The editorial story and comments seem to suggest that the only reason Bike Park Wales is a success is their good asphalt tracks for motorised uplift.

Aren’t they being disingenuous by ignoring the fact that the Welsh location and motorway network makes it the most accessible proper mountains to a massive chunk of the uk population?

The tweed valley is lovely, but there’s not exactly a lack of alternative big hills nearby is there?

I think that is a lot of the point csb; the two things BPW have done very well are having a new, an continually expanding trail network allied with an efficient uplift along with their location.

GT and Innerleithen used to be flagship 7Stanes destinations and people were prepared to drive to get there. Now, there has been no official (therefore marketable by the FC, VisitScotland etc) development in years (aside of a cafe) in terms of trails, infrastructure or uplift so, when Wales is on such a high thanks to the supportive communities, government, forward thinking private investors and groups like Cognation why would folk from around the country drive for hours up to the Tweed Valley when there is such variety in Wales? Yes the unofficial trails are mindblowing but, only known really by folk that follow EWS or forums and is certainly not for the family or novice sector.

If I lived in England and was looking for a weekend, or indeed week, riding destination Wales would be top of my list. So, I think their point is something big (be it trails or an ‘attraction’) needs to happen to reinvigorate the family biking tourist trade.

If I lived in England and was looking for a weekend, or indeed week, riding destination Wales would be top of my list. So, I think their point is something big (be it trails or an ‘attraction’) needs to happen to reinvigorate the family biking tourist trade.

For a week it probably makes less of a difference, but Wales definitely has the advantage of being a daytrip from London.

Aimups problem is being stuck with an albatross around their neck of the chairlift issue. Fort William excepted there are no other bike chairlifts, so I’ve never understood why they get so hung up on the idea. It’d be great if it was there, but I don’t think people would go there just for the novelty of a chairlift when BPW is quite capable of providing more uplifts than most people can manage in a day anyway.

Stop telling everyone that the bus is rubbish and needs to be replaced with a train, it’s not exactly a good marketing strategy when you’re trying to convince people to drive 8+ hours to ride there and ‘uplift’ to a lot of people still means putting your expensive bike in a cattle truck to be scratched to pieces.

Tom really hit the nail on the head, why would anyone want to drive for hours to visit a trail centre with 17km of marked trails, no toilets, no changing, no cafe.

In the long list of things that makes a destination for a weekend trip, an uplift is quite near the bottom. If they really want to make Inners an attractive destination for a broad audience they need to build about another 75km of marked trails (from green->black graded) and some trailhead facilities.

Inners is supposed to be the same trail centre as Glentress – plenty to play on there for families and the like even if trail development hasn’t exactly been rapid there either.

The current uplift hill at Inners doesn’t lend itself to a BPW type development. It’s primarily a DH venue for a reason, it’s a lot steeper than BPW and would take a lot more work to build in the nice swoopy trails that are needed

Inners is supposed to be the same trail centre as Glentress

Except that the parking tickets are not interchangeable for some reason. Unless you ride between the two, if you want to use the facilities at Glentress after a session at Inners then you need to pay again.

And after i’ve finished a ride, i’m covered in mud, and busting for a No2 i dont want to have to get in the car and drive up the road to the ‘shared’ trailhead.

Also, doesn’t have to be ‘families’ to want some more mellow stuff. I’d happily spend a day on a 29er hardtail riding 60km of blue grade singletrack with red options.

Chairlift is an expensive white elephant. Not needed for a good trail, but to be honest I like Inners because it is great trails that are quieter, even just the red XC. I ride it because it feels less mobbed than Glentress and usually has less routes closed in the winter. It needs toilets and more trail investment, not a chairlift.

I couldn’t give a toss about facilities. Build trails instead, I don’t drive 100 minutes for a cafe and a bog.

dufusdip – Member
It needs toilets and more trail investment, not a chairlift.

Agree in part; the argument presented on Monday is that no one is willing to fund trails so the uplift proposal (note it’s not a chairlift for reasons they can and have explained on their FB page) generates income which can then pay for new trails. Tracks in the ground for bikers are seemingly not an attractive investment for the local council, a £5M odd building for a tapestry is however.

Tracks in the ground for bikers are seemingly not an attractive investment for the local council, a £5M odd building for a tapestry is however.

£3.5m Council provision for the Tapestry building which appears to look less and less likely as time goes on. How much Forestry Commission, Big Lottery and sportscotland investment has been pledged to a mechanical uplift?

Quote “Stop telling everyone that the bus is rubbish and needs to be replaced with a train” as an aside – I did the uplift today – awesome! 45 min turn round – 9 runs – quite enough and great value 🙂