From Their facebook page:
PUBLIC MEETING SET - Monday 2nd Dec, 7.30pm, Woodlands Hotel, Broughty Ferry.Dundee City Council, Angus Mountain Bike Trails Association (AMBTA) and Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland (DMBinS) would like to invite mountain bikers to feed their thoughts and ideas, including potentially naming trail features, into the new trail which is going to be created in Templeton Woods this winter and to get more details on a recently completed feasibility study on a potential trail development on the outskirts of Arbroath. An open evening on Monday 2nd December will be held at 7.30pm in Woodlands Park Hotel, Broughty Ferry.
John Whyman, Access Officer for Dundee City Council explains “This will be an opportunity for riders to meet the specialist trail builder (Architrail) and influence the build design. We have set a distance (1.1km) and grade (Blue with Red options), but Architrail have agreed that there are still options they can provide for riders to choose between different quantities and type of technical trail features on the trail.
We would also like to see if riders would be interested in a ‘dig-day’ for volunteers to learn some of the techniques of trail building. This may be useful in maintaining the trail and in the development of future trails.”
Local charity Angus Mountain Bike Trails Association’s (AMBTA) has been working for 8 years on a dream of bringing a dedicated cycle and Mountain Bike coaching facility to Angus has taken a major step forward with the completion of a Feasibility study which has come back overwhelmingly positive. The study which was funded through Angus Council & European Regional Development Funding was undertaken by Capita Symonds and Trail building company Architrail who are responsible for The Glasgow Common Wealth Games Mountain Bike Track.
The bike park which is proposed to be built at Kinblethmont Estate on The outskirts of Arbroath and close to Letham Grange would help plug the geographical gap for cycling facilities in the area and general lack of dedicated trails in Angus.
The facility would have a small network of low impact sustainable trails with built in features that will allow riders to practice their skills and allow coaching sessions to take place in a controlled and safer environment.
Chairman of AMBTA Scott Francis said “There is a wealth of beautiful natural trails in the Angus area which can be easily accessed by more experienced Mountain Bikers but a lack of coaching facilities means that there is presently no stepping stone to these for younger and less experienced riders. This new facility will mean that coaching programmes can be run, local people will be able to access sustainable trails and we can encourage more people out on bikes and they can build the skills needed to make trips out into wilder terrain. We also hope that having a facility like this in Angus will help us nurture the next wave of competitive riders ready to take on the next Commonwealth Games!”
Both organisations are part of a regional Tayside & Fife ‘cluster’ group which was set-up by DMBinS in 2010. Graeme McLean, project manager of DMBinS, explains the difference the cluster is making to the area “Both of these projects are more examples of Tayside & Fife becoming a hot-bed for mountain biking in Scotland. We have recently ran a youth race series across the area which attracted 177 unique riders from 3 to 16 and each local authority will have trail maps in place by next Easter. With all of these things brought together we really are creating a better place for locals to live in and brining more visitors to the area.”
A joint public meeting is due to be held on Monday 2nd December at The Woodlands Hotel in Broughty Ferry at 7.30pm where interested members of the public can come along and see the plans and talk with all the agencies involved with both developments.
I am not part of AMBTA (I should be), but just thought some may be interested.