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the trail won't work for you"- so my question is, is there much there for a solid but not brilliant rider that can't jump won't jump and will be grumpy if they end up just rolling jumps and feeling like they suck?
yeah will be fine, all of the jumps (on the reds and easy blacks) are tabletops and just kind of shoot you up, no skill required!
im a shit jumper, a day at Northampton! bike park the week before got me happy with that
theres still black single diamond techy stuff to keep you occupied, we just did one day but next time likely do a day on the uplift then a day on the off piste machynlleth enduro stuff or climachx if pressed for time
Thinking about this for a group trip maybe... I keep hearing something, "it's fine if you don't want to do the jumps as it's all rollable", which is better than "you just can't ride it" but still often amounts to "the trail won't work for you"- so my question is, is there much there for a solid but not brilliant rider that can't jump won't jump and will be grumpy if they end up just rolling jumps and feeling like they suck?
(I'm comparing here with, frinstance, FOD uplift which has a great mix for our whole group, some jumps sure but also some steeps, some shonky and rooty, some flowy and trailcentry, some stuff that some of us will charge down and others will ride with care but everyone gets something out of it and nobody feels like they're just wasting their time)
Personally i prefer FoD for what you're describing. Sure you CAN ride Dyfi if you're mediocre, but you can ride more at FoD and more at pace at FoD as well. The Dyfi stuff you feel like there's a bucket load of stuff you wish you could ride and that makes it worse. I know i'm the exception rather than the rule for that, but that's how i'd feel.
It’s interesting - I ride around FOD a fair amount and have been to Dyfi once - but going again this year.
I found Dyfi decent - 50 hits is probably a little soul destroying if you can’t clear any of the jumps - my mate was miserable going down that one. I think I cleared about 1/3rd of them and looking to try and clear more this time round - so I enjoyed it.
All the reds were fun - it’s not just big jumps down them - they’re generally fast and sweeping whilst being fairly rough. Some cheeky drops in places so you need to be happy with those - although it’s not like BPW where for me they seem to put random rocks in places (annoying) rather them being a natural part of the trail and BPW has a ludicrous amount of drops - even on the reds. I think the Dyfi trails are actually better built.
FOD there will be more variety in the day (but not if you just go to do the uplift and the DH trails it serves - I think if doing that you’re better with Dyfi / BPW / Dirt Farm). The good bit of FOD is the variety of locations and different trails - assuming you can find some of the unmarked stuff.
The easier trails are very definitely bike park trails. i.e. jumps and berms not tech. The only fun easy tech one is turns in the ferns. Looking forward to going back and playing on race track and some of the other higher blacks. I think the triple blacks are beyond me though. I don't like massive airtime on drops or huge gaps (well any gaps really) so oakley line is way beyond me
Thinking about this for a group trip maybe... I keep hearing something, "it's fine if you don't want to do the jumps as it's all rollable", which is better than "you just can't ride it" but still often amounts to "the trail won't work for you"- so my question is, is there much there for a solid but not brilliant rider that can't jump won't jump and will be grumpy if they end up just rolling jumps and feeling like they suck?
(I'm comparing here with, frinstance, FOD uplift which has a great mix for our whole group, some jumps sure but also some steeps, some shonky and rooty, some flowy and trailcentry, some stuff that some of us will charge down and others will ride with care but everyone gets something out of it and nobody feels like they're just wasting their time)
IMO jumps are part of Dyfi DNA and if that's not your thing then there are better places to go. Don't get me wrong you can still have a good day there, but you would be missing a large part of what makes the experience great.
Yeah, that's basically my concern- I'm fine with jumps, I'm not <great> at it and I prefer steep and orrible, but I can still have a lot of fun doing it. But the whole group isn't like that and just "gettign down" isn't going to make for a good day for some. Thanks folks!
I’m assuming racetrack and the slate track run probably do steep and horrible - but still in a way you need to be able to clear stuff. If you like steep tech then I’d probably look at something else.
FOD was mentioned - there are plenty of trails with steep / awkward tech and features and you’ll find loads of that if you look round. If you want sustained long runs of steep tech then South Wales is a better better - the likes of Risca / Wylie / Barry Sidings etc
I’ve fancied Dyfi, but as a wheels on the ground rider, I did think it was above my grade generally. Nothing on this thread has altered that view, but I’d still like to pick up a sticker sheet for my tool trolley. You know, pretend I’ve been there schrapling.
If you like riding tech mostly, then there are def better options. Revs for example. There are a lot of jumps at dyfi but there are some tech options
That's interesting as I'd always dismissed Revs as another jumpy place. I tend to stick to Antor Stiniog for my occasional uplift in North Wales as I can ride all the tracks just about and the uplift is generally fast.
Revs has added a lot of jumpy lines but the core was always tech(this was pre rebuild so don't know the current state). I guess because the tech stuff could just be a natural line straight down the hill, no heavy machinery required
Revs seems to have stayed under the radar since re-opening, but in my opinion it's the best bike park in the UK by some distance. There's a good selection of jump lines but also some unreal natural DH tracks.
I notice that Dyfi seems to have regraded some of its runs from black to red. Is that simply rebranding or have they toned down those blacks a bit so that they are more comparable to the reds?
They've toned them down and removed the trickiest features on those.
Cheers bud