Early 2000. Cold hard frost on the drive down making the road glisten with ice. 2 hour drive from 6am to get to the race in time for practice. Midlands Super Series at Hopton Castle. Fairly new downhill bike. First ever downhill race.
Cut to 7:30pm. After 2 hours in hospital and an epic dose of anaesthetic while my shoulder was manipulated back in to place, my dad and I picked up my car from the race site where the organisers had kindly loaded my bike and gear while I was enjoying an ambulance ride.
Back to 2012 and March 10th saw the Pearce Cycles XC route re-open at Hopton. This is a 12.3km red graded loop which is a mix of fireroad, sections from the older downhill trails, as well as old and new singletrack.
It was a sunny day in March, just a couple of days after my ride at Eastridge and the day after the Tarw at Coed-y-Brenin. I chose the Bedstone Hill car park which is up a really narrow, steep road but there was still plenty of space at the top and it was seemingly free too.
The first section of the trail was pretty uneventful fire road / double track and serves to link to the main car park at Hopton Wood. The following section of singletrack was immense! Great flow, sensibly cutting across the wooded hill side and able to be ridden at full tilt.
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| This is how you build a trail |
The trail features a fairly long climb up singletrack and fireroad not long after and despite the effort it was interesting to ride with some more technical sections along the way. This passes close to sections of the old downhill trails and it was nice to see them still in a rideable condition so long after the last time I visited Hopton to photograph a race in spring 2006.
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| Keep your eyes on the trail |
The climbs are made up for with some good views and excellent singletrack sections that use some of the less steep downhill trail sections. I recognised parts from past trips to Hopton and these are mixed with some sections that looked like they had been freshly cut for the re-opening. Over the course of the trail there were corners of all kinds to stretch your riding abilities. As you may expect in a newly re-opened trail, all of the signage was clear and easy to follow.
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| Little did I know this would be the last sunshine the UK would see for months! |
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| Final newly cut singletrack |
From my experience, I'd recommend starting at the Bedstone Hill car park, as it means you get a nice singletrack section to finish, instead of a fireroad climb back to the other car park.
In conclusion this was a great trail and a brilliant example of combining new trail with older sections to create a well rounded experience. Definitely one that you need to ride and one that's worth riding twice.