[Closed] Blaenau Ffestiniog Mountain Bike Centre

The machines have just moved on site this week to start work on the uplift road. This will be followed by construction of the downhill tracks which will lead down to llechwedd.

The tracks will be graded from full on downhill to trail centre type single tracks be accessible to riders of differing levels of skill.

The visitor center cafe will also be built towards the end of the year.

The plan is for the centre to be open next spring.

A new web site is to be launched soon here is a link to the holding page so stay tuned.

http://www.anturstiniog.com/

AWESOME.

Sweet I may well give that a go when it's open.

Brilliant news - thanks.

Planning a "Trailcentre Road Trip" for North and Mid-Wales next October.

Perfect timing.

I vowed never to set foot in BF again. Awful place. Don't expect a warm welcome.

Is there an alternative start?

I cannot wait!

Any ideas when the website will be up and running with a few early pics of what to expect?

Another trailcentre in Wales, how useful..... 🙄

Another trailcentre in Wales, how useful.....

Went to BF, only the once,parked in the pub car park,went in and the pub went quiet, 40 pairs of eyes staring at us, ordered a coke and a shandy, went to sit down, and everyone looking at us.

Decided to leave,went outside and somebody had painted my car green, went back in (internet forum thug mode on) and said in a very loud voice, SOMEBODY HAS PAINTED MY CAR GREEN, a man mountain of a chap stood up, 21 stone of solid muscle and little brain,IPAINTED YOUR CAR GREEN, says he, (Me in an internet weak liberal sort of voice) said, drying lovely it is,and bid a hasty retreat.

LOL, big thanks to max boyce

Noticed how the Snowdonia NP boundry skirts around BF?!

Seems a bit close to Coed Y Brenin to be necessary.

Sounds cool. I rode down a slate mine there in 1987! Up past the lake, in the old ghost village. Tartan lycra tights and all! Semi flooded. May not have been wise, but was fun.

Seems a bit close to Coed Y Brenin to be necessary.

Different kettle of fish to CyB by the looks of things - much more DH oriented. Funny how it's being made out to be a hellhole. I like Blaenau. It doesn't seem half as depressed as many S. Wales towns either.

Guess the DH will compliment CyB, but I think there's a planned blue route too, around the powerstation reservoir?

Grim Welsh towns...? Spent 4 nights at Dolgellau recently, that place isnt great on an evening. You're right though, you dont get Lake District tweeness up there.

Awesome, is the Rowan Sorrel thing where they were hinting at trying to get a chairlift, or a different project? Can't remember where that was.

Well the area needs something, went to BF for a holiday with some friends about 7 years ago, we had a good time but the town is a hole. There's so much slate every where it's like being trapped in a black and white movie, grey skies, grey hills, grey houses etc.

i actually like a night out in dolgellau, has a certain 'edginess' and so many police for such a small town

i went to uni at aberystwyth though so i have fond memories

dirt dit a spread on this new centre a few months back, i think its definately more of a dh place

and considering that cwmcarns 1 dh track in south wales is booked up pretty much 7days a week i think north wales could do very well out of a dedicated dh centre

[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/new-trail-centre-in-ffestiniog-given-the-go-ahead ]http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/new-trail-centre-in-ffestiniog-given-the-go-ahead[/url]

I'm probably showing my class here, but I always though Dolgellau was [relatively] posh! As to Blaenau, I live in Bethesda so am used to slate tips and a bit of bleakness. Evidently not an aesthetic to everyone's taste.

@Grum - I think the uplift is for Methyr. Could be wrong though.

Sounds cool. I rode down a slate mine there in 1987! Up past the lake, in the old ghost village. Tartan lycra tights and all! Semi flooded. May not have been wise, but was fun.

Wasnt that in MBUK?

don simon - Member

Another trailcentre in Wales, how useful.....

What's the problem?

Blaenau Ffestiniog; the Town That Colour Forgot.

'Everything's grey. The houses are grey. The streets are grey. The people are grey. The trees are grey. It's all grey.'

©Kevevs 2011.

Well there's Penmachno not far away amongst others

As other have said, this is primarily going to be a DH centre and will attract a very different set of riders compared to CyB or Penmachno.

Makes a lot of sense to me and I'm looking forward to riding there.

As regards the Merthyr chairlift thing, I think getting uplift on the backs of flying pigs is more likely - but I'm happy to be proved wrong.

🙂

But thought it was Rhonda that was grey

We had a great holiday at Easter staying about 4 miles outside BF. There's a reason the National Park excludes BF - it is a hole, but you don't have to go far before you reach some stunning scenery.

I did a ride through the quarries as you can link up some of the access tracks and the old inclines - not classic riding by any means, but good fun and "interesting" as well as having a sense of industrial history to it. There is some great natural riding in the area too, which can be linked into Penmachno - hopefully you'll be able to do the same with this too. Bring it on!

