Went to BPW a few weeks ago, on a weekday and the uplift queue was ridiculous, pretty much all day it was down to the top of Norkle or whatever the trail from the carpark is. We got 5 runs in, which is half of the minimum to make it worthwhile for the cost and a third of what I used to get in

I notice the weekends are now half day only as well, so was I unlucky or have they taken to overbooking to the point where you can barely get on the uplift?

Shame as there’s something for the whole group up there, some other places leave half of us bored or scared 😀

Queue the ebikers and fit kidz – “You should ride up!” yeah, you should **** off 😛 (just a pre-emptive strike..!)

I have to admit, I haven’t been in years. I’ll happily spend hundreds and 14 hours in the car to go to the Alps once a year, but BPW doesn’t light my fire and it’s only 30 mins from my place.

Every time I go they seem to have cranked up the ‘progression’ I used to be happy to ride all the reds and blues, it seems now the reds have a lot of ‘blind’ features, so me being me, I have to get off, look at them first etc, you don’t want to be doing that on a half-day uplift.

When I do go, I tend to push/ride up, the uplift was a faf I could do without in normal times. Zip down the blues, play on some of the reds I like, I leave A470 and stuff like that for the riders half my age to ride.

Queue the ebikers and fit kidz

I’m neither of those things, but… if you cut out the bits below the tunnel, you can push up chatting and be back at the top in 20mins or so, less if you only want to go to where Terry’s Belly starts (proper).

We went on Monday and got 9 runs in.. could probably have squeezed one or two more in if we’d been better organised / eaten lunch on the hoof.

It’s always been popular but there’s bound to be a big pent up demand at the moment after having to close or be on limited numbers for so long – especially during school holidays. There also seemed to be lots of people new to the sport.

It’ll quieten down a bit during the week again I’m sure.. maybe once we get to the winter months..

I notice the weekends are now half day only as well, so was I unlucky or have they taken to overbooking to the point where you can barely get on the uplift?

looking at their website, they offer “full” 6hr days (used to be 7hrs although the drivers would stop for an hours lunch whereas I think now they stagger it?) or a 4.5hr option.

It’s great they’ve been so successful but massive queues and only getting in 5 runs (how your average is 15 though I don’t know, think I’ve done 13 max when I was really going for it 😃) sounds really frustrating. Does sound like they’re overbooking.

I’ve rarely been in the summer though as it’s too hot on the buses so normally go earlier or later in the year when it’s probably a bit quieter anyway. BPW rides so well all year round there’s other riding I’d rather do when the weather’s great!

A group of us went a few weeks ago and got 10 runs in on a Friday, which was pretty close to the most I’ve ever managed to do which was 12 full runs. I have to say though, the e-bikes do fly up faster than the uplifts, but after 6 climbs you really start to feel it even in turbo.

Queue the ebikers and fit kidz – “You should ride up!” yeah, you should **** off 😛 (just a pre-emptive strike..!)

DrP

**** off DrP 😀

you can push up chatting and be back at the top in 20mins

You do realise some people would struggle to push up for 20 mins? I think there’s a STWer with almost the same username as you, for example.

Anyway, we’re going, for what may be our last father & son trip, in few weeks time, so if it is crap, well, we’ll have to find somewhere else if a growed up boy wants to go on hol with his knackered old man in future eh.

just a consequence of every man and his dog discovering MTB as their new found reason for existence. Covid gave everyone time and e-bikes meant they didnt need to break a sweat. Same at my local trails, usually end up stuck behind someone on most trails these days.
i keep thinking its going to tail off, it has a little, but i expect things wont get back to normal until the autumn.

I like it.

I don’t like the fact the day is so short.
The cost goes up but value goes down. Look at weekend prices.
The uplift queue and ride to the top takes an age.

But I like the trails so I keep going.

I’d love them to put a gondola there.
Employ the bus drivers to run it and maintain it.
Win all round then.

Was the big beast ex army truck broken again? there seems to be a theme with that correlating with queues.

I’ve not been on the uplift since covid, but before, if the queue was down to where the split for the day passes/and the big trail map was, then you’d be on a bus pretty soon.

They seemed to drive up in pairs or threes (standard bus joke here) which meant if you got to the bottom and there was nobody around, you had just missed it and would be in for a longer wait despite walking straight to the front.

I used to reckon on 30 mins for a full lap. So a good day with no excess faffing or mechanicals would yield 12 laps. Managed 13 once by hammering down the central blue and arriving at the bottom at 3.59 to get one more run.

Personally won’t be going on a summer weekend with their “2 shifts of 2/3rds of a day” thing, I think they go back to regular weekends in the winter.

