Can You Find Any of British Cycling’s New Places To Ride?

There’s a whole host of new places to ride now available in the UK thanks to legacy funding from the UCI Road World Championships in 2019 – only it’s …

By stwhannah

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Can You Find Any of British Cycling’s New Places To Ride?

Funny, on that map, one of those project markers on the yorkshire map lies entirely over my house. I’ll be dammed if I know what it refers to though.

The Southampton one is at the sports centre (where WCA’s original jump/pump park is.  Not sure what’s been/being developed there but there was talk of some money coming in for wider development a couple of years ago

The Andover postcode (SP10 3LF – sports centre again) is listed twice with slightly different descriptions (maybe they count BMX tracks as 1 and “other facilities” as another – storage, maybe).  There always was a fairly decent BMX track there (tarmacced major turns if I remember right)

Soz, haven’t been to either recently

well going by that map, nowhere outside England :-/

That is absolutely piss poor, no references at all?

Derby City Council      BMX racing / dirt jump       CV10 7JJ          New facility

That track is in Nuneaton……….

So a press release saying we’ve spent a tonne of money on providing or improving facilities, but we can’t actually collate the locations and tell you what we’ve done and where we’ve done it!

If I did something like that for work and couldn’t evidence it, I’d be in for a royal bollocking!

I think pretty much all the Cornwall ones are skills loops within school grounds, for physical activity during and after the school day, so no public access.

So nothing in Herefordshire, Worcestershire or Gloucestershire then by the looks the list but maybe dots on the map?

Looks like the Basingstoke one is the pump track added when the skatepark in War Memorial park was refreshed a year or so back. aerial pics on Bing and google to compare the difference.

Ipswich BMX was a bit more than a refurb, there was track resculpting/surfacing. New start ramp gate and a clubhouse installed. A couple of weeks after finishing they fenced the track end of the site to stop people falling into the bermed corner as it’s a bit steep.

Just did a quick dump of that table into google maps and it looks like the locations are actually the offices of the person/organisation who submitted the bid, not the location of the facility. The ones up here in NE24 and DL1 almost certainly are.

I’ve been to Wythenshaw, it’s pretty good. They have 3 areas: a pump track, a learn to ride bit (mini roads with proper road markings), and some mtb trails that are nothing very extreme. It’s a great place to go with kids.

I got all excited seeing a pump track in Peel Park as that’s round the corner from me, but it’s a different Peel Park at the other end of Salford (Little Hulton). Bah.

The Max Trax one has its own website: https://www.maxtrax.org.uk/ (I’ve never been so can’t comment, but it looks good)

@K the map covers everything they built – which includes road circuits and things like that. There’s a full list of locations here: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/places_to_ride_fund_breakdown_of#incoming-2469564

The Bromley Council one (BR5 2SG) is in Hoblingwell Wood Rec, it’s a tarmac pump track in Velosolutions style, although I don’t think it’s one of theirs. Free public access in a park.

https://www.bromley.gov.uk/news/article/348/hoblingwell-cycle-track-now-open

Better pic at: https://www.roughrideguide.co.uk/route-details/885

“Lewisham BMX Track” isn’t right, that refers to the one in the corner of Beckenham Place Park which has been there a while. And funnily enough, is in Lewisham rather than Bromley.

Bexley one (DA7 6BD) is a Velosolutions tarmac pump track. Again, free public access in a park. https://www.velosolutionsuk.com/pumptracks/bexley-pumptrack

 

Both smooth tarmac so good for anything with wheels.

Leicestershire County Council
MTB trails
LE67 3LN
Refurb/upgrade of existing facility

This appears to small park in Coalville

Same as snotrag, the large scale project SSW of Bradford looks very close to being on top of my house, but I have no clue what it is!

I’m guessing that ‘LA22 2AW’ is the pump track in Windermere but that’s not at that postcode, it’s at ‘LA23 2BJ’

@billoddie – fairly certain that will be the Snibston Colliery trails.

I’m not far from Peel park in Salford M38.

The pump track is new (couple of years).  It’s open access.  Really nice little track.  Not a particularly nice area of Salford though, take care, I’d avoid after dark.  I think there might be some hire/coaching options for kids.

@K

So nothing in Herefordshire, Worcestershire or Gloucestershire then by the looks the list but maybe dots on the map?

https://eveshamvelopark.co.uk/about-evesham-velopark

 

It’s actually the third pic on the flyer under “10 Closed Road Circuits”, it has a 1km closed road circuit, Pump Track, Learn to Ride Track, Cyclo-Cross track and an all-ability circuit for riders with disabilities. It’s not free to use though.

well going by that map, nowhere outside England :-/

British Cycling = England.  Always has done.

I guess the QECP work is the two skills loops put in last summer, but I can check.

It’s a partnership with Sport England, hence only English locations. Wales and Scotland have their own Sport England equivalents.

British Cycling is a bit of a misnomer then!

