BikePark Wales will be five years old this August and the guys and gals are going to make 2018 a year to go down in BPW’s history books it seems.

>>> Guide to all UK mountain bike uplift venues

“It’s time for a step change and to spread the development focus so that not only the trails but other aspects of the site see some love too.” – BikePark Wales.

Loads of new trails

Martin Astley from BPW: “Loads of new trails. Six new ones in total. Three reds, two blues and a black. Aimed to be live by the end of June. Part funded by the National Grid.” National Grid? All is explained below. “Also look out for a new trail style ‘BPW Blend'”.

Now the bad news. Some trails are going to be closed in June. The National Grid are replacing the distribution network cables that cross part of BikePark Wales and as a result unfortunately they will have to close some trails (lower Terry’s Belly, Hot Stepper, Root Manouvres and 50 Shades of Black).

National Grid have made a significant contribution to the aforementioned new trail building project. Just imagine what the trail map will look like in July once everything is open again!

After existing ‘off grid’ BPW are going to be hooked up to National Grid and the national water supply and going online with fibre optic connection. Martin: “We need that surety of supply. The practicalities are that the borehole runs out of water. That’s why we’re doing that.”

Improved uplift road

The first thing underway is a complete rebuilding and widening of the uplift road. At the moment it’s single lane and so buses have to stop and wait and it’s inefficient. So they’re turning the whole thing into a dual carriageway. This will allow the uplift to run more efficiently meaning more runs and less waiting time at the bottom.

Also keep your eyes peeled mid-summer for a very exciting new uplift vehicle that BPW will be trialling on site. Hmm… hovercraft?

Improved grub

Martin: “We’re making a big improvement on the café. We’ve got a new executive chef, revamping the kitchen. We did a customer survey and that’s what they want. That’ll be happening this summer.” Is it going posh? Yes.