We have an opening date!! Mark Monday 26th April in your diary
We have an opening date!! Mark Monday 26th April in your diary
We are delighted to say that we will be opening the bike park after a closure of 4 months on Monday 26th April. It has been an incredibly tough winter for everyone, but we have worked tirelessly during the lockdown to improve the bike park and we are so excited to share what we have done with you.
The site is completely transformed and almost every aspect of the operation has been given some love. We will share more details in the coming days and weeks, but you can expect more parking, a faster check-in, efficient uplift, new trails and a much-improved après ride experience.
We will be running our full suite of services from day one but as with last year we will be running very reduced capacities and will have strict Covid control measures in place.
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.
Our website is now open to move suspended bookings only. All other passes will go live at 09:00 on Friday 9th April.
Uplift
The same as 2020, 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, our buses are mist disinfected every run, all windows will be open at all times (even if it’s raining, sorry!) and the 16 seat minibuses will operate with just 10 riders per bus meaning each rider has a seat to themselves with no contact with other riders.
As in 2020, at weekends 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. These sessions were a hit last year, you can focus on smashing laps out during your session and enjoy some chill time on the terrace without the pressure of missing uplift before or after your session. Your uplift pass gives you access to the park for the whole day to pedal so if you have enough in the tank you can also grab some pedal laps too.
Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays will run a single 6-hour uplift session. The park will be closed to riders on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
It is worth noting that pay as you go uplift will be suspended to allow us to control numbers using the uplift, we will reintroduce this when social distancing is no longer required.
Suspended bookings
Many of you have very kindly held your bookings with us, we cannot tell you how grateful we are for this. Everyone with a suspended booking can login to their account and move to a new date of choice. As a thank you for your loyalty we are opening bookings only to those with suspended bookings until 09:00 on Friday 9th April so we urge you to login and move your booking while there is plenty of space available. To move your booking simply login to your account on the BPW website and visit the “members area” and follow the instructions.
Please note that if you hold a booking for a 6-hour session on a Saturday or Sunday and you move to a 4.5-hour session the website will automatically issue you with a voucher for the price difference for each rider on your booking.
If you had a suspended booking for the 26th, 29th or 30th it will have been reinstated. If this causes you any issues, please contact us and we can amend your booking for you.
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 which are reviewed weekly. 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 always have a first responder on site 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.
Trail news
SO much goodness to share with you here!
It feels like we barely managed to open Kermit our new 5km long green descent last year, it’s had a little love, we’ve added some passing bays and some rest spots with great views on the way down as it’s a long old trail. We will also be running our first fully hosted Ticket 2 Ride Sessions on Kermit during May, this has been part of our vision since we opened the park, a true gravity mountain bike taster experience suitable for everyone who is fit and healthy and can ride a bike competently. We can’t wait to share our sport with new riders.
Sooo, what else have we done? Let’s run in colour order.
Billy has worked his magic and added a new blue tech trail “Merthyr Rocks”. He has done an astounding job and this new trail offers the perfect steppingstone for those looking to transition from blue to red trails. It’s also an absolute blast for more advanced riders.
The pump track has also had a complete rebuild. Dunc has worked some magic and built a pump track that is fun to ride on both a full suspension trail bike (as that’s what most of you bring to BPW) or a hardtail. It’s super smooth, has loads of line options and progression and is a fun addition.
On the red scale we have an all-new hand cut red tech trail “Groot”. This rooty, yet surprisingly flowy natural trail was built as a real team effort here at BPW. Led by trail crew supervisor Stu we had a whole host of team members get on the tools to get this trail built from January through to March. This will be a lasting memory of lockdown for us, and it was a great opportunity to get some team members off furlough and into the park to work on something positive. It’s a fantastic addition to the trail network and is already a favourite amongst the BPW team.
Did somebody say jumps? A huge addition we’ve made during lockdown is a complete overhaul of A470 line. Our flagship jump line needed a refresh and with jump building supremo Dunc Ferris joining our team in late 2019 we had the perfect guy for the job. Dunc has created a true work of art and we cannot overstate how great this trail is now. The jumps are a little larger than they were before, but the transitions have been made longer and the jumps wider making a more predictable, fun and safe experience. Look out for some pro riders sharing their thoughts on this new line soon.
Ricky “The Martian” Martin set out to build a new black trail in the park and had some phenomenal terrain to hand in the form of some huge natural boulder fields. This is Ricky’s first lead on a new build, and he’s knocked it out of the park. OK, so maybe things got a little out of hand and we’ve had to grade the trail as a pro line buy hey, “The Martian” is born, well done Ricky!
The eagle eyed amongst you will have also spotted that we are working on a project with Laurie Greenland and Red Bull. This new line, built by Dunc, with a lot of input from Laurie who has been using BPW as a training ground during lockdown will be open to the public when it’s ready which we anticipate being mid-summer. Watch out, this one is spicy!
We haven’t even touched on our new building or the expanded terrace and car park, new bike wash or many of the other upgrades yet but we will save that for another time. Keep an eye on our social media for regular updates.
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. Take care of yourselves and we will see you soon.
The BikePark Wales team
