News – May 2011
Now that i have two hands that just about work again, i though i would celebrate this by sending out an update on what has been going on in the world or Ride Sheffield (just in case you thought it was all hanging out with world cup racers and drinking farmers blonde out of box fresh five tens!)
Fires
Since the weather has taken a turn for the worse, the fire restrictions have been lifted, so you are now free to roam away from trails (if you are on foot) But you still should take care as it is pretty dry out there.
Nesting Season
While you are out and about, keep an eye out for the nesting bird signs, it shouldn’t effect mountain bikers too much, but if you like a spot of climbing, then take note – for more info look up http://www.thebmc.co.uk/News.aspx?id=4258
Greno Woods
Since Peaty’s Steel City Downhill race and building on the success of this event and the profile it has given mountain bikers in the eyes of SWT we are now working with them in order to build a coherent xc style circuit in the woods.We had a recent site meeting with SWT to discuss the routing of this course as well as discussing the environmental sensitive areas as well as the areas of archaeological importance that are best to avoid. We are in the process of mapping the course.This is all looking very promising , but it is part of a consultation period, so none of it is fully confirmed.
If you have any ideas or thoughts on this or have suggestions for potential sponsorship please get in touch
Lady Canning Plantation
We are currently working in consultation with Parks and woodlands on the possibility of building a short-ish loop in the woods. Ideally this would be a swoopy blue grade, fun singletrack of approximately 2 miles. We have a site visit in the next couple of weeks and we are currently discussing the possibility of sponsorship for the loop too. It is early days on this and the project would have to go through a consultation period with locals etc, but the general feeling on this is fairly positive
Fox Hagg
We submitted our objection to the downgrading of bridleways on Fox Hagg to the Rights of Way team, this is a combined objection with the CTC and CPRE. This is going to public enquiry. We will keep you posted with news when we hear it
Parkwood Springs
The work to build a circuit at parkwood springs is just about to start and should be available to ride later in the year. An even more exciting development is happening at the ski village. Earlier this week a small group went up to the ski village and spent an evening trying to use the T Bar lifts with bikes as well as looking for potential trails. The lifts are a work in progress, but we found it was possible and with a little tweaking they should be reasonably easy to use. It is very early days, but it has potential to be a really great spot. Watch this space!
Houndkirk
We met with the Rights of Way team to discuss the changes on houndkirk, voicing our objections and concerns with this as well as discussing the future changes of this route. We have an improving dialogue with the ROW team and hopefully we should be able to have more of an input on further changes. In terms of our voices being heard, this is of wider concern as mountain bikers have very little say when it comes to changes being made to rights of way. There will be a piece up on the website shortly that explains where we stand in greater detail
Blacka Moor
After a considerable number of objections, the work on blackamoor has been suspended for now, but there is no further news on this at the moment. However we have been in discussion with Sheffield Wildlife Trust about work on the site. They are holding monthly trail sessions and we are hoping to organise a couple of sessions with mountain bikers doing trail work on the bridleways. Let me know if you are interested
Eastern Moors Partnership
We are working with Eastern Moors as one of their stakeholder groups and are contributing to the work on there. Looking at the information form the last meeting there could be a reasonable amount of land that will be opened up for mountain biking
Website – www.ridesheffield.org.uk
(NOTE – website updated November 2011 – new address)
Our website is pretty much finished now so you should expect to see more things going up there. Unlike other sites we are not generating masses of content, so we will update it when things arise. If you have anything you would like to submit or discuss, send it over. We also have a rides section, so if you organise rides or know of other organised rides, we will stick the information in the rides section so if you are looking for a ride this will be the place to go. There is also a trails section, so if there are any trails which you feel should be avoided temporarily (too muddy, too beaten up etc) please let us know
Meetings
We try and hold meetings when they are needed, most people would rather be out riding than sitting in meetings, but if you feel that you would like to see the group meet more. Please let us know. We are planning on holding another social ride next month on a similar format to the one last year. Info on this should be out soon.
General
We are trying to do our best to improve the situation for mountain bikers in and around Sheffield, but we are not perfect and any guidance is really useful and greatly appreciated. If you want to spread the word, stick posters up etc let us know and we will send some over your way. If you have anything you think people need to know about or have content for our website, or is something that can be sent to other sites please send it over.
We will do our best to represent you, but we can only do that if you let us know, some of our group are forum dwellers, but not all are! so if you have something you think is important, send it over, keeping it in the forums means it falls on deaf ears and can generate ill feeling.
But that is about it for now, enjoy the light nights, the dry trails and ride whenever you get a chance
Thanks for reading
Ride Sheffield