Trail Guide - Black Mountain Cycle Centre
Issue 56 / Fri 19th Oct, 2018
Nestled in sleepy Wales is one of the wildest bike parks the UK has to offer. Featuring big gaps, committed lines and an efficient tractor-based uplift, we head down to see what the fuss is about with Steve Peat and a bunch of high-quality shredders.
Ewen Turner heads to a sleepy valley in Wales and hits the Black Mountain Cycle Centre with some big hitters. Expect tractor uplifts, massive jumps and a guest appearance from a mountain biking legend.
These Trail Guide features are usually easy. Just go somewhere awesome and tell everyone how amazing it is and how they should go there immediately. I instantly felt differently about this place, the same feeling I get about unspoilt wilderness trails or secret venues known by only a few.
What's different is that this is a bike park, with uplift, with jumps, berms and a manufactured feel to the trails. What sets this place apart is the scale, it's small, family owned and run, and has a homemade, rustic feel that suits the sleepy valleys that make up the surrounding landscape. A hidden gem. Don't go there, you won't like it...
Wales is covered in mountains, really big mountains with rocky, craggy summits and some of the highest elevations in the UK. To get here from the North, I have to drive past the mountains of Snowdonia, in favour of a collection of small valleys near Abergavenny, an area I know very little about. The reason for the trip here has come about serendipitously from various date shifts, changes and unavailable venues, but a new, unusual location always gets me excited.
The Black Mountain Cycle Centre has crept gently into the consciousness of British mountain bikers over the past year. Videos of riders hitting huge jumps and gaps have filled Instagram and Facebook to the point it could not be ignored. For me, not being the most 'jumpy' or riders, I was concerned that it may be a venue for maximum fear rather than fun, but I was to be pleasantly surprised.
Opening three years ago, the first day saw no one turn up the owners, Joe and Gwenda, told me. It just so happens a well known Welsh bike park opened on the same day and had had somewhat more funding and infrastructure than the “little” Black Mountains Centre. Since then the place has grown organically to the size it is now, which is still reasonably small. New trails are added frequently and extra uplift trailers manufactured and added when needed.
Based on a farm, with land previously solely used for sheep farming, the centre is an excellent example of rural diversification. Extracting money from sheep is hard-won, and having a woodland on a steep hillside looked like a new way to create revenue. Planning applications and national park issues have dogged developments, but they persevered and have now even featured on BBC's Sunday night show Country File. Overcoming these hurdles has been challenging as they bring a new type of tourist to the valley, but the results are clearly seen in the popularity of the place, even mid-week, we had a real buzz and plenty of riders.
The infrastructure is low key, a car park and a couple of shacks are all you get. One is the sign-on office, and the other is a bike shop and rental. Fancy an Orange Alpine for the day? No worries. Need parts? Again, all sorted although you might need to give him a ring as he's up digging on the trails most of the time.
Our crew assembled in the car park. We were meeting up with some big hitters to explore the possibilities of the place. The guys from Peaty's products rolled in, Steve Peat himself straight off the back of a drive from the Alps, along with up and coming mountain bike madmen Rob Welch and Matt Roe. Rob used to compete in dirt-jumping and back in 2012 won pro in his first ever comp. He's not a racer but has combined his dirt jump skills with his downhill bike to become one of the most stylish riders out there. For those in the know, he's one of the most entertaining riders to watch on two wheels.
Matt is a rider’s rider and well respected across the BMX world for his stylish and innovative riding. Having recently made the transition to mountain biking, he’s caught a lot of people’s attention in a short space of time for his ridiculous style, bright shirts and innovative lines. A guest appearance from UK four-cross legend Martin Murray rounded off the team and added even more firepower to an already exciting set of riders.
With this level of performance, I could relax, knowing I wouldn't have to hit the big jumps for the cameras! These guys were perfect for showing off the place and excellent fodder for the camera wielders.
