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How we plan to reopen


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How we plan to reopen

Posted on 29 Jun 2020

Hello!

Goodness, where to begin?  It goes without saying it has been a rough ride for everyone the last few months but there is light at the end of the tunnel and we are now able to enjoy many of things we have been deprived of for so long….and that includes BikePark Wales!

Opening

We are delighted to say that we are aiming for an opening date of July 9th for pedal up riders and bike hire, including our new half day taster packages allowing you to experience Kermit our new green trail.  We will be open Thursday-Monday 9am-6pm and the café will be open for takeaway food all day.

We will also be offering private coaching sessions so e-mail coaching@bikeparkwales.com or checkout our coaching page to find out more.

All customers will be required to pre-book their passes, this can be done on the day of your visit if you wish, the aim is to reduce contact.  ALL riders will be required to complete an updated acceptance of risk form before visiting the park as it now has some additional information to cover Covid-19.  We will be limiting the number of pedal passes available each day to avoid overcrowding so make sure to plan in advance.

We plan to open the website for hire and pedal pass bookings immediately after the first ministers’ announcement at 12:30pm on Friday 3rd July.

Uplift

We are waiting on further information from Welsh Government before announcing an opening date for our uplift but fear not, we have been busy working out how to operate the uplift safely for riders and our drivers alike.  We will be operating on reduced capacities with lower numbers of riders each day and riders will be required to wear a face mask at all times in the buses.  We have a very safe and well organised system ready to launch as soon as we get the green light. 

At weekends in July and August (if we are able to operate the uplift) we will be reducing crowding by offering two 4.5 hour uplift sessions each day.  This will mean we can keep the number of riders in each session low yet still give everyone a solid amount of riding time.

It is worth noting that pay as you go uplift will be temporarily suspended to allow us to control numbers using the uplift.

Suspended bookings

Many of you have very kindly held your bookings with us, we cannot tell you how grateful we are for this.  You will receive an e-mail from us as soon as we are able to start taking uplift bookings and those of you with suspended bookings will be given an exclusive window to choose your selected date before we open bookings to the general public.  You will be able to do this via a new “members area” on the website that will allow you to move your own booking to an available date of your choice.

Visitor safety

We have mentioned some of the safety measures we will be using for our uplift above but we want to reassure you that nothing is more important that the safety of our riders.  We have undertaken a full Covid secure design process and every department has new procedures and risk assessments in place.  New measures cover everything from disinfecting all hire equipment after every use to Perspex screens at all payment points, card payments only, one way systems, hand sanitising stations and much more. 

This video explains many of the new ways we will be operating

We will continue to have a first responder on site at all times but ask that to reduce the chances of infection you try to manage any minor injuries within your group.  For anything more serious, contact the centre and call 999.  We have worked with the other bike parks in Wales to produce a set of guidelines for riding during the pandemic which we will share in the coming days.

Trail news

We have to start with Kermit, this is a green trail like nothing else in the world.  Kermit is a 5KM long swooping, swerving roller coaster of a singletrack trail that will be fun for everyone from a budding 5 year old ripper to an experienced rider looking for some mellow flow.  The trail is an incredible feat of engineering and was the toughest build the team have ever faced (the weather last winter didn’t help) but it was worth every sodden welly and broken excavator.  Look out for the “longest berm in the park” at the very end of the trail which now swoops you directly onto the patio, ready for a post ride beer.

We are so excited to be able to welcome novice and younger riders to BikePark Wales, it has always been our intention to offer something for everyone and now we finally can.

At the other end of the spectrum, Duncan our in-house jump builder extraordinaire has built what has to be the best jump line the park has ever seen.  The new Insufficient Funds sits just below the uplift queue offering a perfect opportunity to show off your whips whilst enjoying this creative line of table tops, step downs and hip jumps.

Everyone’s favourite trail, Norkle has also had a complete facelift making your cruise to the uplift even better than before.  The new Norkle has been dubbed “one of the best bits of trail building in the park” by our trail crew manager and he doesn’t hand out compliments easily so it must be good!

Finally, after battling with the weather in February and March lower Willy Waver is now completed and ready for some fresh tyre tracks.  WW2 follows the trend set by the upper Willy Waver rebuild and will give everyone a much needed hit of post lockdown flow.

Keep your eyes on our website and social media for regular updates, things change so fast these days it’s the quickest way we can keep you all updated.

Thanks again for your never ending support, we have the BEST community of riders and we cannot wait to see you on our trails again soon.

The BikePark Wales team



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