Bike Park Wales without uplift

Off to Wales at w-e. Normally go to Afan one day then Black Mountains the other, but thought Bike Park Wales may be worth a look.

However, no uplift service available (all booked) so would be pedalling up…………. what’s the climb like? is it worth going or would we just be flogging uphill all day?

thanks

All depends on your fitness.
I found it a simple yet dull ride up chattig with my mates

Two of those I was with only managed two trips up but they don’t get out much

What head angle will you be running?

I don’t get out much but even on 1×10 I rode up all day, about 5 runs. The initial climb from the centre is steep and loose but it levels out and if you take the fire road it’s fine, quite long though. I’d reccomend doing the first sections of all the tracks a few times before doing full runs or the lower section so you dont have to keep climbing the steep first bit and thats the most energy sapping. When you reach the first fire road crossing go left along it and you’ll be back on the climb

Managed 8 runs few weeks ago, take the non-uplift fire road for the fastest (and steepest) route up.

Take a pocket full of pound coins with you and jump on the uplift if theres space (£4 a run). Usually space in the morning- no chance after lunch until after 1530.

The climb is fine, about 10-15 minutes if you’re fit and stick to the fire road rather than the tedious blue route.

If you can ride up in 10 mins then no need for an uplift as the uplift takes longer!

We rode up. It’s about 30 minutes in real life 😀

Take some money and jump on the uplift when there’s space. I think next time I go I’ll alternate between riding and the uplift.

I would suggest a cross reference of Schmiken’s ’10-15′ mins with the size of his leg guns in the pics of you racing thread. 🙂

10 minutes 😯 my arse!

So 20 to 30 mins up

How long do the descents take??

As for head angle – about 68.325 degrees to start with, steepening to about 75 degrees as I slump in an exhausted mass over ‘bars

The whole set up is very much geared towards using the uplift, you lose height very quickly – three or four mins to the fire road – then you have a tiresome slog back up. And repeat.

Without the uplift, I think there’s better riding to be had in South Wales (not least on my home turf in the Black Mtns!). Not that I didn’t like BPW – just that I felt I needed the uplift to take full advantage of what’s on offer.

Rossss’ suggestion is a good one and I will deploy it next time I go. I was up at the weekend with a fairly xc bike 100 travel each end, and was fine for the blue and red. And I wouldn’t bother with the uplift because I don’t like hanging around. But I can imagine if you had a big bike and aspirations to do the black runs, then the ride up might get a bit wearing after a few full descents.

ermm there’ll be 6 of us, fittish but that looks quite hard work, and difficult to get 6 in the uplifts I imagine

@ booktownman – where would you recommend in the Black mountains at the moment -the standard “killer loop” around Y Das etc?

thanks

charlie

It took us about 30 mins for the climb sticking to the fire roads, and we’re not particularly fit. We did four runs + lunch, but could have done a couple more if it hadn’t started to get dark (we didn’t get there until about 11am – it’s further than you think from the midlands!). Descents don’t take very long – 10 mins at the most.

Really looks like it’s designed for uplifts . If I’m going to flog uphill think I’d rather have a view And extended descent

We found a cruising run would be ~25mins up, and motoring was ~20. Whoever is doing it in 10 probably needs to start racing XC for Team GB in the next Olympics 🙂

It’s quite easy to do a lot of miles over a day there. The ride up didn’t bother me that much.

It’s certainly not like riding a big loop though, which some people like.

Charlie, it took me 35 mins from absolute bottom (that’s lower than the café, nearly at the road) to absolute top, on a rainy day at a very slow “don’t want to sweat in my waterproofs” pace.

The climb is no problem for anyone used to a bit of XC, the descents are long too so I quite enjoyed the chilled out climb then intense descent rhythm of the day.

There’s a singletrack all the way up that’s quite entertaining, no need to flog up the fire road.

I say go. I don’t see lack of uplift as any disincentive to go to BPW, provided you’ve got a bike that can climb reasonably, and the descents are great.

Someone up there had the idea of doing half runs, that could work, it would make the day feel more trail-centreish for sure.

I did try the “Best of Burden” route climb to the top once, if that’s your bag then its fine but it does take longer than the fire road, I tried another route following some other lads up the other side of the hill, but I think they were a bit lost TBH…

I’d say taking “Beast of burden” up to the fire road at the half way point and then just following that up for the remainder is probably the better option time and effort wise IMO…

you can just winch your way to the halfway point and follow those runs back down rather than go right to the top every time, but you do get a reasonable amount of descent for your climbing efforts, and you can mix it up and try a different line each time if you want, I doubt you’ll be able to ride every available line in a day if you are pedaling up…

You’re not really there to enjoy the climbing (Well most people aren’t), its a “necessary evil” and yeah take some change in case the uplift has some spaces when you are passing, but I’d not count on getting a lift up…

I prefered it to Afan and Cwmcarn… YMMV.