Ride Sheffield

Author: Henry

  • SHAFF 2016

    ShAFF-logo-web header 250While it may currently be rather freezing outside; a sure sign that spring must just be around the corner is the welcome appearance of Sheffield’s much-loved adventure film festival  SHAFF.

    There is a quite substantial selection of MTB films this year including Unreal, Rad Company, Reach for the Sky (including a Q&A with the film’s director) and a film from local riders and diggers Clayspades.

    As usual there is also an inspiring selection of adventure films and films covering all aspects of adventure sports. There are also other events going on all weekend linked to the festival, including the SHED talks by influential local outdoors folk, business people and athletes.

    To whet your appetite here is the trailer for the festival

     

    For more information and tickets go to www.shaff.co.uk

  • The Magnificent Seven

    m7Blessed as we are by hills and cyclists, it’s a wonder that no one has come up with this idea before. Take seven (road) hills in Sheffield, sort out a route between each one and organise an escort for the riders to give them a hassle free route, then at the base of each hill unleash a mass start hill climb with points going to the top 10 riders. Then repeat another 6 times until you find the winner. Sort of an upside down roadie enduro with perhaps a little more suffering.

    If that sounds like your thing (and why wouldn’t it) then the information to enter is below. It should also provide an entertaining spectacle for those less inclined to race. It would be great to support an event that is the first of its kind in the UK. Full details follow below (more…)

  • Managing Public Rights of Way for Quality Mountain Biker Experiences

    Last November we put out a shout for local rider, racer and all round good sort Emma Peasland who was writing her dissertation for the MSc Environmental Management course at Sheffield Hallam University. She got a pretty impressive response and lots of people attended her thought-provoking workshops.

    It also generated her a huge amount information which she had the pleasure of ploughing through while the rest of us were enjoying festive rides and ploughing through turkey and christmas pudding!

    But now the work is all done and she has more time to ride her bike, bask in the glory of a job well done (It got a very good mark!) and also give us a chance to see her findings. So in here it is in her own words…… (more…)

  • Lady Cannings Latest

    IMG_5647 3Its been a tough first year for Blue Steel, Lady Canning’s first trail. After a cracking start of warm summer nights and multiple laps in a lush (and midge filled wood) followed by crisp and dry night laps, or as a nice dry option as the winter crept onwards. Or even just a chance to find (and refine) your flow.

    But after being hit by trees felled in the wrong direction, the trail opened for another month before the onslaught of the wettest winter on record, that raised the water table to a level where we ended up with a couple of springs in the trail, meaning that we had to ultimately close it to preserve the trail and for rider safety. (more…)

  • February Trail Day – Greno Woods

    Greno3This months trail day will be in Greno Woods on Saturday the 6th. While most of the trails are running pretty well at the moment, there are a few areas that could do with a little tlc to improve drainage etc. We are still waiting on the contractors who did the felling to tidy up the last bit of their work, but as it is too wet for machinery to go in there currently we are just going to have to wait. So there may well be another Greno Trail Day soon. As well as a couple of evening in the run up to the soon to be announced Peaty’s Steel City DH. (more…)

  • Lady Cannings Update

    12553006_10156382397945058_8900002715802617600_nLast Friday on a beautifully sunny lunch break, we took a trip up to Lady Cannings for a quick catch up with Bike Track and Jon Dallow.

    The first bit of business was to look at the existing track and to see how it was doing. You’ll be please to know that the majority of the track was looking pretty fine in the winter sun. However the handful of spots that had springs in were still a little soft, but an improvement on last week and after a dry few day should be even better now. As well as quick wander of the trail, Bike Track walked us through the new start, which looks great (the newly vented woods might even be a bit easier on the midges in the summer too!) (more…)

  • January Trail Day

    P1000024With the wettest month on record now behind us, we thought it would be good to get out and give the trails a little tlc. Our work this month is pretty much dictated by the weather, as we are wing for the ground to settle before the contractors can neater up the work in Greno and in Lady Cannings we are waiting for the water table to drop as well as the new start to be constructed. So we will see work up at Greno in the next couple of months. (more…)

  • Ride Sheffield Winter Social and 5th Birthday

    This coming Monday the 30th of November we will be gathering together in the back room of the Lescar for our annual social. This time it will be that little bit more special as we are celibrating five years of Ride Sheffield and thanks to the Adventure Cafe in Hope we will even have a cake to celebrate with!

    There are a couple of changes to previous years, firstly it will include the formalities of our AGM that used to happen in the summer (don’t worry we are hoping that this bit should only take about five minutes).

    Perhaps more excitingly; as we are celebrating five years of Ride Sheffield. It seems like a good chance to reflect on what we have achieved in the past five years. But we dont want to indulge ourselves too much; More importantly is that we want you to shape what we will do over the next five years. (more…)

  • Shorelines Trail Day Incentive Scheme

    shorelines-logo-smallFor a while we have looked into the idea of doing some kind of incentive scheme for people who come along to our trail day, but it was something that we could never quite get right, up until now. Sure its nice to be altruistic, not to mention making the trails that you (and others) ride that bit sweeter, but it’s also nice to get a little back in return.

    Purveyors of Canadian bicycle goodness Shorelines Distribution have stepped in this year to help out with trail days. They are already making sure that we are fed, watered and looked after on our trail days, they have also come up with an incentive scheme too. (more…)

  • Lady Cannings Trail Closed

    image1The felling work to put in the forest access track has been a little quicker and more substantial than we had been informed and sadly because of the nature of some of the work we are going to have to temporarily close the trail.

    While a temporary entrance had been cut in by the contractors to allow access to the trail, it if far below the standard we would expect and it is this temporary access that is causing us some problems. There have been large quantities of the dark organic mud pulled onto the trail as riders have ridden through the temporary access trail, this may not seem like a big problem, but the dark organic soil holds a lot of moisture on the trail, softening it and making it more susceptible to erosion, it also makes the surface more slippery and unpredictable (it is also why it’s not great if you are pushing up through the edge of the trail) (more…)