News

BikePark Wales Almost Ready to Open!

Every little bit of news we get about BikePark Wales edges us closer to the opening of the quality facility that we had the fortune to have a look around just a couple of weeks ago. With many kilometres of trail already in place and plenty more planned, you can bet that this is going to be THE mountain bike facility when it opens. Being so close to Bristol, Cardiff and of course London (not to mention our base in Monmouth!) it is sure to be immensely popular and thankfully it has the trails and infrastructure to back up the hype.

The BikePark’s website has just gone live – find out a bit about the trails and park and get yourself booked onto an uplift. Whatever style of riding you like you’ll have a blast at BPW, trust us. BikePark Wales will be open on 24th August 2013.

Here’s the full word from the BikePark Wales team:

BikePark Wales are delighted to announce the launch of our website in preparation for the opening of the park on August 24th, one month ahead of schedule.

BPW website is live! Follow the link further down the page to have a look.

The site will allow visitors to the park to book on to our uplift facility, the first in the UK to specifically cater for both trail riders and DH riders. Riders will also be able to pre-book bike rental from our fleet of exclusive Trek high end rental bikes, equipment hire and even Iunch packages to maximise time on the hill.

The mini bus uplift service at BikePark Wales is a swift, safe and comfortable way to transport you and your bike from the base to the summit of Myndd Gethin at 491 metres. BikePark Wales has the greatest capacity of any UK uplift facility with 75 spaces available each day at weekends and a new uplift road has been constructed to reduce uplift time.

Swooping turns, jumps, berms, flow… It’s all there.

BikePark Wales is the UK’s first full scale commercial bike park and is designed to be enjoyed by mountain bike riders of all kinds from XC whippets to elite DH racers and everything In between with a real emphasis on trails that can be enjoyed on mid travel trail bikes. Unique for the UK this means that trail riders can now enjoy the benefits of uplift accessed riding to maximise time enjoying the descents of which there are many at BikePark Wales. The new website also features an interactive trail map and images of the trails themselves both for the very first time. There will be 23 sections of trail at BikePark Wales on opening day combining to make over 23KM of trail and 1750 vertical metres of descending that can be enjoyed without riding the same trail twice. In addition to descending trails suitable for beginner through to expert riders there will also be a single track climb, a 1km family/kids trail and a pump track. The trail network will be professionally maintained and continually added to by our very own BikePark Wales trail crew.

BikePark Wales is part of the Cognation project that is investing in mountain biking throughout South Wales. The Cognation partnership is made up of Neath Port Talbot CBC, Merthyr Tydfil CBC, Caerphilly CBC and Forestry Commission Wales.

The project is part-funded by the EU’s Convergence European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government with match funding coming from the Welsh Assembly Government and partner organisations.

There’s everything from super technical terrain to super easy and you have the option of self-propulsion or shuttle bus to get to the top.

BikePark Wales is also suitable for a great day out for families and Children. In addition to the 1KM family and kids loop (Badgers trail) and pump track there is a direct link to the Taff Trail between Brecon and Cardiff and bikes available to rent to enjoy this Sustrans route.

There are even trails to cater for families.

The website also includes sections for the Woodland Cafe which will serve fresh, locally sourced food and drink in a bike friendly environment and for the BikePark Wales shop specialising in supreme customer service and expert advice. The shop will stock bikes from bike park sponsor Trek as well as Orange for custom builds. The workshop will feature a full time Mojo suspension technician on hand to tune and service Fox suspension whilst you ride. BikePark Wales will be offering special custom suspension tunes as part of the package on high end builds as well as coaching sessions with BikePark Wales director Rowan Sorrell. There will also be a full representation of the Fox suspension range available to demo and the shop will be a Shimano service centre.

BikePark Wales director Anna Walters commented:

“We are so excited for the website to go live and to finally be able to share the full details of what we have created with everyone. BikePark Wales is really a first of a kind facility, its taken 5 years of hard work and determination to get to this point and we can’t wait to see the first grinning riders come down the hill, that will make it all worth it.”

Just 2.5 hrs from central London and less than an hour from Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea, BikePark Wales is easily accessible for a day trip or longer for the majority of Wales and central and Southern England.

Entry to the bike park will be £5 per day (payable at visitor centre on the day) if you wish to pedal up, or £30 (pre-book online now to avoid disappointment) if you wish to use the uplift facility.

Why pay to ride? BikePark Wales is a public/private partnership venture and as such considerable investment has been made to make this project possible. BikePark Wales will re-invest to create more trails in the coming years and will also have a permanent trail crew to maintain the existing trails and build new trails. Each £5 entry fee helps to support and sustain this business and the trails themselves. There will be no car parking charge.

The BikePark Wales team would like to remind everybody that the site is a live construction site closed to the public until August 24^th. We look forward to seeing you there!