.

Those of you who visit BPW – what else do you do while in South Wales? (if anything)

Me personally, Afan, Cwmcarn or BMCC. Or FoD just over the border. Or gone north as well and done Antur and Llandegla. I’ve never been to BPW and not ridden somewhere else in Wales as well. Also never been without staying overnight, eating out and so on.

I’m particularly fond of Afan – I saw some moaning about it being too eroded and rocky since the felling. Bring on the rocks I say! Makes these expensive bouncy bikes worth having!

Those of you who visit BPW – what else do you do while in South Wales? (if anything)

Biking wise nothing as I always combine with a trip to the Forest of Dean as it’s my ‘uplift’ weekend.

Money-wise, plenty; 2 nights accommodation, food, etc.

It wouldn’t be hard to combine BPW with a natural ride say the Gap or the Black Mountains route.

Not yet been to BPW. Do most people do a day trip as opposed to a weekend? Like Afan but since the trees have gone it’s lost the atmosphere. Noticed in the last few visits that it’s been noticeably quieter.
Maybe give BPW next.

It wouldn’t be hard to combine BPW with a natural ride say the Gap or the Black Mountains route.

Did The Gap first one trip – the big descent is a lot of fun!

Met a guy like dragon up there once at Afan.
Lolling about how we’d never be able to get our tandem round something as tech as Afan…
He didn’t look very happy when we passed him on the first climb.
He mentioned something about selling his bike as we went past.
Mrs stu told him it was maybe for the best if he did. 😆

Seemed fine to us round there.
https://flic.kr/p/6S8cyK

Agreed though that some of the trails at BPW would be a bit much.

chakaping – Member

Those of you who visit BPW – what else do you do while in South Wales? (if anything)

For us it’s evolved. Since we’re coming from Scotland we want to make the most of it. First time down we did Flyup 417 and the Forest of Dean on the way in (it’s Welsh by association for me) and BPW, and a bunch of trailcentres then stopped in the north on the way home.

But now, I’d add Black Mountain Cycle Centre and try and squeeze in Revo or something as well. it’s not so much that I’m after an “uplift trip”, it’s just that BMCC is one of the best places I’ve ridden in the UK. And frankly a lot of the south wales trail centres are neglected

(every time someone complains that Glentress is worn out, or neglected, or needs new trails I just think we don’t know how lucky we are up here, it’s not perfect but it’s nothing on poor old Afan)

Is BPW Wales really any better than Antur Stiniog ?

I can get to AS in half the time as BPW. Never been to BPW but my next trip to a DH centre will almost certainly be AS again.

Is BPW better than Stiniog?

Not better, just different, much more variation and the opportunity to actually have dirt under your wheels if you want to. Also BPW has plenty of trees, it is nice to ride open and rocky, but I love a bit of woodland too.

grannyjone – Member

Is BPW Wales really any better than Antur Stiniog ?

Like Bagstard says, it’s not better or worse, just different. If they were all together in the same place you’d ride trails from both, put it that way.

grannyjone – Member
Is BPW Wales really any better than Antur Stiniog ?

Like Bagstard says, it’s not better or worse, just different. If they were all together in the same place you’d ride trails from both, put it that way.

Agreed, I’ve been to AS once and BPW loads of times and like them both, you can split hairs about this or that if you want, but they’re both great venues.

If I was going to try to give a real difference it would be that AS feels more like a DH venue and BPW is more of a Enduro Bike type place, but you can ride most things there and in the last couple of years BPW really has upped the tech levels on their trails, haven’t had the chance to visit AS in a few years.

weeksy

Yea anytime dude.

The scene in Wales is weird. It’s like an iceberg, there is way more below the surface. BPW and trail centres are tourist places really, there is a massive sub-culture. Afan isn’t old or quiet, it has evolved but without a marketing campaign. Visit, talk to locals and discover.

The scene in Wales is weird. It’s like an iceberg, there is way more below the surface. BPW and trail centres are tourist places really, there is a massive sub-culture.

This.

Having lived here 2 years I spent most of those first two years at AS, BPW, BMCC etc…but it was costing a small fortune.

So, I now tend to go for a drive with the MTB in the back, find a wooded hill/area and explore the off piste stuff, there is some genuinely hilarious stuff about, some of it unrideable (for me at the moment)….someone on here gave me grid details to an area where the Athertons built a training track, it’s mental is all I can say….similarly other riders are building their own stuff too, saw some guys riding through town with DH bikes and full faces draped over their bars, stopped to ask them where they’d been?…turns out the hill/woods behind my house!

