Breaking News: Revolution Bike Park CLOSING Indefinitely

Revolution Bike Park has just announced the news that it is closing indefinitely due to larch disease. The disease is phytophthora ramorum., which eff …

By amandawishart

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One of my friends just sent me this, very very sad for one of our local bike parks. I was there just last week and the staff and trails were both epic as usual. It must be absolutely devastating for everyone working there. Absolute arse.

Very sad. We made the trip there just a couple of weeks ago and it was better than ever with some lovely new trail developments. Fingers crossed that over time they can get going again, and that this doesn’t do the same to other great places to ride.

What a shame

That’s shocking news – absolutely devastating for all those who’ve work so hard over the years.

All the Forestry’s fault for lazy monoculture planting that was bound to end badly.

Get your heading right. It isn’t closed at present.

Yep,as I put in my post it’s closing. Open until mid January.

Sounds very similar to what happened to Aston Hill and whilst they haven’t reopened yet, they are still posting updates and the forestry work seems to be moving towards being done, there may be light at the end of the long, dark tunnel yet.

Still bloody grim for the employees though.

Guys… I don’t know how this works but I’d be happy to pay over the odds for firewood from your felled hallowed woods. Call it rad-wood felled, big trees down, larch wood rising… whatever. I’ll be down with a big trailer. #Revs4Evs

@cloggy thanks for that, changed it. I don’t share Hannah’s ability to focus at this time of the week.
I’m absolutely devastated by this news. So much hard work, progression, and inspiration has come out of Revs 😔

Mods. Please if you close a thread for being duplicate you should link to the other thread not just close it. I was a bit confused as to why the other was closed until I stumbled across this one.

Super sad for the work that has been put in to be lost. I hope given time they are able to come up with a solution to give themselves a sustainable business.

Gutted for the Foster family, the staff and all of us riders. Rev’s is a fantastic world class Bikepark. I hope they can reopen at some point.

Gutted for the owners, they looked distraught and nearly breaking down in tears.

Ive never ridden there but is just down the road from where I live 🙁

I somehow doubt they are going to spread the disease ever further by selling infected firewood. It’s rubbish softwood anyway.

Sad news. Hope they get a chance to rebuild in the future.

Really bad news, the message they put out doesn’t sound at all positive does it? Hope they can come back. Kirroughtree got hammered with a tree disease a few years back, lots of closures and clearfell but it’s still a joy to ride…

Not quite sure how it can need to be closed, but not til January?

Absolutely gutting news. Went for the first time a few weeks ago and the trails and staff were absolutely excellent. ****.

Just to add. Everyone at revs should be extremely proud of what they have built and the service they have provided.

Gutted for them and all involved in running revs.Such a awesome place to ride and be for a weekend,all those involved were sound people.Hope insured for this kind of thing and if so wonder what the chance is of starting a new place up.

It’s really annoying when you close existing threads so you can drive traffic to your ‘breaking news’.

Gutted for Revs. I’ll try to visit before the closure.

Please would people who ride in infected areas clean their bikes and kit to avoid spreading the disease to other areas. It won’t take long and might make a difference.

Terrible news.
I first rode there very near to them first opening.
I remember them being very proactive on the need to wash bikes down before riding because of exactly this several years ago when riding there.
Devastating result for the most progressive and friendly park out there.
Really hope it can come back from this some day 😭

Gutted for the owners, they looked distraught and nearly breaking down in tears.

Not supprised the work, the loss of your business and income. The dream. Lost in all levels.

Not quite sure how it can need to be closed, but not til January?

Might be something as simple a contactor availability.

@bruce

Please would people who ride in infected areas clean their bikes and kit to avoid spreading the disease to other areas. It won’t take long and might make a difference.

I am heading to Revs for the first time next Sat and my riding buddy mentioned that I should clean my bike before I go. If I had been going alone I would have had no idea (haven’t looked to see if it is called out in the instructions) I pretty much leave my bike alone after each ride apart from the drive train, it only gets a good clean if it has been really mucky. Do you know how critical this is? Are we talking foot and mouth style transference of the disease via the tyres? If so we need to make this a massive deal before we unintentionally bugger up all of our bike parks.

Will be a serial tyre cleaner from now on, thnak you for highlighting it.

I am no expert but with tree diseases it seems like a useful precuation.
I generally clean my bike after every ride, particularly if I have been to areas which have problems such as Grizedale.
I don’t know how much this helps but it can’t do any harm.

