Forum

Sounds like you guys had a blast.

Looking forward to checking it out

Cheers for the info Jon, much appreciated dude

Just got back from WBP this weekend, got a few mixed feeling about it to be honest. First off I am more of a trails/enduro rider than a DHer but have ridden plenty of different places (Afan skyline/whites descent, Brenfa black raven, Coedy MBR/dragons back, Llandegla black for trail. Cwm, UKB, FOD, Aston, Porc and chicksands for DH).

Start with the basics: easy to find, uplift service is quick and with three vans (there was a forth if needed) so most times you got down and you was on to the next van, food looked good, and quiet a bit of parking. The arrangement with picking up the uplift is a bit of a flarf with having to ride down a short be of trail before pushing up for 50m (a right pain if you want to carry a bottle of water to leave at the pick up point) so if you have go back to the car for anything its not as easy as others.

Started with a blue (Melted Welly) into red (Vicious Valley) to warm up, I bit surprised by it really - not what I would call difficult but lots of roots that I would of though would of caught a few people out if they are more xc rider/Halfords specials, a few uphill sections in it as well and some very sticky muddy sliding sections.

Next was red (Wibbly Wobbly, Rim Dinger), I better ride but still quiet flat to begin with, lots of sections to pump rather than jump and a few small rollable drop offs. Rock gardens were more of slab gardens which you lost a lot of momentum on.

Next had a try of the black (Enter The Dragon, Pork Belly, Deep Navigation), top sections starts with some love big table tops which you can start getting properly in to then all of a sudden there's a stepdown double which is totally unexpected and defiantly catch me out ((ass like a rabbits nose moment) did not dry clearing it so rolled it every other time), a few drop off further down with sizes increasing to 3ish ft, and finally a good rock garden to test you on.

Last back route taken (Dai Hard, Zut Alors), more of a flowing section in the trees to begin with but it did not start well with lots of mud blocking up the tyres and making it hard work to hit any of the theatres. Lastly there was a big gap jump step down that had caught a few other guys out (big or go home).

By the end of the day we ended up making our own way down with stopping at the fire road path and going down the next run along down. Its more of a trail centre with uplift than a full on DH centre, if you have a 150mm trail bike you can do a bit of everything but if you have a full DH rig or xc wippet you will be limited. Don't think I will rush back for DH thrill or trail work outs but would be interested to see what happens with it and new runs ect

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW_bpI6-XvQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZhZ8LnpRUk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZhZ8LnpRUk

I was there as well this wknd & loved the place from the blues nice & flowy to more technical reds hit a couple of the blacks & hit features without thinking about them mainly the rock drop offs all rollable if u find the right line ! Only other uplift I've done is ukbp & w bp smokes it by far gave me the grin factor anyway & that's what it's all about fun !!! On Sunday went Forest of Dean to do a pro ride all mountain course which was way different terrain guide was a fella called alexwho really knows his stuff got us to change our way of thinking bout bike handling & poisitioning !! Wet, rooty & steep confidence well up & cleared sizeable table & double !! Great fun !!

Good to hear Geoff!

I think if i stuck on my trail head in the morning instead of my DH head i would of enjoyed it more. I'm not saying its a bad place to go, it just i was expecting a bit more from the trail. Take Cwm Carn for example, along the whole run every 5-10m there is some sort of threature that you need to deal with with deffent lines to take, BPW just seamed to be a bit more of a path were anything goes. Its deffently a better place than UKBP to ride.

Thanks Matt, thanks Geoff! Looking forward to this weekend when I'll be there! Great write-ups by both of you!

Robby

Robby if youve booked uplift collect the pass from fella at gate as udrive up save waiting for reception to open as they have to get it from them anyway , there b a trek gazebo !! Have fun

Thanks Geoff. We're staying at the Premier Inn on Friday and Saturday night so will ride to the park. The plan was to do Cwmcarn on friday but I have a BT engineer coming on Friday morning, so it's just the uplift!

Robby

Make sure bikes are secure in Merthyr tydfil

Also either duel ply tyres or lots of inner tubes, lost count of the number of xc boys that had flats after trying there hand at the rock gardens

have fun and stay save