The former Red Bull trail opened in 1996 to wide acclaim as the frist purposebuilt trail in the UK. Chipps argues that it’s still one of the best trails anywhere.

UK ADVENTURE

WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY CHIPPS

Stepping o my bike, I look a little closer at the terrain I’m riding over.rock slabs that vary in size between laptop and tabletop are sunken into the damp ground as if they’ve always been here, mossed-in withthegrowthofages.no sign of recent human intervention and this path might well have been here for centuries.

Listening, there are few sounds in the forest; the creak of a warming tree in the sun, the buzz of an insect. In the far distance I think I can hear a car, but then it’s gone again and all is quiet and peaceful; primeval even.

But I’m not in the New Zealand rainforest, or in a remote Scottish glen, I’m within a mile of one of the busiest trail centres in the UK, next to the A470 on a sunny bank holiday Friday and the trail I’m on singlehandedly created the whole trail centre phenomenon that we now have in the UK, to the envy of much of the mountain bike world.

Just as today’s college students can’t imagine that there was a time before mobile phones and before the internet, so it seems that mountain bike trail centres have always been with us.feel like they have always been around, with their waymarked, colour-coded routes and their reliable, predictable, all-weather terrain and rideability. It wasn’t long ago, though, that a dedicated trail for mountain bikers seemed a ridiculous thing to haveStepping o my bike, I look a little closer at the terrain I’m riding over.rock slabs that vary in size between laptop and tabletop are sunken into the damp ground as if they’ve always been here, mossed-in with the growthofages.no sign of recent human intervention and this path might well have been here for centuries.

Listening, there are few sounds in the forest; the creak of a warming tree in the sun, the buzz of an insect. In the far distance I think I can hear a car, but then it’s gone again and all is quiet and peaceful; primeval even.

But I’m not in the New Zealand rainforest, or in a remote Scottish glen, I’m within a mile of one of the busiest trail centres in the UK, next to the A470 on a sunny bank holiday Friday and the trail I’m on singlehandedly created the whole trail centre phenomenon that we now have in the UK, to the envy of much of the mountain bike world.

Just as today’s college students can’t imagine that there was a time before mobile phones and before the internet, so it seems that mountain bike trail centres have always been with us. feel like they have always been around, with their waymarked, colour-coded routes and their reliable, predictable, all-weather terrain and rideability. It wasn’t long ago, though, that a dedicated trail for mountain bikers seemed a ridiculous thing to have

Still a challenge after 20 years.

I’m riding the Tarw Du (roughly, the ‘Tarroo Dthee’), but you might know it better by its original name: the Red Bull Trail. Opened in 1996, it was the rst ‘modern’ waymarked mountain bike trail in the UK. Initially measuring 11km in length, it boasted a long, road climb out of the Coed Y Brenin visitor centre and then a succession of rocky singletrack trails, more climbing and then more technical singletrack before you appeared back at the centre perhaps an hour later.

Such was the draw of this one trail, back in the day, that riders (myself included) would drive for four or so hours to ride it, stop for some of Sian’s cheese and beans on toast, and then ride it one more time before heading home again, delighted at having sampled a technical, walker-free, one way, just for us, mountain bike trail.

As the trail rose in popularity, so more riders came, as did sponsors like Karrimor who wanted their own piece of North Wales mountain bike heaven and who sponsored their own trails. And so the draw increased. Visitor numbers soared from just over 10,000 a year to nearer 100,000 in a few short years. e addition of more trails meant that the visitors stayed over and made a weekend of it, paying to camp or B&B it, eating out, and lling up in the Dolgellau petrol station before heading home again. And that pattern of local benet was measured and quantied and used as a template for every mountain bike trail centre that came after it. Build some decent trails, no matter how remote or undesirable your area and mountain bikers will travel to you and spend money.