The blurb says across ‘the country’, so just England, not UK.

I’ve been to Wythenshaw, it’s pretty good

Yep stumbled across it last weekend while out bimbling, It was pretty busy with kids all having a great time by the looks of it. Gets an official opening next week week I think.

 

Guessing Cannock will have been the blue (Perry’s Trail) and the Pedal & Play areas that were put in place before and for the Commonwealth games.

Doncaster one was a pretty major build of an off road closed circuit track. At Doncaster Dome, took out four rows at the bottom of the car park, quite a big pond, a tree shelter belt and a grassy area. Made a 1Km loop of tarmac and cobbles, an equipment shed and coaching room. Various sessions happening there now, learning to ride, bikeability, clubs and other coaching. Ed Clancy and Graham Briggs run a coaching academy which does some of the sessions.

https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/culture-leisure-tourism/doncaster-cycle-track

https://www.clancybriggs.co.uk/home

Hi

 

You seem to be missing Northampton Bike Park from your list – this had funding from the Places to Ride fund

Too late to edit, Doncaster track isn’t “open” as just ride in. Needs to be a booked/paid session. If not going for an organised group thing, you book open access times through Doncaster Dome website/app etc.

Anyway, the map that AI baby is looking at on the headline story appears to refer to a country called Englarn, so I’m not sure any of this is relevant.

The blurb says across ‘the country’, so just England, not UK.

To be fair, on any Scottish independence discussion the pro-side is always very quick to point out that Scotland already is a different “country” and merely part of a “united kingdom” form which they want independence.

And on the flip side, we may as well re-brand the “British” Downhill Series, the Scottish (And Welsh) Downhill series.

And there is a Scottish Cycling.

The pump track in Chudleigh, Devon has been there for 3 years and Decoy BMX track in Newton Abbot has been there since 1998.

To appease some of the grumpy Scots on here, Callendar Park in Falkirk just opened a new pump track / jump park that was partly funded by Cycling Scotland as a legacy from last year’s UCI World Championships. We’ve also got a fabulous wee pump track that opened this year in Herbertshire Park, Dunipace, although I think that might have been funded by the local council. It’s about two minutes away from my house and I pass it everyday on my commute. It’s a genuine pleasure to see how packed it is with kids on bikes and scooters. Actually just thought of a third track local to us at Larbert High School. I think that opened quite recently as well.

So that’s three new bits of cycling infrastructure, that I’m aware of, that have opened recently within a 10 radius. Not too shabby when you consider how strapped for cash the country is at the moment.

To appease some of the grumpy Scots on here, Callendar Park in Falkirk just opened a new pump track / jump park that was partly funded by Cycling Scotland as a legacy from last year’s UCI World Championships.

It’s an outrage, why was funding for a WC held in the UK not spent outside Scotland, etc, etc, etc.

The one in Newark is detailed on the YMCA website here: https://ymcanewarksherwood.org/cycle-facilities

It looks like you need to pay to use it though: £7 per adult and £4 per child/youth.

There’s a new pump track on Hove seafront too which opened a week ago. Worth a look if you’re local
https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2024/09/13/new-skatepark-pump-track-and-roller-area-now-open/

I might know something about the one in the North East (Barnesbury).

I think they’ve got the postcode wrong unless they’ve built a second BMX track very close to an existing one. Given they’ve called it “Barnesbury” I’m assuming that the post code relates to a correspondence address of Barnesbury CC who did the leg work on it. I only really know about it through friends and racing contacts.  The club also host the most popular “Weeknight 10” where I used to be a regular.

I think it is an improvement of the BMX facilities in Gallagher Park as seen in the link below. With directions from where the postcode point you.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Gallagher+Park+parking,+opposite+Aldi,+Schalksmuhle+Rd,+Bedlington+NE22+5BP/Horton+Manor,+Front+St,+Blyth+NE24+4SF/@55.1362745,-1.5840056,237m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x487e0d00255755a7:0xc07fcb2aaef2eee8!2m2!1d-1.5840463!2d55.136468!1m5!1m1!1s0x487e72d31993092f:0x24ad21be1d9ea84a!2m2!1d-1.5647318!2d55.1259098!3e0?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDkyMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Here’s some stuff from the contractors

https://www.clarkkentcontractors.com/tracks/regional/bedlington.html

Barnesbury’s website is out of date and their club Facebook page is private. There is one for the BMX and mtb stuff at Gallagher park though. IF you scroll through there is plenty of information.

https://www.facebook.com/BarnesburyBMX

If you want to talk to someone and don’t have much look using their website/facebook page. PM me and I’ll see if I Can put you in contact with the right person.

I found this

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/zuvvi/media/bc_files/membership/halfords/Places_to_Ride_All_Awards_IMD_1.pdf

Which suggests it wasn’t just facilities that were built or improved but different types of grant.

Also this

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/funds/british-cycling

which lists some projects.

Places to Ride impact report published as £15 million investment now fully allocated