Going for the first time soon – is there anywhere to top up a water bottle?

If so, does this involve a trip back to the visitor centre, or is there a tap by the uplift queue?

Back to the centre, lots of people leave bottles by the queuing spot but not sure I’d trust it?

The whole place is off-grid so there’s only taps at the centre. Standard trick is to take a 2ltr bottle you can identify as yours and stash it by the uplift queue, use it to top-up your main bottle. Last few uplifts put it in the bin.

Thanks!

There’s a boggy area at the start of the trails that is kept topped up…

Standard trick is also to abandon said bottles. Don’t do that 🙂

There’s a boggy area at the start of the trails that is kept topped up…

“Pecker Spring” ??

One of the Blues (Bushwacker) leads down to the visitor centre, just aim for a route down that side of the hill when you need to go for lunch / top up water.

I know it’s not done, but I take a camelbak at BPW. More time riding,less time thinking about stuff like this, and useful for spares etc.

razorrazoo
Full Member

One of the Blues (Bushwacker) leads down to the visitor centre,

So do some of the options from the tunnel- deep navigation I think?

Lots of the trails go either via or end at the trail center. I’ve always just taken two bottles stick one on the bike and swapped them over at the car on the way to the uplift when the first emptied.

On the previous schedule – full day uplift and stop for lunch, then I could make a bottle last the morning, then refill at lunch.
Now, with summer weekend 2/3rd days, I feel I might be struggling to last 4.5 hours on a single bottle in hot weather.

Yeah of course now it’s £74 for a full day I will be going to Black Mountains and Afan Masts instead and carrying a water bottle

I personally didn’t think it was too difficult to just swing by the visitor centre, a fair few trails come down that way anyway and Norkle is a fun little trail to blast it back to the uplift

So do some of the options from the tunnel- deep navigation I think?

Yeah, Bushwacker starts at the tunnel.  I know Deep Navigation also takes that route but as it’s a black and basically just full of massive rocks I thought I’d miss it out as an option for a first timer.

OP there’s a few trail options to get to the tunnel, it’s the area where on the right hand side of the Trail Map Bushwacker and others start.

Yeah of course now it’s £74 for a full day

£45 for midweek though, less busy too.

Good point!

In fairness I’m just grumpy because I have a wrecked knee and can’t ride for a year 😀

On the basis of not having to actually cycle uphill I just don’t bother drinking except when I stop for lunch and at the end of the day. Who needs hydration when you’re hardly doing any proper exercise?

Who needs hydration when you’re hardly doing any proper exercise?

lol you’re not trying hard enough

Depends how hot it is. It’s not as thirsty work riding downhill all day as riding the uphills as well but still need to keep hydrated. I usually have a Camelbak on for uplift days – either a Repak which I top up at lunchtime or a bigger pack depending on the mood.

I know Deep Navigation also takes that route but as it’s a black and basically just full of massive rocks I thought I’d miss it out as an option for a first timer.

It’s not bad – if you can ride any sort of technical terrain, you’ll be fine

Interesting, I’ve not looked at it due to it being a bit black. But I’ll have a pop next time now

Interesting, I’ve not looked at it due to it being a bit black. But I’ll have a pop next time now

Just keep momentum, didn’t even know it was a black tbh – rode all the BPW blacks when we first went, but some are more severe now than they were

On the basis of not having to actually cycle uphill I just don’t bother drinking except when I stop for lunch and at the end of the day. Who needs hydration when you’re hardly doing any proper exercise?

Obvious troll is obvious…

Interesting, I’ve not looked at it due to it being a bit black. But I’ll have a pop next time now

It really shouldn’t be a black imo, it’s fairly easy, just a load of rocks to smash your way through. If you’ve ever done the beast in the peak District you’d find deep navigation a piece of cake.

It’s one of the easiest blacks- I think it has the grading mostly because if you’re going fast, it’s pretty high risk- you can stall hard if you get it wrong and you won’t enjoy the landing, I’ve seen a couple of really brutal crashes there and had at least one scary near miss. But it’s also good as a slower “deal with every rock as it comes” experience