I’ve booked an uplift day with mates for monday for my birthday. My plan was to ride my bike there as I am used to it and like it now for S Wales trails and other trail centres. This is my first time to Bike Park Wales though

I’m not a natural descender but did improve last year after a week in the alps on my Canyon Nerve XC 120mm Full-sus (26 wheels), which worked fine in the Alps.

But, lots of people keep saying go bigger travel etc for BPW and I am happy to rent a 140mm 27.5 or something similar but I worry I will be less confident than on my own bike

I wont be riding any blacks anyway so what are people’s experiences and what would you recommend?

You will be fine on your bike.
The blues are awesome fun so don’t over look them! And have fun

If you are not riding any blacks then your Canyon will be fine. My mate did it all on a hardtail last time.

Don’t get me wrong, a nice bouncy bike is what I take and is lovely on the rockier bits, but I’d stick with the bike you are used to.

Don’t be scared of the blacks either – with the exception of 2 very short bits on Rock and Roll, there is nothing steep (Rock & Roll is only a diversion from Bonneyville anyway). The main blacks (Enter The Dragon & Dai Hard) are just good fun – the only bit I can think of that isn’t rollable is a 2ft wall drop on ETD and you can see it well in advance and stop/walk around. Put them in Scotland and they’d be reds.

Ride whatever you have, enjoy it and don’t worry about what everyone else says or does.

When you get to the top of the climb you’ll be amazed at the different shapes, sizes and values of bikes getting chucked down the hill. Every single one of them will have someone sitting on them grinning.

Just to give you some context i’ve never felt out of my depth on my full on XC 100mm hardtail 29er. As long as the brakes work well and your tyres are half decent you’ll be fine.

It’s just riding after all.

Not. It’s great fun but far from needing a BIG bike.

As a BPW local I’ve ridden every track on my hardtail. I had to swap to a dual ply rear tyre as single plys weren’t surviving, you might have similar issues on a short travel full suss. Aside from that you may be a little more tired, at the end of the day, than if you had a big bike.

Thanks guys for the reassurance, I’ll stick with it, though you have reminded me that I desperately need to change out of the summer Racing Ralphs I put on for an orienteering event recently!