Local businesses – can you help Ride Sheffield?

They say you judge someone by the company they keep but, in the case of Ride Sheffield, it’s the companies. In the past seven years we have enjoyed the support of GoOutdoors, Cotic Bikes, 18 Bikes, Alpkit, BikeTrack, Rab, 5.10, Vulcan Engineering, J E James, Norton Mayfield Architects, Avanti Conveyors and a dozen other local and international companies.

As a result, we’ve not only managed to construct hard-wearing, fun trails in Greno Woods and Lady Canning’s Plantation but also maintain them in spite of an astronomical level of use. We’ve also wielded shovels on Blackamoor, the Eastern Moors and Rivelin Valley in order to help land managers such as the Sheffield Wildlife Trust keep their bridleways in top condition. Much of this has been done with volunteer labour but, on occasion, we have had to rely on the professional skills of BikeTrack to cope with bigger projects. This has necessitated some expenditure and recently, Alpkit covered the cost of plant needed to complete a project on Blackamoor while BikeTrack provided a digger driver. This kind of support is invaluable to Ride Sheffield and a public relations bonanza for the company involved.

We are also on the verge of beginning our next project in Redmires Plantation. Costing in excess of £45,000 pounds, it will push Ride Sheffield’s ability to manage the trails to the limit. We are widely considered to be one of the most successful mountain bike advocacy groups in the country.

Therefore, we feel the time is right to reach out in a more structured way to the business community of Sheffield. Ride Sheffield is entirely volunteer run and while there is a range of skills represented in the core group, it would be foolish not to draw upon the wealth of talent present in Sheffield’s outdoor industry.

If you run or manage a local business and think that you can help, then we’d love to invite you to a meeting at The Norfolk Arms, Ringinglow on Wednesday Sept 27 th 2017 at 7.30.

Likely items for discussion would include the possibility of drawing on your practical help, using your influence to encourage Sheffield’s mountain biking community to contribute and, maybe, direct financial help. This is very much the Outdoor City in action.

Whether your business is directly bike related or not, we welcome all the help you can offer. We look forward to hearing your ideas and enjoying a convivial evening in the Norfolk Arms.