Ride Sheffield volunteer Martin Clist recently joined other Eastern Moors enthusiasts for the latest stakeholder meeting which is a chance to discuss current issues on the estate and a means of bringing diverse user groups together. Here are his wise words:
Just a quick reminder that the second Buxton Adventure Festival kicks off this weekend at the Pavilion Arts Centre, Buxton Opera House in the Peak District with 10 incredible speakers coming from all over the UK and further afield to talk about their expeditions and experiences. Loads for cyclists – with speakers on Saturday and Sunday including:
10.30am Extreme Mountain Bike Stunt Show for Young Adventurers
5.30pm Saturday The fastest woman to cycle round the world, Juliana Buhring;
8pm Saturday – Olympic Mountain Biker Annie Last on stage talking to British Cycling’s Nik Cook
Followed by UK Premiere of Anthill Films Arrival in a double bill with NotBad.
12.30pm Sunday – 3 Peaks CycloCross winner & ultra-runner Heather Dawe
8pm Sunday – Jason Lewis who travelled round the world by human power, including bike.
Programme at a glance here: http://www.buxtonadventurefestival.co.uk/speakers-films/festival-at-a-glance/
Last week we had a fair number of upset comments on the Facebook group about photos of The Roych being dug up and maintained. This was mainly because it involved Derbyshire County Council and the dread spectre of iconic sections of trail being motorway’d a la Stanage and Wigley Lane got feelings running high.
So, Sue and John contacted DCC and quite out of character actually got a reply! Karen Turnbull is the project officer and offered a site visit. Yesterday (24th October) me, plus John and Tom from Vertebrate Publishing went at met Karen on site.
Sheffield Bike Jumble is a bi-annual event that gives you the chance to make a bit of money from the kit you don’t need any more, or pick up some of those essentials on the cheap. It’s on this Saturday at St. Mary Church. If you are interested in a table, there are still a couple left, so get in touch with Mark on 07595 666370 if you are interested.
We are big fans of A Line Coaching over here at Ride Sheffield and not just because of the expertise that they have leant to our trail design. Coaching is becoming more and more prevalent and for good reason; it’s the best way to buy yourself better, faster, safer and happier. So if you want to give it a try, A Line are running a couple of courses at Thornbridge Hall.
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One of mountain biking’s undeniable joys is the mid or post ride cake stop; and while we are well served further out in the Peak and in town, there are not too many places to stop on the way back into Sheffield from those more local rides.
But for those folks who end travel back in via Ecclesall Woods, there is now more than just ancient woodland to keep you happy. At the rather lovely JG Graves Woodland Discovery Centre they are now serving fresh coffee and home-made cakes on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. With good covered and open outdoor seating, it a good place to round off the ride in a relaxed setting.
Ride Sheffield has been helping the National Trust formulate it’s long term plan for the High Peak Moors which includes Kinder and the Derwent watershed. The masterplan has now been published and is available to read at http://www.high-peak-moors.co.uk either in its entirety or in summary form.
Mental Health charity Recovery Enterprises are holding the inaugural sponsored ’RE:Cycle Ride’ cycle challenge on the 6th October with routes through the stunning Peak District landscape.
Recovery Enterprises, based in Sheffield, helps to support people with mental health needs to develop enterprising ideas to benefit their mental health and to enable them to fulfil their ambitions. (more…)
In the past we have been a bit short notice on our digging days, so from now on we will try to get dates in on a quarterly basis.
We also want to be clear on what we do too. So if you seen that we are doing a Dig Day, that means we are working on bike specific trails. That will often mean more technical work and are a good way to learn your craft in trail work. These will usually be on the second saturday of the month. If we are doing a Trail Day that means we will be working on rights of way. This work may be done solely by ourselves or in partnership with the Wildlife Trust, Eastern Moors Partnership, SCC etc. (more…)
John H has just had a chat to one of the Sheffield Wildlife Trust wardens and it appears that persons unknown have taken a saw to a gate on a footpath that has recently been used by mountain bikers. Now, it’s difficult not to draw the obvious conclusion that this has been done to remove an obvious obstacle and ‘improve the riding experience’. I could be wrong, it could be a deranged walker, but knowing the trail, I think it’s highly unlikely.
Sheffield Wildlife Trust have been consistent Ride Sheffield allies and this kind of behaviour does mountain bikers absolutely no favours. If you spend five years building a relationship with a land manager it’s a real pisser when someone does something thoughtless and jeopardises all that hard work.
So please, please, PLEASE don’t do dumb rubbish like this and if you know who has, give them a kick from us and maybe tell them to repair what they’ve done?
Cheers.