Tag Archives: Bike Park Wales

Little Rippers Halloween Ride at Bike Park Wales

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Owen and I had a great day riding at Bike Park Wales for the Little Rippers Halloween ride. It is an event that we have wanted to attend for a few years now, but holidays and hospital visits have got in the way. It was more than worth the wait, it was one of the best days on the bike this year!

We drove down the night before, after I finished work, stopping at McDonald’s enroute. Problems with their app led to me accidentally doubling Owen’s order, which he thought was the best thing ever, as he got to eat the extras. I have no idea where he puts all the food. The same could be said at the hotel the next morning, where he took full benefit of the breakfast buffet!

We got to the bike park in time to get signed on before the uplifts started, and to get the Little Rippers group photo! For our first run we decided to explore the far side of the hill, which we missed on our previous visit – Terry’s Belly top sections, back up to the new skills area, down Popty Ping, then the rest of Terry’s Belly back down to the uplift. Owen particularly liked the skills area, he rode the drips line a few times until he got it perfect – some of the drips were pretty big too.

On our second run, we rode Sixtapod then Willy Waver – both fast trails that finish at the uplift. I think the was my favourite run, Owen was looking really confident on his bike, especially considering he had not previously ridden these trails. Owen was getting hungry by this point (how?), so for our third run we aimed for the visitor centre, via Melted Welly, Fforest Bump, Roller Disco, Bluebell and Bushwhacker. Fforest Bump was the first of the “tech” trails we had ridden there, chosen because I had hoped it would bring us out after the climb on Melted Welly. It did not. The trail was different to the “flow” trails we had been riding, with a looser, more natural, surface and more drops than rollers. Owen coped well with it, I think sessioning the drops line in the skills area in the morning helped.

We ended up having a long lunch – hotdogs from the cafe, and catching up with some of the other Little Rippers, whilst Owen waited to get his face painted. He also got a Little Rippers Halloween goody bag, and a second to bring home for Henry. By the time we started our fourth run, my muscles had got cold, and judging by how slowly he was pedalling over to Terry’s Belly, Owen’s had too. Owen rode Popty Ping again, and I decided to ride the red graded Hot Stepper, which runs parallel. The red graded trail was a step up, with a lot of drops, I based my chainring on one and had to stop and bail out of another as it was too big and I was riding too slowly. In the end Owen had a bit of a wait for me where the trails rejoined eachother. My arms were feeling tired on the rest of the long Terry’s Belly trail, and I was not too surprised when Owen said he did not want to do another run when we got down to the bottom. The problem was that we were right at the bottom of the bike park and we needed to get back up to the visitor centre, so we had a small climb, which just about finished Owen off, and a short descent on Norkle.

We had had an excellent days riding – over 21km according to my Apple Watch, which makes it Owen’s longest ride! Do not be mistaken in thinking that because we were mainly riding downhill it was easy, riding long downhill trails fast is hard work, and muscle groups that we are not used to using on our normal rides. Owen certainly got a taste for this type of ride and is already asking when we will next be doing an uplift day!

It was a long drive back to Coventry, traffic was OK until we got past the M40, then it was very busy, even in Coventry, which meant I was too late to take Henry to his Cycle Speedway Halloween Spectacular, so Jen had to ride up with him, and Owen and I met them there to catch the last half of the session. Henry was riding fast, and even managed to ride a lap one handed. I had set him the challenge of learning to ride one handed before the 2025 cycle speedway seasons starts, but he managed it on the last session of the 2024 season!

Wales with Owen

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A few weeks ago Owen and I finally made it to Bike Park Wales, we have been wanting to go for ages, but various things had got in the way. We came close to going last year, we had passes and a hotel booked, but then Owen had to go to hospital. Earlier in the year we won a competition, on the Little Rippers Facebook group, for a “parent and child pass” at Bike Park Wales, which is a new offer which makes it cheaper to ride there with kids. One of the dates coincided with an Orange Bikes event, also in South Wales, so a plan was formed.