Now that uplift days are split into two sessions, it pretty much isn’t worth it compared to a full day of pedalling up for 1/3rd the money. I think it’s to do with having to run the busses at half-capacity, something that may change when Wales’ 2m social distancing rules get dropped (which may happen this Saturday, although companies will stil take some time to make changes).

Edit: There’s already another thread, saying that BPW have released more uplift tickets from the 7th onwards. Freedom in Wales day!

Eeeee you’re fussy buggers.

5-6 runs and I’m tired out from chasing the teens down scary stuff!

Both times I’ve done the uplift we have struggled to get more than about 6 runs in, never been at the weekend on an uplift either. Neither time were there massive queues just seemed to take an age for the bud to arrive full up and depart, it doesn’t seem to be a particularly quick trip to the top either.

Tend to just ride up if I go, I get in just as much riding in.

OP I feel your pain, in fact I posted a similar thread a few months ago. Since then I have been back twice, first time was much better, 2nd time was a repeat of mine and your moan.
That’s why it is shit, because I think it depends on who is managing transport that day.
So I will still go, but it is easy, and has always been easy, to have a crap day.

Compared with flyupdownhill at the forest of dean where they only book people on for the vans they have. I have never had a day where I felt underserved at flyup, normally I am cooked before the uplift stops. BPW its the other way round.

I am sure BPW as a policy book twice the number of people as vans, which is why there is always a queue. The problem there is that they will always have clients, whether we moan or not, so the service will automatically degrade. They don’t have any competition really as flyup is a slightly different thing.

We’re going on tuesday, full day not halfday, guess we’ll see how it goes. I guess it tells its own story that we’re doing 2 days at BMCC and 2 days with Flyup at the FOD, and only 1 day at BPW though.

Number of runs really depends a lot on what runs you do- if you do something that starts at the dropoff and ends at the pickup, ac/dc into rimdinger say, then it’s super fast, if you go out to the other start point and end up down at the end of terry’s belly or 50 shades then it adds a load of time. Kind of like innerleithen where loads of people won’t go up to the top, but do a short lap and try and get more in.

It’s all very well to say “there’s a lot of demand” but that doesn’t excuse it if the service is bad, that just means they’ve sold more places than they can accommodate. Breakdowns aside it’s not OK. Never had to wait long myself though.

Number of runs really depends a lot on what runs you do- if you do something that starts at the dropoff and ends at the pickup, ac/dc into rimdinger say, then it’s super fast, if you go out to the other start point and end up down at the end of terry’s belly then it adds a load of time. Kind of like innerleithen where loads of people won’t go up to the top, but do a short lap and try and get more in

This is a big issue with BPW, lots of pedalling to get out, intermediate climbs, or nothing long transfers unless you do the core tracks. Bad design in a way. FOD is well put together as the tracks start and finish in the same place.
Plus the vans normally arrive when you do…

Christ, now I’ve heard it all. Maybe they shoulda changed the shape of the mountain? 😆

It has to be either less vans running or less people in vans doesn’t it?

It used to be fine even when fully booked.

You do realise some people would struggle to push up for 20 mins?

They shouldn’t be allowed to have bicycles 😉

It has to be either less vans running or less people in vans doesn’t it?

if they are running the vans at half capacity for covid reasons then I could see that slowing things down.
The put bike on and get in the van process is going to be barely sped up by having half the people, nor is the driver going round and checking everone has done it right. Then that bus goes off, next one rumbles up, the bloke counts out another 8 riders and repeat.
barely quicker than in the before times per bus, and clearing half the number of passengers.

You do realise some people would struggle to push up for 20 mins?

They might do if they are running up in 20 minutes. My recent ride up experience I timed my first ascent. Cafe to summit, 29 minutes. That was almost certainly my fastest of the day.

I’m no DrP but I managed 10, also I’m very much of the opinion that if it is faster to get of and walk, I do so, and my rear cassette is sized accordingly – so you wont find me grinding out a climb at 2mph

I’d guess its a 45-60 minute walk.

There’s good days where they have enough buses running for the number of riders, and bad days where sickness, mechanicals, etc mean they can’t put on the appropriate number of buses.

I enjoy bpw, but uplifts in these times is a real faff, and it always seems like there’s an accident on the usual fast blue or red track that can then shut down 2 or 3 of the nicer tracks, it’s just pot luck sometimes, won’t stop me going, but has made me appreciate FoD, quantocks, cranham and so on more.

if they are running the vans at half capacity for covid reasons then I could see that slowing things down.

Max 10 to a van at the moment.

definitely not worth going again for me, and thats nothing to do with the uplift!