Explored the next day and got about halfway up a track in the 4×4 before the vegetation got too much, the bike trails were clearly visible and well used so there was nothing stopping me pushing up but….back the following day with a chainsaw in the back and now have a fully cut back access road to the top…yes, I am now that prick from a Surrey Hills thread a few years ago whose girlfriend was shuttling him to the top for DH runs

I’ve heard that Revolution bike park is better than BPW.

It is. It’s so much better.

The uplift is efficient, the burgers are better, the atmosphere is better and the trails are just on another level.

BPW is at the bottom of the pile for me; I’d rather go to BMCC, Stiniog or Revo.

But I can appreciate that it’s made uplift days more accessible (if you can actually book in) and is probably a lot less intimidating than places like Revo.

To be honest, I’ve seen loads old ladies riding at Revo and BMCC and kids at Stiniog which is ace. Generally there are a lot more ladies and kids riding all sorts of places which is rad, certainly more so than when I started riding.

I love BPW, it’s probably my favourite place to ride in the UK (that I’ve tried). Since riding at Whistler everything else over here is lacklustre for the kind of riding I most enjoy – fast flowy and packed with jumps. BPW is the closest thing I’ve seen to that sort of thing here plus it has some techier rocky blacks etc for a bit of variety. If you don’t like the uplift there’s a ride up track. Personally I have to drive about 3 hours to get to BPW so I want an uplift so I have more energy for the fun bits to make the most of them. Not sure what there is to complain about really!

My main issue with BPW is the uplift which has always been really slow when I’ve been. Went again in April this year and it was a bit of a joke compared to Stiniog, BMCC and revo (the last two having pretty tough tracks to get to the top).

It does take the shine off the day a bit – it’s not helped that some of the tracks (e.g. Fifty Shades) finish a long way from where the uplift starts.

I’ve been to AS midweek and weekend and much preferred it midweek as its much quieter. Got 3500m of descending on each day which is equal to 15 uplifts and could have got more if I was more organised. It had the quality and the quantity.

Blue/Reds were more about speed than tech while the Black/Double Black were challenging just to get down but nothing that is beyond riders who are moderate level & above. Except a couple of optional massive drop offs on the Double Black. Which can be avoided by an easy track.

I wouldn’t go when its raining. It started to rain at the end of my day there once and I found it so slippy I thought it was dangerous to attempt anything harder than red

The riders who go there are (on average) better than most other places because on Strava I’m normally in the top 25% but at AS I was in the bottom 50% on nearly everything

My main issue with BPW is the uplift which has always been really slow when I’ve been. Went again in April this year and it was a bit of a joke compared to Stiniog

This! ^^^

What p***** me off is that they spout all this nonsense about the drivers staggering their lunch breaks at weekends to maximise riding time, so when it came to lunch time, we literally grabbed a burger, demolished it, then shot down the trail for the next uplift wasting no time, only to find that we were stood waiting for over half an hour at the bus pickup. We could see 2 buses parked up the hill, drivers obviously havin a break and a natter. Everything seems to grind to a halt at lunch break at weekends, despite the staggered lunch break claim.

My next annoyance at the BPW uplift is it feels like you’re waiting for ages from getting on the bus to actually setting off up the hill. Stiniog has the same uplift system with buses and trailers but seems way more efficient.

But…Trails are quality, I love it!

The last time we went (back in September) we hardly waited at all for the uplift and the van was off as soon as everyone got in the van.
Couldn’t fault them at all.

Hope it’s the same in December when we go again 🙂

Stiniog has the same uplift system with buses and trailers but seems way more efficient.

That’ll be the advantage of having a tarmac road and far fewer riders!

That’ll be the advantage of having a tarmac road and far fewer riders!

It does confuse me how people get so confused… BPW has a long fireroad bumpy climb…. I can’t see any way without re-surfacing they could get people to the top any quicker…. When i’ve gone up in the bus the bus is going plenty quick… On 90% of the times i’ve waited less than a minute for the bus, sometimes it has been a maximum of 5 minutes… they can’t get there at the exact same time as all the riders who are descending at different speeds/routes/exits etc…

Explored the next day and got about halfway up a track in the 4×4 before the vegetation got too much, the bike trails were clearly visible and well used so there was nothing stopping me pushing up but….back the following day with a chainsaw in the back and now have a fully cut back access road to the top…yes, I am now that prick from a Surrey Hills thread a few years ago whose girlfriend was shuttling him to the top for DH runs

I am intrigued, you went up with a chainsaw is this a public road ? public property? can you not get in trouble? or did you get permission from someone.?

