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Not been to BPW – how soul destroying is the pedal-up option for a hypothetical day there?
It's not bad, the official climb 'Beast of Burden' is a bit long and winding, but it's not hard to just follow the fire road, it's steep in parts. I tend to push/ride it depending on the gradient at the time and just chat away with my mates.
Once you learn the lay of the land it's sometimes better to break it up a bit, for example. It's not really worth going below the uplift road on the North end, the trails tend to either be short and deposit you by the centre which is a bit of a plod back or longer and take you down to where the vans would be usually, which is another long plod.
You can session the top of Terry's Belly, Hot Steppa and Popty Ping easily enough, it's only a 10/15 min ride back up, or head over to the very top and ride down to the tunnel / crossing near the uplift road and push/ride back up from there.
It's a different day out to an uplift day, more of a TC type of day out, I think if you go with the mindset of getting as many full runs as possible it's end up being a bit of a chore/slog.
Saying that, it's a 30 min drive for me, I'm happy to go for a morning or even a few hours.
If someone at the front of a moving trailer or boat coughs you basically drag a trailer load of customers through the droplet cloud. Not great!
So, make face coverings compulsory for the uplift.
417 is still shut but does look like they are building a new trail was above there today.
Cheers for the replies - doesn't seem that onerous. I'll pencil that in the diary for.... some point in the future!
I think BPW might be beginning the process of re-opening as I got a "Good news, not long until your visit to BikePark Wales!" email with a covid disclaimer
I didn't !!!
What makes you so important 😛
I worry for BPW - unlike most of the other uplift places they are booked weeks or months in advance for weekends plus the missed 4 bank holidays, and 3 weeks of school holidays.
Plus the 3 weekends of weather closures in feburary means lots of people have a credit note.
Processing those through the system (will re-bookings get priority?) could lead to months before new money starts coming in, from when they open up the uplift.
If it makes a difference I've got a credit note spot...
Yeah, i've got a note as well, know loads who do, the weather was a killer in Jan/Feb.
If three things happen I can see BPW being able to run, albeit it in a very restricted way.
1. social distancing reduced from 2m to 1m
2. Welsh 5 mile travel distance being revoked
3. Hotels reopening
You could get 4 (maybe 5) riders in a van (wearing masks), perhaps with a couple of windows removed for better ventilation
Running 6 vans thats 24 people plus 6 drivers, maybe 2 support staff and 2 kitchen staff
The question is how much the riders are prepared to pay. Admittedly it’s a minority but a few like me will have not been furloughed, had all holidays for the next year cancelled and had a fairly tough time at work (NHS in my case). There’s nowhere quite like BPW so I’d pay a fair bit tbh, probably >£100 for a day’s uplift, or maybe £150ish for a weekend pass. Maybe some of that money could be held as a bond for a visit in 2021 (eg come for free in 2021)
That’s £2400 a day, which should cover costs. Probably only sustainable at weekends.
Food would have to be preordered at registration, and the kitchen split into two serving times with 12 people each slot (12-12.45 and 12.45-1.30)
Admittedly crap for most of the locals (recognising Merthyr is not an affluent area) but if it keeps them limping on a few months it could be an option.....
NOt sure i'd play at £100 a pop.... but that's mostly because for me it's not £100 it's £200 as if i went there without taking my boy i'd be strung up and shot.
NOt sure i’d play at £100 a pop…. but that’s mostly because for me it’s not £100 it’s £200 as if i went there without taking my boy i’d be strung up and shot.
Same here, riding with your boy is great but costs ££££££!!
I think they'll just restrict the number of credit note bookings vs new bookings per day to get the money in. It wouldnt make any business sense to have a day getting no "new" money in!
Id be happy to go to BPW and just pedal up TBH, think the pedal pass is £11