It seems like this development has been kept under the radar a bit:

http://www.visitleevalley.org.uk/en/content/cms/london2012/velo-park/mountain-biking/

Has anyone heard of it or been there? First impressions???

Been posted about a fair bit. Interested to try next time I’m up there, but there have to be better options for riding as a destination.

I walked past it when I went to the bike show at the velodrome a few weeks back. It looks a bit pony and I thought it was a BMX track at the time for local kids.

It might be a bit more extensive than I first thought but hardly worth paying good money for I would have said.

A trail centre opening in a place with no hills? I bet it’s great!

I can just picture how much money’s worth of GNARRRRRRRRR looking kit will be mincing round it on a Satrday morning though 😆

Has anyone actually been? I’m working in that there London in a fortnight and its about 5 miles from my hotel. As my colleague is a dick and i can’t be arsed listening to him i will be taking the bike and figured i may as well have a look at it as i don’t travel this far south ever and there will be bot all on the telly!
As for paying for it, well i pay to park in a lot of places and its only the price of a beer in my hotel anyway.

white101 – Member

You’d probably be better getting the train from liverp0ol street to Chingford and blasting round epping forest – not many hills but quite entertaining for a few hours

If you can get up to cheshunt from Liverpool street – about 20 mins on the faster train then I’d be happy to show you around Broxbourne woods which is quite fun

Ooooh and I walked passed the track yesterday – looks good for London but poor if you’ve ever actually seen a hill

they have even imported some soil and some weeds for that truly authentic feel.

Ooooh and I walked passed the track yesterday – looks good for London but poor if you’ve ever actually seen a hill

😀

What about the Surrey hills…do they count?

If there’s one thing London will never get, its a decent bit of singletrack and for that reason im out.

If there’s one thing London will never get, its a decent bit of singletrack and for that reason im out.

Sometimes a lot can be made out of any space.
The old Eastway ( not that far from that site) was a rough old single track over a reclaimed tip. Hundreds (possibly thousands) of people enjoyed racing, and learning to race there over the years. No reason why cities can’t have single track, it’s all about having a bit of imagination.

Urban single track

It can be done, but I’ll admit it’s a long way to go!

, it’s all about having a bit of imagination.

…and a lot of money

@darrenspink

I’ve got several km of decent single track in NW London only 1 km from my house, even has several steep climbs and 2 long descents, 1 is 3 mins and 1 is 6 mins.

Had a great 2 hour ride this morning, even got a bit muddy up there!

@darrenspink

http://youtu.be/x7HyUAZR4jU This starts in LDN & there’s over 50 miles of it heading into deepest Essex

Awwwwww bless. The southerners trying to convince themselves they’ve got owt worth riding 😆

“We are all in the gutter but……”

I don’t have to quote the rest, or do I ? 😉

@binners

I lived and rode in Newcastle for 5 years and have ridden bikes in Canada, Australia, Europe so I know what good riding is 😉

It’s the upside for having no electrickery or running water 😉

Ah, a friend and I were in the area, so thought we’d cycle over to have a look at the new park there. We found a couple of sections of the ‘mtb track’. It’s basically mainly flat with ‘speedbumps’ every few yards, and very tight turns which just slow you down too much, no real berms or anything interesting. There are one or two ‘drop offs’, which to be frank are less scary than kerbs. I suppose it’s quite fun for kids, but that’s abou it. i woldn’t make a special trip out to go and ride on it. I understand it’s not actually open yet anyway.

plumber – Member

white101 – Member

You’d probably be better getting the train from liverp0ol street to Chingford and blasting round epping forest – not many hills but quite entertaining for a few hours

If you can get up to cheshunt from Liverpool street – about 20 mins on the faster train then I’d be happy to show you around Broxbourne woods which is quite fun

^Wot he said! I live in Chingford (for many as yet seemingly unknown sins..) and you can get soem lovly riding in epping (heck you can follow the canal up to chingford – takes 3- 45 minutes or so depending on how desperate youare to get to the woods) wiht the added bonus of some right stodgy bread and butter pudding at the tea hut @ high beech!

In fact i have passed that by there a few times and i also to thought it was a pants (grey, skiddy) bmx track Eping is good and brouxbourne look it too (having walked there but never taken the bike .. yet!)

I support the legacy initiatives and I’m glad to see this. Will I use it no. It’s 45 mins drive there vs 90 mins to Surrey Hills from where I am in central/south west London. I think the focus should be on BMX and the velodrome at the Olympic Park.

Yeah agree with the legacy, I run an after school bike club at my kids school in forest gate (15 mins away from the park) for year 2 kids. With the help of TFL & the school I bought numerous bits of portable north shore for them to ride on, table top a berm & some up & overs, once this park is open I will also be able to take them to it & get them riding there as well. Also with it being LDN these kids are a wide range of ethnic backgrounds & from homes with various incomes so that legacy is gonna be spread across all of those kids.

i live just the other side of the canal. sure will probably stick to jumping on the train to chingford at the weekend but will be great to be able to have a blast after work…

Awwwwww bless. The southerners trying to convince themselves they’ve got owt worth riding

It would be too fast a course for you anyway Binners 😛

SaYs nOt a SouTheRneR

Something I noticed when we were there, which was of interest, were graffitied slogans on signposts, declaring that the East Marsh, around which part of the mtb track runs, is ‘common land’, and as such, affords free access to all ‘commoners’. I understand there will be a charge for using the mtb track, which will surely not be enforcable under the CRoW Act, for this particular section anyway. I wonder how use of such sections will be managed; surely anyone can ride on them freely?

It doesn’t look like the whole project has been thought through very well at all. Which is a shame, as the other facilities in the Olympic park are first class.

just been to the Velopark this morning as part of a road ride around NW to East London

had a look at the proper track in the pringle building (very impressive), the BMX track and road circuit (looked good)

then the mountain bike trails were not open, they seemed to be doing lots of work with piles of gravel dumped about and fencing up

rode a short section that was open (on my road bike) seemed to be crushed gravel / rock compacted with rolling bumps and small rock garden bits

the mtb trails seemed to be all over the site and graded into different abilities with the blacks going down the steepest bits with more severe rock gardens, a mish mash I guess there are limits to what you can do with flat terrain

will take the mtb over there sometime and report back!

Anyone been here yet?

Alternatively has anyone been to the BMX track here, in Lordship Lane or in Wembley?

Is this Britain’s first pay to ride trail

I’m thinking that paying for up lift is paying for a service not to ride

ampthill – Member

Is this Britain’s first pay to ride trail

I’m thinking that paying for up lift is paying for a service not to ride

You have to pay to ride BPW without the uplift so no is the answer