If so we need to make this a massive deal before we unintentionally bugger up all of our bike parks.

It’s not just about bike parks!! I’m not an avid bike cleaner as long as I’m only riding in my immediate locale. As soon as I’m going elsewhere, the bike gets thoroughly washed before and after. I agree that it’s something which needs to be better highlighted across the industry and throughout the media

I agree that it’s something which needs to be better highlighted across the industry and throughout the media

Annoyingly for me it gives powerful ammunition to my anal bike cleaning friends. I have always fought the argument in the pub that as long as the drivetrain is looked after the bike can be wanged in the garage until the nexy ride. This was backed up by the Fox suspension guru Jordi Something, when asked about bike cleaning after a ride. Now I don’t have a leg to stand on, this is one argument that cannot be disputed. I am still not going to strip down my headset and BB though after each ride, that is just silly!

Thinking about the location I assume they will have to flatten the jumps and tracks as once felled the hillside would look a real mess and eye sore in the local environment

Should bike parks provide free bike wash facilities?

Should bike parks provide free bike wash facilities?

Dyfi does and I think Revs have one. If not free then one that is operated by contactless rather than a pound coin which I never have.

I think Revs has a bike wash. Incredibly sad watching that vid. All their hard work! Can’t imagine how that feels

Annoyingly for me it gives powerful ammunition to my anal bike cleaning friends.

I’m not completely anal about cleaning my bike but I do wash it at the end of nearly every ride, preferably before I leave using my Mobi. That way any disease particles stay at the site, even in the summer. My riding mates always take the piss out of me for doing it, there’s a photo that regularly gets dragged out of me washing a very dusty bike after a days racing at Tidworth on a boiling hot day, but this is the reason I do it. I like a clean bike and as they live inside my flat it makes things easier too, but as I’m South Wales based this disease has been around a long time and the advice to wash your bike and kit has been therefor over a decade so it’s just second-nature to do it.

Not quite sure how it can need to be closed, but not til January?

The disease is already there and killing trees so no reason to stop people coming in. Afan was open for years while the disease was known to be present before it was closed for felling so it’s not a strange course of action. With a fixed date of closure and work starting it also means plans can be made, people find new work etc plus it will allow the place to have one hell of a final weekend as a send-off.

The team there are excellent and it will be a massive loss to not have them operating but hopefully they can rebuild afterwards. They’ve started from scratch once already and the customer base and support is there to do it all again. I’m going to miss the place.

Just a thought on the tree felling.
The disease will kill the tree(s) eventually and the timber will be worthless, so while the disease won’t be affecting all trees, they will be felled while they still have commercial value.

Not really specifically relevant the the current awful situation Revolution is facing but I have often wondered if this kind of clear felling disease management is the best course of action other than in the short term. What I mean is that, as posted above, while the trees are still alive they have commercial value which disappears once the trees die. However when I think back to the days of Dutch Elm disease and the difffering ways it was managed in Scotland and England it makes you wonder if it’s the right course of action long term.
So when dutch elm was ravaging the native elm population a decision was made to try and prevent it’s spread by essentially felling all elm trees in England, whereas in Scotland felling was much more restrained and attempts were made to minimise it, as such the disease spread throughout the elm population and many many trees died. Not all however and now, decades later there is a big resurgence in the Elm population in Scotland with disease resistant strains that survived.
Obviously I am not an expert but is it possible that the decision to clear fell to stop the spread of a disease is a short term one that may have long term implications for biodiversity.?

It’s really annoying when you close existing threads so you can drive traffic to your ‘breaking news’.

+1

Anyone from STW care to comment on this?

reluctantjumper
Full Member

The disease is already there and killing trees so no reason to stop people coming in.

Well yeah, the point isn’t to stop the disease coming in, it’s to stop spreading- if it’s there now and it’ll be there in january than surely the risk is much the same?

Terrible news, really feel for the Foster family after all the love and hard work they’ve put into this amazing venture.

As well as spreading from human activity like biking and walking I’m sure wildlife such as squirrels and birds and insects spread diseases just as much. Containment just buys time.

Obviously I am not an expert but is it possible that the decision to clear fell to stop the spread of a disease is a short term one that may have long term implications for biodiversity.?

No idea buts it’s an interesting point.

Also in prolonging the spread and making the disease “work harder” to spread does it result in hardier mutations surviving more?