[Closed] BPW Good Friday, anyone else ? What reds ?

We loved Roots Manoeuvres when we last went. I think there's one fair sized drop (Jr. did it, I didn't (but there were people watching!)) but overall it was marvellous fun.

I've got a bunch of 16 year olds to take round QE Park that day. Should be good, except they're all fit rugby players, so could be a bit embarrassing when they have to wait for me 😆

TBH it may be me who's more wary of drops than him... he's got the lack of fear and will atttack anything if i tell him it's OK 🙂

It's not so much height but some of them get quite tricky as you go up the scale - roots, rocks, off camber, trees to avoid, etc.

I'd say if he's fine on Hot Stepper then any/all of the reds should be fine and even some of the blacks. Deep Navigation would be a good one, its short, no jumps, drops or steepness, just a bit rough and rocky.

We definitely prefer the tech side reds to the flow side - Less jumps. They get a bit dull if you're not really into jumping.

We were there at the weekend and the trails were running well

Drops are subjective - I'd happily do a 5-6 foot drop if there's a flat run in and I can see the landing but some of the 'upslope' blind takeoffs really freak me out

Hot stepper has one reasonable drop (2-3') but otherwise ok.
Root manouvers is not far off a black; techy all the way down and 3-4 fairly major drops towards the bottom (when you're tired!)
Bonneyville had a big qualifier drop but the rest is fine
Watts occurring has one drop that's on the fruitier side of red grade
The other reds are fine

We definitely prefer the tech side reds to the flow side – Less jumps. They get a bit dull if you’re not really into jumping.

This is why I don't like the new 'blend' reds. The techy bits of ACDC and watts occurring were great but I really hate the huge tabletops and just roll over them. The trails work better with tech/flow separated like they've always done.

Well that was just outstanding! Fast flowing trails, stunning hot weather, bunch of mates throwing themselves downhill flat out. Fantastic! For the life of me I can't imagine how anyone cannot think it's just the best day out of all time.

Beers after then a gentle cruise how for BBQ and beer with the wife.

Will upload some of my boys videos in the next few days.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, but it wipes the floor with trackdays for me. £30 instead of £150+ just for the 'tracktime' not taking into account the other expenses etc. But it's just way way way more fun to me as well.

Cheers mate enjoyed that, being new to this sport and a relative novice it was nice to throw in some quick blues and a couple of reds, great fun 😁

Forgot how good BPW is... was there to on Tuesday after a 3 year break (only day this week it rained 😐 ) and a top day: managed 12 uplifts and favs were names that came up HotStepper, Roots Manoeuvres, Watts Occuring plus Dai Hard.

A470 winds the shit out of me because I have to follow that lad of mine who literally sends every single jump to the max. As said though it's a great day out, well organised, well maintained. Been 3 times and never had a bad visit.

Video of my lad leading me down a couple of trails and behind Couch and Crust. Apologies for the camera work, we only mounted it on the bars as we never had a body/head mount kit, so that's what we have 🙂

Music from a random app as the trail noise was just too much.

Don't fall asleep.

Aye, I don't like the mixed up trails either- I get the concept but it just takes away half the point of having an uplift with loads of trails. Why not put the tech on these ones and the jumps on that one and let people choose what they want to ride? I don't think they're too well executed either- from a trailbuilder's eye point of view the changes in style and demand are a bit abrupt and untelegraphed. Still good trails mind but could have been thought out better. For someone like me that can pretty much handle whatever, it's just annoying but for a less confident rider that's got to be a problem sometimes.

Still looking forward to getting back mind!

weeksy

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but it wipes the floor with trackdays for me. £30 instead of £150+ just for the ‘tracktime’ not taking into account the other expenses etc. But it’s just way way way more fun to me as well.

I think it's pretty different in some ways, I loved the open pit days frinstance where you could realistically just go out and smash out laps til you ran out of arms or petrol or binned it- I did one day at knockhill where I only stopped when the track was closed, I could barely hold onto the bars to ride home, it was awesome. You can't really recreate that constancy, (if that's a word, which I doubt)on mountain bikes. But a conventional fast/slow sessions day really I'm the same, it feels like a similar sort of thing (wait/go/wait/go) but with more investment and probably less reward.

I miss the motorbiking very much sometimes but pushbikes just work out better.

Glad I'm not the only one who just doesn't 'get' the blend trails. Would much prefer to have more fully tech trails and fully flow trails so I could ignore the flow ones...

