Mountain Bike Rangers Get New Threads

The work of Lancashire’s volunteer Mountain Bike Rangers has been rewarded by mountain bike clothing company Altura, who has donated a complete outfit of riding gear to each of the Lee Quarry Rangers in Rossendale, Lancashire.

The recent development of trails at Lee Quarry and Cragg Quarry has drawn riders in increasing numbers from all over the country and in order to manage the new trails Lancashire County Council has recruited volunteer Mountain Bike Rangers. There has always been a strong tradition in Lancashire of using Rangers to assist ramblers in the countryside and this idea has been extended by using mountain bikes to help them cover greater distances. The Rangers will now have a recognisable appearance thanks to the matching kit of Crosslite waterproof jacket, Mayhem 3/4 jersey, Summit short sleeved jersey and Flexx baggy shorts. Lee Quarry is an exposed site, as anyone who attended the Classic Weekender will testify, and wearing quality kit makes the job much more pleasant.

The volunteer team has also been given a programme of mountain bike skills training by Ed Oxley of local company Great Rock. He’s made sure that the Rangers have the skills to ride the wide variety of technical trails on their patch as well as the equipment to cope with the weather.

The Rangers are out and about every weekend and will also be present at mountain bike events such as the Brownbacks XC race series and were a great help during the recent Singletrack Classic Weekender. They are there to give help, advice and directions so feel free to stop and have a chat if you see them – you could try asking them to pop down into Bacup to fetch you a pizza but this might get a less than favourable response!