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Off to Bike Park Wales for the first time tomorrow, and the weather ain't looking too bad!
After some advice on which trails to try. I guess start on a few blues and work up. I'm on my (ageing) Trance and like techy stuff, happy with a few small drops and jumps but nothing too serious. Whats a good selection to make the most of the uplift day?
blues then reds to get a feel for the flow, there all the same. No drops on red more than a foot. If you want to try a black then Zut Alors at 300m is a good one to begin with IMHO, short but rocky
I did everything on BPW on my 2008 trance at the end of Dec, it was pissing down all day, so you'll be fine.
Might be a bit slippy in some of the bits under the trees.
Blues and reds with a bit of black, you'll be fine.
No shame in walking down some of the black bits. I'd rather have a great day and enjoy myself, rather than break myself or the bike.
Melted welly is fun, and I love vicious valley!
Start with Sixtapod (blue). A great trail to begin with and once yo know it you can carry some SERIOUS speed and really begin to launch yourself off the humps, bumps and berms. It's easy to get carried away first time with this trail and really hurt yourself, which many people do!!
If you're riding up then it's worth stopping at the midway fire road, turning right and cycling back up to the top to do the upper trails a bit more as the lower section of the climb is a bitch.
Melted Welly (blue) is great as long as you like uphills when you should be going downhill!
Vicous Valley (red) is one of my favourite trails anywhere. If it's wet then it's treacherous because of the amount of roots you're riding on - I still love it though.
Wibbly Wobbly (red) is probably the next progression up from the blues in the upper half of the hillside and has a few rock drops and a small steep rooty chute. there are chicken lines around the drops but not the chute.
I haven't done the blacks in a while and I know they've changed some of them. All the reds and blacks at the top have qualifiers for you to do first.
The last red in the top half is A470 line which is accessed from halfway down vicious valley and is basically a jump line with loads of tabletops.
On the lower half of the hill there are blacks and blues. Willy waver is another great blue that shouldn't be underestimated on the speed front.
Terrys Belly (blue) runs from top to bottom of the mountain. I like it for the challenge of completing it all in one go but many others hate it. It has a bus stop half way down for a rest. lots of berms on this trail.
For your first time, forget about trying to go "as fast as possible" and find the "flow" instead! Nail your berm technique on the blues and your pumping technique on the reds and you'll have a great day!
I really like the short red that is Bonneyville as you can really rip down the tighter hairpins on it though the roots with some perfectly timed "swooshing" from your hips and arms (<<<< think that is the technical term for it 😉
Also, work on trying to clear the small tables on the blue runs at a low speed(ie use a proper pump/stand technique to pop off the lips, rather than just hitting them at Mach3 and hoping!), so you know your jump technique is good, that way, when you get to the A470 / blacks you'll be much better placed to nicely flow down those too
We're off for the second time next month, found some of the reds a bit meh so decided to just have run ripping the blues.
Pawsy_Bear - Member
No drops on red more than a foot
Except the qualifier on Vicious Valley.
Supposedly it was filled in, but wasn't last time I went after hearing that and this suggests the same. http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tell-me-about-bike-park-wales-on-a-hard-tail-i-will-live-wont-i
They have definitely filled in the start of vicious valley from when it was first put up, a lot smaller now.
Indeed, i assume people were spannering themselves on said wood drop at the start of VV and its now pretty much rollable!
Was there today, all running fine with no mud to really worry about. Terry's Belly was closed though.
Qualifier, hmm TBH never really noticed. Never understood the A470 entry bit either. Given that the rest of it is pretty meh. It has a drop in. Just a pain slowing down. Again, they are all in fact rollable
Give them all a go, The blacks are worth a try too. Join on from half way down, where you cross the forest road for a taster.
This topic comes up weekly. Have fun though