Bike Park Wales

The Trails

There’s a huge variety of trails to choose from here for riders of all abilities. Since there is already quite a lot of information to be found in the older trails, we spent our visit riding the new trails built over the last year; the revamp of ‘A470’, ‘Martha Rocks’ and ‘Groot’. We’ve included some of our favourites below.

There's not many options for interesting dedicated beginner trails in the UK but the green Kermit trails at BPW is the perfect introduction to mountain biking. It's long, flowy and varied allowing riders to feel the terrain and get comfortable riding flat and banked trails.

At five kilometers long you’ll get your money’s worth once you reach the top.

Rocks by name, rocks by nature. This trail is very rocky and some places are pretty darn fast too. Martha’s rated as a Blue Plus, which in Bike Park Wales means intermediate. It’s another very fun trail, though we would say that it’s probably better suited for the upper end of the intermediate rider class. The trail starts with a long, rolling straight with lots of (you guessed it!) rocks and a number of small drops. After turning left, the trail winds its way down the hill with some flowy sections punctuated by the odd rock garden. These are fairly rough and we would recommend taking it easy on your first run down (a lapse in concentration almost ended Morgan's weekend). All in all, Merthyr Rocks is a great trail that is uniquely flowy for one so rocky and rough in places.

Roller Disco was one of the best mountain bike trails at BPW and it's just had a revamp. The team have done an awesome job bringing it back up to standards and it's well worth a run down this if you're riding at BPW.

You can really enjoy the downhill pump track style trail. With rollers and berms from start to finish you can ride this Blue trail whatever your ability. It’s an incredible introduction for riders looking for something smooth yet banked and moving up from a green trail.

More surprises from Bike Park Wales as they open the Pandora's Box trail. This is a shorter track running the length of half of the hill throwing in some unique rocky features. It's not sympathetic on the bike but if you're looking to get used to battering through rocks then its a good place to start.

If you can ride the other red trails at BPW then you’ll manage this - just go easy on your first run. Your bike will thank you.

One of the things we learned to love about Bike Park Wales was the trail names. At first, you take them as they are, assuming they were decided at the last minute and don’t necessarily have a lot to do with the trail. Within a few turns though, you realise that the name provides the most precise and effective summary of the trail available. From the top, we were discussing the ‘Guardian of the Galaxy’ film series. I’m not sure how much the character ‘Grot’ had to do with the naming of the trail, but as you descend (and especially in the wet), ‘grotty’ becomes the most appropriate and obvious adjective. Groot doesn't feel much like the rest of the bike park. It’s littered with roots and you have to earn your flow. It’s a fun trail though and one that’s perfect for anyone looking to better their root handling skills.

This is a very fun trail and one we pushed up to hit over and over again. The jumps have been in the gym all winter, they’ve dabbled in some supplements recommended by Jared Graves and they’ve taken great care to ensure their gains have been smooth and delightfully aesthetic. Niche metaphors aside, A470 has enjoyed some serious TLC over the winter and the results are incredible. You get to the trail by following ‘Vicious Valley’ from the top of the bike park. It starts with some lovely mellow table tops, getting gradually bigger as you descend. Half way down, the trail takes a 180 degree turn to the right and things get a little bigger but no less smooth or floaty. Apart from another Welsh bike park (Revolution) A470 is the closest we have come to the famous jump lines in the Whistler bike park - perhaps the greatest compliment you can give to anyone building jump lines. 

This has to be one of the best trails at Bike Park Wales. It's one of the originals and runs from the top to the middle fire road. A red ‘blended’ trail it has a mix of jumps and some more technical sections. The trails a great option to build up to and continue to link up all the way down. Definitely give this run a shot if you're there.

Boomsland

BRAND NEW! Jumps and some technical ruts make this a real dream of a trail. Short but it packs a punch. It’s black largely due to the gaps which are relatively short and the more technical bottom section. This follows after some of the fastest and biggest berms on the hill. Heck of a track!

Martian

We’d recommend you watch the video for this one. This trail, although short, packs a serious punch. This is graded as one of the hardest technical trails in the park and has some technically challenging features. Ride with Caution but if you get down it you’ll be sure to have a good time.

More from one of the Parks Founder - DERAILED SERIES

On this episode of the DeRailed trail series, Morgan goes for a ride with Bike Park Wales co-founder, Rowan Sorrel. He and Morgan chat about how Rowan got the bike park off the ground and challenges and opportunities of the pandemic. After the chat, Morgan follows Rowan down the flowing jumps of A470 - one of the parks funnest trails. At the halfway point, they switch to a new ‘pro line’ called the Martian. Morgan learns that the Bike Park Wales grading system is to be taken seriously as he tries to keep up it’s founder down this fresh, techy and wild new trail.