southerndownhill.com - Forum

Question for the organisers / Ali, etc. Where do you see UKBP going in the next five years? Is the sky the limit, or are you just going to improve on what you've got? Was discussing this with a couple of members, bit of a pipe dream, but surely given a 400k grant and a membership cost hike you could stick a chairlift in? Lol. Would then be the absolutely premiere DH/FR spot in the south, no arguments.

no need for a chairlift as its quite a short push up and most people only do the top sections anyway.

more importantly is trying to secure it so that the first time someone tries to sue for damages for dodgy trail construction the whole place doesn't get taken down.

yeh but the bottom section of the hills is where the best parts of the track are!
chairlift would be excessive but fun! but the uplift they do have is without a dobt the best around anyways! maybe expand on the tracks? or build new tracks on parts of the hill that arnt used? or buy another hill around the corner and have it be a whole new and gnarlier place!

I think purchasing land outright would probably be at least as expensive as building and operating a chairlift. Leasing, maybe...

Rich your showing your age!!!

I might be old but it was my son ( SAM) who replied to that not me!!!
Hez supposed to be young and fit!!!!! not old and decrepid like me.
 Rich

We do have some big plans for the park. What has been achieved by everyone so far is only about 5% of what we would like have up there -  in the future there could be a chair lift (or something similar to take you back up the top) visitor centre with big cafe & bike shop, proper car parking and loads of new trails to suit every level of rider from novice to the extreme downhill/freeride. At the moment we're at the limit of development that can be achieved with self funding from the events and memberships etc, so the plan is start looking in to grants etc by the end of the year - maybe with something starting to happen by next year. But remember the wheels of all the governing bodies (council, Forestry Commission etc) turn so slow you cant see them move!

Just keep supporting our events and come & enjoy yourself, the more you come back, the better the facilities & riding gets!

And Rich just admit that you want a chairlift cus I know I do............ ;D

Chairlift would be such a waste of money :D
Get a button lift or something instead were you can hold on with your bike and it pulls you up or those ski escalators:P
Maybe a better food/club house eventually as the green thing last time didn't have much room. Also spend the money on some more wood and have some more shore.
 
Also chicken wire would of been nice on some of the northshore. Also possibly some 40ft gaps or so :D And possibly get the uplift track tarmaced as it would make uplifts more efficient and you could get rid of those gas guzzling army trucks and use something more efficient on fuel :D

It wouldn't be the same without the army trucks!! Although something fast would be cool!

As for the button lift, you could have one but instead of the seat obviously you can have two hooks coming off the pole which hook about 2 cm each side of your handle bars. would mean you wouldn't have to have 1 hand off the bike if you aren't as confident.

i recon a chairlift would be cool however would use up alot of money from funds and stuff so instead why not just increase the rate of the uplift trucks so they can run more freely and like someone said tarmac the fireroads so truck doesnt jolt and make you hit the person next to you :):)

harry

I want my own personal helicopter so a chairlift is too slow!!
 Rich

Or a Rocket up your arse for the next race!!  ;)

a few more bigggg gaps and maybe so DJs if you can.
chicken wire on the shore?
and a button lift or tarmac'd uplift route would be cool, but where would a button/chair lift go!?

i think a chair lift is a good idea but not really needed, though i could see it boosting the amount of riders as not eveyone is young and fit, but i dont mind walking up as it doesnt take to long and is good training witout starring at a wall on a tred mill or pumping weights!

need to come up there soon only been once and was wet but still fun! ;D

need to see if there's some flatout parts and steep stuff.. that shits the best!!

Dirt Jumps

Yer . Dirt jumps are always entertaining and make them near the uplift so it gives you something to do whilst you wait for the truck.

a button lift would be waaaay too steep for bikes at the park, chairlift would be the MoFo'in shizzle though, imagine the amount of runs you could get in!30-40 a day even! and it would bring so much to the park aswel.

Button lifts at some ski resorts are steeper than anything at ubikepark ! Chairlift would be over excessive and cost tons. Only be worth it if Ukbikepark was in Scotland and the tracks would be 4 mins long and a  have high altitude.

yeah but try sitting on a bike on a hill that steep, its alot different to skis.