It is probably quite difficult to judge it, I like to make the most of the day and will be there from the first to the last bus and always get more than 10 runs in. However nearing the end of the day it always gets appreciably quieter and I’m always amazed how many people pack up way before closing time.

It has to be either less vans running or less people in vans doesn’t it?

It used to be fine even when fully booked.

Me and my riding mates used to go there once a month or more pretty much from when it first opened but over the last year before Covid we hardly went as it’s just really poor value for money and the trails were getting too much for the group of varying standards to stay together. We much prefer to go elsewhere now for uplifted fun and my pedal-up days are now done at Windhill or Tidworth which are much better value. BPW just feels like a corporate machine rather than a rider-run park.

Christ, now I’ve heard it all. Maybe they shoulda changed the shape of the mountain?

Ha ha very good..
However its just about using the hill properly, the French manage it with ski and mtb runs in resorts.
Terrys Belly feels like someone went off on one with the digger and then thought oh shit we need to get back to the uplift. It’s not difficult, you just need a surveyor and a theodolite.

BPW just feels like a corporate machine rather than a rider-run park.

This is the way I feel, but there is still some attraction that makes it just about worth it..

It’s better to have places like this, yes it’s become more corporate, but it’s a business and has had a hard couple of years, they were about to expand then COVID hit, to be fair at least they did some work when closed, other uplift sites I’ve been too are worse than before COVID!

I hadn’t really considered riding up, it’s a bit of a mission for us to get there so I’ve always thought uplift=more runs=worth the effort but maybe I need to try it out

How much elevation is it a go? 250m?

I suppose as long as the uplift is always booked out they will increase people and prices, makes sense. Could book both sessions on a weekend day but that’s a lot of cash when there’s plenty of amazing ‘ghetto’ riding round there

I do love Roots Maneuvres though

5plusn8
Free Member

However its just about using the hill properly, the French manage it with ski and mtb runs in resorts.
Terrys Belly feels like someone went off on one with the digger and then thought oh shit we need to get back to the uplift. It’s not difficult, you just need a surveyor and a theodolite.

It’s not a mistake, it’s clever design on their part. Making the average lap longer means less pressure on the buses, which increases the overall carrying capacity of hte park and means they can sell more tickets per bus. Same reason that the purpose-built visitor’s centre with the bike shop, cafe and sign-up point isn’t beside the purpose-built bus drop-off location. Cynical but clever.

It’s not a mistake, it’s clever design on their part. Making the average lap longer means less pressure on the buses, which increases the overall carrying capacity of hte park and means they can sell more tickets per bus. Same reason that the purpose-built visitor’s centre with the bike shop, cafe and sign-up point isn’t beside the purpose-built bus drop-off location. Cynical but clever.

I had not thought of that, I once heard Hanlons Razor “never attribute to malice that which can be attributed to incompetence” and I was going with that.
My gut is incompetence, given how I have seen the cafe and uplift running. Especially the cafe, interminably slow, surely reducing the number of customers served per hour is not good business sense. However you make an interesting proposal.

I prefer BMCC to BPW these days. Less commercial / less busy / more chilled out. I like flow trails though – there’s less steep tech at BMCC if you like that kind of thing.

Plus in Covid times the open air trailer behind a tractor is preferable.

Last time I went to BPW I pushed / rode up – it wasn’t too bad if you split the hill in 2 and session each half so you aren’t doing a full climb each time.

I went today and had a fantastic time. The busses were running great so I got ten runs in which is plenty for me (I didn’t take a break but wasn’t rushing to cram the runs in either) Still love the place and looking forward to going back

Never had a problem with the uplifts there but I’ve not been since 2019, think my record was around 14/15 runs but I was hammering it and it got quieter in the afternoon so you’d be straight back on the bus.

Bpw is one of my favourite places to ride a bike and have been visiting 2-3 times a year since it opened.
What they have built is nothing short of sensational but sadly my last 2 visits (pre covid) have been an absolute shambles
Nowhere near enough buses ,drivers stood around chatting once fully loaded complaining and allowing pay per uplift to take priority over day pass tickets was a joke but I hear this has been addressed by them since my last visit
I love it so much it’s like a ex girlfriend you just can’t shake who slaps you round the face after telling you she loves you .
I’ll be going next month for one final (hopefully not,) fling

definitely not worth going again for me, and thats nothing to do with the uplift!

Come now, you can’t post that and not follow it up with a story…

It’s a shame the pay per lift option is not available at the moment. We usually pop over from Bristol for a morning or afternoon. Ride up a few times and jump on a bus once or twice. Last month we did get a cheeky free ride from one of the drivers as it was almost 4 and there was space in the bus👍 Cheers Drive! Always nice to ride up after the uplift has stopped or before it opens. Nice and quiet.