[Closed] Bike Park Wales. Trails I must ride and those to avoid and places to eat in tow

A group of us went up on Monday for the day.
Its great fun you will love it!
Top 3 highlights for me were:
1. Terry's Belly - long, long arm pumping descent with bits and bobs to pump off if you desire.
2. Sixtapod - fast and flowy.
3. A470 - uber fast with loads of tabletops etc very easy to get it wrong and crash out (which 2 of us did.

We didnt do any of the blacks as the reds and blues were enough!
Food in the Cafe is pretty good, the uplift drivers take a break from about 13:00 so it gets a bit crowded.
Good choice of burgers/wraps/baked potatoes with a choice of fillings. Breakfast looked good but they stop serving breakfast style thingys at 12:00.

must dos
terrys belly
sixtapod
long blues with a bit of everything depends on how fast you want to go. great fun and smiles all the way.
food in the bpw cafe is pretty good especially veggie burgers and bpws own beer to finish.
afterwards miss the traffic and have chinese buffet and the nearby sshopping centre, although there is a nice indian not far

Can't remember names but look on the board by the uplift pickup for red technical rather than red flow.

There is a place in town just down from weatherspoons that's fairly recently opened that does nice pizzas and niche beer.

Cheers for the initial responses. For the food looking for places to eat out after riding as topping down for a couple of days. Looks like we'll be avoiding the black if the red and blue are that good.

What sort of leg armour (if any) did you take?

Bunch of Grapes is a great pub on the way back down the A470 before you get to Pontypridd.

Just got back from BPW today.

Sixtapod is closed at the moment.

My favourite was Melted Wely / blue belle / bush wacker.

The blues I rode are all very smooth and fast.

Vicious valley/ A470 / willy waver is a good combination of if fervent grading and trail character.

Very enjoyable day.

Terrys Belly and Willy Waver were both ace

if (like me) you're not super gnar but like a challenge, dai hard (black) is really fun (the gap at the start is the hardest bit). The other two blacks from the top are a bit more serious

Food in the Cafe is pretty good,

That has not been my experience, at busy times, is lunch the food is precooked and reheated so the last burger I had there was half chewy, half rock solid

This is my secret Pontypridd eatery.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g191267-d4497580-Reviews-Lewi_s_Thai_cafe-Pontypridd_Rhondda_Cynon_Taf_South_Wales_Wales.html

All of it if you can and are capable! Its bloody brilliant. The options are endless. Willy Waver and Sixtapod were ace.

All the responses are spot on. Terry's Bellend is very tiring but a great starter - berm city. Wibbly Wobbly / Sixtapod / Willy Weaver all fab.

We did Deep Navigation which is Black and was rocky rocky fun. Coal Not Dole was ok. Rim Dinger a bit easy and not like I expected from reviews. A470 was cool and I wasn't jumping much but on 2nd go was loving the jumps - well shaped.

The uplift is terrible though. We rode up faster. Terrible service. See Antur Stiniog for how to do uplift... fab.

Definitely full face if you have one and knee and arm pads highly recommend. None of our group came off but the gear gives you confidence.

Wish we did Die Hard but we were all too tired by the time we thought we could do it! Next time...

Have a great day. Enjoy.

If you enjoy technical then the Reds and blues will be as dull as dishwater. Get on the blacks and go slowly the first time then build up to going faster. There are a couple of drops that you may want to either session then hit properly on a full run or you can get off and push around them. The Reds and blues are more like beginner trails are not very challenging.

Terry's Bellend is very tiring but a great starter

😆

vicious valley left up the fire road to blue belle then insufficient funds.
uplift is fine if you are on a day pass, some chance of a slight queue just after lunch, love to meet the man that beats the bus up there.

Terry's Bellend is very tiring but a great starter

I do wonder about the previous typing history of someone who's phone autocorrects belly as bellend 😆

In a day you can ride it all tbh so no reason to ration yourself. I got put off doing the top blacks by a local who told me they were all jumps, which turned out to be bollocks, wish I'd done dai hard... and I missed half cut I think, just by mistake- rode a parallel trail instead. But basically just have a go at whatever you feel like, it's good for that.

