It’s never good news to start the day with news that someone has been out to try and trash your trails. When you dig fun little trails hidden from view (or permission) this is often part of the game. Gutting, but part of the game. But it is pretty unusual to have sanctioned trails damaged. But that’s what happened up in Greno Woods the Sunday before last.
Calling
all ladies and lasses out there who love their mountain biking (MTB), our MTB
Café Chats event in partnership with Cotic’s Women of Steel is geared up just
for you.
Ride Sheffield and Cotic’s Women of Steel are running MTB Café Chats on Saturday 21st March 3pm – 4.30pm as part of Sheffield Adventure Film Festival (ShAFF), discussing key topics surrounding women and mountain biking. This inclusive event at The Workstation will be workshop based, in small groups and give everyone a chance to be a part of the discussion inspiring women to get more involved in the mountain biking scene.
Hosted by Julia Hobson, owner of Endless Trails MTB and Julianna Ambassador, the event will draw on the expertise of a team of women who are advocates of the sport. The session will cover everything from insider knowledge in the industry, getting into the sport, riding as a mother, MTBing and mental health, plus you will have the chance to meet other female mountain bikers to ride out with.
We have
a great line up featuring the raddest female riders from our home town of
Sheffield who all share the same passion of mountain biking.
Here we introduce your host to the event and MTB Café Chat leaders:
MTB Café Chat Host
Julia Hobson
Café Chat topic: Running a guiding business and working in the industry
Julia is a Mountain Bike Guide who has worked extensively
throughout the Alps, raced and travelled with her bike all over the world. She
first started mountain biking whilst studying at Sheffield University, and is
now a global ambassador for Juliana Bicycles, Hopetechwomen and several other
companies in the bike industry.
In 2017, Julia made the move to setting up and running her own business, a Mountain Bike tour company called Endless Trails MTB. The company has gone from strength to strength and now operates week-long enduro-focused backcountry riding trips in Europe, as well as introductory bikepacking courses, guided days and skills courses in the northern UK. All these trips focus on sharing with, and introducing more people to the adventurous kind of all-mountain riding Julia loves herself.
MTB Café Chat Leaders
Alice
McNeil
Café
Chat topic: MTBing and motherhood
Alice spent two years cycling from the UK to New Zealand and when she returned she settled in Hope Valley where she now lives with her young family. As a Physiotherapist and Yoga Teacher she has a professional interest in sport and combined with her personal love of mountain biking she is an advocate of getting out on two wheels. Having recently become a new Mum Alice is now balancing riding with being a mother – and she’s doing a great job!
Emma Peasland
Café Chat topic: Endurance racing and events
Emma’s background is in endurance riding and she has the stamina to take on 6,12 and 24 hours racing. With an impressive list of previous extreme events including the Peak 200, a self-supported mountain bike time-trail route traversing 225km of the Peak District National Park, she is your go to for training for events.
Hannah
Saxelby-Newall
Café Chat riding: MTB industry and entry into the sport
As part of the Cotic bikes team Hannah is immersed in the mountain bike industry, and is focused on incorporating women in Cotic photography/videos in what has traditionally been a predominantly male dominated industry. Hannah’s baptism into mountain biking involved being thrown in at the deep end with an entry to the Ard Rock Enduro – a story well worth hearing.
Kelly-Jayne Emmerson
Café Chat topic: Life as a brand ambassador and influencer
Kelly-Jayne (AKA Kellbellandbikes) is a Shimano Gravel Alliance, Cotic Bikes and Komoot sponsored rider and works alongside many other brands to promote women in sports. With an Instagram following of 15K she is also pretty nifty when it comes to taking selfies, so there will be plenty of tips! Kell often rides with traildog Bell, and can offer trail dog tips and advice on how to keep a good work/cycling balance.
Tap into all this mountain biking knowledge on Saturday, 21st March 3pm – 4.30pm at Sheffield Adventure Film Festival at The Workstation. Sign up for MTB Café Chats via our Ride Sheffield Facebook page or on the ShAFF event page.
Greno Woods has been providing mountain biking good times for the past 30 years in different guises, from hand cut tracks with wild sketchy jumps, through some quite gnarly north shore and loamy natural runs, to the trails that we have now.
10 years ago, Sheffield and Rotherham, Wildlife Trust bought the woods and in part of the efforts to raise the money (and the profile of the plans) that was needed to buy the woods, we thought a (big) little race would be a good way of contributing to this.
The birth of Peaty’s Steel City DH on a damp cold day in March was the catalyst for further development the woods. Money from the first race went into building the Steel City DH track, funds from the next race went into formalising Pub Run and DH3.
Since the very beginning SCDH has been funding the trails in Greno woods from inception to new lines, refurbs and revamps, with Ride Sheffield managing and maintaining them.