The scenery coming over the hill from Penmachno and down past BF is simply jaw-dropping.

the more there are within a particular area, the more the others trade gets diluted?

Could be the complete opposite. A lot of NWales visits, for hiking/climbing/biking, are weekend breaks. But with the recession there may be a move toward fewer, but longer breaks. There is enough high-quality, easy access riding to support a week's MTB holiday in the area.

Looks like a great idea to me, north wales is brilliant but it doesn't have that much of this sort of riding. If you think of, say, Glentress/Innerleithen as a destination there's a huge variety of riding, whereas all the stuff we did around Mach was pretty similiar.

So sure, maybe it'll just draw in people who might have gone to Innerleithen instead... Or maybe it'll draw people who'd have gone to France. But either way, who's against more trails?

But either way, who's against more trails?

Bf is mostly slate and hilly so totally unlike llandegla or the other north wales centres, it has a lot going for it,fantastic grey scenery, a great train journey, to get there, a new set of roads over the crimea pass.

Its an area of high unemployment, and little retail trade,a few samll shops, so getting a cycle trails centre and cafe will hopefully be the bridge it needs to get going,bringing new visitors into the area, and hopefully spending some cash to spend on the new services that will be required.

Not trail centres really but there are other well know DH venues with uplift days in N.Wales such as Nant G and they seem to do well so I'm sure there'll be the demand for it!

Something similar has recently opened at Llangynog too I believe, though that might be less of a centre type affair too?

Why not down south??

bringing new visitors into the area, and hopefully spending some cash to spend on the new services that will be required.

Trails are great, but there is a huge attitude re-adjustment required by the indigent welshers.

Don't expect much grub on a sunday, either. Trading on the sabbath is still a sin.

Why not down south??

The usual case for funding for this type of thing is to help regeneration of an economically deprived area - the South of England is generally the more prosperous area so not much of a case for funding.

saxabar - think you are right I was talking about Merthyr - and I too will be very pleasantly surprised if they do get a chairlift!

BTW - Dolgellau also seemed quite posh to me - but small towns can often have a slightly rough night out regardless.

Ah so hows this coming along, as the website doesnt give away much only the race.

Much more on the [url=

Stiniog Cyf[/url] Facebook page, but there's a sweet little video here:

We've had a few good nights out in Dolgellau, one night we entered a raffle in a pub, Snakebite won the main prize but they wouldnt give it too him, they kept going with the draw until a local won the whiskey 😆

Small Welsh towns are no different to the less affluent fringes of English cities, you might not always be welcome in a local boozer, is that really a suprise?
Maybe they need to cater for poncy IT types coming into town to by a poncy coffee and drink shandies in pubs, making sure its a good wi-fi hotspot. 🙄

Snakebite won the main prize but they wouldnt give it too him, they kept going with the draw until a local won the whiskey

Best result for all concerned, really..

Tru Dat.

Is it open yet? I plan on being in the area in a couple of weeks, might be worth a look.

So, who's been? And what did you reckon? 🙂

I went last Thursday whilst on a family holiday.

Got 14 runs in (I missed one as I got a flat), v fast uplift and bikes seemed secure on trailer (no damage either). Very windy at the top which made jumping quite risky. Trails riding nicely with very little weather damage although they are still being constructed so there's a couple of v short muddy crossings.

3 trails were open, which was disappointing as there's 4 listed on the site with no mention of the 4th being in progress. Nevertheless the blue, red and black were good. Blue very fast with many huge berms, red a lot steeper in places with very rocky sections and fade aways to keep you on your toes, black even rockier with multiple line options on the steeper rock sections. The steep parts are a LOT steeper than they look in youtube videos, the blue and red are pretty smooth but the black is a lot rockier than it looks, there were times when I was getting rattled to bits even after softening up my suspension a little (deville and monarch plus), so all those people who say it looks like a BMX course should go give it a try! My only complaint besides the closed 4th trail is the 3 mentioned lack jumps for me, the red/blue share the same quarter or so of trail and feature 2 small tables, with a couple of rollers further up, the black has a couple of doubles but with fairly large gaps. In my opinion they should build a couple more tables into the blue/red.

It was my first uplift experience and I was feeling it the day after! Shoulders and fingers tired, I have even more respect for DHers now. I recommended you check it out if you're in the area, there's no push up yet so you have to pay for the uplift (£26 for the day) its still good value for the amount of runs you'll get, but you might get a bit bored by 2pm! They're planning on a xc loop, pump track and jump park, do a half day uplift for £13 combined with a trip to Betws y Coed (like 10mins away) could make for a brilliant crammed day of riding.

Wow that was quick! Thanks for that - might be checking it out fairly soon, sounds promising.

went at the weekend

WOW! I cannot wait to go back
what a great place to ride a bike.

all rideable but best rolling the blacks first time round .