Best combination for me is...

Viscious Valley, Bonneville then Insufficient funds.

Worst trail is wibbly wobbly imo.

I think terrys belly is overated and so is A470.

Standard warm up is Sixtapod onto Willy Waver.

Cheers all. Have uplift booked, didn't realise you could do it all in one day!

Insufficient Funds is my favourite. I get an impression it doesn't get ridden as often as the others.

You'd be hard pushed to do it all in a day if going in the week. Drivers break for an hour's lunch at 1pm and the last uplift was at 3.45 on the day I went despite it was a clear sunny day and light until at least 5.30.
You'll probably manage to do all you want to do in a day though. The trails are pretty samey. Bit like riding a roller coaster over and over. Fun at first but the novelty soon wears off.

Thinking about it i love Dai Hard, Pork Belly and Insufficient.

All trails good, maybe not black pro line unless you're gurt awesomz...
And Rim dinger is a bit shite IMO 😉

Food wise I'd suggest Crickhowell, 20 mins drive good cafe & pubs.

I'd never done any kind of uplift before I went to BPW. It was a great day. But I couldnt shake the feeling that I should have been riding up to the top! I managed to ride all the blues, all the reds and some of the shorter blacks further down the hill. They were all fine. I hear that the blacks from the top are perfectly fine too, but since I can't really jump the qualifiers really put me off. It's a great place to go and practice, but there's not really any sense of adventure there.

The food from the cafe, and the service was below par, and I felt the drivers were taking the piss the day I was there. They called the last run early, there were more drivers present than were actually driving, and two out of the three didn't bother going up for the last run. The same happened just before lunch too. It felt like they were just free loading in their job.

There were plenty of guys there who'd taken a punt on catching the bus without a day pass, and most were complaining since they were generally only catching one in three/four vans. I'd not bother going without a day pass based on that.

Got to disagree on the drivers and the cafe
I felt that the drivers were all helpful and friendly and were always trying to get you up to the top quick, never seen anyone knock off early, for lunch or last trip.
My veggie burger has always been nice, but if every stops at the same time there will always be a queue, maybe stop earlyish fir lunch and do one ride up instead of uplift?

I think terrys belly is overated

Yes, the drivers seemed like nice guys. When they were actually driving, you're right, there were keen to get people moving, show people how to use the straps etc... They were remarkably keen to slack off early though it seemed.

My burger was just about cooked, plonked on a plate and stuffed under a heat lamp, apparently in the hope that we would randomly discover it. The whole impression was that the cafe staff were only there cause they had to be. I found Terry's belly OK, but it did get a bit samey the further down you went. It is a blue mind.

Biggest issue I have with BPW is the uplift - it just doesn't seem very efficient.

First time we went it was pretty good. The second time we did it it wasn't; there seemed to be an awful lot of waiting about and it didn't feel like the drivers were flying up and down. The uplift at Antur seems to be way more efficient.

It is a bit weird that it's a totally purpose-built venue and yet the pickup point is up the hill and the trails end somewhere else... It's like they decided to balance out innerleithen's uplift that doesn't go all the way to the top, theirs doesn't start at the bottom.

It's true that the uplift at Antur Stiniog - and Forest of Dean come to that - seem quicker and more efficient but both of those run for most or all the way on roads rather than tracks. There is a lot of height at BPW - certainly compared to FoD so that takes time. The drivers are increasingly careful about making sure the bikes are well secured at BPW, which I appreciate, but that adds to some hanging about. If you've tried to do a day riding up then the uplift looks attractive.

What I don't understand is why all the drivers have to stop at the same time for lunch rather than stagger the break. As it is, there is a massive scrum in the cafe from 1.00 - 1.30 which I imagine doesn't help the cafe very much either.

Agree with Poey. And if you time your runs badly the 'lunch break' can be 12:45 till 14:15 depending on if you get the first bus up after the break.

Been 5 times, last time noticed how much longer it was taking between loading and going (Antur is definitely the gold standard here!), first couple of runs took ages, improved after that. All the van drivers seem really nice fellas, but a staggered lunch and moving the start of the uplift 100 feet down the hill would make a big difference.