The bikes and the way we ride has changed a lot over the past ten years and we have worked hard to keep the tracks as well running and relevant as possible.
Greno’s trails are some of the most ridden (and loved) across Yorkshire and while they have been built to a great standard by Bike Track, things wear out eventually.
We want the trails to remain a great experience for everyone, we want them to be progressive and to play an important role in the development of riders in the city. But that’s not something that is possible on just the money raised by the race.
Greno Woods Crowdfunder
So, here is where we need your help…. We are going to be crowdfunding for the next phase of planned work in Greno, we have some major repairs and redevelopments on Steel City and DH3, but we need your support to get them done!
Want the best berms this side of Whistler Bike Park? Want trail featured that can help progress your riding?
Want trails that run as well in the winter as they do in the summer……?
Well now is the time to contribute. As well as your money raised, SCDH will also be contributing with funds from the race, but the more you can donate the further we can make that money go
Below is a Brief description of the work we plan to do and how much we need to raise to complete each section…. We will have 2 months to raise the funds, with a deadline of the beginning of May and will keep you updated with a weekly totaliser.
Plans and costing
Steel City DH – £8,000
Red trail
The Red trail from the split down will be brought up to the same spec as the rest of the trail.
Build up and reshape all the turns on this section up to the pro jump.
Lift all low-lying areas to above ground level to improve drainage and reduce on maintenance.
A new corner will be built at the end of this section before the pro jump to separate the Red and Black trails better. The Red trail will now run to the right-hand side of the existing trail where a new tabletop jump will be created parallel to the pro jump.
The new jump will be a rollable tabletop that is similar in shape but shorter than the pro jump to help the progression up to the pro jump.
This jump will land and a new section created to keep riders separated from the pro jump right up until entering the existing corner. This will give riders plenty of time to be able to land and control speed before joining together just before the corner.
Black split
The existing Rollable double will be extended slightly on the landing and angled to suit the new line into the pro jump.
The corner after this will also be changed and built up to improve the line into the pro jump.
A new set up rollable jump will be created out of the turn to gain speed and reduce the need for pedalling into the pro jump.
The existing pro take off will be moved to the left so that it runs in a straight line, this will also open up a safe run off space in between that and the Red trail and will also help for races.
The existing pro landing will stay the same, we will also repair existing black trail to the left of pro jump as a chicken run in normal riding situations.
DH3 – £8,000
New rollable features on the top section as better trail qualifiers and to make the first bit more interesting.
The first jump will stay the same but the berm after will be built up and extended to stop riders cutting straight down the open.
The first rock garden will be removed, and a big berm will be made with a feature after it. A new corner will be made before the big rollable double this will help control speed into this feature,
The jump will be resurfaced and all the way into the next berm. The berm after the double will be built up and extended to stop riders needing to brake so much after the jump and also to stop riders going over it and cutting the track.
The first section on the second rock garden will stay but from where it drops, we will take the rest away and a new berm will be made to help maintain riders speed. So, you will have a berm then a straight rock garden then a berm so riders can hop from the rock garden into the berm.
The existing berm before the tabletops will be built up to help maintain speed and to the tabletops. Tabletops will stay same they will just be resurfaced and the landing right into the berm after them. After this point the track will all stay the same just general improvement works and surfacing in areas.
The last big left-hand corner will be redone to repair braking bumps and generally make it better at speed.
Additional Costs – £4000
As well as the direct trail work, there are additional costs in maintaining a safe and fun set of trails, so a little contingency and planning at the start goes a long way
We’d like to include new signage for new trail features and replacing missing/damaged ones.
While we’re getting material, it makes sense to stockpile extra to be used for future volunteer dig days, as borrow pits and material transport are more efficient while done at the same time.
How to Donate
Bank transfer
Direct transfers can be made to the Ride Sheffield account, details as follows;
Account name – Ride Sheffield Sort Code – 403102 Account number – 91574205 This account is with HSBC.
Paypal
Click the button to donate via Paypal.
Alternatively, send Paypal donations to ridesheffield@gmail.com using “Friends and Family” if possible please! Pop a note in the comments box “Greno 2020” and we’ll be sure to match your donation up.
Commercial donations
We welcome donations from businesses, along with offers for help other than just funding. Perhaps you can provide food or tooling for a dig day or can offer prizes for us to run a prize draw for people who’ve donated. Please contact ridesheffield@gmail.com to discuss any idea you or your company might have.
Looking After Greno
Beyond the Crowdfunder one of the best ways to keep the trails running sweetly well into the future is to get involved in the upkeep of the trails as part of a Ride Sheffield Trail Crew. We would like a dedicated trail crew for Greno and will be make sure that you are fully trained to carry out the work, so if that interests you, please get in touch.
But for now, donate, spread the word and make Greno great again!
