Just got this reply from Dafydd hope this makes things clear for everyone
My Question to him was:
Dafydd been up at Rostrevor on Sunday guys riding the trails and saying they should be ridden as it will bed the trails in what is your opinion on this? But more worrying while there there were loads of dog walkers on the trails and while talking to quite a few of them they were of the opinion that they should have access to these and if they meet a biker hairing down the trails they will simply step aside this is a recipe for serious injury to both parties so how is this going to be policed? By the way trails look great and no I was not riding them but using the old existing natural trails.
Reply was:
If the intention was for people to ride the trails to help bed them in, we would be encouraging people to ride on them – but, as most people seem to understand, the contrary is actually true – the trails need time to settle naturally (though obviously, those constructed last will have less time) and in addition, these riders are putting the project as a whole and completion dates at risk as Euro Services Contracts are having to spend a lot of time and energy dealing with trying to keep people off them and repairing damage to trails which aren’t even complete yet. With regards to walkers on the trails they will be putting themselves and the riders in jeopardy as these are dedicated mountain bike trails, they have not been designed with multi use in mind – some of the trails will be especially narrow and twisty and there will be nowhere to ‘step off’ to. Plus the riders won’t be looking out for walkers, as they won’t be expecting any on the trails – they’ll be expecting a good fun ride without having to worry about avoiding people and dogs (except maybe at forest road crossing or on forest road sections of course). Rangers will be in place at both Rostrevor and Castlewellan before the trails open, to educate and manage users along with information panels and signage, but obviously they can’t be everywhere at once.