Owen and I drove down the afternoon before, taking a detour to Porthcawl for fish and chips, and some photophotography/playing on the beach. The fish and chips from Beales were good and we enjoyed exploring the seafront. I got a couple of good photos. Owen had play on the beach, but unfortunately he missed out on his favourite seaside activity, as the arcades did not take contactless and I had left my wallet in the van. We stayed at the Premier Inn at Caerphilly, ready to hit Mountain View Bike Park in the morning.

After a fairly restrained visit to the breakfast buffet, we drove the short distance to the Orange Gathering at Mountain View Bike Park. We got there early, before the event started, and hit the pumptrack after signing on. Owen managed about three laps before ending up on the floor. Not the start we wanted, especially as we still had the main event later in the day. We thought it best to leave the pumptrack and explore the trails, the short green loop went well, so we added on the “8 ball” blue trail, which was a bit rougher. Owen seemed to be struggling, he was not feeling 100%, but I could also tell that he had not been riding his bike much. He should have been fine on the trail, he has ridden worse, but his confidence was knocked. Fortunately, after a rest, and a look at the Orange bikes back at the event, a session on the skills area, practising drop offs, helped, and Owen rode really well on the “Twister” blue trail, which to me felt harder than “8 ball”. As we climbed back up to the start we noticed another trail, alongside the huge jump lines that looked fun. It was the “Jamming” red trail, and after another family told us that it was fun, we decided to give it a try. Owen loved it! We did another lap of “Twister” and “Jamming”, then went back to the event for pizza before the short drive to Bike Park Wales.

I was not sure what to expect at the Orange Gathering, but must admit that I came away slightly underwhelmed. I had hoped that they would have some merch on sale, but it just seemed like they had their demo fleet to test and I definitely do not need another Orange bike! The new, made in the UK, MsIsle hardtail looked great though. And seeing the bikes in different colours has made me rethink my plans for the Clockwork Evo, which I was going to get powder coated in “Norlando Grey” to match my Four. Now I think I will go for a brighter colour. There did not seem to need too many other Orange riders at the bike park, but maybe the afternoon was busier. However, I was really impressed with Mountain View Bike Park, the trails were compact, but well maintained and the cafe/bike shop were nice. If we were ever in South Wales again I would call in for an afternoon. I thought that it would be an ideal place to break the journey if we went to Bluestone again.

As good as Mountain View Bike Park was, we were both excited for our afternoon at Bike Park Wales. As we arrived we saw people parking on the approach road, but decided to risk driving up nearer to the car park, hoping to find a space, which we did. We also got checked in quickly, I guess most people had been there since the park opened at 10:00. The deck outside office/cafe/shop was buzzing with people, it reminded me of spring days at a European ski resort. The food looked good too, but we had already eaten and we were there to ride!

We took the green trail down to the uplift pick up point, which was further away from the cafe etc than I had expected. There was a push/climb to get to the uplift too, which was also unexpected. I was pleasantly surprised that despite it being a sunny, sold-out, day, we got straight onto an uplift bus without waiting. The system they have in place is very efficient. The uplift seemed to go on forever, much longer than at 417 Bike Park, which is my only previous experience. From the top of the uplift there was also a short, fairly flat, pedal to get to the trailhead.

We chose the green-graded “Kermit” trail for our first descent, as it is the easiest trail in the bike park, but also one of the longest. After dropping in we had the trail to ourselves. It started off twisting between lines, then there was a traverse out in the open, with scenic(?) views over Merthyr Tydfil. With a few more curves before a sneaky short uphill section which spat us out at the terrace. As unwelcome as the sudden climb was, it showed how much thought had gone into the park, as it slows the riders right down before joining a busy area.

We rode straight back to the uplift pickup for another lap, discussing which trails we would ride, settling on “Melted Welly” into “Roller Disco” into “Blue Belle”, all blue-graded flow trails. As we were about to drop in, Owen said that he was not feeling well and that he did not want to do another lap after this one, which as disappointing, but not surprising as he had not seemed himself all day. We enjoyed our second run down the hill, well maybe not the surprise climb on “Melted Welly”, but the downhill bits were great. It was a shame that we had to leave after only two runs, but Bike Park Wales was even better than I had expected, and I had very high expectations! I am sure that we will be back there later in the year to do some more runs!