I've not ridden the blacks from the top. Ridden everything else a few times including all the blacks from half way. Dai Hard is definitely doable although I want to do the qualifier double. Loads of people ride round it now..

I LOVE Willy Waver! Vicious Valley is my fav red and insufficient funds is always a good way back. The little jump line that runs parallel to the uplift is good too.

If by techy you mean steep and really techy- basically a proper dh track- then 50 shades of black is incredible. There are quite a lot of jumps and drops though, not really ridable unless you're happy on a black dh track. I always enjoy rim dinger too

Fairer on the drivers, though, rather than all having a break on their tod. And the break's quite good if your group's got split up as sometimes happens.

The closing early peeved me a little, must admit. It seems like "9.30 to 4.30" means the drivers expect to down tools at 4.30, so they stop going up the hill around 4?

I LOVE Willy Waver! Vicious Valley is my fav red and insufficient funds is always a good way back. The little jump line that runs parallel to the uplift is good too.

+1 this.

This thread has made me want to go back again. Our August uplift day was a downpour all day. Didn't dampen our spirits but it was annoying to be standing about so long for every uplift.

Two of us did literally pedal up quicker than the rest of our group using the uplift - we were choosing which route to take back down and guessing which one our buddies had gone for and low and behold our group appeared off the bus. Couldn't believe it.

They stagger lunch now dont they?

I've always had good service on the uplift but I agree the lunch time thing makes no sense.

I think that a pump at the top in the hut or by the uplift queue would be great.
there are plenty of companies selling public use pumps now and indeed work stands.

Can't wait to go back in a couple of weeks.

Two of us did literally pedal up quicker than the rest of our group using the uplift - we couldn't believe it at the top we were choosing which route to take back down and guessing which one our buddies had gone for and low and behold our group appeared off the bus. Couldn't believe it.

If you can climb at a reasonable lick, its 20 minutes from the cafe to the top.

It's fairly comparable with a quick turnaround on the uplift, the difference is knocking 20 minute climbs out back to back, all day.

I think that a pump at the top in the hut or by the uplift queue would be great.
there are plenty of companies selling public use pumps now and indeed work stands.

Would need replacing on a weekly basis, see Cwmcarn jetwash for evidence

If you can climb at a reasonable lick, its 20 minutes from the cafe to the top.

11 mins on a (legal) ebike 😉

The Beast of Burden climb is actually a tonne of fun in itself. Forget the fire road (horrible) and go on the single track all the way up. It's a cracking climb - has to be one of the best at any TC. Not at all boring. Very flowy. Gaining height effortlessly with the uppy downy rollers... jump a root... round a tree... downy uppy. Fun.

I reckon I could do six climbs in a day but I'd paid to be taken up... and six was all the uplifts we managed to get all day. On a very rainy day you can imagine people gave up and went home so it wasn't very busy at all - the busses were just never there or were sitting in the distance doing naff all.

It wasn't just at lunch they were crap. The drivers were nice enough but we didn't go there for a chat.

theres a race on next weekend, expect it'll be busy...

I've never used the uplift only ever ridden up, haven't done any of the blacks, I like vicious valley the best, all the blues and reds are good fun. I start on reds then change to blues once I start getting tired. Thought about buying a few single ride uplift but you guys have put me off that, sounds like I wouldn't be able to get on the bus. I think the cafe food is good but they seem to sell out quick.

the new 50 shades is the best. feels like a really natural dirty old DH track! especially after a few hours on all those groomed blues..

apart from that sixtapod into rimdinger is my favorite way down.

id avoid Melted Welly and Terry's Belly.

Making notes prior to my first visit next weekend.

What hours does the uplift run? Can't find it on website for some reason.

Uplift Operating hours

October to April: 9:30AM - 4:30PM with the exception of winter months where we will be forced to end earlier due to limited light, this may be as early as 3:45PM during the darkest days.

May to September: 10:00 AM to 5PM

Please note all drivers must stop for a 1 hour lunch break each day due to driver hours regulations and there will be no service during these hours. Drivers will take their break at 1PM and will inform you when it is the last run before lunch.

