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Im a 31year old son a miner of a miner of a miner from Oakley by the way. So if I ride the trails at Blairadam are the tyre tracks I leave behind more worthy?
neallyman earlier 😉
Nice one. 😀
I'm heading up just now for a ride there. All this talk has got me thinking I'll take a trip round the forest. I'll be on a black specialized btw. Will not be wearing my white dinner suit tho!
I really Wished i could put faces to the people commenting on this thread. McM, i saw you twice in the two years that i spent building/repairing trails. As i already stated, your help on the two building days we had was appreciated, as we would have struggled to move the materials without your vehicle/trailer.
If the amount of people commenting on here actually had got off their arses and contributed to some trail building then the momentum might have kept going.
Myself and the other guys involved at the time turned up for every build/repair session, some of which involved people taking time off work. This was just for the building/maintanence of the trails, there was also several regular group meetings attended, both as Bike BA and also with the FC and local groups. There was more involved than just turning up to the building sessions.
I personally have ridden the trails at least half a dozen times since this event, and yes, there is a few bits that have been damaged, but overall the trails are as good to ride as they always have been.
BA is a fantastic place to ride whatever the conditions and will continue to be as far as i'm concerned.
Well said Jim.
The longer this thread goes the more I'm beginning to wonder if part of the issue is the fact that there is no one there maintaing the trails anymore. Have people suddenly realised that repairs and maintenance don't happen by themselves?
I still get a feeling of satisfaction when riding trails I helped to build...what do other people feel when they ride them?
Perhaps a greater involvement from the masses during the golden age of Bike:Blairadam could have avoided this witch hunt!
And as a few folk have already said, yes the trail is cut up, maybe the students should have done something, but it IS ridable..... And if I can ride it so can you 🙂
Good morning singletrackworld...
My name's Huw, I'm the new secretary of the university cycling club now that Luke has fled to Chile to escape trial. I'm one of those awful people that mostly just uses STW as a place to sell stuff without having to pay fleabay, so apologies if I don't get into the swing of it properly and accuse anyone of Nazism, or think of the children at any point.
I've spoken to Luke re: FC requirements to get an idea of what agreement was in place before the race, as Luke put in [b]all[/b] of the organisation work himself. There were no specific criteria to meet concerning trail repairs after the event, and apart from a few small points to do with portaloos the feedback from the FC was positive. So there's your background. Having inherited Luke's position, I'd like to do what I can to sort this out before we all bugger off to the Med on our respective yachts.
First thing's first: It's true, we are lazy and useless, apart from in April and May, so thanks to those who mentioned exams and dissertations. Not that it's an excuse as such, but for those of us who weren't directly involved in the organisation of the race, we have had bigger things on our plates recently.
Secondly, while it's great to reserve a corner of the internet to argue about this, as far as I know, no-one has contacted the club directly to explain the problem and suggest further action. It's a bit late, but if you want to then go nuts, the address is in my profile under 'about me'. Generalising, and talking about this in terms of 'the students', isn't a helpful way to make a point, and implicates a whole group of people who bear no responsibility for trail repairs.
[b]Anyway[/b], whether or not it was expected of him by the FC, Luke has previously said on here that repairs would be done, so to honour that commitment I will be at Blairadam on Thursday, whether I'm on my own or I drag others along with me. It's rained a lot over the last couple of weeks, and plenty of users will have ridden the race course since the event, so trying to decide if any damage is due to the race itself seems a bit irrelevant. If I see mudfests I'll do my best to drain them or make an alternative route around them. If anyone has suggestions for other trail repairs then e-mail me, please don't put them up here to be picked apart and start endless other arguments.
So there you go. On Thursday I'm going to repair what I feel can be repaired on the course used for the race, within limits. Don't expect sick booters or rad road gaps, but the complaints have been the amount of surface water on chopped up trails, so better drainage will be put in and excessive mud cleared off the tops.
Thanks, Huw.
I mentioned all this to the SUS in light of their forth coming meeting via Twitter here is the conversation.
#SUSPowWow will they be sorting out what they are going to do about repairing the damage done in Blairadam forest during their #MTB race?
ScotUniSport
can u give some more information as we weren't aware there was damage to the #MTB trail other than general wearandtear from a wet day
31 May at 15:20
antmayer
See this thread on STW Forum http://bit.ly/kpBsJp
ScotUniSport
this is 1st time we have heard about this. No1 else has fed back 2 us. All i can say is we'll do our best 2 plan better in future!
antmayer
There was a plan before, it just wasn't executed.
ScotUniSport
understand ur comments but as munrobiker commented event organisers took local advice & no1 cud predict the bad weather when planning
ScotUniSport
On a positive note - organisers say it wont be winter event again. Damage was unintentional - we want people to enjoy the trails too!
looks to me like the SUS have washed their hands of the business.