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Planning a road trip with the kids to Wales or thereabouts, the requirements are:
1) bike park with uplift, like BPW.
2) kid friendly, like BPW. At BPW we'll stick with the blues but there's lots of them.
3) Easy to get to from around Birmingham. We're coming from along the A14.
Any suggestions for a solid weekend riding that are not Bike Park Wales?
Can you give a bit more info on the kid....
Is he 9 or 14, good or meh?
Took my wean to Styniog a couple ofcof years ago. He loved it apart from having a big off on the ice.
( And my piece of shit Specialized Enduro eating its third shock )
Not sure there's anything comparable to BPW in terms of the sheer variety of blue trails.. the only thing I can think of is maybe a day at 417 Bike Park (2 blues) and a day at the Forest Of Dean lapping the Verderers descent and Launchpad / Countdown (when they reopen) on the uplift.
I think the only ones I can think of is https://blackmountainscyclecentre.com/ and https://417bikepark.co.uk/ (which isn't actually in Wales)
Dyfi, Revs and Antur might be a bit much.
They're 10 and 12, both are fairly capable (Minotaur at CyB was good fun) but are not little shredders just yet.
BMCC was on my shortlist too. 417 didn't seem to have enough options to justify a weekend away.
They’re 10 and 12, both are fairly capable (Minotaur at CyB was good fun)
Ah ok. Not so sure about Antur then. I think maybe mine was 11 when we went to Antur but by that time he was content on everything at CYB (apart from the PFoP, the steeper slabs on Red Bull and that gnadgery bit on MBR))
I love BMCC, but there's nothing there apart from the trails - 417 has a cafe, pump track and a shop for those breaks between riding.
My lad is 15, reasonably capable and he prefers 417...
Only came to say BPW.
There’s some new trails if that helps.
BMCC is not a great place for blue riders, mostly one top section which has some pretty decent jumps (albeit tables) and you'd get bored fairly quickly with just that I think.
Think BPW is the only great option. There’s a green from top to bottom now.
Next best would be FOD. Launchpad and Blue XC decent.
Stiniog - don’t even think about it given the description of their experience (unless they’ve added milder stuff in the last 3 years since I last went.
BMCC - you’d be on a single blue all day and no facilities other than a burger van if it’s there on the day. It is a great blue though!
Next best would be FOD. Launchpad and Blue XC decent.
Is Launchpad open again yet? Was quite frustrating first 1/2 f the year in the good weather when there was no way down from the easier runs other than come down the fire road.
Looks like it's BPW. I've been promising BPW since before lockdown v1.0 so anything else would have to be amazing anyway.
Rode Antur Stiniog with my 8 year old yesterday on a hardtail. He has ridden the reds at glen tress and done a day out round Morzine/Les Gets which was quite a steep learning curve.
Did 7 runs.
He loved the green and blue. Managed a bit of a red too.
Tricky bit is the corkscrew berms at the bottom on Shaft. If they can't ride these the day won't be enjoyable. There was only about 50 riders and if you wait for them all to go you don't hold anyone up.