bike park wales

Climb is ok. About 30 - 40 mins. Quicker if you're uber fit. You can also do the climb from half way as all descents cross the fireroad you use to climb back up.

Yes you'll probably get a few uplifts in later in the day.

I've done uplift and ride ups. Both are good

In addition to the proper XC climb ("Beast of Burden"), there's a couple of other ways to the top - you can either:
a) sit on the fireroad that goes up the left-hand side of the hill (and which runs more-or-less parallel to the XC climb) or
b) follow the uplift bus road (which heads right as you look up the hill) - there's a couple of well-ridden short-cuts that cut corners off the road, but this is still the least-steep route.

Having said all that, personally I actually prefer the XC climb. Because it's a proper singletrack trail with lots of roots, rocks, twists and turns, I find that it takes your mind off the climbing, and isn't as tedious or demoralising as just sitting spinning up a boring road.

Like kev says - once you're at the top you can choose to either ride all the way down to the bottom or stop at one of the road crossing points to climb back up from there. This can be worth doing, as the lowest section of the climb is the hardest.

Finally make sure you register and sign the "acceptance of risk" form online before you go, otherwise you can end up queuing for ages to use one of the two ipods in the foyer before you can actually purchase your ticket to ride:
http://www.formstack.com/forms/?1561552-tmyxFuvuBj

The climb isn't too bad, don't be put off by the first steep bit, it gets better (but a bit more technical) further up. I quite enjoyed the climb, but it would greatly reduce your available riding time throughout the day if you had to ride up all day.

I spent two days there a few weeks back. I managed 4 climbs the first day with no uplift at all, but did about 5 uplifts and 3 climbs on the 2nd day. People cancel last minute, arrive late, injure themselves, have a rest etc. I only didn't make it on the uplift once of all the times I tried. Also worth checking with the driver on the first uplift if there have been any last minute cancellations etc so you know for the rest of the day.

Enjoy !

that's another reason I don't like going there tbh. the trails are great, but if like me you have limited time to ride, cocking around for 45 mins would mean I'd probably only get 1 hr 15 mins of riding in.

stir88 wrote:

Like jmillen said, if i can't get on the uplift at all and can only manage four climbs, what would be the best runs down. i'm quite a competent rider but no expert. I will only probably tackle the reds and blues. I want to avoid the rocky descents in case of punctures. I would like to try one with table tops in.

First of all, I'd start with Sixtapod - it's very flowy and fun without being overly technical. Not too far in, there's a pair of linked turns (left-right) with low berms. Hold as much speed through there as you can, then pedal like hell, cos there's two pairs of small rollers that you can double-up if you're going fast enough. From the road you could then carry on into Willy Waver, or just pedal back up to the top.

From the top again, make your second run Melted Welly which splits into Vicious Valley just inside the woods. Take the red, as it's more interesting, but again, not hugely technical. After crossing the road on this side of the hill, the two runs Bonneyville and Blue Belle are both quite natural, at least to start with, and are great as long as it's not too wet. Bonneyville starts by taking a steeper line, including a series of tight, steepish switchbacks that make it really good fun, then it joins up with Blue Belle for a less-steep but really fast, flowy section in and out of trees. This takes you as far as the tunnel under the lower road, where the best choice (IMO) is Norkle, or you can try Insufficient funds although that's got some pretty rough rocky sections.

Back to the top again, and this time take Wibbly wobbly (mostly smooth with some medium-sized step-downs and a few large slabs) into Rim Dinger (rougher, with some rock-gardeny stuff and slightly bigger drops).

If you're not exhausted by this point you're doing really well. You won't have ridden any table-tops so far (there aren't any on the red or blue runs) so if you've got the energy, you could head back up to take on one of the Black runs, but you'll have to ask someone else about them