Rider Safety

Mountain biking is an incredibly fun activity but it does carry inherent risks. The way you behave, the decisions you make and the equipment you use can greatly reduce the chances of you having an accident.

This page is your guide to learning how to prepare yourself for a fun day on the hill, it is designed to help you equip yourself correctly and to help you manage how you ride on the day to make sure you maximise your smiles and reduce your chances of injury.

Mountain Bike & Equipment Check-list

Mountain biking is a potentially hazardous activity carrying a significant risk of injury, including death. It should only be undertaken with a full understanding of all inherent risks. The trails at BikePark Wales are rough, challenging and demanding on both bike and body. Therefore, only Mountain Bikes are permitted to be used on the trails at BikePark Wales, hybrid bikes, gravel bikes etc are not permitted on safety grounds.

You can reduce your exposure to risk if you follow the useful guidelines in our checklists. Click the 'plus' icon to find out more.

Please Note
If a member of the BikePark Wales team deems your bike to be unsafe, they will prevent you from accessing the trails.

Mountain Bikers Responsibility Code

Following the code below will increase the chance that all riders have a fun and safe experience at BikePark Wales. Remember though that even when following all instructions mountain biking does carry inherent risk.

We reserve the right to remove day passes or ban riders from the park for breaches of the Mountain biker’s responsibility code.

Trail Safety

We’ve produced a helpful trail safety video that explains our trail grading system, gives some great tips on how to get the most from your day and much more.

Ride Item Icon

Inspect the trail at low PRE-RIDE speed, warm up body and mind for a day on the hill.

Ride Item Icon

Ride the same trail a few times, learn the features and flow.

Ride Item Icon

Start small and progress safely to higher speeds FREE RIDE and larger features within your ability.

Trail
Qualifiers

What are trail qualifiers and why do we have them? Mountain bike legend Rob Warner explains all in this useful explainer video.

Weather warning

BikePark Wales has now implemented a weather warning procedure that you can view online as well as on signage at the visitor centre, uplift pickup point and at the top of the hill. If you see an amber or red warning on the site, please take the following action.
 

Amber

Be Prepared, weather conditions on the hill are challenging, stay alert.

Red

All trails closed, return to the visitor centre immediately.

First Responders

Whilst we do what is reasonably practicable to reduce the chances of an accident on the trails, they do still happen. Because of this we also have a team of experienced first responders on site at all times to deal with incidents that do occur. This team are equipped with what they need to manage all foreseeable scenarios they have everything from an electric trials bike to ATV’s to enable them to respond quickly. We also have a fantastic relationship with our friends at Central Beacons Mountain Rescue who will respond if needed to extract injured riders from difficult to access locations. CBRT is an entirely volunteer run organisation that offers an incredible service and will happily accept any donations you wish to give here.

Central Beacons Mountain Rescue