I haven’t been biking too long but this weekend I arranged with my mate to have a weekend biking in Wales! We did Afan on the Saturday, got a great little Airbnb in Merthyr sat night (with a superb curry) then went for a days uplift at bpw!

I have only ever ridden at qecp and Swinley before and I was blown away by how much bigger and longer the trails were! I have definitely had to adjust my perspective of what blue and red trails are like! I mostly stuck to the blues but did try two red trails (Rim dinger) according to my mate I had a massive dazed grin at the end! I thought bpw was brilliant, from the friendly uplift drivers to good food in the cafe, we also nailed the weather yesterday! According to my mate the work they have done on sixtapod have really made it fun, it was my favourite trail of the day!

I can’t wait to go back and hopefully now I have got a bit more confidence in my riding and my bike to have more fun at my local trails!

Yes, and yes, cant wait to get back, had to cancel last week due to illness. Hoping i’m fit for November.

Good init!

There in 4 weeks again if recovered enough! Can’t wait.

Great write up.

Yes, and yes, cant wait to get back, had to cancel last week due to illness. Hoping i’m fit for November

[video]https://youtu.be/535Zy_rf4NU[/video]

Anyone hear that echo?

It’s always nice to hear genuine excitement from riding new trails wherever they may be.
Good on you.

Cheers all!

Already planning my next visit!

Went for the first time last Friday. Was amazing but my hands sure took a battering! Could hardly hold on come the end of the day! Only did the blues and reds myself too. Was a bit intimidated by the reds after doing the blues first but in reality they didn’t seem that much harder. More jumpy and drop offs but not as fast as the blues.

Any advice for a BPW virgin?

Heading over tomorrow for the first time.

Any advice for a BPW virgin?

– don’t go mad on your first couple of runs
– don’t worry that everyone else appears to be on massive bikes with full face and body armour if you’re not
– have one of the burgers
– get out early post lunch break as it’s the busiest time
– Don’t worry about riding trails twice if you’ve really enjoyed them
– Ask if you’re not sure what a trail is like, drivers and riders are always very helpful
– Stop when you’re mentally or physically tired. This is not a good place to have ‘one more run’ syndrome
– Have fun, it’s fab.

This is not a good place to have ‘one more run’

We have a rule in our group that that phrase is banned

– don’t worry that everyone else appears to be on massive bikes with full face and body armour if you’re not

That’s the only thing i’d possibly debate and put instead

– You can never have too much body protection.

I’d rather be hot and sweaty than injured.

@weeksey – don’t get me wrong. Been 5 times I think and first time was in knee pads, standard helmet. Last time I added elbow pads, full face and some bigger knee pads. Only tho as I knew I’d be riding a few harder trails.

What I meant was while I’d certainly recommend knee pads as a minimum, you shouldn’t feel you need all the extra kit to have a good time.

If you’re going to Antur tho, then I’m like a spaceman 🙂

Cheers all.

Don’t have a FFH but always ride with kneepads.
Hate riding with elbow pads but will probably take them & make a call on the day.

I spent a fair amount of time at BPW lately. To be honest the best time i have had there was this Sunday just gone. Thats because we didn’t book an uplift we decided to do a day of pedaling up. It was a fantastic day, so much more enjoyable then a day of sitting in a transit van. It also makes the downhill runs so much more worthwhile. I had an off down my first run of the day which set the tone. But a great day none the less. The new insufficient funds drops very nearly caught me out as i just didn’t see them

its good all round fun. i’m back there with my mates 8-9th dec

I had my first trip there in September and I’m back there next week. It’s a 5 1/2 hour drive each way but so worth it!

I was just wondering how dark the trails are at this time of year (especially in the trees) towards the end of the day, bearing in mind that sunset is 4:15pm. I didn’t really want to have to take my lights.

We were there on Friday 11th and it was brilliant.
Minimal wait for the uplift and a really quick turnaround,think we managed 12 or so descents including quite a few ride-ups from Terry`s belly and the Blue that ends behind the Cafe.
Gonna book again for December asap

I went saturday just gone. Wow, that hotstepper trail is amazing. My new favourite

They now have 8 buses running

Next time I go I shall probably pick a couple and just session them till I get better.

