The mtb specific trails through the forest have been devastated by the recent stormy weather. I’ve seen the damage myself in and around the east boundary area. The bombhole is no more, as it now has a tree in it. And others are reporting similar issue further up, near the chocolate slide area.

There’s a thread over on TrailScotland about it:
http://www.trailscotland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=1765&sid=faa0bd7457e53c13a2ecb3a5eae6bcc4&p=21675#p21675

I was just wanting to post up here to draw attention to it and see if we can organise some clearing and/or rerouting of trails.

Mcmoonter is a fan.

I’ve just posted a update on the Trail Scotland forums with some photographs of the destruction, if anyone is interested

Talking of Blairadam, does anybody know anything about the state of the trails at Pitmedden?

Yep it’s a mess, along with a mate I’ve been up with a chainsaw clearing some of the trails, there’s a ton of work still to be done tho. We’ve only really cleared 1 section, and 2 re-routes were required. I’ve heard pitmeddan is similarly affected.

Trails are running really well. Well they were last week anyway! Random trees still seem to be falling on the chalk slide though. Couple of photo’s here http://www.trailscotland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=1765&hilit=blairadam&start=50

Murr and I ride there now and again. We’d be up for some trail clearing. We could maybe get some of the Meadows guys along too.

I used to, until the morons on this very website ruined it for me.

The trails are just like that up there. There’s not much that you can do I don’t think, and now Pitmedden’s alive again it’s not worth the trip unless you’re in riding distance of it.

How did they ruin it for you?

All their misinformed bullshit about damage to the trails caused by an event we ran. Left a very bitter taste in my mouth.

All their misinformed bullshit about damage to the trails caused by an event we ran. Left a very bitter taste in my mouth.

The trail damage that was never sorted after a race in winter following weeks of torrential rain that you made a pledge to repair?

ah yes, i remember this. i went out with the blairadam a while before this and found it entertaining but damp and could never quite see how it would survive an event,

it’s the example i give when folk ask me what i think will happen if pitmedden gets an event run over it…

I used to, until the morons on this very website ruined it for me.
Poor you.

Left a very bitter taste in my mouth.
Perhaps it’s the guilt that’s doing that?

To be honest I didn’t see what all the fuss was about after the event. Immediately after the event the trails were definitely a bit worse for ware but after just a couple of couple of weeks the trails were no worse than I have seen them in the depths of winter. A couple of months after the event you would never have known that an event had taken place there.

Blairadam has been used for mountain bike races on and off for years, generally these have passed with little comment about the damage that has been done. This event was just unfortunate that there was heavy rain on the lead up to and the day of the race

munrobiker – Member

All their misinformed bullshit about damage to the trails caused by an event we ran. Left a very bitter taste in my mouth.

Interesting – at the time you accepted your event had caused damaged and said you would organise trail repairs – did you ever make good on your promise?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/blairadam-trails-after-sus-mtb-champs

munrobiker – Member
…………We’re going to try and get a trail maintenance day done. Part of the deal is to leave the forest as we found it…………………..

We will try out best to sort this out, but like I say, the conditions were exceptional and unpredictable, even for February. The last time I saw an event with similar mud was SITS, which is held in August, which is a time when you’d expect a much more intense rainfall like we had.

munrobiker – Member

Don’t worry, we’ll be going down there. We’re going to get ourselves down there as soon as possible and will do all we can to repair them.

The trails will be back to normal by Easter, however I’m not sure how best to fix them. The club will be going down to dig this week.

So did you ever repair them?

After they had dried out, the trails were not much different to what they had been before. In fact, one of the sections has had vegetation grow over it and another has been re-routed. I’m not sure what you expected Munrobiker & co to do, as it is obvious from the OP’s statement that bad weather hits Blairadam hard.

To make good on his promises?

From the original thread:

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.

And physically how TJ?
What would you do about the bit just before the rocky descent down to the path by the river? That’s always muddy.

Blairadam is poorly draining, a few bad days of weather and it isnt dissimilar to how it was after the race

Also from the website quoted in the OP’s post:

Just back from another great blast round Blairadam. The trails are all bone try and there is some awesome riding to be had.

If you’re local to Blairadam get up there and ride it before it pisses with rain

yeah i noticed the tree was down, tried to make a route around with an option of a small jump\drop off through a broken part of the wall, might be an option as the original track gets really muddy when it rains

Seems to be a reoccuring theme that Blairadam gets pretty muddy regardless of races. But I am genuinely interested TJ in how to improve drainage as I wouldn’t mind giving it a go

so, if i’m reading this right you’re suggesting that a few days rain has the same effect as running a race?

i might have quite a lot to say about that except it’s been said before
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/blairadam-trails-after-sus-mtb-champs

Nah (and there probably should have been a ‘that’ before dissimilar- sorry), but Blairadam is always muddy, I can’t see what could have been done except to let it dry out. I’ve visited there before the race, after the race, and again more recently and didn’t find the conditions that different from each other.

tyredbiker – read the original thread.

It took more than a year for the affected areas to recover.

Better route planning and consultation before the event would have prevented the majority of the damage. Had the organisers attended previous trail building days they would have better understood how vulnerable the area is.

Despite their prerace commitment to rectify any damage to the FC (which amounted temporary blindness and a self congratulatory pat on the back) and munrobiker’s subsequent promises on here (to make good the damage) came to at best too little too late at worst nothing.

It’s perhaps a pity that munrobiker identified himself as the students’ spokesman, I dont know what his pre race role was but he ended up taking the bullet.

I have read it mcmoonter. This still isn’t answering ‘what would you do to fix it?’ It just seems to be a bit of a ‘you shouldn’t have done that’ rather than offering constructive advice to how to remedy the situation

It just seems to be a bit of a ‘you shouldn’t have done that’ rather than offering constructive advice to how to remedy the situation

Wouldn’t it just be so much easier to blame the whole debacle on Blairadam and simply ask it to apologise, for a small fee, we could delete these threads and everyone would be happy?

Wouldn’t it just be so much easier to blame the whole debacle on Blairadam and simply ask it to apologise, for a small fee, we could delete these threads and everyone would be happy?

…er whut? Guessing you can’t answer my question at all then.

Immediately after the event drainage channels could have been dug to have diverted much of the standing water away. That would have been a productive start. However that was not my responsibilty as I was not the event organiser.

For me what the event showed was a wholehearted lack of care for the resource.

Immediately after the event drainage channels could have been dug to have diverted much of the standing water away

fair enough.

However that was not my responsibilty as I was not the event organiser.

No one said you were…