BLACK MOUNTAINS CYCLE CENTRE, ABERGAVENNY
This unassuming little farm in the Welsh hills is home to some of the UK’s biggest and best jumps
You know when you see photos of trails online and it just makes you desperate to ride there? Well Black Mountains Cycle Centre is one of those places. Last year, it was almost cruel the way trail-building mastermind Shaun Bevan would tease us with photos of his latest creations at a time when we weren’t allowed to go and check them out. Those razor-sharp lips and pristine smooth dirt waves through the trees prompted us to make a mental resolution to get back over to Abergavenny at the earliest opportunity.
When that day finally came, to say we were excited would be an understatement. But perhaps even our eagerness to ride was trumped by the crew who met us on arrival. A bunch of supertalented up-and-comers, comprised of brothers Harry and Seth Barrett, their Forbidden Bikes teammate Billy Spurway, plus main man Shaun – released from digger duty for the day to show us around – along with Marin Bikes pro Nikki Whiles and Bristol-based wildcard Reece Richards, better known to everybody as Bryn. As fast-talking as he is on a bike, Bryn arrives in a whirlwind, the back doors of his clapped-out van hanging off, and his infectious gap-toothed grin enthusing everyone to get stuck in.
On the run
Normally on these sorts of days there are a few tentative warm-up runs, as everyone gets the feel for things while the morning coffee kicks in, but that’s not the case today. From our vantage point on the starting mound atop the hill – where we can look down across the rolling farmland in the valley – Billy drops in and instantly sets the bar high. Pulling back off the second steep lip, in the row of jumps that makes up Tidy Darts, he tucks his back wheel up, tips his bar in and drops his inside leg, fully extending it, before uncoiling and touching down on the landing with effortless precision. There’s a holler of approval from the assembled spectators, spurring them all on in turn to follow suit, with each bringing their own style to the jump – a clicked tabletop from Nikki, scrubs and one-footers from the Barrett brothers, and a cranked-out, sky-high whip from Bryn, who’s living up to his nickname.
As Billy pushes back up for round two, we notice the wrist brace on his left hand. “Ah, I’ve got a broken scaphoid that’s awaiting surgery,” he explains nonchalantly. “It’s okay though,” he continues, seeing the looks on our faces, “I can hold on fine as long as it’s not too rough.” Trying to imagine what shapes he’d be capable of pulling with all bones intact, we assemble back at the top for a run down the flowing, blue-graded Rabbit Run. Because a lot of the media coverage you see
from Black Mountains is taken on the big jumps, it’s easy to overlook the fun that can be had with your wheels on the ground here. Leading out a seven-man strong train, we sprint into the start of Rabbit Run and, wheel to wheel, dive right into the first switchback. The whirring freehubs and Velcro-ripping sounds of tyres on dirt tell us that the others are right there, and the noises coming from behind indicate they’re having just as much fun as we are.
Dropping into the woods, a small cut line diverts us from blue to black and into a run of steeply-arcing berms, split with technical left-right hips. It’s then a straight plummet down into a 180-degree berm before a bridge over the uplift road. This berm is as old as the park, but it never gets any less fun and scary. The key is to let off the brakes as much as you dare, trust the steep transition will hold you in and try your best to keep your head up to spot the exit, as the g-force sucks you into the bike.
Racer-cum-coach Seth is the real master here. The masterful control and composure he manages to maintain while sending his high-pivot Forbidden nearly horizontal makes it easy to see why he’s got high hopes of racing the Les Gets Downhill World Cup later this summer.
Moto finish
Over the top of the road and the woodwork deposits us into the fast tabletop jumps of Moto, before a fork leads us into one of Shaun’s new lines that we’d seen photos of. Named Wild Wood, this red-graded berm track manages to squeeze its way in between the existing trails, and it continues the corner-railing fun found higher up in the park. Bouncing one way then the other through deep bucket-line turns, all the guys are in their element, pushing it higher and higher around the apexes and letting the back wheels cut loose in textbook Scandi flicks. This trail drops us out right into the run-up to Full Moto – the line of eight