Suffice to say, our Redmires project hasn’t gone as smoothly as some of our other works. We’ve not been the best at updating you guys, but that’s partly been down to not having firm answers on everything.
So, to bring you all up to date.
Redmires has funds in place, that’s sat in our account waiting – there’s been no change there. Where we and Sheffield City Council have had issues is with planning permission and surrounding issues.
With ground nesting birds on site, specifically Nightjars, we discussed the idea of a partial trail closure on the top section of the track during ground nesting bird season. That’s an option, but expensive to do the works to close/open the section each time. Within 2-4 years, the Nightjars are likely to move on, away from the bike trail and into new felled areas. This is something for us to bear in mind as the project progresses, but isn’t the main reason for the delays – it’s really down to Planning Permission.
Peak District National Park Authority have advised Sheffield City Council to withdraw the current application and submit a full application instead. This is more work for the Council staff and should be submitted around Spring time. Peak Park want more details and information, which means more ecological studies and checks – therefore more time.
Ok, so what about our trail then?
Basically, it’s going to take time – but we’re confident that the planning permission will get through. Sheffield Council staff agree, which is great as it’s those guys doing the legwork here.
In the meantime, we’re working on making sure that we work on the relationships with other users and stakeholders to make sure that we all understand the different points of view.
The aim is for the new application to be submitted this Spring. We’ll then update you once there’s more news from PDNPA.
As ever, any questions please feel free to discuss with us on info@ridesheffield.org.uk
What a winter! The deluge has barely stopped since October and it has resulted in some serious damage on Devil’s Elbow. On a number of occasions, it has become a stream and much of the work we’ve done over the last ten years has taken a hammering,
However, lots of our good friends have stepped up to the plate to help us put it right. First up, the Sheffield City Council Rights of Way Team have provided suitable material to do the repairs. Deposited just below the stables on Shorts Lane, we need to move it to the foot of Devil’s Elbow and BikeTrack have offered to help with that using a mini-digger and dumper. The Alpkit Foundation have undertaken to cover the cost of the plant, proving that the outdoor community can really work together.
The dig-day is going to be on the 14th March from 9.30am onwards and we’re going to need all the help we can get! So if you can help all day or just for an hour, please come along. Tools and food will be provided, (again thanks to SCC and BikeTrack respectively).
More details can be found on our Facebook page here and event page here.
This year’s Winter Social on the 25th of November is a bit of a special one, as we are celebrating our 10th Birthday! Yes, time flies when you are having fun on your bikes and riding in Sheffield can certainly be as fun as it gets! But what’s almost as good fun as riding your bikes is hanging out with your mates over a beer and chatting about bikes and good times. Add in some top-notch entertainment from the Shred Talk hosted by Downtime Podcast, some excellent prizes to be won in the quiz and the raffle, a little bit of merch from ourselves and Bolehills and some of Sheffield finest brands showing of their good too.
A lot has happened in the past 10 years and we may have to toast a couple of our successes and just what an awesome place Sheffield is to ride a mountain bike. We will also be updating you on some of our key projects such as Redmires and Cut Gate and other exciting developments in the city, as well as looking forward at how we (and you) would like to see Ride Sheffield developing in the next 10 years. Finally, we will then give you a quick update on what we have done with Rad Tax this year, quickly rattle through our AGM and then we will be moving on to the more entertaining aspects of the evening….
After this site visit last month, Moors for the Future have produced a map outlining the work that begins later in October.
This should help to clarify what work is planned and where. Click the picture to view full size.
Plenty of drainage, subtle works and flags where required – exactly as promised!
Do you like what we do here at Ride Sheffield? Here’s a few things you might like to do; – Support us via Rad Tax – Read our previous news stories – Browse our merchandise – Sign up to our newsletter
As outdoors folks, we can all be a little guilty of pack mentality, sticking within our own little groups. We thought it was time to look a little further afield, discuss things more openly and try to work together with some different people. We wanted to talk about the impact we all have on the Peak District and what we could do together to help minimise this.
On Wednesday 9th October, we arranged an open meeting at the Norfolk Arms, Ringinglow. Spurred on by the success of Cut Gate as a collaborative project, we invited land managers, conservation workers and rangers to join a variety of outdoor user groups to discuss what we could possibly look to do together to improve our collective enjoyment of Sheffield and the Peak District.
“Walkers, horse riders, cyclists, however you get around, we all enjoy the beauty and serenity of our wild areas for the same reasons – stunning landscape, wonderful wildlife and fantastic flora. So Be Nice, Say Hi to everyone you meet!”
If you have ever flipped over a Be Nice Say Hi beermat and perused the back of it while you were waiting for your mate to return from the bar, that is what you would have read. It sums up not only how we feel about it, but its supported by the Sheffield Ramblers and Hallam Horse riders (not to mention the Outdoor City and Peak District National Park)
