I was kind of looking forward to doing this but also apprehensive about it being a waste of time, i wont be able to ride properly as i have my son with me and also would Luca be in one of his moods where he is scared of everything and wont ride the trails.
Well he proved me wrong, what an ace couple of days we had.
I picked him up Wednesday night from his mums, armed with just his Nintendo switch for the journey and a smile on his face we headed to my house to start packing. With everything ready i said he needed an early night as we would need to have breakfast then hit the road for the 4hr journey. Long way for me to go to not ride my bike properly but this was a good opertunity to do something selfless, i do feel sometimes i drag Luca out to do something i want to do but this was all his idea and all about him.
8am and breakfast eaten we put the bikes in the van and headed off, traffic wasnt too bad and after a stop at the services and mc Donald’s for lunch (diet out the window on this trip already haha)
We soon arrived at Bike Park Wales just after dinner time, went in to get some uplift tickets and our passes for the afternoon and got changed, down the uplift trail we went and Luca was soon asking me to push his bike up to the uplift .... 🙈 here we go with the moaning i thought, but he is only 7 years old and his kona stinky 24” probably weighs the same as my Santa Cruz. Straight onto a bus with no waiting the driver moved the pin on the end bike slot and Luca’s bike fitted nicely, put my bike on and off we went.
Luca was amazed with the view and the journey up, helmets on as we reached the top we grabbed our bikes and headed for the trail. First up i thought sixtapod was the best one to start on, Luca was a bit confused as the start is flat and he had to pedal. He didnt come to pedal haha but soon started to enjoy himself when it went downhill.
Straight off i was pleased with his speed and attacking the trail and could see he was in a good mindset and enjoying himself, 1 stop half way we reached the fire road and headed down willie waver and back to the uplift.
Back up for run no 2 we went onto melted wellie, started off well but then there is a small uphill. We jumped onto the fire road and walked up to were boniville is. The sky went dark and a snow storm came over us, we headed into bonniville to get some tree cover. Luca did not like this trail, far too much peddaling and he said sixtapod was much more fun.
Bikes washed off we packed them into the van and went to the b&b twin trails, gave the bikes a proper clean and lube we had a shower and got changed to get the train into Merthyr for some food.
We went to my fave place for food in Merthyr “wood fired” i of course ordered the Merthyr monster burger and Luca had Chicken and chips. He didnt like the look of the chips as they looked burnt but after trying one he loved them, i think they call it double cooked chips. With a garlic bread and cheese we were both stuffed and i enjoyed a nice cold beer. Diet well and truly out the window now haha, oh well its a treat day.
As we headed back to the train station the train was in so we ran up the steps and round the bridge to get onto the train and then sat in the station for 10 minutes, typical 😄. Back at the B&B we watched Ace Ventura on the iPad in bed and got an early night, big day tomorrow !
Friday we had our cooked breakfast and a chat with the lady at Twin Trails before packing the van up again for our full day at BPW.
Day 2 back on the uplift we hit Sixtapod again into willie waver to warm up, Luca said “can we not do the pedal one again please dad” so on run 2 we went over to popty ping. At the start of popty ping it looked like terry’s belly was re opened (was closed Thursday the day before) so we went down popty ping to start. He came off his pedals after the first of the 3 small drops (prob quite big to a 7 year old though) and it looked as though we were about to have our first crash but he composed himself as i was shouting get back on your pedals he did and even popped off the last drop and landed on 2 wheels. Good lad very proud dad following him down the jump line he even took off on a couple and landed on the top of the table tops.
As we got the end of popty ping there was no sign of terrys belly being closed so we headed down. After a break half way Luca was amazed at how long this trail was. He wasnt so amazed at the end when he had to pedal and then walk back up, yes time for daddy to push his bike back up to the van !
At the van we had snacks and a drink break and grabbed the go pro.
On the way back up we agreed to do a run of sixtapod then stop at the fire road so dad could walk up and do the bottom half of A470 line. Go pro on we hit sixtapod again and Luca was flying, into the woods he even got some great air off one of the step down jumps. At the fire road i showed him the black run drop ins to show him how much bigger they are, there was a guy eyeing up coal not coal double drop and we got chatting, he just done die hard but was unsure about this double drop so i did it to show him you dont need much speed. He then hit it perfectly and carried on down that trail. We walked up the fire road and i said to Luca you can wait here while i walk up and do these jumps you can see me and i can see you.
He said “can i do it dad ?” I said yes sure if you want they are all rollable.
Good effort considering the jumps are twice as tall as he is ! Daddy’s go but i slightly cased the first one so lost my speed and didnt clear them all 😩 i didnt make Luca wait while i went back up i thought we can go do popty ping again and i will have a run on my own.
Video of sixtapod into willie waver .......
We decided that run no 4 was the last run of the day as Luca was getting tired and hungry and we also had a 4hr journey home.
Over at the entrance to popty ping Luca sat down and had some snacks while i did a run of popty ping on my own and stopped at the cut off and came back up the fire road to him. He saved me 2 mini eggs 😄
So terrys belly open we headed down........
Luca was absolutely spent at the bottom but he did ride up to the car park and i only had to push his bike a couple hundred yards to the van haha, i had told him he could have anything he wanted from the cafe for being such a good lad and doing so well.
Our day was done, burgers for lunch we got changed and packed up to head home, i was so proud of how he did. I never expected him to hit a red trail or hit it so well. Get air, do back wheel hops and generally get sketchy and pull it off. So so proud of him.
Here is a video of what i though were his best bits ...... and some words of encouragment from dad 😂
Wow simply wow ! I am so Lucky to have a son who loves to ride his bike, not so lucky that this is now his fave place to ride 😏 this could get expensive 😩😆
I made the mistake of showing these videos to him mum 🙄 she nearly had kittens and said that is so dangourous 😳😆 but she is proud of how good he is.
Saturday we went to our local trails to do some digging and remove the mud left by winter. We then washed our bikes properly in the afternoon before he it was time for him to go home. Luca back at his mums i was knackered and made a start on the washing.
Sunday i rode Greno with Jimmy and Drew, great day and just shows how good mountain biking is when your group of 3 people are 17, 42, & 53 years of age and you have such a good day. Very very tired now as i write this and its back to work tomorrow to have a rest 🤣🤣🤣
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