Adding to the rural feel is the simple but effective uplift service. A tractor with a custom bike trailer is the order of the day taking around 16 people and bikes at a time. With a set of three, the uplift is plentiful and efficient although probably pretty cold in the winter. Open top lifts on a sunny dusty summer's day is a happy experience in anyone's book.
A quick push up from the drop off gives views far and wide across the Black Mountains, with farmland and forest extending in every direction. From the top, options are plenty with blue, red and black signposts to choose from. The whole park is designed to link up different sections and can be generally divided into a top, middle and bottom. This means the number of variations is enormous, but repeating the same trails will all be part of the experience. Running laps over the same ground is also entirely necessary as the features here are big, very big. Sure it's not Rampage or Chatel's Air Voltage, but gaps and drops are in abundance, and on the black trails there is no escape.
Warming up on dusty blue grade trails is a delight, the sort of trails that demand to be ridden as a train, following the rider in front and putting the pressure on. These easier trails flow beautifully from top to bottom, with jumps to ease you into the style and flow of the place. Speeds are high, berms are well supported and smiles easily won. All of these blue grade trails can be ridden 'wheels on the ground', but offer plenty of scope for the more adventurous and faster rider.
Cranking things up a notch leads to bigger jumps and more commitment. This can be done gently through the red grade trails, with larger table tops and doubles allowing for progression, interspersed with flowing berms and rollers. Throughout all the trails are wooden bridges and features which one could imagine may be rustic, in keeping with the farm vibe, but closer inspection shows great construction of a very high quality. This quality extends across all the trails, be it vertical berms or beautifully sculpted lips on jumps. Care is taken on the trails here, and it shows. These are carefully crafted ribbons of flowing fun.
The more challenging trails take things up a notch, with compulsory gaps and big drops, which require plenty of thought from the average rider before committing. Get these trails right, and they flow as smoothly as the blue trails, but the consequences are much higher! All the features, however, are well made and the only danger is you overestimating one's capabilities, which we saw demonstrated by plenty of riders throughout the day! Fortunately, our team of riders were there to show us how it should be done.
The largest jumps of all are for those truly at home with a bike in flight, and Steve, Rob, Matt and Martin drop in with a confidence that only a lifetime of air miles can prepare you for. The contrast in styles is fascinating to watch, with Steve and Martin's racer efficiency next to Matt and Robs BMX and freestyle flair. One rider squashes while another boosts, Steve takes any opportunity to overtake, even if it's in the air!
The Full Moto section at the bottom of the track is where things get massive, and full commitment is needed on the gaps. Watching those who 'can' is inspiring but fortunately, there are other more gentle trails on each side, which don't have any of the trail missing.
The whole experience is friendly, inclusive and encouraging. The range of trails allows for fun to be had by a huge section of riders, with plenty to aspire to. The staff and efficient uplift just keep things running smoothly and effortlessly. It's a great venue to combine with other venues in mid and south Wales to create a road trip and experience the best that the country has to offer.
Getting to Wales is simple, if you live in the Midlands or south of England, you'll already be familiar with the area. From further afield things get more complex, but with so many other venues close by it's easy to make a week or weekend trip viable. Internationally, flying into Bristol or Cardiff would work, as would any central airport in England.
Accommodation is hugely varied and plentiful due to the tourist set up in the area. A quick flick through Air BnB gives an enormous list of anything from camping to luxurious hotels. Quirky hotels and guesthouses are a Welsh speciality, but that's all part of the charm, I think...
Thanks to- Black Mountain Cycle Centre, Peaty's Products, Rocky Mountain UK
Videos
By Ewen Turner
Ewen Turner is a self-confessed bike geek from Kendal in the Lake District of England. He runs a coaching and guiding business up there and has a plethora of knowledge about bikes with an analytical approach to testing. His passion for bicycles is infectious, and he’s a ripper on the trails who prefers to fit his working life around his time on the bike.
