As part of our Winter Social, we ask local bike related businesses to donate to the prize pile for the quiz and raffle and we have to say a huge thank you to everyone who dug deep to help with this.
As long-standing Ride Sheffield supporters, Cotic were super generous yet again – offering a Bfe frame for us to offer out as a prize. Not bad at all eh?!
So, we’re offering this frame as a random draw from our Trail Fund supporters. If you’re already donating monthly, you’re in the draw. If not, why not?! We’ll pick the winner at the end of February – so you’ve got this month to get yourself signed up.
Second prize gets a pair of DMR pedals and Deathgrips!
Pick £5, £10, £20 or £50 a month. Any of those gets you a variety of goodies anyhow, but also a place in this prize draw! All proceeds from your donation goes towards the work we do on trails across Sheffield. A winner all round!
After the success of the last big trail day we held last year, we thought it would be good to head back up to carry on with the work we started in 2021, tidy up a bit of the winter damage and get the trail ready for spring.
Supported by Santa Cruz Bicycles Pay Dirt programme, on Saturday the 12th of March we will be having another super-sized trail day up at Lady Cannings.
Working on a number of sections on Blue Steel, the plan is to rebuild and reshape features to get them up to scratch and up to date, as well as a bit of patching and drain clearing thrown in for good measure.
This starts off by getting 40 tonnes of material on site in the next couple of weeks and then getting it to when it needs to be. Hopefully that will reduce the need for such epic barrowing sessions some volunteers enjoyed/endured last time!
So, what does the trail day look like? With a lot to do, we need a lot of helpers to get it done, so here’s our plan…
You will be then put into a mini trail crew with an experienced team leader
Your team will have a section of trail to work on/rebuild
We will provide you with the tools and machinery to get the job done under the guidance of the team leader (all we ask is you come dressed for the work!)
You get to learn some new skills, get a bit of a workout and the pleasure of turning a rough berm into a dream to ride.
For your efforts we will be providing you with a Pizza lunch (provided by Sunshine Pizza Oven) and the chance to win some Santa Cruz goodies too.
Santa Cruz Bicycles will be there on the day and will hopefully have some nice bikes on display too, with staff on hand to be able to talk you through what is on offer and perhaps offer a bit of guidance on your current ride set up too.
Not only that; they will have some Santa Cruz athletes and staff along to help us with the trail work too.
We will also have the Ride Sheffield stand up there, with our Ambassadors on hand to chat about what we are up to and sell you some nice Ride Sheffield merch!
So even if you don’t manage to book a spot, it’s still going to be a fun day up in the woods. So swing by and get a couple of laps of Cooking on Gas in, say hi, grab some food, check out some nice bikes and buy some Ride Sheffield merch. What’s not to love?
If you’re keen to help out, but don’t fancy the trail work – please ask on the stand. It may be that you can help out with litter picking, logistics or a few odd jobs!
We cant wait to get up to the woods and get digging and revitalising a Sheffield classic not to mention seeing you all up there too.
If you have any questions, please get in touch, but if not, just follow the Eventbrite link and we look forward to seeing you on the day.
After a great couple of sessions on Blacka and at Lady Cannings, our women’s trail day in collaboration with Cotic Women of Steel returns. This time we will be working on the Eastern Moors Loop bridleway, improving the drainage and repairing the surface on the main track.
All are welcome – whether you have experience or not, it’ll be great to have you involved.
As it’s an SSSI, the work and techniques will be a bit different to previous dig days, so we will be talking about what we’re doing and why, and why it’s different to the work we’ve done on Blacka Moor or at Lady Canning’s.
A Merry Christmas from all of us here at Ride Sheffield – we’re pleased to confirm that both Blue Steel at Lady Cannings and Pub Run at Greno are back open!
Blue Steel
Blue Steel at Cannings had some work a couple of weeks back, with a rebuild to the top few berms. These have now settled well and the track’s back open – but the first RH berm is still a little soft. We’ll give it some TLC again in the New Year, but if you can keep low in the corner in the meantime it’d be very much appreciated!
Pub Run
Up at Greno, the felling works have finished and Pub Run is now back open. The contractors have renewed the damaged sections of trail, but it’s going to be another case of needing some TLC in January.
