Got an uplift day at FOD in a week or so’s time, never been there before. Wanted to do BPW that weekend, but we’re too tardy getting online to book it. A mate suggested FOD so thought we’d go for it.

I understand it will be pretty busy in a Saturday and it’s no BPW. But what should I expect – in terms of difficulty?

At BPW last year I did all the reds and all the blues, but no blacks. My weakest points are drops and doubles. Will have a go at / clear really small doubles, and drops up to about 2 feet are doable but no higher.

Rode Cwmcarn a few weeks ago to get my eye back in on the bike after 6 months off – also ridden Ashton Court / Leigh Woods too just for some mileage – either way I won’t be going banzai at FOD after so long off (he says now). At Cwmcarn I do the 2 loops and the pedalhounds DH – not tried the other DH run there yet.

In terms of bike it should be fine – got 150mm travel/130mm front / back and reasonable tyres etc. It handled BPW ok – although a bit more laid back geo / longer travel / burlier forks wouldn’t go amiss.

You will be fine. There is nothing bad at fod that doesn’t have a chicken run with it

Yeah fod isn’t as steep as pdalhounds, bit more natural and rooty in places but nothing too technical, enjoy!

no BPW. But what should I expect

– it’s a lot shorter 😉

Quite a lot of work has been done to fill in the holes / worst braking bumps over winter. Also built a couple of new runs off the top of the uplift that are bedding in nicely. There’s a big drop on GBU I think (not ridden it for ages and only minced down it then) and there’s the big road gap at the bottom but otherwise I’m sure you’ll have a great time.

I’m a big fan of Corkscrew and Sheepskull. That’s what we tend to ride if we’re coming back to PAB that way. New skills loop with pump track might be open as well.

Bike will be fine, one of the (very talented) lads from the workshop rides some of it on his cross bike! Also hope the rain stops as it’s very very slippy out there at the moment and some of those tracks are pretty rooty and off camber.

I’ve been to BPW a couple of times and ridden only blues and reds (except for one black, Deep Navigation I think, which didn’t have anything big on it) and I found plenty of stuff I could ride when I went to the FoD. There’s some jumps up at the top but most of it is rooty singletrack stuff rather than jumps and drops.

Any bike should be fine for FOD as long as you have the right tyres 😀

You’ll be fine. The summer before last we did FOD, Cwmcarn and BPW uplifts in a long weekend, I was on my hardtail and had an absolute hoot. FOD had some tricky roots when it’s really wet but has a good variety of tracks and opportunities for you to take less challenging lines too. Driver was sound too.

If the sun doesn’t come out and dry it all up I think you’ll be in for a wet/muddy ride.
It’s great fun @ FoD but there are lots* of roots and off-camber so tyre choice can make a massive difference as it’s not generally hard-pack like BPW.
The most fun I’ve had there was in biblical rain 😀
Van gets a bit funky though..

(*and lots)

It’s ace tbh, I nearly wrote it off because the hill’s so tiny- it’s about half the height of innerleithen- but the uplift is on public roads so it’s fast, and the trails are class. Both times I’ve been there it’s been dry and I gather it gets very sloppy in the wet but I actually preferred it to bpw. Heresy I know. I could ride flatlands or corkscrew into sheepskull all day.

Only downside really is it’s kind of awkward to navigate- lots of trails, and the marking isn’t brilliant. Very like innerleithen in that regard, takes a while to figure it out. So the second time, I just took the approach of riding loads of stuff and not really worrying much about what I was riding, which worked better than really trying to plan “this time I shall ride Mr Rooty” or whatever. “Where am I? Oh there’s a trail, I’ll do that”. I have favourites but none of it was bad imo.

Hoping it dries up a bit then as I hate wet roots – especially off camber. Maybe I should get some elbow pads before then too as bound to hurl myself into the undergrowth.

Forecast as he moment is looking dry for the next week after today. Fingers crossed it’s not too wet – April the 1st uplift day

I hate wet roots – especially off camber

+

April the 1st uplift day

What could possibly go wrong 😉

That had crossed my mind. Also add in only 2 proper mountain bike rides since a shoulder operation in September……

I’ve found with FoD that you can take it easy for a couple of runs, get to know them, and as the day progresses, you should be going pretty quick.

there’s a couple of big jumps towards the end of one of the runs that aren’t for me.

generally it’s all rideable and you make what you want from it…

I don’t think this is a very popular option with the gnaristas but you can also ride the final blue descent from the uplift- we timed it as the last run and last run before lunch as it takes a bit longer but it’s totally worth it, good fun descent with some nice options and the like and mixes things up from the main dh stuff.

