I thought I would share this with you. I asked the FC why they had flattened the jump site / pump track. I got back a very nice email explaining the situation. Seeing as they had taken the time and care to explain it so fully I thought I would share it with you. I totally understand their position and agree with why they had to take the actions they did. It doesn’t make me happy but I accept it. Anyway:

Our Area Team had in many ways tried to find an alternative to knocking
the jumps down. Unfortunately our hands are tied by the fact that the
Forestry Commission do not own Lordswood, and under the lease can only
manage the wood for timber production, and the health and safety of
those using the wood.

The building of the jumps presents us with a problem, as although most
people using them will be capable of riding, and landing!, with no
problems, no one can guarantee that inexperienced riders will not
attempt the jumps, with possibly very serious results. In woodlands
that are managed by the Forestry Commission in other parts of the
country one person has died and another has been paralysed from the neck
down as a result of riding just the sort of trial that you have created.
Therefore, I hope you can understand that this is not a risk that we
have dreamt up. It is often not the people who have created the track
that get hurt; but the inexperienced rider who comes across the track
and decides to have a go.

If the Forestry Commission owned the land (called a Freehold wood as
opposed to a Leasehold Wood), there would be avenues we could explore in
terms of managing the jumps, or allowing others to take on the
responsibility of managing the jumps. In Lordswood, at this time, we do
not have this option, and will have to continue knocking any further
jumps down as and when they appear .

The site has been expanding for some time, and the longer this continued
the chances of there being a serious accident increased. I must stress
that the building of the jumps contravened the Forestry Commission
bylaws, and as such are an illegal activity. We had to take some action
to manage the situation, and unfortunately the only option left to us
was to level the site. We had tried to find alternatives, but in this
instance there were none.

thanks nick.

haven’t been up there for a while – didn’t realise it’d been flattened; what a shame. can understand why though.

there hands are tied by the land owners- clause in the lease means they are in no way allowed to ‘encourage use’ of the land. which means no bikes!

Spread the word that the FC aren’t the bad guys

Is this another “wood” that the FC used to own the freehold but sold & retained the leasehold on?

This happend over our way & as a result the new “free holder” who happen to be a shooting syndicate, who have strictly limited any access to just rights of way.

There gamekeepers have reinforced this policy quite strongly even having a go at the vicar who was walking his 12 year blind cocker off the lead on a public foot path.

As far as riding goes, just down to one bridle path now, dodging the occasional shot on route.

The FC still retained the leasehold (the timber rights). The locals be it on foot horse or bike have lost out.

Thanks for the info, i understand the reasons but it anoys me. I think this sort of thing should be managed better though. e.g have a website that gives updates like “lordswood jumps to be removed for blah blah reason” even a stake in the ground giving some explanation so they arnt rebuilt the following month.

Its a shame there cant be some waiver to liability for this kind of thing, e.g no permission no liability.
accidents happen its a part of everyones lifes and i’d rather take a few risks than live in a sanitised world.

The FC have never owned the land, which is part of the landed estate to the north formerly based on Chilworth House, and which also takes in Hut Wood

Hi Nick,
Thanks for the information.
I found out that they had been flattened on sunday.
I have to say my first reaction was actually one of relief.
It was getting dangerous up there and it was becoming increasingly hard to manage the safety of everyone as the number of users increased.
This fact wasn’t helped by the MX riders forcing us to double up all the rollers.
So there it is…a blank canvas for the next LW jump spot custodian.
I hope that whoever builds there in coming months/years appreciates that every single jump and berm was built using dirt.
Onto my next (secret) project…

Same problem in/at Robins Wood (nr Derby), although a certain level of cheekyness seems to be tolerated (the big jump/spine) has never been altered, probably because it must be part of some natural (or maybe an old dam, anyone know any better?) feature given its size, 8-12ft tall, with a long staight and fast run in and a wicked lip, more a danger o ending in the trees than missing the landing!.

what a load of old cock

I guess their hands are pretty much tied…

Thanks for taking the time to send them an email WCA. At least the reasons are now clear. I’m not surprised that they knocked them down for the reasons given. I’ve been led to believe it has happened before and there’s a cycle of creation and demolition. Give it a couple of months and they’ll probably have appeared again.

Up here we love the FC. Shame what happened to your jumps, but I can see why they have to do it.

On a related note, last night I ended up getting into a rather involved discussion with the lady who is always blocking off the “alternative” run-in to the bridleway D/H singletrack (being an exile from Bristol – I don’t know the local name for this trail).

Now, I don’t like lambasting people for their dearly held beliefs, but I was a bit narked by: a her refusal to distinguish between Moto-X and cycling. b her continual and vague references to “the ecology”, without actually explaining what she meant. c her evasion when I asked her who had been tearing down foliage in order to block the trail. d her odd contention that commercial felling operations were designed so as to restore some kind of “natural” status quo.

Now, I accept that said route is highly contentious (although it’s better drained) and I understand that Lordswood is not entirely commercially harvested coniferous plantation (there are areas of “older” mixed woodland), and I accept that some people simply don’t like us (as is their right)… but I take great exception to being viewed as an environmental vandal. And I said as much.

If you were the other rider – cheers, nice to meet somebody with similar beliefs!

“being viewed as an environmental vandal”

I agree. I recently sent has this email exchange with somerset.gov.

gov: “We have noted significant illegal use of Velvet Bottom by off road bikes that are damaging the site and will be seeking to address this with Somerset Wildife Trust who own the site.”

me: “I don’t think it is ‘illegal’ per-se, it’s just that there is no legal protection for a cyclist to access it without permission, hence my enquiry, otherwise it is civil trespass, which is in-itself not prosecutable.

On the subject of trail damage: this myth has been widely dispelled by various land management studies; a cyclist+bike weighs little more than an overweight walker and has the same power output. “Damage” does not exceed that caused by the equivalent foot traffic. In my experience, most track wear and tear is caused by horses and motorised vehicles esp. farm vehicles: they are heavy, powerful and consequently break-up soft-surfaced tracks, rendering them impassable on foot or cycle.

In my experience, off road cyclists are mature, respectful, law abiding and typically middle-class lovers of the outdoors, but are widely misrepresented as hooligans.”

In my opinion, the heart of the problem is that we are adults at play, which the public believes is the preserve of children.

Absolutely. Well said, buzz.

the heart of the problem is that we are adults at play, which the public believes is the preserve of children.

😀

World Class have they done the massive jump by the stream as well that could be nasty must be seven or eight feet lip on to a big drop?? I take it this is the BMX bit which has been leveled??