Uplift Vs E-Bike

[Gary]

There are other people in here?...

You only have eyes for me. It's understandable.

x

 

[Kiwi in Wales]

@Kiwi in Wales Interesting.
I'm now kinda of the opinion I wouldn't really ever want to carry a spare battery. I like to ride light with minimal kit and spares etc. I know at a place like BPW I could just leave one in the car. But even thar still just doesn't really appeal to me just now. If I could hire one I would. simply to see what I think about this for real. The main reason I don't want a spare is just that I don't think I'd ever use it. Probably because i don't actually mind climbing/riding my Ebike with it switched off.(I did 8000ft elev a couple of weekends ago in the hills or Glentress and innerleithen and only used 2 bars (out of 5) of battery on my one and only E8000 battery. I rode with 3 separate groups of riders one after another over a whole day with a break for lunch. all were slower than myself so it wasn't really taxing. On other reason is the cost of a spare battery is the same as 2 uplift season passes.
I've ever ridden BPW. Well.. I have but it wasn't called BPW.. I helped dig two of the original DH tracks at Gethin back around 2001 and rode DH there a lot.
Kinda wonder which if any of the old tracks still exist. No doubt I'll get back there again one day.
God how I wish Ebikes as capable as mine had been available back then... My DH bikes back then were more expensive and nowhere near as capable, other than strength.

BPW is really well set up to change your battery over. There are runs that take you down to the car park and it takes less than 5 mins to do the change and top up with water.
I absolutely love the run that takes you to the uplift area in fact when I arrive at BPW I now session that run 2 or 3 times before I start the climb up so for me it is win, win.
I have never carried a battery as I hate carrying anything on my back and nearly 3 kgs would put me right off my stroke.
Water bottle is on the bike and tools are all in a compact bag that sits on the bikes top tube just below the front of the seat. You are right a spare battery is super expensive but the fun I have had on just these 3 trips to BPW for me, was worth every penny.

 

[Kiwi in Wales]

The saga continues.....
Trip three, two days later on the Sunday.
Now this is where I have found ebikes really assist me and that is in my physical recovery time. Two days after being bashed by the trails and climbs and I was back for more and feeling fresh for more climbing and descending action.

The difference today was everyone I was riding with was a non ebiker and they were all using the uplift service.

How many climbs and descents did they do? Between 7 and 8
How many did I do? 6
However I also sessioned the first run to the uplift 5 times in the morning and another 3 times in the afternoon
I sessioned the run Popty Ping 12 times, it takes 3 minutes to get back to the start of that run.
Did I bet them to the top? Hell yeah! Every single time as it was Turbo Sunday and I had 3 batteries to use ?
How long was I waiting for them at the top? Depending on the queue at the bottom when I left them to it at the uplift area between 5 and 7 minutes.
What was my quickest ascent from the uplift area to the top, under 10 minutes.

Just over 4 hours of riding time and just under 9000 feet of climbing. I had 25% left in the tank.

 

[Gary]

So basically you're saying I was right about needing 4 batteries to equal a chilled day on my local uplifts?
How did you end up with 3 batteries?

 

[Dax]

Seems like your local uplifts are a lot more effective than ours Gary, 7-8 is about the most I've ever managed on the uplift at bpw due to queues etc. Hell, there was one day at whistler I only got four laps!

I'm surprised at needing three batteries for a ebike day at bpw, my record pedalling is 4 laps, so I would hope to double that with an ebike.

You might be missing the point a bit, along with EMBN and anyone else trying to compare shuttling with riding up on an e-bike.

I don't think BPW is a good example for this, or anywhere else with a shuttle service for that matter. If there is an uplift, use the uplift, take your normal bike and shuttle it. Obviously you can ride up and that's your choice and totally cool, but there's no way you'll get as much actual DOWNHILL riding in, which is why most people go to these places specifically.

Not missing the point, I'm pretty much only here for the downhill. As I've said, the theory is sound with the uplift, but I'm curious to see if there's really much difference.

 

[Kiwi in Wales]

I think 3 would be plenty to be honest. One came with the bike and I purchase 2 second hand ones as I knew I was going to visit BPW and thought what the hell

 

[Kiwi in Wales]

Seems like your local uplifts are a lot more effective than ours Gary, 7-8 is about the most I've ever managed on the uplift at bpw due to queues etc. Hell, there was one day at whistler I only got four laps!

I'm surprised at needing three batteries for a ebike day at bpw, my record pedalling is 4 laps, so I would hope to double that with an ebike.

Like I said in my first post I would have completed 8 climbs so 2 batteries is plenty enough for a full day if you manage them. 3 is just overkill and allows you to Turbo the entire day.

 

[Gary]

Seems like your local uplifts are a lot more effective than ours Gary, 7-8 is about the most I've ever managed on the uplift at bpw due to queues etc. Hell, there was one day at whistler I only got four laps!

