Last Saturday Sam Gordon, Paul Coupe and I visited the new Cyclopark facility in Northfleet near Gravesend in Kent. The facility has yet to be completed but we went to check it out for suitability as another race venue and an alternative to Hog Hill, which next year is booked solid due to the Olympics.
The cycle track itself is 2.9km in length and around 6 meters wide. Whilst much of the track is sloping there are no steeper sections like those at Hog Hill. There is a very nice section with a little bridge going over it, which would be perfect for dual tight or hybrid racing and reminded us of a scaled down version of Brands Hatch. The surface is ultra smooth and we hope to have a test session there in the next month or so – a full report will follow.
"Mini Brands"
The large Pavilion is still under construction but when finished will provide a 100 seater café, sports shop, cycle hire, changing facilities a reception area and treatment rooms.
There is also a good sized skatepark built by Gravity covering an area of around 1400square meters and features a nice cloverleaf bowl and some cool brick banks as well as the usual street area complete with rails, spines and funboxes.
Paul checking out the park. The Pavilion is in the background.
The 340 metre BMX track is now finished. The surface is cinder/grit laid on clay with a tarmac start ramp and berms. The day before our visit the US Olympic BMX Team had been putting it through its paces and they liked it – a lot!
BMX track from start ramp
It looks like we have another first class facility to use – the future is bright!
Big thanks to Tay Arnold, Cyclopark Community Officer, for taking time out to show us around.
For further details go to the Cyclopark website: http://www.cyclopark.com/
More photos can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/samg/sets/72157627639098966/