The business success story that’s hidden in the woods
It all started with two bike-mad friends and a great idea, as Lucy John reports...
were fortunate because everyone they approached to invest in the business said yes. He said he couldn’t tell if they just got lucky or if they genuinely had a really good idea. What likely shone through, though, was their passion and determination to bring their dream to life.
Martin said: “We felt like there was a gaping hole in the market for someone to develop a site for mountain biking in this style. It’s a whole mountain and it’s basically like a mini ski resort for biking. It hadn’t been done like this anywhere else in the world at that time.
“Normally you have a ski resort which in the summer converts its operation into mountain biking for six months. We decided in Wales, because of the weather, there was an opportunity to do it all year around. We were really young, but we decided to take the leap to make it happen.”
Once the business plan was down, Martin said the pair approached the Forestry Commission about the land in Gethin, Merthyr Tydfil, which it owned. They were elated when the commission saw potential in the concept, but it wasn’t all plain sailing from there.
Martin said: “It was good news for us because it meant it really could happen. Then things got really complicated. It became clear that European grant money was available to make it happen, but they had to do a public tender. We had to go through a two-year process of tendering for what we felt was our idea.
“It was a really painful process that took a long time and cost a lot of money. It was pretty scary because we thought someone could easily win and run with it.”
Fortunately, they did win it and found out the news on Christmas Eve 2012, which made for an “amazing Christmas”. Throughout 2013 they found themselves in a race against time to complete the park before the funding deadline expired.
Martin stressed that the pair couldn’t have done it without their wives Anna and Liz, who they welcomed on to the project before it officially launched that year. He said: “At some point during that five-year process between 2009 and 2013, Rowan and I realised we needed some help. Luckily my wife Anna is a chartered accountant and Rowan’s wife Liz was a quantity surveyor. We very quickly realised we needed those guys and brought them on board.”
On the grand opening day in 2013, Martin said none of the four anticipated quite how busy it was going to be. Although they were thrilled and relieved that their idea was in demand, he said it was almost overwhelming for the eight employees at the time.
He said: “I really hyped up the marketing to get interest, but we didn’t really know how popular it was going to be until the day we opened the doors. It was insane. We had three minibuses at that point and we pre-sold them all. But people could also pedal up on their own steam without pre-booking, so we didn’t know how many would turn up.
“We were standing at the front checking cars as they came in and at 7.30am there was a queue from the park all the way down to the A470. It was amazing, but we all thought, ‘Aaargh!’
“The police turned up to help with the traffic and we had to call our parents and friends to help us, who really rallied around. We had about 1,000 people on site that day, which is still one of our busiest days to date.”
The park now has a total of 85 employees including the two couples who head the company full-time. But Martin, who was previously a marketing manager, said it took a long time for them to have this luxury.
“At the beginning we were running this £2m project while each working 40 hours a week in our other jobs,” he said. “For the first five years of the park opening I had another job and now I get paid to work here and it’s my only job. The company is turning over millions now, which I never could have imagined when we first started.”
Martin said the park now has the UK’S biggest and broadest range of mountain bike trails spread over the 750-acre site. It includes 46 descending trails as well as vehicle uplift minibuses. There is also a cafe, a visitor centre and a bike shop. You don’t even need your own mountain bike thanks to the on-site bike rental centre.
While there are plenty of free places to ride your bike in Wales, with many sites owned by Natural Resources Wales, Martin said there’s a reason why people pay for the Bike Park Wales experience.
“We have a crew of 11 people who work full-time to maintain our trails,” he said. “It means the condition of our trails is significantly better. We’ve also got a much, much broader network of trails here. Often they are one loop, whereas we’ve got a hill that’s been intensively developed with trails everywhere. We have jump trails, we have flow trails and we have technical trails.”
That’s probably why Bike Park Wales has attracted the rich and famous who want to experience the world-class facility. That includes American off-road truck racer Carey Hart, boyfriend of pop star P!nk. Formula One racing driver Lance Stroll also visited the park via helicopter, while Sex Education’s Gillian Anderson was spotted hanging out with her dog while her sons rode the trails, Martin said.
But there’s no getting past the fact the park is located in a local authority where there is a history of economic deprivation in parts. With this in mind, Martin said the team make an effort to employ people from the area.
He said they also work alongside some local charities and have recently helped to raise nearly £9,000 with mental health charity Big Moose, with the money set to be spent exclusively in Merthyr Tydfil.