Hmmm couldn't see it being to hard. And the health and safety issues with a chairlift ! The cable could snap,the lift could get stuck etc... With a button lift its not going to have a risk of death. And if it breaks down you can just get off and walk.

fair nuff,would be a massive amount cheaper too

me and paul and a few others talk about this all the time!!! not just chairlifts but other stuff we would like to see up at the park

I think the button lift idea might work but it would be worth doing some research into the maximum angle that a rider could hold onto . The other advanatage is that pretty much every ski resort is replacing their buttons with chairlifts ( if they stil have them!!) so theres no shortage of second hand button lifts ( they are usually shorter too as they generally serve nursery pistes

Buying a second hand chairlift poses a tougher problem as the hill is comparatively short compared to most alpine chair lifts

I spend a fair amount of time on a french forum concerning chairlifts and looking for second hand chairs... if anyones interested and your french is up to it google forum remontee mechanique - it is possiblly the geekiest forum in the world!
its also useful to find out what the plans are for the ski resorts expansion and how that might affect bikers - lots of things planned for the PDS. esepcially on the swiss side

as for the other plans for the park, we discuss these regularly too  and there are many plans! so keep buying your day tickets, coming to the races and supporting the park and make it even better than it is now  !!!

please dont do dirt jumps! keep it a designated place for downhill and freeride.. dirt jumps get in the way, pain to maintain and that means priorites would be split between dirt jumps and the downhill tracks! and the 4x and the north shore...geez theres enough there already rto maintain, why add something else which would cause more aches and pains!

Just because you can't jump...... ::)

Just cause your pants at tricks :P Downhill also needs maintaining !

The future has to include all weather single track loops in the wider woods (already underway) as there are many more xc riders than dh riders and it will give ukbp much greater longterm security. Don't start yabbering about xc is gay dh rules - i didn't say that the loops wont have great descents. XC loops take nothing away from the park but open up a great hill to many more riders which can only be a good thing.
This is one of the main reasons for needing to source external funding - long, well made loops don't come cheap. As was mentioned before the powers that be move slowly and the amount of work involved in securing grants etc is pretty major.

As for lifts i think that some kind of drag lift may be an option but i cant see a chair lift up a 100m hill. As it is luxury not necessity i don't think the local planning authority would be keen. Also if chair lifts were an accessible option why are Scotland and wales not dotted with them. There is no point in having super uplift 5000 turbo if you wax a load of money which could be spent on the trails that you were getting lifted to the top to ride.

Those of you who are wanting jumps the hard work has already been done - back in the dark months Ali made a start with the digger. There is a six pack down in the bowl that just needs the TLC of some keen dirt enthusiasts. Having built and maintained sets of jumps in the past i know that a good set of jumps need to be finished by hand. The soil has a high chalk content and sets like concrete - think winch. If you want jumps so badly get down there and get them running, back in the day i would have given my right arm to have a set of rhythms nearly finished and in a place where they are safe from lip kickers.

The hill has come a long way in a short time thanks to the devotion of a small army of riders and friends - without people riding bikes together non of this would be being discussed.

The future is down to you - make the park what you want by getting involved. 

perhaps spend some time on "tarting" up the park and all of the courses...like keeping them permanently marked out with tape, and adding some nice big brand signs (661/maxxis/torrco etc) on corners and drops etc.

Maybe also getting someone to tidy the tracks once a week, of all the twiggs and crap that gathers in places, and patching up berms that have worn away.

But yeah some type of lift would be nice, would earn you quite a bit of dosh too.    ;)

Yeah lets make all the tracks nice and smooth!!!      ::)

yeh well i can actually dirt jump but i choose not to because well its crap! and tricks dont really interest me, other than table tops and whips which arnt really tricks....plans like the sign s of sponsors sounds good though! but definatly track maintenance to be high, not saying it isnt at the moment..

I'm not sure if anyone has come across these, it may be the same as a button lift. In Kalpis bike park in Finland (training area for Matti Lehikoinen) they use a lift similar to T bars, the only difference is the seat part is replaced by a hook that goes around your bars or the top of your stantion and you get pulled up a straight track with both your hands on the bars. Really simple. I think it would be ideal for the bike park as it's not a massive contraption of a machine and just keeps running itself all day. The only thing is you would need a relatively straight track to be pulled up.

Yeah, Ive seen that thinks its a modified button lift . Im a big fan of these for the bikepark
The ease of use , cost and lack of maintenance compared to a chairlift make a huge amount of sense I think we need to have a reconnaissance mission to eastern europe to locate some of these contraptions ... eastern europe has many  distractions though

Sounds good to me! I'll get my girlfriend to email the bike park, she speaks Finnish and will probably be able to find more out about these lifts.