We hope you all have an enjoyable and relaxing festive break, maybe even the odd bike ride?!
We’re very pleased to announce that we’re the proud winners of a Singletrack Magazine Reader Award! Our “Be Nice Say Hi” campaign has won Best UK Community Initiative
We’re absolutely chuffed to receive this award, but also please to see press recognition of some great people and groups across the board. This year’s Singletrack Awards say thanks to the folks working behind the scenes to bring new people to the world of biking, working to improve trail conditions and access as well as caring for the outdoors and the places we ride.
It’s well worth a few minutes of your time to have a look at this link and see what everyone’s been up to!
Big thanks to everyone who nominated and voted for us, it’s very much appreciated.
We’re chuffed to confirm that Singletrack Magazine have included us as one of their finalists in their Reader Awards. We’re up for the “Best UK Community Initiative” for our Be Nice Say Hi campaign, which has spread far and wide to encourage more friendly behaviour between user groups sharing trails.
Anyhow, to get to the point – VOTE FOR US PLEASE!
Click this link and vote for as many categories as you wish, just make sure to click submit for each one. Alongside us, there’s some worthwhile people and organisations, so let’s give them some recognition!
We were asked by Sheffield Adventure Film Festival (Shaff) to arrange a series of online talks to provide an online version of the talks they usually host as part of the festival. We picked some inspiring and exciting guests and had some fascinating discussions, which can be seen below.
Martyn Ashton
Tommy Wilkinson
Aneela McKenna
Cy Turner
Let us know what you think – especially if you have any suggestions for guests we could chat to in the future!
Ride Sheffield have joined up with Cotic Women of Steel to put on a women-only trail maintenance day on Blacka Moor on 16 October.
The event is aimed at encouraging more women to learn about trail maintenance requirements and techniques and will hopefully (if we get enough interest / don’t scare everyone off on the first session!) be the first in a series.
For this session, we will be working on Blacka Moor bridleways, repairing trails and improving drainage before the winter. We will also be looking at how bikes, horses and walkers use the trails to try to understand the best way to make the repairs work for everyone (so no, we won’t be building any gap jumps or kickers…)
Spaces are limited on this session, so if you’re interested, please contact info@ridesheffield.org.uk for details, or check out the Cotic Women of Steel Facebook for further details too
We will provide tools as well as some snacks too. But if you can bring your own drinks and dress appropriately for the work that would be great.
Last year, we announced our fundraiser to repair and refurbish the 3 trails at Greno. While it’s been far from a normal year, we’re chuffed that folks have dug deep and we’re a good chunk of the way towards the total we need in order to get Biketrack booked in and the repairs under way.
We’re not quite there yet, so here’s what we’re hoping will be the final push. If you can afford to drop some cash in the pot, that’d be very much appreciated. If you’re not in a position to do that, perhaps you can help spread the word and persuade family and friends to help?
We’re at around £24k of our £30k target – please do all you can to help us get there!
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 2021” and we’ll be sure to match your donation up.
At a recent Sheffield Moors Partnership meeting, local land managers stressed that Lyme Disease season is just around the corner and asked Ride Sheffield to get the word out. Lyme Disease is a serious condition that can have life-changing consequences. It is transmitted to humans by ticks that reside in the very undergrowth that we ride through. However, take some precautions and you can reduce the risk dramatically
During spring and summer, particularly when bracken is at its height, ticks can attach themselves to a passing mountain biker. Obviously, we tend to be bare legged during the heat of summer, but wearing something on your legs can help prevent the ticks latching on.
These are the ways you can protect yourselves:
Use a tick repellant on your legs.
When you’re riding singletrack where the undergrowth is encroaching, stop regularly and check for ticks.
Carry a tick removal tool. This ensures that nothing is left in the skin which could spread the infection.
Check yourself all over for ticks and wash clothes which will kill them. If you spot the ‘bullseye’ pattern or suffer flu-like symptoms, see your GP.
The picture shows the classic bullseye pattern that can result from a lyme carrying tick having attached itself to you.
For more information visit https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/lyme-disease/
