The boys are all off to Windhill this weekend, I'm looking for videos that do g show me people flying to the moon, but not seeing much of it.
Are there normal humans trails there worthwhile for the day?
It's a thoroughly enjoyable centre:
The Bluetopia is all rollable, fast and has a few rollable jumps that allow you to improve technique. If that's all you do, you'll still have a fab session.
Red Empuru is again all rollable but with bigger features.
Tina Turner is a bit more gnar, more Rooty but pretty much all rollable.
Pass the Dutchy/Left hand side has got a bit harder in the last couple of years...some slow sections that are quite techy.
Payrise is my fave at the moment....lots of berms and super-fun...all rollable I think.
The other runs have bigger features and are beyond my scope, although I'll occasionally do Rootiful South.
Enjoy!
You'll be fine - it's a similar sort of set up to Rogate / Tidworth.
Start on a few laps of the blue (Bluetopia - flowy with some tables) then either Empuru (bigger tables) or Tina Turner (flowy but with techy bits).
It’s really great, even if you’re not good at bigger stuff!
Nice one fellas. Thanks
Booked
The Bluetopia is all rollable, fast and has a few rollable jumps that allow you to improve technique. If that’s all you do, you’ll still have a fab session.
Red Empuru is again all rollable but with bigger features.
Tina Turner is a bit more gnar, more Rooty but pretty much all rollable.
Pass the Dutchy/Left hand side has got a bit harder in the last couple of years…some slow sections that are quite techy.
Payrise is my fave at the moment….lots of berms and super-fun…all rollable I think.
The other runs have bigger features and are beyond my scope, although I’ll occasionally do Rootiful South.
I'll second what said there, plenty for the regular rider. I'm in no way an airtime or gnarr rider and love it there, easily spend 4-5 hours there on my own and all day with mates. Tina Turner is my favourite at the moment as they've given it a bit of love and is all rollable. On Payrise there is a triple jump near the top, the left is rollable but the middle and right are definitely not!
Just remember to sign up for free membership on the B1ke website, buy your day pass and take screenshots of the QR codes. The phone signal on the hill is patchy and they do scan them before giving you the band for your handlebars.
Other than the Pro Line I’d think you could ride pretty much everything else there Weeksy. Let the lad play on the big stuff and you can use everything else. It’s got loads of stuff to help with jumping progression too - I need to get myself there soon as haven’t been for a few years now
I’ll counter the Windhill praise by saying that as an underwhelmingly average rider I don’t find Windhill fun at all.
As others say, Bluetopia is just a straight run, small tables at the mid point, everything rollable, Empuru is a progressive flow trail with tabletops, couple of them can catch you out though, but you'll see that rolling them if you wanted too. This time of year, it'll be wet and slippy, so Pass the Dutchie/Left Hand runs are rooty and lethal, although if you have a slow trip down you can see there's a proper line to it, it's just remembering that when you come down again rather than being thrown into off camber roots!
I find Wind Hill a fun day out in summer, winter it's a bit more of a slog, love Tina Turner with the switch to the end of the black run, but again, it's rooty as well, ark at ee is probably the best black to take a shot at, think you can get away with tyres on the ground for most, bar maybe one little drop?
How long are the runs at windhill, and what the height difference from the top of the runs to the end?
It's my least favourite of the 3 b1ke sites, not sure why, it has all the right ingredients. Others seem to love it though.
It feels like it has the most elevation. Fine on an ebike but I wouldn't fancy pushing up there all day.
Some of the trails have been really beaten up and are harder these days as already mentioned.
Tina turner and ark at e are probably my favourites.
Pass the Dutchy is barely worth the effort it's so battered.
Fine on an ebike but I wouldn’t fancy pushing up there all day.
I don't see myself feeling the need to smash out loads of runs, 4-5 runs and a bit of fun while they hit Pro Line and have a day out, that'll be just fine for me. I think my lad will be tired after a lot of riding this week and then hitting Dyfi tomorrow, so it won't be a smash fest.
The hill back up isn’t that bad - you could easily do more than 4-5 runs. Only a couple of minutes a run down I’d guess. I’ve always found Windhill fairly weather proof for the most part - ridden it in pouring rain and snow / minus 4.5 degree temps. Just the very bottom of the trails that can get a bit sloppy. <br /><br />
I tend to pedal back up part way and then push the steeper bit sometimes. Although it’s quite sessionable in terms of small sections of trail in the middle. There’s a bit of emperu where you can practice maybe 5 or 6 jumps then push back up a short way to re do it.
Ive not ridden Tidworth but I’ve also done Rogate. It’s quite different to Windhill - would say Rogate has some steeper more tech bits - Windhill has more flow and jumps imo
It's fun I personally prefer okeford bike park. Not as many big big jumps but a fair few and a new doubles lines but more fun tech trails.
@thebrick I need to get down to Oakford….never done it and it’s pretty close.
Re okeford get the uplift or ebike up. Don't bother with trying to push up.
Also being chalk avoid when wet. I won't be returning till it dries out, usually May.
It's not that bad as long as it isn't pissing down. No where near as bad as tidworth.
Push up Vs uplift is like anywhere. Uplift if you are staying the day but it's a fine push up
It was very very rainy, so i only played until lunch and managed 6 runs down. Mostly on the blue as it was wet and even a bit dark in there 😀
I did a left hand root fest trail, which was quite frankly ridiculous and outside of my skill levels with diagonal wet massive roots dropping into more wet roots... i'd mark that one down as a fail.
The rest of the day was good... if pretty wet.
So lunchtime we left the youngsters to it and went to the pub down the road for a couple of pints 🙂
The pedal up at Okeford is not too bad (preferable to pushing anyway), I’ll be there Wednesday night unless it’s pouring down.
The pedal up at Windhill was fine mostly... i didn't walk any of it on any of the 6 climbs up. I did stall twice on the gravel bits that are washed down by rain, but i didn't get off the bike and rode all of them.
In truth if the conditions were drier i may have done 2-3 more, but i certainly wouldn't have been up in double figures. But in my defence i've ridden the last 5-6 days back to back anyway.
