# Best Trails UK?



## ShaneWBA (10 Oct 2021)

I'm pretty new to biking on trails, but went BPW last week and loved it

What other places would people recommend that are similar with BPW and ideally have an uplift pease?


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## Dolorous Edd (10 Oct 2021)

Forest of Dean - worth a go if you can get to it easily

https://www.forestryengland.uk/cannop-cycle-centre


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## LJR69 (13 Oct 2021)

BPW is the Mecca and so you've pretty much started at the best place. However you should try FlyUp 417 which is a great dh park (with uplift).


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## Littgull (13 Oct 2021)

BPW?


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## PeteXXX (13 Oct 2021)

Littgull said:


> BPW?


Bike Park Wales


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## Jody (14 Oct 2021)

For uplifts Forrest of Dean is worth a trip and the uplift to the top is really quick.

Antur Stiniog is another decent place but the trails are a lot more rocky and more suited towards bigger hitting bikes. Still enjoyed it though but wish my bike was 160-180 travel.

Black Mountains has an uplift. I've not been there but it gets some good reviews.

Revolution bike park and DyFi has uplift. Both look a little out of my league though given how big some of the jumps are.

Danny Harts descend bike park in the north east also has an uplift.


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## fossyant (14 Oct 2021)

Uplift...  You'll be getting an e-bike next !!

Try some XC courses like Llandegla, Gwydir, Penmachno and Coed y Brenin - all great but they are hard work - non of this uplift rubbish.  Also loads of 'natural routes' if you look at MTBWales.com


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## Jody (14 Oct 2021)

Uplifts are great Fossy. 

TBF they are some cracking XC trails. Any of them are well worth the drive and effort.


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## Dolorous Edd (14 Oct 2021)

I get the impression full on DH bikes - which look impossible to ride uphill and so make uplifts look less like cheating - are far less popular than they were, and that many now use enduro bikes for downhill instead.


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## I like Skol (18 Oct 2021)

Maybe I should try this 'uplifting' experience some day?


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## LJR69 (19 Oct 2021)

fossyant said:


> Uplift...  You'll be getting an e-bike next !!
> 
> Try some XC courses like Llandegla, Gwydir, Penmachno and Coed y Brenin - all great but they are hard work - non of this uplift rubbish.  Also loads of 'natural routes' if you look at MTBWales.com


I bet after one ascent of BPW's mountain, followed by a 5km technical descent you'd be in the mini bus with the rest of us 

I agree though that XC riding has it's own challenges and feel good factor, but it's a very different beast to full on DH riding.

In other news...I'm considering getting an e-MTB  (I get all the uphill riding I want from my road cycling - where I'd never get an e-bike)


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## T4tomo (19 Oct 2021)

DH MTB is a very different past time, quite unrelated to the other forms of cycling where one needs to pedal.


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## Rusty Nails (19 Oct 2021)

Jody said:


> Uplifts are great Fossy.
> 
> TBF they are some cracking XC trails. Any of them are well worth the drive and effort.


I never understood that rubbish about "earning" the downhill part of a bike park ride by slogging up it first.

People go for the downhill experience, not to knacker themselves going up.

Just like skiing.

Haven't been for years, but the first time I went to BPW the bike trailer wasn't available and I wasted a lot of time and energy riding up it three times.


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## I like Skol (19 Oct 2021)

Rusty Nails said:


> I wasted a lot of time and energy riding up it three times.


Wasted, really? I think you probably put in a fair effort for the reward?

Anyway, getting back to the OP and I hardly think they will be sessioning extreme DH on a hardcore rig when they describe themselves as below....


ShaneWBA said:


> I'm pretty new to biking on trails,


I don't think this is the thread to be debating the right/wrong, reasoning or justification for using an uplift service for riding trails in the Welsh hills


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## Drago (20 Oct 2021)

Wasted? 

With every pedal stroke, youre getting fitter - hardly a waste.

