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Bah! Sods law, a group of us booked BPW ages ago and weather tomorrow looks rubbish, heavy rain most of the day ๐
Any advice on coping with the conditions? are we nuts?
It's hardpack everywhere pretty much so you will be fine. Be wary mind the surface on many of the runs is lethal in drizzle. Was up there last Sunday and found it pretty dicey and not at all enjoyable
Waterproof shorts, jacket and something to clean your goggles ๐
I've done more wet days at BPW than dry. The trails [s]all[/s] mostly still run ok. Few wet sections in the woods on the blacks. Probably give Half Cut and Escort a miss.
Blues will be exactly the same, possibly a bit easier than late because they've been dust for weeks.
Reds largely unchanged, there's a couple of polished roots you might want to key an eye out for, maybe the odd bit of mud, as above there's been less grip of late because it's been so dry, Surfing Bird is like riding through a bag of flour. (Great trail though).
Blacks - wouldn't have a clue, you're on your own there.
Take spare brake pads. Sintered.
Also give 50 shades a miss.
We had a day like that in Feb. It was sideways rain all day. Roots on VV were a bit lively, some mud on the reds, grip wasn't an issue elsewhere but vision was. Tried googles, glasses and blinking. None terribly successfully!
I'd normally ride the blacks from the fireroad down but didn't fancy any of them with water streaming over the rocks.
It was still fun tho but I quit after six runs that day.
the blacks will be fine Dai Hard just before it spits you out in the open can get greasy
Take a change of clothes for after lunch, so you can start warm and dry again. If you ride goggles then some tearoffs (don't chuck em away onto the trail!!!) or a decent glasses cloth in you pack will help keep the view good.
Trails wise, i think BPW is actually pretty grippy, being mostly hard pack. A few roots on the reds / blacks will be slippy, but you should be boosting over those anyway..... ๐
We've done it in snow. Never been so cold and wet, but it was still fun. You'll live
Snow was awesome, I don't know if it was luck or planning but the berms seemed clear but he straights were snow covered and you sort of gentlely glided from edge to edge never really feeling like you were touching the ground.
Toughest part for me was the transition into the trees, very very bright to very very dark.
I'll be there tomorrow too, have been there in all weathers from baking sun to snow. The hardest was definitely in the dry after 2 weeks of no rain, the place was a dustbowl with very little grip. What made it worse was I'd just come back from a week in the PDS where it rained solidly!
Remember the place is in the Valleys so it's built with rain in mind. I'll be playing on the blues and a few choice reds, they run best when damp anyway. The only downer is that they [i]still[/i] haven't put a shelter up at the queue for the buses ๐
You'll have an awesome time anyway. The idea of a day out in shitty weather is far worse than the reality.
Well, it wasn't too bad this morning. A bit of rain but everything was running well. Then it absolutely bucketed down just before lunch. All the trails were turned into rivers for the last run before the break, the cafe was drenched by everyone's kit flooding the floor ๐
The rain just got worse and worse so I bailed after the first run after food, the gritty spray meant I had no brake pads left and my dropper post started playing up. Seems everyone else had the same idea, even Doddy legged it!
The first time I've ever given in before the last bus ๐ฅ
Same at Nant yr Arian this morning - rain just turned all the trails into rivers. We've had some monumental rain here in Wales today