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Its pretty shite for riding. Good for distance. Not really any trails.
It's great for riding, just not for riding an MTB.
Get into the habit of riding early in the morning and chances of conflict are very low. It is the people driving around everywhere at 45mph that I see as the problem.
gowerboy
Free Member
burko73 Good luck. I get the difficulty. In Swansea we have a campaign set up by a load of loons to stop the council slightly improving a bridleway for cyclist in a periurban country park. They say it will do all kinds of harm (even though much of it crosses a disused landfill of no special ecological sensitivity in a kind of no-mans-land) and are willing to put loads of effort in or even lie about stuff to get it stopped. So trying to get change in somewhere like the NF will be a slow and difficult process.
😀 I was thinking about that as I was reading this thread! It's worth adding that all of the local conflict in Clyne has happened since lockdown, and is almost entirely conducted via social media. (Although, one of the guys doing some maintenance on Sanitised a few days ago was roundly abused by a walker about the MTBers. On an official MTB trail!) The BW you are referring to has got progressively more boggy and overgrown in the years I've been riding it. I would rarely ever see anyone on the Olchfa/Killay end of it, until after lockdown started and it became overrun with people, few of whom seem to have any ability to be outdoors and lots of ability to be outraged on their phones. Anyway, this is OT. Are you on the Clyne Riders FB group?
The New Forest is an odd place, inhabited by some odd people. IMO it's all a bit meh.
Take one look at the local MP. He sums up the place and the people.
Not being able to cycle there is no biggy. That and the Alabama Rot, there is little reason to visit. Let the locals shoot themselves in the foot and damage what's left of the local tourism business.
I'm interested (and I do know it's an issue) - might alabama rot in a human cause an abnormally ruddy complexion and tendency to irrational outbursts ?
Not being able to cycle there is no biggy.
It is if you live there! Especially if you enjoy road and gravel cycling.
As for Alabama rot, just keep the dogs away from the water. Agree with you about Swayne though, an absolute ****er even by Tory standards.
The thing about Swayne is it’s arguable whether he is the worst MP in the NF. Julian Lewis (New Forest East) runs him close. Although he did redeem himself a bit with that Russia election interference report business.
There we were he a doctor, I a veterinary surgeon stressed with running our respective practices through Covid, atop a Forest hillside disturbing the peace with our mutual verbally offensive language. Thats the occasional reality of biking here. Without a better long tern resolution it’s actually a source of conflict at times.
Tell him he should be grateful you aren't a group of 10 on MX bikes, that's what's running around my area, if he thinks a solitary cyclist is an affront he is leading a sheltered life
I'm actually wondering if an all out ban is the way forward TBH. I'd LOVE to see anyone try and enforce it, followed by the backlash as 1000s of locals are told their kids can't ride their balance bikes on the forest any more. I'd wager only 10% of cyclists in the forest are what we'd describe as 'cyclists' and the other 90% are family groups.
I'm in the south of the forest every night either cycling or walking the dog. Cyclists are not a problem in the forest, either socially or ecologically.
Simian and Milfordvet - You're both right. Its about separating out the noise, putting things into context, listening and understanding each other. Its hard work being moaned at for something that's not really an issue if you look at it in context. I feel your pain. Hopefully we can get some sensible fact based dialogue going. I for one believe that there is progress to be made this time.
I’m in the south of the forest every night either cycling or walking the dog. Cyclists are not a problem in the forest, either socially or ecologically.
And I am there a lot of mornings and they are not a problem then either. There are quite a lot of people cycling (especially on Saturday and Sunday) but 99% of them are road riders and the when I do see cyclists off road they all tend to be on the gravel roads and a lot of them are families or people who have hired a bike for an hour or two.
This is not a problem and people need to stop moaning about it and working on solutions for it and find something more worthwhile to do.
Even though the New Forest is relatively close to me, it's not somewhere I ride much at all (maybe two rides in the last ~4 years), but then I love the hills between Owlesbury and South Harting plus getting to NF is a bit of a ball ache from east Southampton (unpleasant major roads on direct route).
But I can understand why many flock there frequently. Living in a honeypot location comes with having lots of bees visiting daily and these bees must be ordinarily outside Covid be spending lots of pennies in the local shops. The tourists increase the diversity and sustainability of shops, making life more pleasant and convenient for the NIMBYs.
this needs a Kinder scout style protest
When one side behaves so badly its impossible to engage constructively. By doing so you are legitmising their nonsense and playing the game by their rules. Eff 'em.
A lot of racist people even though 99.9% of people are white
Is this unusual? It's the most common and most pernicious type of racism surely? If you're stuck in an inner city, struggling to make a decent living or find somewhere to live, I can start to understand looking around for someone to blame - someone different to you.....maybe. But in privileged white rural areas? Ignorance and bigotry, often teamed with influence and power.
The GPS thing - strata heat maps, trail forks etc, have a lot to answer for.