With every pedal stroke, your body is taking on board the minutiae of body positioning, bike geometry and behaviour, how the surface below behaves and reacts, and reading the terrain. These lessons will also make you a better downhillist.

Time in the saddle actually riding a bike is never wasted in the advancement of your fitness, skills and abilities, or all three.


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## Rusty Nails (20 Oct 2021)

Drago said:


> Wasted?
> 
> With every pedal stroke, youre getting fitter - hardly a waste.
> 
> ...


Nah. I had limited time there, and paid money to go downhill, not to get fitter riding uphill. Spent well over an hour riding up and less than half an hour riding down. If there had been an uplift I could have had a couple more rides down to learn more about those things.

The trail up is a smooth, wide trail, which I get loads of experience on most rides, and no preparation for the rocks, twists, gullies and jumps etc. I also used to ride around that area for free growing up, when there were no bike trails, on adapted bikes before the days of mountain bikes.

I have long since given up manufactured trail centres and prefer riding forestry commission trails, cross country or single track, when not on the road.


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## Jody (20 Oct 2021)

We get somewhere between 8 and 10 runs using BPW uplift.


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## LJR69 (22 Oct 2021)

I think we're all big and ugly enough to decide for ourselves what's a good use of our time on a bike. Riding up a hill on a mtb is a means to an end for me. I save my uphill challenges for my road riding (which I do twice a week). I do love riding natural trails and so inclines are part and parcel of that experience, but when I go to a bike park I'm only really interested in the dh trails.


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## Brandane (27 Oct 2021)

If the OP is still looking for the best MTB trails in the UK, have a look at the 7 stanes routes. Mostly in the Scottish borders area, and on forestry commission land. I have done most of them, but not for a few years now. Hard work but well worth it, if that's your thing!


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## Jody (27 Oct 2021)

Brandane said:


> Hard work but well worth it, if that's your thing!



If you had a preference, which ones would you choose?


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## Brandane (27 Oct 2021)

Jody said:


> If you had a preference, which ones would you choose?


From memory, I liked the 2 near Innerleithen... that was Glentress and Innerleithen itself. The one at Newton Stewart (Kirroughtree) too. But I am not a black trail hero! Red at a push. So others may not agree with my preferences.


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## Jody (27 Oct 2021)

Brandane said:


> From memory, I liked the 2 near Innerleithen... that was Glentress and Innerleithen itself. The one at Newton Stewart (Kirroughtree) too. But I am not a black trail hero! Red at a push. So others may not agree with my preferences.



Looking at going next year and i'm not black trail rider also. Glentress was on the cards, so if Innerleithen is nearby then it looks like a 2-4 day tour north of the border.


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## wiggydiggy (27 Oct 2021)

ShaneWBA said:


> I'm pretty new to biking on trails, but went BPW last week and loved it
> 
> What other places would people recommend that are similar with BPW and ideally have an uplift pease?



I really like the collection of trails throughout Forestry England. I can't promise they have uplifts but they are a good mix of easy - hard trails so should have something for you. 2 of my fav's are Winlatter and Grizedale in the lakes and have lots of pre-defined routes and general trails to follow.



Brandane said:


> If the OP is still looking for the best MTB trails in the UK, have a look at the 7 stanes routes. Mostly in the Scottish borders area, and on forestry commission land. I have done most of them, but not for a few years now. Hard work but well worth it, if that's your thing!



I can recommend the Big Country Route at Glentrool. It's a 36 mile long route, it's more of a cross country ride than dedicated MTB trail but it's very pretty.


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## ChrisEyles (1 Jan 2022)

Can't believe no one's mentioned Cwmcarn yet - probably my favorite trail centre and nice and easy to get to off the M4. 

There is a proper DH run, but it's quite a lot of climbing if the uplift isn't running as has been the case for a while now.

However the two main XC trails are both excellent - perfectly do able on a XC hardtail, also great fun to blast around on a bigger bike. 

The trails also hold up really well in bad weather, much better than FoD. 

Was out riding Cafal today, it was ace!


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