Sometimes doing a different one each time doesn’t help me improve.

.

I was just wondering how dark the trails are at this time of year

I was there last Friday and the lighting was interesting. In the morning the low sun required the transition lens; at least till one plunged into the gloom of the woods when they were of absolutely no use. So I switched to normal lenses and some less dark goggles.

By mid afternoon, following a brief but entertaining off piste excursion into the undergrowth on Viscous Valley (straight on rather than left), the goggle policy was reviewed. For the final run down Hot Stepper at about 4.10pm the goggles were off for the woods section. All good fun but in a word it can get gloomy.

went a couple of weeks ago and had a great time. I wear a FF just because it’s easy to push it on the trails. Start on the blues and reds, Terry’s belly is a must. my favourite is probs

A470- coal not dole-insuffcient funds.

Had my first visit in Jan this year and really enjoyed the blues and a couple of the reds particularly Vicious Valley. The weather was a bit damp but it didn’t really cause any real problems as the trails re really well built.

I also went in June and had a less successful day as I was very tired due 3rd day of riding in Wales and a bit under the weather. I took it fairly easy all day and didn’t really feel like I was flowing and on the last run, on sixtapod, I had a big moment right at the top so I calmed down and took it very easy for the rest of the run which dropped into one of the lower sections of a red.

Unfortunately as I rode back along the access path to the cafe my rear suspension failed and pitched me off, I suffered a badly cut elbow, lots of bruising and serious damage to my shoulder! I’ve been off the bike since June 12th as my shoulder is non-operational with a serve bursa injury.

Will I go back to BPW? Yes definitely, will I ride more cautiously? Probably not once I’ve got back in the groove, will I wear shoulder, knee and elbow protection? Yes absolutely I’ve learned a hard lesson!

It’s bloody good isn’t it… and getting better. Not perfect, why their purpose built uplift centre doesn’t have the uplift starting at the bottom I will never understand tbh. I always think maybe it’s to balance out innerleithen’s uplift that starts at the bottom but doesn’t go to the top. But I’ll always visit when i can, it’s great. A lot of older uplift venues suit trailbikes well but having them designed for it is progress I reckon.

Flyup at FOD well worth checking out too, it’s a bump of a hill they have there but some fantastic riding on it, and it’s not so far from BPW- we usually stop there on our way into darkest wales.

I went for the first time on Sunday – not been since it’s been built but I used to ride the gethin dragon track a lot ages ago. We were riding up but it was great fun – got 1300m of climbing in so a fair few runs. Great combination of runs like old dragon tracks (hot stepper middle section) and more bike parky stuff. Loved it and will be back soon – riding up isn’t that bad on a trail bike.

I did discover that plus tyres are rubbish though. They’ve been a lot of fun on my local riding but I got a proper snakebite two wholes in the carcass of my rocket ron 2.8 that required some patience to fix with the slugs. Will be back on tough 29er tyres!

I think the reason that the uplift starts further up is to spread people out a little bit more. You either ride up the ‘hill’ to the uplift queue or walk. Either way a bit of a breather in the queue is handy & you don’t notice any wait quite as much.
Mind you last visit in a busy Sat with 8 buses running, don’t think we waited more than 5 min.

I’m so lucky to live about 20 mins away. The cost of going is mounting up though!

Of course, there are plenty of very good natural trails around here but the ‘experience’ of BPW is great.

All weather trails FTW.

Went the for first time on the 5th November with my brother. Really lucked out with the weather. Cold but trails absolutely dry as a bone.

Really impressed and think it is great value; although I can see how if you live locally you might be tempted to go regularly and the bills would mount up.

I have to say I thought everyone who worked there were friendly, from the uplift drivers (loving the Classic FM) to the guys in the bike shops and helping you register.

Really good day and I hope we get more bike parks like this in the UK.