[Closed] What's your BPW routine?

Some background reading for you (every stag do should have a reading list);

http://www.mbr.co.uk/routes/trail-centres/inside-line-every-trail-bike-park-wales-321952

Usually sixtapod to start. Nice and flowy with some good little doubles.

After that I might do the other blue or just head down one of the reds.

Start with Sixtapod to warm up! Really fun trail.

My usual routine involves hitting something more quickly than my limited skills allow, pooping my pants then mincing down the rest of the trail.

I've the best part of 15 uplift days there now and mine always starts the same way. Sixtapod onto willy waver.

Do melted welly onto blue belle then norkle next as its the longest and after 7-10 uplifts you wont want to do that small climb at the end of melted welly.

Dont both with the following: wibbly wobbly. Half cut. Deep navigation. There way more others to do before these imo.

Start with the two blue from the top, then throw in vicious valley onto bonneville then onto insufficient funds (best there imo). Add some A470 action and some blacks and thats all youll be able to do.

That mbr link is quite useful! Now know where to start on the blacks

Do what we did. Yup, just follow someone who had been before and claimed "Start with this Blue run chaps, it's nice and easy, follow me" before launching off down one of the Black runs........ 😉

(mentioning no names eh, Weeksy, Doh! sorry 😉

Are the trails there blue/red/black in the context of DH trails, or general traily trails? Would I be way way out of my depth on an XC race bike and some mediocre skill?

The videos I've seen of some of the blues look like fast, flowing, fun trails. I'm not averse to getting air, but prefer to do so on my own terms, rather than to clear doubles/gaps/step downs! Can't decide if I'd be daft to try it...

PS, i like "half cut"! After hrs of rolling down well packed wide trails, half falling down the side of a hill on a narrow, slippy, steep rooty, and often muddy run is ACE 😉

OP - dont expect to buy a beer at lunchtime from the cafe

njee20 - try it, very little compulsory air on blue and most red - more than enough to put a smile on your face

njee20 - Member
Are the trails there blue/red/black in the context of DH trails, or general traily trails? Would I be way way out of my depth on an XC race bike and some mediocre skill?

It's always difficult to a rate a trail, as everyones skill set is different. But i think the think about BPW is that it is NOT on a particularly steep hill means that it is possible to easily control ones speed, and hence how fast you arrive at any given trail feature. In this respect, as long as you apply some common sense, and don't just let go of the brakes and go mad, you can get down pretty much everything on any bike. Even the blacks only really have a couple "must commit" drops/gaps etc, and the blues & reds, again, as long as you can control your speed are all rollable.

Go with an open mind, and ride responsibly and you'll have a right laugh, whatever your skillset or Bike 😉

re the trails there blue/red/black in the context of DH trails, or general traily trails?

I'd say they're at least half a grade to grade higher than 'normal' trail centre trails. I have to admit on my one visit I din't try any blacks, but blues were all rollable and blacks add in some drops of a reasonable size (but probably still rollable unless you're going very slow), but certainly no gap jumps.

Sounds good. Ought to get over there. If you're not bothered by the uplift can you just ride it as and when?

njee20 - Member
Are the trails there blue/red/black in the context of DH trails, or general traily trails? Would I be way way out of my depth on an XC race bike and some mediocre skill?

The blues & reds are like most trail centres to be honest, just longer descents. I'm no downhiller and think it's brill and my mate who doesn't like tech or air can't wait to go back.

I'd say they're at least half a grade to grade higher than 'normal' trail centre trails. I have to admit on my one visit I din't try any blacks, but blues were all rollable and blacks add in some drops of a reasonable size (but probably still rollable unless you're going very slow), but certainly no gap jumps.

This. At most trailcentres even on reds you can just roll over everything slowly and get away with it unless your technique is completely terrible. That is the case on BPW blues, but there's a few places on the reds where you need a bit of commitment. Not talking huge drops but you'd probably be over the bars if you tried to do them slowly (or need to walk over).

We were on hardtails which were fine, definitely happier on the smoother blues (and A470) though.

You could try going down Sixtapod and then on to the Locomotion variant to get the jumping juices flowing a bit without committing to anything too serious.

We rode up twice and I wouldn't want to do it much more than three times. It's not a bad climb, especially for someone as fit as you Nick, but doing the same climb repeatedly is a little soul destroying. You could mix rides up with single uplift passes to get a couple of extra downs in.

Mmm, that could be good. Very tempted to head over there, although I wonder about just procuring a trail bike and doing it properly!

+1 above

It's great fun and you'll really enjoy it.

The blues are all fairly straight forward, everything is rollable. If you are unsure regarding the reds, I'd suggest taking your time and doing a slowish run on each one, followed by a fast run when you've seen what is what and where the main obstacles are and what speed you can hit them at.

One thing to add - the trails are generally quite rocky and you'll be travelling fairly fast at times. I'd recommend considering wearing knee/elbow pads and a Full face helmet if you can. Your call.

See that second paragraph is at odds with the first. I'd maybe put baggies on, so the bigger boys on the uplift don't laugh at me. There will be no body armour or FF Lids though...

There is no need for a full face lid as long as you understand 2 things:

1)If you fall off, it's potentially going to hurt a lot. The trails are rocky/hard pack, and with big berms and rollers, you can quite easily fly for some distance (both horizontally and vertically) before you finally stop, rather suddenly.

