BikePark Wales, Redefining the UK Trail Centre

With mountain biking booming in the UK, over the last fifteen years trail centres have been sprouting up left, right, and centre, with varied success. Some burned bright like a firework then faded into overgrown singletrack memory whilst others have boomed, none more so than BikePark Wales, which with its differing approach has pioneered a new way of thinking which has revolutionised the concept of a UK Trail Centre.

For those who do not know, the large majority of UK trail centres are owned and managed by the Forestry Commission, but whilst the land at BikePark Wales is Forestry Commission owned it is actually rented by BikePark Wales, allowing them far more control to create and carve what they want. It took five years of hard graft before the park was finally opened in in 2013, but the crew weren’t ones to put their feet up and have continued to maintain, develop and push forward with new and bigger plans helping BikePark Wales to become the UK’s top trail centre riding destination. With a fast and efficient shuttle service, visiting riders can enjoy as many gravity fed runs each day as their arms can handle, with trails to suit every ability.

Of course, being privately owned does come with a ‘catch’. Money. Every rider who comes to BikePark Wales has to pay to play, even if they don’t utilise the efficient uplift, which may surprise those used to riding for free at the ‘conventional’ Forestry Commission run trail centres. However, this also brings investment into the trails and a little-known fact is that it’s actually the riders who benefit as for each £7 entry fee invested, £7.10 goes back into the trails helping them to maintain and even create new runs. ‘Build it and they will come’, well almost. The trails are half the story, BikePark Wales has a thriving cafe, bike shop / workshop, super efficient and comfortable uplift, bike wash and showers.

This amazingly is the UK’s first bike park and is redefining and rewriting the future of trail centres right across the country. As we used the park as our testing ground for our recent Fork Group Test we decided it’d be cool to get to know the crew that keeps it running so smoothly!

At the beginning of any great project, it takes someone to seize the initiative, bite the bullet and get stuck in. The two at the very beginning of BikePark Wales story were Martin Astley and Rowan Sorrell who have pushed the park forward into what it is today. We caught up with Martin to find out where the idea was born. “The reason that Rowan and I created this project in the first place was inspired by the realization that the UK didn’t have a bike park. We’d both traveled to loads of different places, seen what’s good and bad at various bike parks and I can remember an actual day driving along the M4 coming back from Afan thinking why isn’t there a bike park in South Wales?

I remember thinking if I don’t do this someone else will! So I called Rowan and asked him if he wanted to chat about it, he said as it happens he’d been thinking about doing the same. So we had a very tentative discussion where neither of us wanted to give too much away until we decided to join forces and make it happen. That was in 2008 I think, it takes a long time to get there, we opened in 2013 but our mission then was to make a world class mountain bike park in the UK and we also wanted to make it a very accessible mountain bike park, so not only for elite riders – we wanted it to be for everyone. That was our mission before we opened and that hasn’t changed.”

Furthering the mission to make the bike park accessible to riders of all levels, a large number of trails to suit all abilities at BikePark Wales makes it the perfect coaching venue for new rider introducing themselves to the sport, right through to experienced riders wanting to tidy up their jump technique. We caught up with head coach Griff Rhys Morgan to find out more, “It’s coming to that stage now if you go skiing, climbing, kayaking…. The first thing you do is you have coaching, it seems to be going that way. A lot of the people we get on the courses are people who are new to the sport, or want to buy a new bike but want to know if it’s right for them. They come on one of the basic courses and get an understanding and if they enjoy it, they go away, buy a bike and start getting into it!”.

One of the biggest issues that plague UK trail centres is the lack of maintenance. When a trail centre is opened, riders are blown away by the smooth and flowing singletrack. Glowing red hot on STRAVA and lighting up forums, riders descend like locusts and before you know it every corner is a total mess. With BikePark Wales’ growing reputation and the huge volume of riders flowing through the trails, it would be easy for the trail conditions to spiral out of control. However, as we charged down the trails testing out suspension forks, we did not see any evidence of deterioration – how were BikePark Wales keeping the trails so well? Looking deeper we found out, BikePark Wales has employed a crew to actively look after the trails, that’s a huge team and undoubtedly a huge part of the operating budget. The team is run by James Walker who seems to have a good handle on what makes a great trail, “We try to create efficiency, we strive to have perfect trails all year round and we are pretty good at providing that. It’s a lot different to going somewhere where they’ve built a new trail and it’s amazing but you go back in 6 months, ride it again and it’s horrible, turns are blown out and there are breaking bumps everywhere. We have a full-time crew of seven looking after the place, with the ‘pay to ride’ model to thank for that.”

With such busy trails, and some brutally rough terrain there is going to be an influx of broken bikes and components. Luckily the guys at the bike shop know their spanners and will do their best to get you back on the hill as soon as possible. Shop Supervisor Phil Blackford fills us in “We have 5 working in the shop at the moment, it’s a busy shop, we have hire bikes and a demo program all running out the same shop. We have walk-ins as well, most shops would book you in for another day next week but that’s one of the benefits of the shop here, we’ll try anything we can to help you out get up the hill. Anything from putting a new cassette on right through to custom building a pair of forks, we didn’t have the part but had a spare air cartridge or damper cartridge just to help them get up the hill, we’re pretty versatile in the shop”

Another reason that BikePark Wales is doing so well is that they understand the need for marketing and communication within the riding community. We sat down with Marketing Assistant Nick Pole to find out more about his role. “I spend half of my time helping the Marketing Director Martin Astley with anything from events to filming projects. With the other half of my time, I’m out on the hill gathering content for our website and social media. I have to say one of the best things about my role is that no two days are the same! I know a lot of people say that but it’s true, one day I can be in the office working through emails and the next I can be out on the hill working on a filming project. Social media also plays a very important part in our marketing. There is always so much going on here and it’s great to be able to share it with everyone so easily. We are super lucky to have such an engaged audience and it’s a great feeling when we get such a great response.”

During our testing at BikePark Wales, we were really impressed with the professionalism of the uplift service and the range of trails on offer – even the trail to the uplift station is rad! If you haven’t been there already, you should check it out.

What to expect at BikePark Wales

A trip to BikePark Wales will leave you grinning for sure, there are routes to cater for all with clear signposting and relevant warning on challenging features or sections. The facilities at the visitor centre are excellent with a great cafe, bike shop and plenty of helpful staff happy to help should you have any issues. Entry to the park is £7 for you to make your way up the hill under your own steam, otherwise, the uplift is £32 during the week and £36 at the weekend.

How to get to BikePark Wales

The park is located in Gethin Woods, on the edge of Merthyr Tydfil in the South of Wales. It is easy to find and just off the main A470 road

If you need more information on BikePark Wales you can check out their website for all the trail info.