Thursdays summer evening sessions (May - Mid August) 5PM - 8PM (subject to light)

Off to BPW for the first time in Easter. How do the trails compare to Antur ?

Cheers.

Thinking about it i love Dai Hard, Pork Belly and Insufficient.

This. For a full length combo.

I seem to be the only one of our lot that likes Half Cut. Its only short and has a little uphill bit, but for natural steep tech its fun 🙂

I need to go back in the dry. I'd like to do 50 shades in less than quagmire conditions and would like to try Terry's Belly (it was closed)

cheers stevied

lowey - Member
Off to BPW for the first time in Easter. How do the trails compare to Antur ?

Cheers.

doesnt really. BPW is like any other trail centre but with uplift.

Half cut is a lot of fun. I only did it once yesterday but I was on a HT ? overall Antur is more technical.
Anyone else notice the number of police that arrived for lunch, I don't think they have any complaints about the food...

The uplift would be a lot faster if they tarmacced the road, it's killing the buses! I was there on Tuesday and one of the trailers snapped in the middle 😯

A470 then Coal not Dole is my favourite way of coming down. Agree with all the comments about the uplift, did 13 at Antur for the same time it took to do 8 or 9 at BPW (was 5 inches of snow last time I went though 😆 )

Terry's belly is loads of fun as well.

Just to add to this...
We went last Saturday (my first time).
They had 7 busses on the uplift so never waiting for long.
They did stagger lunch, 2 busses went off around 12.30, 2 more 20 mins later, 2 more 20 mins after that.
All seemed to work well.
Our last uplift was after 4pm.
Got 9 runs in but wasn't trying too hard.
Would be a lot faster if it was tarmacced but that wouldn't be cheap. It's a lot further than the uplift at Antur.

Been twice, going again this Saturday.
Both times the drivers were spot on.
Lunch...not bad,

Annoyed that we weren't told this Saturday's race had been booked after we booked.
Don't think I'm being unreasonable in at the very least have been given the option to re-book.
Hoping it won't affect us, just don't fancy having to park miles away after having driven 150 miles.

Gripes aside, it's a cracking day out.

And Terry's Bell End for me.
With a bit of Willy Waver.
Did a red once...nah.

If people think the drivers are arsey then it probably because people cant put their bikes on the trailers properly so they have to re-do all the straps.

I'm sure they think the bikes are held on with magic.

If people think the drivers are arsey then it probably because people cant put their bikes on the trailers properly so they have to re-do all the straps.

A not unreasonable thing to say, however like most I suspect, I don't have a lot of experience in doing it, Rather than sigh and tell people "you've put that in the wrong place" (happened to me) how about a quick run through on the first left of the day?

As a first timer, try not to run anything twice would be my advice. If you're looking for runs to avoid in order to maximise time then I would [i]avoid[/i] Terrys Belly, Melted Welly and Blue Belle. All three are far too long for very little reward by comparison to other trails.

Also plan your runs around buses. If you miss your bus you have variable wait times for getting another which can frustrate you. You can beat the bus down, certainly match it if you get a shuffle on and plan your routes accordingly. If you want to maximise bus time then look to organise your runs that end above the road when you're fresh and fast guaranteeing you getting the same bus, then ones that end below the road when you're likely to stop on the way (and so not quite make your bus again either way), and then ones that end near the cafe at lunch/end of day and no longer care about making a bus.

@jaffejoffer

the new 50 shades is the best. feels like a really natural dirty old DH track!

Thats because it is!

Yet if you go to any of the other uplift venues no one seems to have issues with putting bikes on the trailers. Bpw is the only place i have ever heard of a bike coming off. That's including the pearce uplifts that are essentially off roading in landies

tarmac the road and they would have to cancel alot more days in the winter due to the vans not being able to get up it due to patches of ice
Also not feasible at is, I presume, still also a working forest road so there will occasionally be some heavy, possibly tracked, machinery going up it

Blue Belle is the only trail I wouldn't bother with
Melted Welly also has that annoying uphill pedally section that ruins the flow

As I posted previously, I'd never done any kind of uplift before I visited BPW. I racked the bike correctly but used one of my neighbours straps. Once you've been shown it once, it's not difficult, but some kind of 'save time, mount your bike like this' instructional on the blurb they hand out would have avoided it.

