Mountain Bike Riding
Staying with British Alps for your mountain biking holiday will open up a world of riding. Come and ride in the ‘British Alps’.
That’s a rather ambitious tagline, we agree, but bear with us and let’s check some facts….
What to ride
- 5 Uplifted Bike centres between 25 minutes and 50 minutes drive (Bike Park Wales, Cwmcarn, Black Mountains Cycle Centre, 417 Project, Forest of Dean)
- 60km of gravity assisted descent with uplifts
- 70km of all weather trail riding
- Add on Afan Bike park for well over 200 km of weatherproof trails
- Local trails. We can show you where they are with GPS maps, or have a look on TrailForks.
- XC and Trail rides from an hour blast to an all day epic. (some examples from Hay-on-Wye and the Brecon Beacons)
Yellow stars are large uplifted bike parks, blue are other ride areas.
Other things to do
- The Welsh National Velodrome. And yes you can ride on it.
- Access to Mechanics and workshops(Sprung, Bike Park Wales)
- Local bike shops (Drover Cycles, Climb on Bikes)
- World cup level MTB guides and coaches (Pedal a Bike Away, Pro Ride, Katy Curd)
- Sports nutritionists and wellbeing coaches (Summit)
- Enduro World Series sports masseuses (RJO Massage)
- 4X/Dual Slalom tracks (Redhill Extreme, Afan and 417)
- Hereford BMX track 15 minutes away
- Hereford Skate park 15 minutes away
- Hereford Grass and board park 15 minutes away
Bike Parks and Centres
Bike Park Wales
Uplift; Downhill, Trail, XC, Green, Blue, Red, Black, Proline, Jumpline; Coaching; Pump Track; Cafe; Shop; Workshop; Showers; Bike Hire; Bike Wash
You can easily spend a couple of days here and not get bored. If the uplift is fully booked then you can buy single uplift passes and use those. It is possible for us to arrange uplifting for you (even if it is showing as not available on their website), contact us to see what we can arrange for you.If not just ride up on the Beast of Burden track. All weather and a great centre that we are so lucky to have near. Purpose built so rides the same in wet or dry for the majority of the trails.
Cannop Cycle Centre
Uplift; Downhill, Trail, XC, Family, Green, Blue, Red, Black, Dirt Jumps; Coaching; Skills area; Cafe; Shop; Workshop; Showers; Toilets; Bike Hire; Bike Wash.
An amazing 'vibe' and such a friendly place. Something for every level of rider, literally from a 2 year old on stabilisers to downhill. A really good place to spend a day. Book your uplift online. It is possible for us to arrange uplifting for you (even if it is showing as not available on their website), contact us to see what we can arrange for you. There is a mix of hardcore based and dirt so holds up pretty well in the rain.
There are lots of local's tracks in the Forest of Dean, not far from the cycle centre. The FoD website has all the information that you need.
Cwmcarn, Forest Drive
Uplift; Downhill, Trail, XC, Red and Black; Pump track; Cafe; Shop; Bike Hire; Bike Wash.
Run by Cognation and on MB Wales, a personal bias as have been riding around Cwmcarn for a very long time. Cwmcarn was one of the orignal bike centres, but is now overshadowed a little by other local offerings. That's a good thing as it means it can be pretty peaceful there. It's still got a great couple of red tracks (and black). The Twrch climb is still a favourite and gets your legs working straight from the carpark. There are some really great local's tracks at Cwmcarn as well, including an all year christmas tree with Baubles. Weatherproof trails. Uplifting can be booked online and the shop is PS Cycles.
417 Project
Uplift; Downhill, Blue, Red, Black; Indoor dirt jumps; Outdoor dirt jumps; 4x; Dual Slalom; Cafe; Bike Wash; Bike Hire; Workshop; Shop.
A relatively new location, also the same people that run the uplifts at FoD. Really cool place to play for a day as there is a lot to do. Maybe not having the length of trails that other centres have but definately made up for by how much they have packed in. If you like to get airborne then you will like it here. If the uplift is full or showing as not available we may be able to help fix that for you. Contact us to see if that is possible. Pretty good tracks for living with the rain.
Black Mountains Cycle Centre
Uplift; Downhill, Red, Black; BIG moto jumps; Cafe (ish)
The closest uplift to the house. This is a slightly leftfield offering but is pretty amazing. You park in a muddy field and are given Tea from a Thermos, then you get uplifted with a tractor and trailer. The tracks themselves are really great and is a really chilled out atmosphere. Definately recommended. Oh and check out YouTube to see some of their big jumps. Sorry for the language, you may want to turn it down with the sound! See Ratboy having fun.
Afan Forest Park
Trail, XC, Green, Blue, Red, Black; 4X; Dirt Jumps; Cafe; Shop; Workshop; Bike Hire; Showers;
A little further from the house but holds a lots of kms of trails so worth adding in here as you can have a 6 hour trail ride here. It can be quite exposed in wintery months when at some of the highest points. Really good if you want to stretch those legs and get away from it all. This is a trail centre so doesn't accommodate for the downhillers out there, hence why no uplift. There are sort of 3 centres here all within a couple of miles that are joined up by the trails. So you get 3 cafes.... also are the 4x track and dirt jumps, and Glyncorryg, as well as the Visitor Centre shown on the map below.