just had this back from Tony lund
"Snow has delayed things up in Lee Quarry a bit but Back on Track (Rowan and his crew) should be on site from Monday onwards starting the new sections. Please resist the temptation to try out any of the new sections until we say they are ok to ride, it makes the construction work harder as they need time to bed in. Also it may not be safe, last year we had people trying to use the jumps while the digger was still working on them. We appreciate peoples enthusiasm but please be patient.

Over 1km of new singletrack to be added to the red graded route but with a few black sections added in by Rowan and his crew.

Further developments to the skills development theme

Comprising of :

Line One – The Drop Line 150 metres long, 3m wide. This trail features three ability levels side by side and two drops along its length in each parallel ability line. This is very important as it gives a progression for riders to work on and improve: from small, medium to large drops. The trail width here is 3m to allow room for the drops. There are six drops in total. Drop construction is described in the construction specification; the drops will be built to the following sizes: Small drops 150mm then 300mm Medium drops – 350mm then 500mm Large drops – 550mm then 700mm

Line Two – The Berm Track 180m length, 1m width. This trail descends from higher up in the skills area and features eleven consecutive flowing berms, providing the perfect safe environment to learn the technique required to ride these banked corners and build confidence. Berm construction is listed in the Specification; the berms on this trail will start out with shallower camber angles and the radius will not be tight, as the trail progresses the camber angle will increase so that it is near 90 degrees or vertical towards the bottom which allows for tighter radiuses.

Line Three – The Pump Line 120m length, 0.7 width. This Red graded pump line will feature everything needed to learn how to control the bike over undulating terrain and gain momentum by means of pumping the bike. A vital skill for trail centre riding and perfect to teach groups of riders on a specific trail. Grade reversal construction is listed in the Specification; all pump bumps or grade reversals should feature a gap of three metres between peaks and a greater distance than this if the dip between is greater than 0.5 metres.

Line Four – Black Graded Progressive Skills Line 250m long, 1-2m wide. This section of trail will feature; rock drops, tabletop jumps, rollers and berms. In short, all the skills learned from the other sections will be put into practice on this section, with additional tabletop jumps. Jumps, berms and rollers / grade reversals to be constructed as per the construction specifications.

Line Five – Black Graded Expert Line 250m length, 1m width. This is a tighter and more technical Black graded, skills/freeride line. The trail is made up of berms, steep rollers and jumps. Utilising the natural lie of the land a lot more than line four, the spoil tips here will form the basis for all the jumps and turns. The line is for advanced riders, with steep up-slopes and downslopes on all the features.

And a Pump Track and some new jumps.

One this lot is built Lee Quarry really will become one of the best places in the UK to come and develop your mountain biking skills, lots of rocky challenges, jumps, huge berms, pump track and some trials sections linked together in a way that makes them very easy to session.

The other tender which Rowan has just won is to construct a red/black graded xc route through Cragg Quarry there will be about 4.5km of new trail constructed up there. Again should be starting next week. Cragg Quarry can be accessed from the Mary Towneley Loop (Pennine Bridleway). We are planning to build a direct link over the moors from Lee Quarry to Cragg we have most of the funding required for this but are still negotiating the route with landowners. The hope id to build this in the Autumn before the weather goes bad.

Once we have these two quarries linked up we will have an excellent facility enabling people to fill how ever much time they have available.

Snow has given Lee Quarry a bit of a muddy feel to it a few minor rock falls in places and a bit of water sitting on the trail where the mud has bermed up. I’m planning on spending tomorrow with my spade and pick trying to sort it out. Jumps all need a bit of care as well, nothing major I’ll be asking Rowan and his guys if they can have a bit of a look at them for us.

I’m keen to try and get a trail building/maintenance group together, the idea would be to keep jumps, pump track etc in good condition and add in new features to keep the place fresh and challenging. I’m trying to set up a trail building training day with Rowan, get him to explain why stuff is built the way it is and how it should be ridden. I’m hoping to do something combined with the guys that are building at Gisburn and Healey Nab. Share resources and experience etc"
Tony Lund
Countryside Officer
Lancashire
hope tyhis helps g

Sounds great. I'm a bit far away but still may be interested in a bit of trail maintenace as part of a day's riding trip.

nice sounds great, been waiting for new stuff for a while, wouldn't mind helping out with the trails my self i only live about 20 mins away 🙂

Looking forward to sessioning the drops.

I've already contacted Tony through a thread he replied to on BikeRadar. Think he's pretty keen to get a volunteer group together to maintain rather than build, as he puts it he can get money for building new stuff but not maintaining the old.

Be nice to ba able to build something on the doorstep rather than having an hours travel time.

Graham me and Monty are ready to lend a hand with some trail work.

Let me know when you need us.

Wont be out on Friday as am out in Manchester.

Got out last night on the Friday night bimble route, still grim up there so it is.

All sounds excellent. Should be up for some maintenance stuff once it gets sorted out!

So is Lee Quarry rideable at the moment? Was planning to go on Saturday.

i was ther last sunday and it was all rideable, bit sticky here and there, but a lot better than other places considering the weather over the last few weeks.

Its all ridable at the moment a few rocks here and there have rolled on to the track and still a little ice so keep your eyes open. I'm planning on spending tomorrow up there sorting out a few bits of drainage and removing some of the rocks. Over all its in pretty good condition considering the amount of ice which was on it.

I'm wanting to get the signage sorted out trying to find a balance between easy to follow but not too rigid or in your face.Where currently has the best signage do you reckon?

Some no entry signs are needed in places, seen so many walkers going off up round the exposed section at the top the wrong way, and also saw some riders going off from the skills area in the wrong direction the other week too..

Other than that, and possibly some more signs around the skills bit, I like the current signage, just enough to follow easily enough without it looking like the M62.

This should be a news story up on the front page of the site!

Don't forget that the new sections of trail will be ready for racing on at the Singletrack Classic Weekender on 3-4 July. Tickets are already on sale in the online shop, linked above.

fantastic news! the new trails will be a massive addition to an already formidable skills area, the extra trail sections sound great aswell! I'm sure there will be no problem finding willing volunteers for what sounds like a great project.

Sounds awesome – still haven't made it over there yet but I will do one day.

ed would be good if you could get the initial post put on the front page – bit of insider influence poss g