Viewing 9 posts - 41 through 49 (of 49 total)
  • Muckmedden 6 Hour on Sunday – Anyone Going?
  • bigjim
    Full Member

    bigjim
    Full Member

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBCq8XDgrP0[/video]

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    Some good info shamelessly borrowed from Trailscotland –

    ‘Just want to get a few facts straight on this, before it gets blown out of all proportion, although I’m heartened to see a few replies above with suitable reality checks. I was heavily involved in this, and all of Muckmedden’s events, as the event safety officer, one of the very few paid roles in the event along with the Medics, and the MC.

    Fact 1. For the record, I know that Aaron didn’t make any money (wage, profit, or otherwise) from this event as I reduced my bill a bit so that he could break even, just. Taking money off a good friend and business colleague when they’re loosing money is not cool in my book.

    Fact 2. Part of my role as safety officer was to open and close the trails at the start and end of the day. So I can categorically state that they rode better at 330pm than they did at 730am. The effect of lots of wheels passing them help to bed them in, disperse the wetter surface mud and create a surface that one rider described “as if it’s been whacker plated” – overstating it maybe, but certainly many of the usual Pitmedden wheel sized holes were gone at the end.

    Fact 2a. As I closed the trail, I picked up every gel wrapper I saw and so did all the marshals. one or two may have been missed, but I very much doubt it. On top of that, I also picked up a large pocket full of old random litter that had been blown in, or been there for years. The forest is tidier than it was before.

    Fact 3. The sections of trail that are described as ‘unwalkable’ are always like that at this time of year. We purposely taped off the high line on the Thurlstane – Muckmedden corner link, to ensure it wasn’t affected, but the lower line is a mess at most times of year. The boundary trail always has boggy sections too, it’s Pitmedden, and occasional wheel grabbing bog is part of it’s character. It will also dry up, grass will grow where the trail has braided a bit, and in a couple of months it will be back to normal, but still boggy.

    Fact 4. The Loam Lover trail described was ridden by almost no one, and chosen for the race for exactly that reason. It is not wrecked, it is still a great trail to ride and is actually vastly improved thanks to the efforts of a large team of volunteers and Aaron who borrowed in stone from the quarry (several hundred metres away uphill) to armour the last section onto the forest cutting.

    Fact 5. Countless hours of volunteer labour go into keeping Pitmedden riding as well as possible despite the fact that it’s naturally a very wet, boggy place. Some of these volunteers are racers, but most are Muckmarshals who then volunteer again on the day to marshal, and Aaron himself who has done more work at Pitmedden than anyone in recent years I’m sure. Pitmedden is undoubtedly a better place to ride following the race, not to mention safer as we’ve properly brashed every tree on the race route, right to the trunk as it should be done. This has all been done with the agreement of the FCS, under the guidance of an expert environmental impact reduction strategy.

    I think that’ll do as I see that during the time i’ve been writing this several other people have had their tuppence worth and as Phil has said, an online forum is not the forum, for anything constructive really. But I had to get the facts straight so that people who don’t know any background aren’t mislead by uneducated and ill conceived nonsense.’

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
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    bigjim
    Full Member

    don’t come waltzing in here with truth and facts instead of biased nimby opinion 😡

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    😀

    Dougal
    Free Member

    Had a ride there this morning, followed the course for a lap. Most of the time is actually hard to see there has been a race on. In lots of places the trails have even been cleaned of debris by the volume of riders.

    Loam lover is hardly the Passchendaele described by B.S. above. The climb is in the great nick it was before. The descent just has a more obvious line in it now, with a little bit of a channel on the flatter bit. The roots exposed at the top of the first steep(ish) section are the same roots that were on the surface before. This is exactly how I would expect an un-dug trail to evolve during a race.

    Well done to Aaron and co on the armouring work that went in on various bits, they chose where to put effort in carefully, and it has worked well.

    climbingcragrat
    Free Member

    With the level of interest being shown in Pitmedden and trail building / maintainance I assume I can count on your help clearing up New Hill after the Foresters have finished.

    glentressprincess
    Free Member

    ‘Please do not feed the Trolls’

    teamrider24
    Free Member

    From the Pitmedden Riders FB page.

    Looks like the FC are happy with things.

    Aaron Muckmedden Ok, I spoke to Forestry Commission this morning. As we took every practical measure to minimise the impact of the race according to a 7-page mitigation plan it has been decided there is no real need for a site meeting. As agreed before the event, we installed drainage and stone causeways at the most vulnerable areas, we re-opened disused trails and opened up several new trail sections to avoid damaging the local favourites. Some displacement was always going to occur but it’s minimal and as it’s coming into Spring the vegetation will start to grow and the trails will dry out. After a few weeks recovery time we’ll go back and have a look and see what we can do to help them along. “National Take Care of Your Trails Weekend” on11th/12th April would be the perfect time if anyone is interested?

Viewing 9 posts - 41 through 49 (of 49 total)

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