HIPPO TO BE SQUARED

Dyfi Bike Park has two new red trails — El Hippo and Super Swooper — adding even more trail-rider appeal

- Jamie Darlow

What did the Athertons do while they were furloughed? They rebuilt the Dyfi Bike Park of course, sculpting two beautiful new red trails, a pump track and making a host of other changes. And with it, they hope to have softened the venue’s character. Like a friendly arm around the shoulder of both new and experienced riders, the Dyfi Bike Park has been working hard to broaden its customer base and draw in more riders from far and wide.

Whether that will happen is currently a moot point though, as due to Covid-19 all bike parks are hit with reduced uplift capacity. What we do know, after a flying visit to the park, is that the tactic will work in the long run — both new red trails are mesmerising, a triumph of flow and progression that’ll have riders howling in frustration that uplift places are so limited.

“I was incredibly nervous in the uplift to the start, I felt out of my depth,” Jen Carter says, who was visiting the park for the day. “After the first cautionary lap of Super Swooper I was hooked. It was a perfect trail for progressing — allowing me to commit to jumps and other features with ample confidence.

Following Dyfi, I feel when I go back to other parks, bigger features will feel less intimidating.”

RED REVOLUTION

The first of the new reds is Super Swooper. Arriving at the park, you are greeted by the new rough-cut timber arch bearing the Dyfi logo. Along the tree-lined firewood track lies the allin-one clubhouse, cafe, shop – a large open-fronted wooden refuge with a welcoming wood burner.

After a smooth ride on our first uplift of the day we were soon up, with the rolling Welsh countryside sprawling out beneath us — what a place!