Hi again
no of course your entries wont be burnt seb, just your bike !!

Ultimately our costs have gone up this year and that is reflected in the new pricing however along with increasing fuel costs, we are trying to put on an even better service and with the new uplifts running next year, I think you will be hard pushed to find a faster, scratch free uplift in the country , we have more than doubled the  capacitty for uplift over the winter and I think that will mean we are offering the best uplift service in the country . Im pretty confident when I say that - the only method of quicker uplift would be a 1200people/hour doppelmayr 6 seatter chair and that would cost ~3million euros for our hill. And dont forget the money gets reinvested, its not going into the organisers pockets, its going into the tracks and redevelopment of the park. This year alot of money has been renivested in a fantastic new club hut, uplift and trail development 

I can breakdown the costs for you of running our race but its very hard to compare and contrast other race organisers costs As an example  we dont pay for  the race course venue hire but we do pay for trail maintenance and we do pay for the hire of the locals farmers land for the uplift service and parking, we have invested heavily in an efficient uplift facility as we feel that to really crack the uplift and make it as reliable and fast as possible is somthing that people want or expect. we  are always looking to cut our costs and hopefully this will be reflected in the pricing in years to come, for example, ambulance provision is pretty expensive and we are currently talking to a local GP ( who is highly qualified and a rider!) to oversee and run the medical provision. This would be a fantastic cost reduction and we believe would offer an improved service, along with this service we will have a medical facility on site which will be second to none in the country. defibulator(sp?) anyone  

  Many people compare british race costs to french or euro races ( i know you havent seb in your post  but I thought I might as well throw it into the mix as we are discussing it !) but the economics of runing a ski lift in les gets are pretty much a loss leader  in the summer . e.g. ONE  day in february half term gains more revenue for sagets ( the lift company in les gets ) than the whole summer in the portes du soleil. Pretty impressive stuff  and I love the fact that I can ski on mont chery for under £10/ day - incredible rates on a great mountain but something that would take years to happen in an MTB facility in the UK.

I hope I have answered some of your concerns about our pricing and I would love to see in the future these costs come down . One way you could do this is to become a member and support the club as well as enjoy reduced uplift costs.

By the way we also have a new title sponsor who are donating about 150 great prizes this year . This is fantastic news and its great to see the bike industry getting behind the park.

Look forward to seeing you at the races... its going to be a great year!

Don't get your knickers in a twist mate, i was merely stating, that for me, and any others outside of wales, then thats another cost towards the weekend in whole. Since you're mithering over a couple of quid for the camping, im sure you'll agree that every penny counts. Therefore, with regards to the cost of a weekend, its very relevant.

You did actually comment that you were paying for a 'hill half the size' hence me commenting that i thought they did a good job with what they had.

it's a public forum to voice opinion, and i for one, am fairly happy with the prices. Yes it would be nice if they were cheaper.....but they're not.

Dont have a really strong opinion on the 'its too expensive' discussion, however i'll give my thoughts. I went a year or so back and did a load of dragon uplift days. I was dissapointed, not with the tracks (although only one at each venue) but with not getting all that many runs in (3 runs all day at Gethin), miserable/in your face other riders and absolutely no facilities whatsoever - not even a burger van. In fact at Mt Ash and Gethin I was concerned that some chav may knick my car! I realise race days are a bit different but hey.

The bikepark is a cool place to ride - it may not have the best longest trails trails but you do get, Fast comfy fun uplift, secure parking, loads of trails to choose from, awesome catering and great atmosphere, this year we also get the in house timing and possible cheeky medical service.... (Plus the air ambulance crew are familiar with the location making pickup speedy  )

These guys are getting off there asses and making something happen, I for one am happy to support that. Dont forget that your race fees are going into the development of a park for everyone to ride all year round. I dont think this is the case with many other race venues? Its a good thing, the higher price actually brings a benifit to us riders. (See what I did there Ben!!) 

Its all about fun per pound for me, and if I have to pay a fiver extra, fine..... I'm having a good time all day rather than just when i'm on my bike...... cant ask for more in my book.

A

in the end if you dont like the prices or tracks or whatever its is....do go there....simple!

I dont care what anyone else says, I LOVE IT THERE! 

good job lads with the new stuff at the park by the way, loved it!

FWIW I plan on doing at least one race there this year, I was just surprised there's no BCF points given the price of other established DH series, chilllllllllll

yeah mate. it's open all the time. there proboably won't be many/any people up there though. day passes can be bought from torico bike shop 5 mins down the road.

just  a quick one. my m8 and i are coming from cardiff to race here but we were going to leave on friday after work. is it possible to camp in the field at the top on the friday night aswell or is that only available on the saturday. cheers planman

Can I just say... UK Bikepark rocks!

Great bunch of people, wide variety of bikes and tracks, barbeque, camping, drinking, no struggling for parking spaces and you get to do the uplift in mahooosive ex-army trucks!

What more could you want?