of the sign.

declan1

Reading this thread I'm glad I live where I do - 30 minutes' drive from Golspie. Great trails that you don't have to pay for (well, if you park there you do) and maybe three other people there if it's busy!

welshkev

declan1 wrote:

Reading this thread I'm glad I live where I do - 30 minutes' drive from Golspie. Great trails that you don't have to pay for (well, if you park there you do) and maybe three other people there if it's busy!

I live less than 30 mins from BPW and there's at least a hundred other places to ride for free, hence why I've only been there once since it opened

Mojo_666

welshkev wrote:

declan1 wrote:

Reading this thread I'm glad I live where I do - 30 minutes' drive from Golspie. Great trails that you don't have to pay for (well, if you park there you do) and maybe three other people there if it's busy!

I live less than 30 mins from BPW and there's at least a hundred other places to ride for free, hence why I've only been there once since it opened

+1 it is on our doorstep but its just another option for u, great through the winter when our natural stuff gets too claggy though, doing my second lift saturday and have 3 more booked.

declan1

welshkev wrote:

declan1 wrote:

Reading this thread I'm glad I live where I do - 30 minutes' drive from Golspie. Great trails that you don't have to pay for (well, if you park there you do) and maybe three other people there if it's busy!

I live less than 30 mins from BPW and there's at least a hundred other places to ride for free, hence why I've only been there once since it opened

That's one disadvantage of living up here I suppose - great trails and nobody on them but not very many!