Forum


Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 15 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Lee Valley Velopark
PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 1:22 am 
User avatar
Posts: 24
Location: Hertford
Saw that the Lee Valley Velopark's mountain biking course is now open.
http://www.visitleevalley.org.uk/en/content/cms/london2012/velo-park/mountain-biking/
Has anyone tried it out yet?


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lee Valley Velopark
PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 7:07 am 
User avatar
Posts: 740
Location: Cake shop
Going this afternoon with my son... will report back ;)


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lee Valley Velopark
PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 7:27 am 
User avatar
Posts: 3548
Location: essex
Not been yet will do soon. Two mins from the office :)

--------------------------------------
Bike pics
www.pinkbike.com/u/nwmlarge/


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lee Valley Velopark
PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 9:56 am 
Posts: 294
£6! Olympic legacy my arse. Between this and the full blown farce that is Hadleigh farm! I wont continue to rant but I guess you can see where I am heading.

--------------------------------------
Stay loose


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lee Valley Velopark
PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 1:37 pm 
User avatar
Posts: 24
Location: Hertford
tugger wrote:
£6! Olympic legacy my arse. Between this and the full blown farce that is Hadleigh farm! I wont continue to rant but I guess you can see where I am heading.

It does feel a bit steep considering we can just ride in the woods for free.
I'm curious to see what the facilities are like.
Looking forward to the updates guys.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lee Valley Velopark
PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 2:33 pm 
Posts: 294
I will certainly keep riding the footpaths of Danbury whilst the government work out how best to fight the obesity crisis!

--------------------------------------
Stay loose


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lee Valley Velopark
PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 4:49 pm 
User avatar
Posts: 740
Location: Cake shop
Well we went this afternoon.....

To start I'd like to say I really wanted this place to be good... I live ten minutes away and pass it on my commute, it would be great for me.

Problem is it's just OK... but I'll add a couple of provisos to that.

First off I rode it with my 10 year old son and there are obviously times when he isn't carrying as much speed as you would like, this tends to take a bit of 'flow' out of any trail. Secondly it's very tight in places and better rider could carry more speed through these bits... maybe that would help??

I chatted to a couple of other riders while we were there and one of them described it as 'unnecessarily jerky'.... it's a good description. I don't know if they are expecting the 'humps' to wear down but right now they are very sharp and tend to take the momentum out of your ride. I think this might be an intentional speed limiting thing though.

To be fare there are a couple of nice runs but they are very short... which leads to the other big problem.

It's tiny.

They say that it's got five miles of trails. We rode this little lot...

Image

... and totaled 6 miles over three laps. As far as I could see we didn't ride one section of the red or any black but I don't see that adding 3 miles to a lap, unless we missed a big section out??

This brings us to the cost.... £6 for an adult and £4 for concessions.... so a £10 for us, ah no, concession prices only apply after 5:00 pm :problem: The other problem for paying £6:00 to ride here is the fact that you don't seem to have to....

The trails run through a public park and can be accessed from the public road by anyone. We saw a couple of groups riding who didn't have wrist bands... they probably felt like they were getting their monies worth ;) It's obviously already a problem with little laminated bits of paper stuck up saying that you have to go to the office to pay before you ride... yeah right, that's going to work.

So worth the trip.... well if your trip is very short and you take the cheaper of the two payment options then give it a go otherwise go to Redbridge, it's cheaper and better. Better option still... go to Epping.

That said I'll give it another go, on my way home one day, just in case it grows on me.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lee Valley Velopark
PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 5:26 pm 
User avatar
Posts: 463
Location: In my shed
That's a shame..!!
I had fancied a trip over there but I guess I won't be going now.. :(
£6..!! :shock: When others just ride in from the road is a bit of a joke..!!
Like you say better option Epping entry cost £0 + Bacon.. :lol:

--------------------------------------
Stay on target...!!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Lee Valley Velopark
PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 7:15 pm 
User avatar
Posts: 2755
Location: Riding my bike somewhere
Also the parking fee as well, think that's £1 or more can't remember.??

It is just a short course and the small black sections are rocks and quite demanding other than that it is just a play area...

Oh and us west of the bridge have to pay the £4 tolls as well, so makes it a big cost and even going to bedgbury as well


Sent from my iPad mini using Tapatalk

--------------------------------------
Whyte G-160RS
YETI SB95A


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lee Valley Velopark
PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 7:43 pm 
Posts: 294
Olympic Legacy.

Inspiring generations/

Obesity crisis.

Accessible sport.

--------------------------------------
Stay loose


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lee Valley Velopark
PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 9:10 pm 
User avatar
Posts: 740
Location: Cake shop
To be fare the road track, velodrome, bmx track, hockey field, swimming pool, diving and park itself are all pretty damn good.

The school, all the new housing plus the redevelopment of the semi derelict waste land that was there before are all a pretty good 'Olympic Legacy' and Westfield is a bit better than the old Stratford shopping centre ;)


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lee Valley Velopark
PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 10:34 pm 
User avatar
Posts: 690
Location: Stratford
Tackle world class mountain bike trails in London

No way!!


I was there last Thursday and it was pretty tame in general. Black sections were a bit more spicy but that was all. Too much gravel and front wheel had no much grip. It'll probably get better. Very small place but the rest of the surroundings, parks, cycle paths, canal, stadiums, etc gives a good impression and like the area.

It's a mere 10 minutes ride from my home on cycle lanes so I had to see it for myself. It's not worth the £6 but we still had a laugh. Anyway, I crashed 2 times ouch!

http://www.strava.com/activities/183474813

--------------------------------------
My sponsor in Spain
http://aplbike.com


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lee Valley Velopark
PostPosted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 10:25 am 
User avatar
Posts: 5060
Javi - Crash? never LOL :lol:

--------------------------------------
Bike piccys!
http://tinyurl.com/okyhpdg


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lee Valley Velopark
PostPosted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 5:32 pm 
User avatar
Posts: 690
Location: Stratford
Always!! I have to test the limits

--------------------------------------
My sponsor in Spain
http://aplbike.com


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lee Valley Velopark
PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 7:15 pm 
Posts: 20
A bit tame, jump section seemed to be going uphill???? maybe i was tired.. cycled an hour to it..

DZ


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 15 posts ] 

All times are UTC [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 38 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron