The dark spaces beneath the conifers make it feel as if the mountain bikers are emerging from nowhere. Racing down the hill, they slalom perilously close to the trees, bouncing over roots, rocks, and purpose-built jumps, their progress punctuated by the occasional, adrenaline-fueled whoop of delight.
This is Bike Park Wales, arguably the best—and certainly the best-known—mountain bike trail center in the UK. Organized like a ski resort, with color-graded trails of different difficulties and a shuttle bus uplift, the park has been a runaway success since it first opened in 2013. It now attracts upwards of 100,000 visitors every year to the former mining town of Merthyr Tydfil, with