They're absolutely sorted... There are 4 minibusses all running at the same time evenly spread apart and rider numbers are limited so there's room for everyone (unlike a few places I can think of) so when you get back to the pick up point (right next to the end of all the DH tracks) you're prety much guaranteed no queue and no longer thana 10min wait from the end of your run until the bus fills and you're being driven back up the hill. The uplift is a mile of road, then a good quality forrest road to the drop of point.and takes the driver around 12-15mins (depending mainly on whether there's any waiting at passing points or other hold up). From there it's either a small roll/pedal along the top access road to the DH track/trail of your choice. If you want to ge higher to the actual start of the tracks (170ft higher) it's a steep switchbacky push up path. it is rideable easily on an Ebike (but will drain your battery super fast) and it's just ridable on an Enduro bike. I'd never attempt it repeatedly though.
Pedalling top to bottom on the most direct route from car park to drop off point (not the top) is around half an hour to 40mins on a non-Ebike for a reasonably fit rider depending on how much effort they're willing to put in, or around 15-20mins on an Ebike (15 would be in boost the whole way actually putting in a hard effort and would not be sustainable for a whole day - both effort and battery consumption wise)
Being a popular hill for holding all sorts of racing (DH, XC, Enduro and even dual) since the early 90s means there are absolutely tons of official and unofficial descents. A lot criss cross each other or run parallel and bcause of all the racing there are recelinks between all of them a local like me could show you how to piece these together, you'd struggle to find your a lot of them on an uplift day if not familiar with the hill)
uplifts allow me to chill between runs, bolt check the bike, eat and hydrate and talk shit and have a laugh.
I don't have anyone to ride with who has an Ebike so ride it on my own. Most of the decent riders here just don't want one.

 

[Dax]

That sounds spot on, I've been wanting to go back to Scotland for years. I rode inners in about 2005 for the busa race and it was brilliant, massive step up from everything we had down south at that time.

 

[Gary]

Give me a shout if you do.
Happy to show you around. Uplifted, Eebs or pedalling

 

[Dax]

Give me a shout if you do.
Happy to show you around. Uplifted, Eebs or pedalling

That would be awesome, thankyou. Probably uplift because

 

[Terrafirma]

Still my favorite channel EMBN. Steve Jones is a class act and the rest of the team all play their roles. Like anything you need to understand they are sponsored. So many bikes on the market they must be diplomatic and they usually are. There is a strong Specialized Flavoring but that's ok. One of my favourite segments was done by Rob and it's called "Beat Your Screen Time" .

 

[Mcharza]

Still my favorite channel EMBN. Steve Jones is a class act and the rest of the team all play their roles. Like anything you need to understand they are sponsored. So many bikes on the market they must be diplomatic and they usually are. There is a strong Specialized Flavoring but that's ok. One of my favourite segments was done by Rob and it's called "Beat Your Screen Time" .

Nice vid, but too wet for me. It started to freeze while watching ?

 

[Orangie]

Killington Vermont. Consistently beat my son and his girlfriend to the top. Them on lift , me peddling up. I was there waiting for them.

 

[brook_c]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I was just reading through and no one's mentioned time spent on the bike.

Obviously this is all opinion based, mountain biking has a broad range of disciplines and people are into it for different things but for me I'd rather spend 100% of my day at the park on my bike, rather than the majority of the day in the back of a van.

Just my opinion.
If my only bike was a downhill bike then my opinion would be different.

 

[jimbob]

The other thing is availability of the uplift limiting which days you can go. I've been able to go to BPW a few times now when the uplift was full but you could still get peddle passes.

I tend to get 12 runs in a day there with 3 batteries. Completely knackered at the end though, although that's mainly from the downhill rather than uphill!

 

[Gary]

I was just reading through and no one's mentioned time spent on the bike.

I wouldn't exactly call climbing man made trail centre climbs, fireroads and bridleways that make up the majority of the access trails to most good DH/Enduro descents quality riding time though. Would you?

But then I've never understood Enduro fannies thinking they're getting better value for money doing an Enduro event with 20km of uphill for the same outlay as a 2 day uplifted DH race.

 

[brook_c]

I wouldn't exactly call climbing man made trail centre climbs, fireroads and bridleways that make up the majority of the access trails to most good DH/Enduro descents quality riding time though. Would you?

If the sun's shining, I'm with my mates having a laugh and I'm on my bike, it's all quality riding time!
I'm just in it for a good time

 

[Gary]

And if its not sunny?

If you can't have laugh sat in a nice warm minibus between runs with your mates you're doing something wrong.

 

[brook_c]

And if its not sunny?

If you can't have laugh sat in a nice warm minibus between runs with your mates you're doing something wrong.

I'm not saying I can't, I'd just rather be out in the fresh air enjoying my bike than in a stuffy bus with a bunch of stinky blokes.
But hey, like I said, that's just me

 

[Gyre]

I'm not saying I can't, I'd just rather be out in the fresh air enjoying my bike than in a stuffy bus with a bunch of stinky blokes.
But hey, like I said, that's just me

Lived this last Memorial Day weekend at Mammoth, especially because only the bottom-most part of the mountain is typically open. I'd guess I was getting in 2/3rds as many downhill runs, but the uphill trails were nice enough and it was fun staying on the bike instead of hassling with shuttle timing/lines/boarding/etc.

If the gondola opens up (especially to the summit) then it's a totally different story.