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Off to BPW on Saturday and i've not been for around 4 years, loads must have changed. Going with 2 mates who ride very rarely so we'll not be doing any blacks, but would like to make the most of the day and avoid wasting an uplift on a trail we should avoid. What are the must do blue/reds?
You'll have more than enough time to hit up as much as you want, but a good start is always sixtapod into willy waver, fast, flowing and bumpy in areas, take it easy first time and enjoy the top to bottom trip. Terry's Belly is also a nice blue, it takes you top to bottom in one trail, or if you want you can hit the red at the half way point (Hotstepper).
Reality is you will have an idea of what you want to do, is it fast and flowy, or tech?
On the reds, if you like jumps/ramps, then hotstepper is good, if you like tabletops then A470 has the best of the reds, if you like ramps plus tabletops, then the upgraded Insufficient Funds is really good, the reds at BPW are so much fun, but you need to know your limits on a couple of them, so understanding what your group limits are will be important.
Of the more recent trails that have been built, for me the best one by far is Root Manoeuvres. It's quite rocky, rooty and more natural than most of the other trails so it feels less of a bike park trail. If that's your idea of fun then check it out.
Of the more recent trails that have been built, for me the best one by far is Root Manoeuvres.
+1
Then, if that's your thing, Rim Dinger and Coal Not Dole are worth a look too. I like Vicious Valley too, but stay on it rather than getting distracted onto A470...
Terry's belly is a good warm up.
Hot stepper
Roots manoeuvre
Willy waver
Sixtapod
Are the uplifts back on now? Sorry I haven't been keeping track.
But yeah, don't worry. There's more than enough time in the day to hit everything. If you discount the blacks you'll be rerunning your favourite trails.
Popty ping for laugh out loud fun, into hot stepper.
All Hot Stepper and Roots Manoeuvres for sure.
Viscous valley and roots manoeuvres are two favourites. I quite like ac/dc too but it’s a weird trail that require a bit of sessioning to get all the lines to flow I think. Of the blues sixtapod is always first trail warm up
As others have said if jumping if your thing popty ping Is fun and a470 makes you feel like a hero! Haven’t been in a while so not sure on updated insufficient funds but it was always a favourite
I would say that me and my riding group are not particularly riding heroes and most of us don't really like large jumps but are competent at tech stuff.
A typical day at BPW would see us riding mistress and blues mixed up throughout the day with maybe Cole not dole black and rock n roll trail as they are pretty tame for a black.
Stand out tracks for me are vicious valley, Bonneyville, wibbly wobbly, rim finger, sixtapod and willy waiver. A couple of the blacks are pretty intimidating in terms of jump/gap/drops.
It is about confidence of your mates though, Bonneyville is a good example, it starts with what can look an intimidating drop, but it's not that bad, the landing is perfect and all you need is to roll in with adequate speed, but again, if you hesitate you can go over the bars, always folk looking over the edge at that every time i do it, then you have the two tight rocky swtichbacks that come up 20 seconds later which catch folk out. The beauty of BPW is that if you and your mates think 'i'll give bonneyville a miss', then there's surfin' bird just next to it you can go down, and it's just as enjoyable.
If you're going for a 4.5 hour AM or PM shift, then you'll have more than enough blues and easier reds to keep you busy, willy waver is something you can just hit 3 or 4 times as a bottom half run.
Is Bonny the left down Sixtapod at the red/blue interchange point ?
Further to the right, you hit it off Vicious Valley, the one you can join off Sixtapod is Rim Dinger i think, but Willy Waver is way more fun!
Unless you're really into jumping then stay clear of the red 'flow' trails. I like to think I'm pretty competent rider but the jumps are massive so unless you're confident then you'll ever find the aforementioned 'flow' and case the bejesus out of every single one (like I do!)
Roots, Hotstepper, Vicious Valley, Bonneyville, Surfing Bird and even Rim Dinger are great fun. The new Willy Waver section near the bottom with the constant berms is an absolute joy too!
Roots is far and away my favourite trail. A couple of non-stop runs down there will keep you on your toes!
Thanks guys. The 2 i'm going with don't ride much now, but used to so I think sticking to the Blues with a few Red Tech trails might be the best plan. If it was up to me i'd be aiming for the red flow, but a big jump might be a bit more daunting than tech section. We've got a morning session booked so hopefully time enough to have go at most.
When you say big jumps on the reds, everything is rollable from memory and only the A470 line has really big ones that ruin your flow if you don’t clear them.
The red plus trails are a step up though with drops / gaps etc so I’d give those a swerve with the people you’re going with.
Last time I was there I remember taking a short red option off a blue (I think Locomotion, which is off Sixtapod) and was a little surprised to find 2 or 3 almost blind drops on it. Given lots of people using blues as near beginners I thought that was a little risky on the accident side of things.
I actually loved the red plus off the fireroad - Watts Occurring I think it is. But it does have drops / jumps etc which really made me think.
Hated Roots Manouvres - my worst nightmare!