Guess that’s the good thing about BPw then! You don’t have to do the ‘blend’ trails. Some of the newer technical reds are good. But I can see will catch people out, who perhaps are used to a FOD red trail. I have probably only ridden there once this year, in fact since the debacle over parking etc. I have seriously reduced the amount of time I spend there. I much prefer natural riding than bike park stuff

From a novice point of view having only been riding since October BPW is superb especially the blue trails. I did a couple of reds this time too with no issues at all, can’t say I’m a fan of the Rocky or droppy stuff as I prefer fast and flowing but it’s good to try stuff and go out my comfort zone. Also still ride motorbikes on track but I’ve scaled that right back to 3 or 4 times a year as the mtb is just as much fun and massively cheaper

Is there any massive stuff at BPW? My friends and I have got quite into more freeride type stuff. We've done everything at revs, havok and today at black mountains and trying to find bigger or as big stuff!

in fact since the debacle over parking

What did I miss? I probably go 2 or 3 times per year, parking has always been ample and free? (which makes it cheaper than FOD for us southern types now the bridge is free)

They raised the price to pay and ride to £10 for the day. Plus some other messing about with pricing, uplifts food etc... Which actually doesn’t stop me from riding. Just coincided with a reduction in the amount I rode there. I can see the attraction to people further a field paying for a full day uplift a couple of times a year, just think I rode there too often and got bored with it. Nowadays prefer going somewhere like Barry Sidings. Much more natural, quieter and a better cafe 😉

Is there any massive stuff at BPW

Not really the place to go if your looking for free ride or big features no.

They raised the price to pay and ride to £10 for the day.

ah, gotcha. I remember that; seemed unfair to the locals (and the fitness freaks that like riding up) although I understood their point about being better able to get drivers in when there was a higher proportion of prebooked tickets.

Didn't realise they called that in part a 'parking' charge as its per rider not per car.

Kind of semantics really, it’s £10 park and ride is how I see it, but if you have a car load then yeah it’s more money. I guess you could park free and sit in the cafe all day! I don’t think the £10 is particularly unreasonable given the number of trails and how relatively easy the pedal up is. Just the whole pricing change just happened to coincide with my group reducing how often we rode there. I think it was more a case of...BPW? Meh, they put prices up as well...did it lets ride somewhere else. No doubt we will start hitting the place hard again once the weather turns crappy again.

Another from my 10 year old lads bars.

Just the whole pricing change just happened to coincide with my group reducing how often we rode there. I think it was more a case of…BPW? Meh, they put prices up as well…did it lets ride somewhere else.

Same here. Just don't tell everyone where the good cafes are 😉

Sorry Mark...I’ll stop telling people of all the good places to ride.

Folks...you can’t beat BPW slop, I mean culinary delicacy. 😂

'Ere Weeksy - you need to get your boy a Filmora paid plan! 😆

Weeksy, the Crust you know, is it Sim Crust? Rides a Monster, also has a KTM

Yes sir... posts on here every now and again. He's my main riding buddy on MTBs but i've known him 20 years from the Ducati days etc....

DezB, we were just trying it out... I'm not sure what we'll use longer term for vid editing, but that seems like a decent piece of software (if we remove the banner of course by paying)

<-- also a monster owner. Went out to Spa with Crust a few years back. And World Ducati week in 2014.

Was that when he was on the Superduke in my Honda Civic ? The one that threw a bearing on the trailer ?

I've had lots of WDW stories 🙂

Yeah, and then I stored his bike in my garage for a few days.

Where do you guys normally ride? I am over near Tring

South of you, Blewbury, Newbury, etc... sometimes we go north to Goring area, Checkendon, Grims Ditch etc.

Drops are subjective – I’d happily do a 5-6 foot drop if there’s a flat run in and I can see the landing but some of the ‘upslope’ blind takeoffs really freak me out

Seconded, I’ll send a 5 foot concrete drop when I can see the ground, but can’t get my brain to comply with the blind drops at BPW.

Ruined my day getting angry with my failure! Need to switch the brain off, maybe a beer will help.

but some of the ‘upslope’ blind takeoffs really freak me out

me too - was at Antur Stiniog this weekend - the drops there with a downslope run in you can roll up to at a dead slow, spot your landing and let go of the brakes. some of the BPW ones look like a takeoff to nowhere when in reality they are about a foot down.