I think it's probably an issue because it attracts alot of trail riders (like me) that otherwise aren't familiar with uplift protocols.

then I would avoid Terrys Belly, Melted Welly and Blue Belle. All three are far too long for very little reward by comparison to other trails.

Alternatively I used Terry's Belly to "get my eye in" as the first trail of the day, as I knew it'd be a bit less consequential than the Reds and Blacks, and it's still a load of fun.

nickc - Member

A not unreasonable thing to say, however like most I suspect, I don't have a lot of experience in doing it, Rather than sigh and tell people "you've put that in the wrong place" (happened to me) how about a quick run through on the first left of the day?

Ah, I'd forgotten about this, twice the same dude insisted on redoing the straps on mine, and both times they'd come loose by the top. That'd have been annoying even if he hadn't been kind of a dick about it. No doubt it'd have been my fault if it'd fallen off.

(I've used the same Burtech trailers at FOD and white room, no bother. BPW seemed to have the straps a bit different but it was the driver that was the problem, when I was there, not the trailer)

Looked back at my videos and one of the best techy ways down to end right at the cafe on the last bus of the morning or afternoon:
Vicious Valley (quite natural) Red - Bonney Ville (steep natural) Red - Deep Navigation (tech rocks) Black

I'd say those compare well to Antur Stiniog Red and Black 1 too.

I've been about 6-8 times now & on the most recent trip the uplifts did seem to be running slower - I asked one of the drivers & he said they'd been asked to slow down as trailers kept breaking. There also seemed to be more stopping to wait for uplift vehicles coming in the opposite direction to pass, which I suspect was down to the increase in uplift vehicles they are now running.

Im a regular there, favourite trails are sixtapod, vicious valley & rim dinger.
Least favourite a470 & terrys belly.(& 50 shades but only as its too technical for me.) but a great trail for better riders.
I do find the cafe & uplift bad value and poor food, but the trails & shop really good.
To eat, I usually go to the retail parks just below the mountain to Costa, nandos, co op or Pizza Hut. All under a 5 min drive.

Well that was a bloody good trip. Stopped at Twin Trails B+B, a no frills but bike friendly and well fitted out place that is a few minutes drive to BPW.

Had a day and a half and did all the red and blue and wimped out of doing any black.

Fav trail was rimdinger for the technical challenge and Terry's belly for the length and flow. New Rex trail opens next month and I'll go back again later in the year.

Yes, some of the logistics (showers and the bike wash (not working) could be better. But if you think you could run a centre any better I suggest you go and build one yourself!

Credit to the team for making it a great place.

New Rex trail? A new trail being opene there again? Seems they've got good plans for the place. I've been about 6-8 times and I re-iterate the same as most. Uplift slower than Anutr but that's due to height gain and the working fire road. Not much can be done here. The food on the other hand is hit or miss, once ordered the dragon burger at 11:50 ish but they didn't have any buns, next time they didn't have the burger. I usually stick to a baked spud, must easier for your stomach and it's hard to mess up a spud!

I was impressed with my burger when I went there (early Jan this year), must have had them ready or an order cock up as it came in about a minute, and it was delicious!

Though my mates panini was a bit meh, the cheese wasn't even melted

But the day out was very good!

It was quiet (unsurprisingly given the time of year), and we couldn't have timed the runs more perfectly. THere was a van there everytime we got to the bottom. Drivers were friendly enough, but I thought they could have been more vans (others had to wait a bit), should have staggered lunch, and they did finish very early!

this latter point wasn't a deal breaker though as I was absolutely mullered after a day there and was planning to do a 2 day bikepack the next day

Have to say I was a little pissed off when my Garmin disappeared somewhere on my final run and I got to the uplift point at 4.10 to find the "last uplift at 4.15" had already departed, and when I met the van half-way up there was no way he was going to give me a lift the rest of the way up.

Most of the drivers are very friendly and helpful but they do like to knock off a bit early. Don't we all.

Food is average. Tracks are great.

Typo, 'Rex' should read 'red'