Revs to get back into gear earlier than planned, with a grand vision for the future park still in the pipeline.
After being forced to shut down last year, Revolution Bike Park has announced the welcome news they will be reopening the park in some capacity for summer 2024. The park closed last year while larch trees infected with phytophthora ramorum were felled, with the forestry work damaging a lot of the original trails and making the venue unrideable in its previous form.
Now though, as announced in a YouTube video, the team is ready to start rebuilding, and has plans to put on some events as well as open to the general public from July to September. If you’re thinking of getting ready for a trip to Revs and make sure you check out our guide to the best full-face helmets, as they are mandatory for all riders.
Revolution Bike Park won the MBR Trail of the Year award in 2018
Revolution Bike Park reopening need to know:
- Four events to be hosted over summer
- Park will be open to the public between 13th July and 22nd September
- No uplift service – push up only
- Some trails like 50to01 and Vision to reopen, while others undergo rebuilding/redesigning
- Day tickets expected to cost around £15
Four events will be hosted by the park this summer, with three open to the public
The events
First up, let’s look at some of the events the team has planned for the summer. Three out of the four will be open to the public – the fourth being an Inter Services event which is for armed forces personnel and is a ‘private event.’ The first public event will be the Stockport World Series on Tour and will take place on the 29th and 30th June. The park has partnered up with John Thorpe (of Farmer Johns fame) and will host a round of the popular series at Revs. It will be a push-up only event, and will be centred around the lower part of the hill. More information can be found on the Borderline Events website.
Next up is the 50to01 Sunset Sessions. This will take place on 17th August, and will be a ticketed only event with some chilled out riding based around the 50to01 line. It’s not going to be a formalised racing event, but for those who want to get back into the swing of things and want to tick off the 50/01 line, it sounds like a great time. More information about this and how to book will be released in the coming weeks.
Finally, the Gravity Events Mini-DH final round will be at Revs on 24th and 25th August. Again, this will be a push-up only event and centred around the bottom of the hill. Saturday will see the park open for practice, and Sunday will have limited practice and race runs. More information can be found on the Gravity Events website.
The reopening of Vision Line will be music to the ears of many shredders
What about Joe Public?
Not everyone wants to race, so what is Revs doing for the rest of us? Well, they’re still rebuilding the park, but have some plans to refocus efforts to certain areas to make sure it’s all up to scratch for riders to come back and enjoy the trails. One thing to note is that the uplift service will not be in operation – or it’s not expected to be. This may change if the weather is better than expected for Wales in summer, but at the moment, the plan is not to run the uplift service. Additionally, not all the trails will be rebuilt in time for reopening, but the team is confident that there will be enough to ride on the hill to make it worth the trip.
In the video, the team announced a few things that would be developed in time for the reopening, including improving the car park, adding some catering and tidying up trails around the bottom section of the hill so you’ve got plenty to session. One big build project for summer is a new push up/ride up track that avoids the steep hill on the uplift road. It will be built between the Mainline and Ghetto Track trails.
The Vision line will be one of the first to be up and running, along with 50/01
Speaking of Mainline, the lower section is planned to be rebuilt, as it was pretty badly damaged during the works. The line is still there, however, so rebuilding shouldn’t be too big of a task. Reddy McRedFace is also due a refresh, and if time allows it may be developed into a fully fledged DH track.
Freeride will also be getting a touch up which means you’ll be able to ride from the fire road down to the car park.
Further up the hill, and Vision and 50to01 are priorities for refurbishment as they’ll be featured in some of the event days. If you need a warm up track for 50to01 then the news that the top section of Freeride will be getting rebuilt will be well received.
Ahead of the 50to01 Sunset Sessions, the team has plans to get the Ffar Side jump track back up and running. This trail survived the best out of any of the DH tracks on the hill, and will link into the newly created Mainline to give a fully top to bottom DH run.
So how much will it cost? Revs has said the cost per day should be drastically reduced compared to previous prices, because there will be no uplift service. They also said they’re looking at pricing day tickets around £15, which will give riders full access to the hill and they may even slightly extend the days to 9AM to 5PM.
Whether or not it will be a pre-booking only situation or turn up on the day will be decided soon, but prepare to need to book for the first few weeks so the park can manage demand.
If you want to stay up to date with the latest Revolution Bike Park news, make sure you keep an eye on their YouTube channel.