Not accusing just a question.

It does confuse me how people get so confused… BPW has a long fireroad bumpy climb…. I can’t see any way without re-surfacing they could get people to the top any quicker…. When i’ve gone up in the bus the bus is going plenty quick… On 90% of the times i’ve waited less than a minute for the bus, sometimes it has been a maximum of 5 minutes… they can’t get there at the exact same time as all the riders who are descending at different speeds/routes/exits etc…

Revo has a pretty long uplift and it’s bloody steep but they still manage to be efficient as do BMCC and they use tractors! I’ve been to BPW four times now and each time, the uplift has been a massive source of frustration compared to others. I’m in no rush to head back because Revo and BMCC are more fun.

Revs uplift is faster, but they neatly stoved my new forks in by having me put my bike into a position for a 26 inch bike. Be warned, make sure there is not a bolt at the top of the position where the front wheel drops into.

BPW were way more professional in that regard. You partly get more runs in at Revs because the runs are quicker and they are using landies with less capacity but more of them, Antur is quicker because they dont hand around to fill the bus and have a tarmacced road.

Another thing I found at Revs is because they dont seem to do as much trail maintenance as BPW, preffering to keep it more natural… some of the reds are harder than some of the blacks as a result… as the runs are more blown out, have more braking bumps and are muddier. The reds and blacks are more memorable than BPWs, but thats partly because some of the sections were hairy as **** in the wet for what people expect to be a trail centre….. it felt much more like a race day at a DH track than a trail centre. BPW was definitely more fun, whilst Revs felt more serious and took more mental concentration – more so than Antur.

If youre a trail centre warrior and have never a DH race, revs in the wet will up your game.

I just wish they would make it possible to take fat bikes on the uplift!

Planning a wee welsh uplift weekend next year, looking like the lonnnnnnnnggggg drive to Merthyr on friday, BPW saturday, BMCC sunday, Revo monday, then *only* a 5 hour drive home.

Sound good, to those that ride these places?.

Revo has a pretty long uplift and it’s bloody steep but they still manage to be efficient as do BMCC and they use tractors!

BPW’s uplift route is 2.6 miles.
Revo’s is about 0.9 miles (similar elevation gain).
BMCC’s is 0.6 miles (half as much elevation gain).

They’re just not comparable venues – the target audience overlaps but BPW has many more beginner friendly trails and a far greater number of people visiting.

If they only had to run two or three buses the uplift would be quicker because it’s a single lane road. And the speed of the buses is limited by the roughness of the track, not the steepness, so the longer route up adds a lot of time.

Nobeerinthefridge, swapping revs for cwmcarn would keep you within the same area and save on a lot of driving.
I’m a regular at bpw, the new red trail nothing like all the other trails there, a muddy rutted trail. Really good.

Nobeerinthefridge, swapping revs for cwmcarn would keep you within the same area and save on a lot of driving.

Not really, as we need to drive back to SW Scotland again anyway, and so passing (ish) BMCC and Revo. And I’ve ridden Cwm carn, sorry, should’ve said.

Ah, sorry I see. I need to arrange another trip to bmcc & revs soon.

Thanks though!

Nobeerinthefridge – Member

Planning a wee welsh uplift weekend next year, looking like the lonnnnnnnnggggg drive to Merthyr on friday, BPW saturday, BMCC sunday, Revo monday, then *only* a 5 hour drive home.

Sound good, to those that ride these places?.

BMCC is ****ing awesome. Haven’t been to Revo yet. I do like BPW, it’s always a fun day but BMCC shits on it. Also, TRACTORS.

I suspect BMCC on a wet day could be pretty miserable though. Not to mention it’d feel like blasphemy riding those glorious berms in the wet.

BMCC is ace fun. There are some bloody good riders there. When I went in July a dude was pulling suicides and another massive whips. It’s not all jumps though.

Revo is my favourite though; it’s bloody hard and changes all of the tine due to the lack of surfacing. The original red is so much fun as is Ghetto track. Burgers are top notch too!

Chief; the uplift road at BPW doesn’t feel that beaten up, certainly no more than Revo’s or BMCC and the big old tractor ruts. It’s just slow and not very efficient, made worse my trails like Fifty Shades finishing about 500 miles away from the start of the uplift.

I’ve never been to (or heard much about) BPW. Where is it?

Just beside Merthyr.

Just beside Merthyr

Cheers 🙂

Formerly Gethin Woods trails.

p.s. maybe steer clear of BPW web site for now. Google search is showing it as “This site may be hacked.”