Today’s news is pretty big news for the UK riding scene because the guys behind the superb Flyup Downhill uplift service have just announced their plans to open the largest largest privately owned bike park in the UK. After four years of running the Forest of Dean uplift, and a year of the Gawton one, Simon Ruskin and the rest of his crew have managed to forge an enviable reputation for first class service, and with some other great names involved in this new project we are left in no doubt that this new bike park could be truly incredible.

We were lucky enough to be invited over for a sneak peak at the site a few months ago, and the potential for the place is massive. Crucially there’s a great hill, but there’s also a whole pile of buildings that can be used for riding dirt jumps all year round, regardless of the weather, and location wise it’s about as good as it can get. Oh, and did I mention there will also be the countries first MTB drag lift!

The plan is to open the bike park this autumn, but to help it become a reality, and to make it as good as possible, Flyup have decided to raise the final money needed via Indiegogo Crowd Funding. This means you can help be a part of this exciting project, and you can do so here.

Anyway, enough from me, here’s the full press release that lets you know all the exciting plans for the 417 Project…

After a year of blood, sweat and tears, Flyup can finally announce The 417 Project, the biggest privately owned mountain bike facility in the country.

The hundred acres of land houses six downhill tracks from blue to black grade supported by the slick uplift service you’ve come to expect from Flyup. A World Cup standard 4X track and Dual Slalom run which will be serviced by the country’s first MTB Drag Lift. The Jump bag, freeride area and two acre dirt jump arena will no doubt be enough to entice every rider. For those seemingly more frequent rainy British days and dark winter nights, we have two separate indoor riding barns totalling over 1100 square metres. We’ll have a Café, bike shop and workshop on site, making sure you can keep fuelled and keep riding.

It’s probably in the middle of nowhere then? Nope. We’re only four minutes from junction 11a of the M5, 40 minutes from the Forest of Dean and an hour and a half from West London. With a Premier Inn 500m down the road, it’s a no brainer to spend the weekend with FlyUp to make the most of what the Forest of Dean and the 417 Project have to offer.

We’re not your usual trail centre or bike park. We really do have it all. You will be able to arrive with any genre of mountain bike and be able to have a ton of fun on some of the best trails the UK has to offer.

We aim to open the park in Autumn of 2014, and initial construction has been in process for two months. We have chosen to use Indiegogo Crowd Funding to raise the final amount needed and to give people a chance to get involved in helping us realise the last little bits of the project.

Our indiegogo crowd funding link is: igg.me/at/the417project, and you can watch our promotional video below…

If you would like to contact us with any questions or requests, please do so on [email protected] or [email protected]