In that case I would like to formally put my name forward as part of the advance working party to go and look at these distractions........erm sorry.........lift things !
Sumo

Good idea! Shall we take our bikes?   ;D

i heard that there was great riding of one kind or another - i too put my name foward to go to eastern europe and find ways to get high.

looking at flights now
thiking about a tour of prague, berlin, warsaw... any other venues?
they dont seem to mentiion ski lifts but I am sure there will be some research possibilities.  I hear moscow is worth a bash too - surely they must have a ski lift for sale ? they definitely score well on the extra curricular activities though.

Wren make sure you check out icelands " facilities"

I knew I had seen it somewhere

COOL!!

I bet they've got a Berliet powering it at the top!!  ;)

That could be done on the push up route surely?

A drag lift has to be a winner, but one for the more distant future I guess… 

The DH runs are bob on at the minute and I don’t think too much maintenance needs doing as cut up rooty trails are best in my view, maybe the odd smooth run for blasting along, but really I prefer something that takes a bit more skill and line choice to get through…

As for Dirt jumps and XC loops, I say bring ‘em on, the more the merrier, the more types of riding that are catered for the more riders come along and day ticket are sold, meaning more funding, Yes DJ’s need looking after but you’ll definitely find willing jumpers especially if they know they won’t be getting bulldozed anytime soon…

XC loops are good training for DH riders too you know, and a decent enough course will attract XC riders, a marathon/Enduro/XC series could rustle up more money for the park maybe?

Why not open it up further:
-A café?
-A trials course?
-BBQ area?
-mini cabins or huts for the serious weekenders?
-Tech/shop area?
-Bike rental?
-Head cam rental?
-Built in Freelap poles/timer rental?
-Training courses to help riders improve?
-Maybe put together a small (Jerseys, petrol and race fees paid) NPS/Dragons team to race under the “UK bike park “, team name as a promotional exercise…
-Perhaps put together a regular video log (short DVD or downloadable movie/podcast) of local riders and racers at the park, as well as building work and events, again as a promotional exercise, to show off the park/facilities/atmosphere/etc?

Not all of those are achievable or useful necessarily but it is worth considering the possibilities beyond chairlifts and more courses, but if you are after more riders and better exposure for the park then it’s best to be ambitious, wider appeal and more facilities should bring in more revenue and bigger promotion of the park is possible and can only attract riders…

i think the drag lift is the best idea. have it up the push up route cos its nice n straight!

Cookeaa you're a mind reader! (just seen your post) all that sort of stuff ain't unrealistic and would contribute to a great venue.....imagine cabins! the view!! The park on tap!!!.........lookout for a park sponsored team (hopefully) too next year...

Site planning is the first hurdle (that we are sort of hurdling right now) then FUNDING!!! 

Had a go on the button at the top of Avoriaz this summer..........all the way up the fire road??...........BUNS OF STEEL!!!!     ;D

I put that up a month ago :D

Cheers though....

Thanks for another awesome uplift yesterday... very speedy turnaround on the uplifts!

Whilst in the 5 hour traffic jam that was the journey home, I was thinking that perhaps a Freelap timing system is something you could put in on for uplift days. You could put in a few poles to cover the main start/finish areas and purchase some watches that you could rent out to folks to eventually cover costs. I believe they have a version that can actually be buried permanently.

I'm sure they'd do you a deal on them for the promo factor you could give them.


and just noticed that this was mentioned above.... but just shows what a good idea it is  ;)

Back to dirt jumps. I think Djs would bring a load more buisness to the park. Why not hire some proper dirt jump builders, i think the guys from Wisley were hired to build the  king of dirt jumps at NASS. Whats preventing a dorset version of The Track (www.the-track.co.uk) youve already got a 4x track all you need now is a foam pit ;) and some pro built Djs maybe a possibilty for a future king of dirt contest bringing in big names from big brands. i know loads of kids from the local dirt jumps (inc. Pro Curtis rider Matt Scott) who would kill for a local version of Portreath. plus with decent jumps lots more riders will be attracted and a group of locals will form in no time who im sure will happily maintain and uprgrade the spot ( with guidance from the head honchos of course)

even thou dh is my main biking , i went to the-track last and the foam pit is soooo much fun, however when i went the resi ramp was not finished  >:(
i think that would be a good idea to have something like this at the uk bike park because then it would cover most aspects of riding

harry