Cyclopark

Four bikes for two riders

On Saturday I took a trip to the new Cyclopark facility in Kent with a friend of mine.

The park is a multi-use facility for all ages and abilities and all types of bike.

We decided to take both a road bike and a mountain bike. This way we could do a 2 hour road session followed by a 2 hour mountain bike session after lunch. Bike sessions are £3.50 for adults, for each 2 hours.

The road circuit is 6km in length, 6m wide and has various layouts. The tarmac is very smooth. When we got there it was virtually empty so we had the track mainly to ourselves. The full layout wasn't available to us until later in the session as it was being used for various club activities. Although the short circuit is nice, the long circuit is so much better. Even with a strong wind, the track has some nice, fast sweeping curves.

At the end of our two hour session, we put the road bikes back, got changed into baggies and got the mountain bikes off the car. We took them into the cafe and had lunch. The food available is pretty much fast food but is of decent quality and reasonably priced.

We then headed off to the off-road trails. They have blue, red and black runs. You start on the blue and then can choose which route to take, this gives you many different choices along the way. Although the trails are open, dry and gravelly, they are still quite technical in places. The large rocky steps are the most challenging. At one point, I had to stop as I couldn't climb the rocks and my friend fell off his bike whilst clipped in. Skin and rocks aren't a good combination.

I got to try out my friend's Lapierre Zesty 214. It's a much more advanced mountain bike than mine and makes mine seem like a pile of junk in comparison.

After our second 2 hour session, we put the bikes back on the car, got changed and headed to Lakeside for a visit to Decathlon and Evans Cycles before heading home. A long day but great fun.

I've put a video together of our day.

Find out more at www.cyclopark.com