2) With 1) in mind, ride within yourself and don't get carried away. Much better to come back another time to "nail" that last berm, jump or whatever than go away the first time in the back of an ambulance!

Having said that, considering how little you can buy a "soft" set of knee pads for, id do that. They turn a minor accidental dismount into a laughing matter, rather than a minor medical one!

It's a bit of a unique place in that it's a bike park modelled on those you'd find in France, rather than a traditional trail centre or plain DH. They are trails that require a bit of pedalling in places and a DH bike is maybe a bit heavy. I know people who've taken a DH bike and felt it was the wrong bike for the place.

In general it's a lot of short trails (compared to a trail centre) that are in general descending. Fast, flowing, some features on reds & blacks that may be more risky than you'd find on a typical red/black at Afan or CYB for example, but then again mostly rollable (except certain parts on some black runs). The risk is a lot down to the speed you go and the rocks you can land on.

To me it's like a rocky version of Surrey Hills with a lot of short trails down, but the added bonus of an uplift. Plus compared to SH the trails are actually a fair bit longer.

Armour is purely up to you. I see plenty with and plenty without. People on big AM rigs and full armour & FF, and people on trail bikes with regular lids and no armour. Hard tails even, and it's fairly HT friendly (ask the Bird guys).

What you ride and how you kit up just changes your attitude to the place.

p.s. Don't neglect the blues. They may be smoother, but they flow very well, fast and you will get air on the rollers 😀

Anyway, my routine - rock up, maybe grab a breakfast snack or coffee in the cafe, uplift, and then just mix it up. I go with friends but typically we'll end up picking out own routes. In some ways it's a challenge to follow the guys, but then it gets to the point where I can't do what they're doing especially when they hit the black runs and I'm happy doing my own run choices. Frequently catch up on the busses and then lunch anyway. Optional - add in a visit to Merthyr A&E 😉 . Friendly bunch there and well used to BPW customers 😀

Njee if you want some bike park virgin company let me know.. I've been meaning to get up there myself. And would probably ride the climb.

BPW routine?

Well, for many, it goes like this.

Park the vaaaan. Somewhere inconvenient for others, but great for you.
Open first can of Monster and drink it.
Discard can on floor by the vaaaan.
Turn up the bangin' choonz on the vaaan's stereo while you're getting in to your gnar pyjamas.
Repeat Monster can process above.
Walk up to the uplift. Can't be seen riding even that much of a hill now can we?
At top, repeat Monster process. Smoke some more.
Faff around with numerous GoPros for that all important sikk edditt you're going to drop.
Ride reasonably quickly down, ensuring you lay down the steez for the aforementioned sikk edditt (Even if it's inconvenient for other trail users).
At bottom, make sure you remove your tear off (even if you don't need to) and discard it. Somewhere next to the already discarded cans of Monster should be fine.
Repeat.

Much like Cwm Carn and FOD, the sheer amount of shit left on the hill by certain members of the MTB community is staggeringly enraging.

That aside, I tend to spend the first part of a morning on the reds/blues, mixing them up a little, then the end of the morning running red/black when it's a little quieter and there are less folks [s]to laugh at my mincing[/s] in the way of my gnar. Then back to the rollers after lunch for some playtime!

Oh, and then cake in the cafe. Definitely the cake.

Njee, as a fellow xc type I can vouch that BPW is absolutely brilliant.

I always use my Blue Pig hardtail and the uplift, but I've also done 4 climbs so far and it's 30 mins of steady tempo. Rode up it singlespeed 32:16 on the Pig and that involved committed out the saddle efforts.

Downhill the blues are just sublime, I'd be happy just doing the blues all day, they are amazing. It's all about weightless moments, g-force corners and that lovely scrabbling sound that tyres make as they search for grip. Top tip, don't brake on Sixtapod until you hit the trees (feel free to scream like a girl!)

Cheers for the offer Molly, unlikely to get over there until summer, but it does appeal! Will drop you a line if I'm thinking of heading over!

Yeah I'll be here...

Btw the ride over from Cardiff is excellent off-road 🙂

My BPW routine is to avoid it completely and go somewhere where I can ride my bike for more than 10 minutes without then having to queue for a bus. Whatever floats your boat though.

Some great info guys, cheers. Looking forward to getting there and giving it a go 🙂

My BPW routine is to avoid it completely and go somewhere where I can ride my bike for more than 10 minutes without then having to queue for a bus

i think its great place, a lot of people are saying sixtapod is a great place to start which i totally agree with.
i would like to point out that the ride to the uplift from the trail centre is pretty good too, short maybe but a lot of fun for a gentle warm up 🙂

To be fair the busses aren't well organised. Even when they have 4 running, the timing is off and you end up with a fair wait and too many people for one bus when it arrives so waiting for the next.

Stiniog on the other hand was a blast down and get to the bottom, bus is there, no queue, get on and repeat. FoD is similar.

My BPW routine is to avoid it completely and go somewhere where I can ride my bike for more than 10 minutes without then having to queue for a bus. Whatever floats your boat though.

You mean places where you [i]have [/i]to ride up the hills, which is still an option at BPW...?

Stiniog on the other hand was a blast down and get to the bottom, bus is there, no queue, get on and repeat. FoD is similar.