I love the place, ok it’s short and doesn’t have the signage of places like Antur and BPW but it’s more natural and I genuinely think it’s more of a challenge especially in the wet.
Put it this way, at BPW I often feel like a passenger riding a roller coaster, fun but gets samey quickly, at FoD I find you have to concentrate both on following the trail and not falling off….loads of off camber stuff and roots to catch you out.
Go for an aggressive front tyre if nothing else and you should have a hoot.

Got a pair of black chilli Continental Mountain King 2.4’s on the bike at the moment. Not got any others and they are really new. Saw them on offer last year and went for them on cost grounds instead of high roller 2’s. So far they’ve been ok – much better than the Nobby Nics that were on there before. Don’t think they could be accused of being aggressive though.

I like the way BPW trails flow like a roller coaster – the faster the better. Really enjoy big berms and flowing trails. I like the idea of doing the blue from the main trail as well as the DH runs. Love a few of the downhill sections on Cafell and Twych at CC and Swinley has a few fun (but easy) bits where you get air time without even trying.

My first trail centre uplift was FOD, in the middle of winter. It was mostly frozen solid and it was great.
I was a little nervous as I’d never been before, so didn’t know what to expect. Once I relaxed into it, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Theres a decent bit of variety and you can throw in parts of the Verderer’s Trail in for good measure.
Launch pad was great fun, but you can see how it can go pear shaped.
I’ve ridden BPW uplift on a hardtail and that was good too. Legs were toasted by the end of the day though!
Just go and enjoy, ease into it and you’ll have a blast.

More efficient bus service than BPW. Generally when you reach the bottom there’s a bus or short wait for one and no big queues. Hang on when in the bus though. They blast round the roads 😀

I find my legs cope ok on uplift days – it’s my fingers on the handlebars / brakes that are like claws by the time I get to the bottom of runs. Although perhaps that’s just a BPW thing as the runs are so long. Maybe I brake too much alternatively!

Re uplifts I didn’t find BPW too bad. Very little waiting around at all.

Sounds like the Flyup team at FOD are like the ones at Flyup 417 project – literally the most efficient service ever and drive like demons.

Any bike should be fine for FOD as long as you have the right tyres

THIS.
I’ve never had as bad a day on the bike as I did at FOD riding with the wrong tyres. Rode BPW on the Sat and was a riding god, hit FOD on the Sunday and just could not keep it upright. Wet, muddy, draggy, slippy, loads of off camber corners / flats, and then to top it all off I cased a road gap and destroyed a wheel. Still go back though 😉

So what are the right tyres for a slightly damp FOD?

I’m keeping fingers crossed it’s not biblically rainy next Saturday……

Magic Mary on the front will be good.

The Freeminers trail with the extension is a nice ride in the woods if you like a bit of XC, natural no big drops or jumps and nothing steep and off camber

If it stays damp I might look into a magic Mary before next week. Think there were some cheap ones last time I looked at tyres, but the weight of them was incredible. Guess that’s less of an issue on an uplift day though.

FOD is my local, I ride with a Mary all year round alternate between a Dampf in the winter and razor when it starts to get even remotely dry. Mary is all the tyre you will ever need for the front at FOD, grips roots as well as anything and clears the slip well. Rear tyres tend to be your own preference. My friends all run different rear tyres.

Well I HOPE it gets dryer for you last Saturday was the best its been for 4 months great but Tuesday was a mud bath have had a lot of rain in Gloucestershire in the last 3 days.

Fingers crossed indeed. Meant to be dry now for the next week – but I’d swear weather forecasters just look out the window and guess given how accurate they usually are.

Yeah last Sunday was brilliant. I refused to go out on the Weds night ride 😉

Would a magic Mary fit through a rockshox revelation? It’s 750 b and I’ve got fairly narrow rims. Think they’re only 19mm wide – Mavic 319’s I believe. Fit the 2.4 conti’s on them ok, but I think they come up small for a 2.4.

There seem to be loads of variation on MM – the bike park version is exceptionally cheap – but weighs 1417grams?!