We check out the abundance of manmade flow trails at Gloucestershire’s Flyup 417 Bike Park
What this Gloucestershire spot lacks in natural tech it more than makes up for in low
Gloucestershire’s not known for its earthquakes, but the tremors we’re feeling through the ground must be scoring at least five on the Richter scale. The cause of them? It’s Matt Roe, pummelling all 20kg of his Specialized Turbo Levo e-bike into a berm with such aggression that it’s making the earth shake. Standing three feet away, we’re a bit close for comfort, but then we watch Matt convert all that momentum into going sky-high and clicking a pancake-flat tabletop off the hip jump that follows, reassuring us that he’s in total control. He’s a hard act to follow, but the other guys on the shoot today – Luke Barber from Wind Hill B1kepark just down the road, and Tom Gethin, who’s head of trail building here at the 417 – are hardly short of style themselves. Tom professes that, between shifting dirt and changing nappies, he’s not had much time to ride recently, but you wouldn’t know it from the way he’s throwing the bike around today. We’re all reaping the benefits of his hard graft, too. Matt and Luke are already on their way back up for another run, reckoning they can get the synchronised timing even more dialled-in through the series of left-right hipping gaps found on Tom’s favourite red trail in the park, Dubby Skipper. “I’ve no idea what the name means, though!” he confesses.
Levelling up
The Flyup 417 Bike Park has been around for a few years now, and the first time we came here was shortly after the gates opened in 2016. Even before that, a lot had already gone on behind the scenes, starting way back in 2013 when Simon and Angela Ruskin – founders of the Flyup uplift service at the Forest of Dean – purchased this 100-acre farm with the vision of turning it into a full-scale riding venue. Since then, a massive amount of graft has been put in, with the 417 now boasting eight to 10 downhill runs of varying difficulty, plus 4X and dual slalom tracks, a whole field of dirt jumps and a tarmac Velosolutions pump track sheltered from the elements in the barn.
Not everything was perfect straight away and on our first visit we found some of the trails a little awkward, with the surfaced line a bit narrow in places and the berms not being overly supportive. As time’s gone on, though, the trail building has really fallen into its stride, and every time we return, we’re impressed by both the new developments and the tweaks to the existing lines. “We’ve always tried to build stuff that’s fun for all levels,” explains Tom – a goal that certainly seems to have been achieved, given the amount of fun we’ve been having on the blues today. Blue Raccoon is the easiest and most beginner-friendly of these, and stepping up from that is Cheese Roller, which is ace
MATT IMMEDIATELY WHIRR SB A CK UP FOR ANOTHER GO, NOT SATISFIED UNTIL BOTH BIKE AND BACK LEG HAVE BEEN EXTENDED TO THE MAXIMUM POSSIBLE DEGREE
no matter what kind of rider you are. Steadily roll through it all, or attack every turn, hammering the scoop-like berms and pulling up to gap between the rollers. The sprays of sealant visible on the sidewalls of our rear tyres is a dead giveaway that we’ve been having too much fun.
Toys at the table
Just when we thought we were starting to go fast, we’re delivered a lesson on how to really rail turns by the 417’s general manager Laurence, who’s escaped his office duties for a few hours to join us. Equipped with a full DH rig, he makes it sound like he doesn’t know what he’s doing, but then proceeds to drop in off the rock that marks the entrance to the black-graded Super Fly and rips around the next right-left switchback with such speed that the dirt on Tom’s carefully-manicured berms is sent flying. Something tells us he might know these trails quite well.
Unfortunately, the recent heavy rain means that the big 40ft+ senders that follow further down in the bottom field are out of action today, which is a shame because we’d love to have seen what Matt and Luke could have done over them. Instead, we’re treated to a display of style over on the bottom jumps of Dubby Skipper. Although rollable, and so graded red, the final row of tabletops, which leads into a last big optional tombstone take-off, is certainly not small, and gives the likes of Black Mountains Cycle Centre a run for their money, if that’s your jam. While Luke focuses on going as high as he can, and bending his 6ft-plus frame into tucked whips, Matt gives us a demo of that incredible BMX-born style.
In a blend of pure brawn and casual floatiness, he’s manhandling his big e-bike like it was a toy, pulling up on the bar and pushing the back wheel forward until his bike is dead vertical, then kicking his back leg off. His first go looks pretty dialled, but Matt hits the jump three more times and after
“WE’ VE ALWAYS TRIED TO BUILD STUFF THAT’ S FUN FOR ALL LEVELS ,” EXPLAIN STOMA GOAL THAT SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED, GIVEN THE FUN WE'VE BEEN HAVING ON THE BLUES TODAY
each attempt gives a shake of his head on landing, then immediately whirrs back up for another go, not satisfied until both bike and back leg have been extended to the maximum possible degree. It gets us all itching to ride the dirt jumps, but sadly the less-than-inspiring British summer weather means these aren’t running either – at least not without gouging them up with deep ruts. We settle instead for the pump track, which is hardly a bad Plan B.
Pump it up
A great all-weather asset for the bike park and a staple for locals on dark winter evenings, this undercover track used to be complemented by indoor dirt jumps in the barn opposite. With the cafe seating having to be moved outside due to social distancing, these sadly had to be ploughed. Tom assures us they’ll be back, though, and knowing him, the blank slate is going to mean the creation of something even better.
Pump track riding seems to require a different sort of fitness. We regard ourselves as pretty pedalfit but ripping a few laps of the track here leaves us feeling like we’ve just sprinted up a massive hill. After 30 minutes or so going back-to-back with Luke, compressing as hard as we can into the berms and yanking up off the rollers to jump every available gap, we’re knackered. Sitting on the deck, gasping for air and with legs like jelly, it feels like a good time to call it quits before someone gets hurt. It’s been an action-packed day out and the 417 has proven quite the venue. Roll on our return visit, because things only seem to be getting better here.