Hi everyone.

Just wanted to introduce myself. I’m Tom and I’m one of the main guys running Chicksands Bike Park.
Reason I’m here is I wanted to keep you all updated on the changes and developments that are going to be happening very soon at the bike park.

I understand that people have said the bike park lacks beginner trails as well as any xc trails and we are working on developing it into a more all round bike park.

We’ve been a bit slack on building until now as our lease was up in the air for over a year and had a battle between our solicitors and forestry commission. Its now all sorted, secured for 10 years and we can crack on with making this a great place to ride again. We are now a registered C.I.C company, non profit making and all of our course managers are volunteers.

On the XC side of things we aren’t legally allowed to build outside our perimeter fence so we are in talks to get forestry to rebuild the xc trails they destroyed after the clear fell.
But in the bike park we are planning to put a short xc route in around the perimeter fence with some fun little roller sections and things.

Also on top of the freeride hill big changes have been taking place already. The northshore is now gone due to it being uninsurable (£25,000 a year they wanted) but will be replaced with fun flowing dirt trails.
We have a new pump track which hosted the first round of the dmr pump track challenge last month. Another beginners pump track is being built for riders new to pumping.

We are also planning to turn the whole top of that hill into a skills area with beginners tabletops with the same size double next to it then them building up to slightly bigger ones.

There is also a new singletrack being built on the back side of the 4x. It should hopefully be finished within the next month.

Again I wanted to let everyone know whats going on and to let you know we are open to suggestions and ideas anyone has. We want to make it more a place for everyone to ride rather than just an intermediate level straight out.

We are running monthly dig days if the weather allows as we need the rain. dig for a few hours in the morning and ride the rest of the day for free. Dig day dates and updates can be found on the chicksands bike park facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chicksands-Bike-Park/282730228702

Again the managers at the bike park would like to thankyou everyone for the support so far but also welcome ideas and suggestions into making the facility better for all.

cheers 🙂

Wishing you well Tom, and good to see one of your ‘pupils’ (Lacey) has made it on to the World stage, following you.

good to hear. I cut my freeride teeth at Chicksands and it’s been sad to see its demise over recent years. glad you’re back on track.

Hi Tom,

Chicksands has been on my to-do list for far too long. I want to trip up there with a couple of friends and play on the dual-slalom (is that still there) or perhaps a group coaching day

Shame all the northshore has gone, that was great fun 🙂 Used to spend all day riding those skinnys!

Last time I went to Chicksands, I won a weeks stay in Bedford hospital 😉

@Soobalias, You should defo make the trip mate :), a lot of fun to be had and more to come with all the new stuff going in. The dual track will be there until the world ends! Let me know if you want to sort out the group coaching.

@Xiphon hope you’re ok mate. What happened?

I hope you know you ruined the dual track by changing it…..

The beginners table tops sound great though as a few of my friends are going to be getting in to it – put in a nice progression in size.

Also could you put a bit of kick on the smaller gap jump at the bottom of one of the downhill runs (that’s next to a much larger one). It’s actually harder to clear than the large jump.

@Tomdowie

Was sessioning the 4X track all day (on a Spesh Pitch… not really a 4X bike!), happily launching the entire triple gap time and time again….

…. but on my last run, front tyre washed out on the outiside line, about a metre from the takeoff. Launched at a wonky angle at full speed, and landed in a pile on the track (felt like concrete!).

Spiral fracture in right ankle, broken right wrist, dislocated right shoulder….

Got a plate on my ankle now 🙂

ah dude thats super unlucky :(. All good now though?

Yeah much better now thanks

good stuff. The 4x has changed a bit since you last rode it I think. New big berms before the triple.

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the info, it sounds like they are great developments.

I wonder if you could clarify something; a year or two back there was a bit of hoo-har about people outside the bike park fence being accosted and made to pay the day fee (£5?) to ride XC stuff. Can you clarify if under the new lease situation people “outside the fence” are required to pay a fee?

Cheers!

@ Timmys.

Riding the Xc routes outside of the bike park is free of charge. One of our course managers got a bit too big for his boots, he’s all sorted now and you won’t be asked for a ticket unless you enter the bike park 🙂

Good to hear, I haven’t been to Chicksands for ages but it sounds like it’s probably worth a visit when the new stuff is built. I like the idea of having tabletops and doubles next to each other, it’ll finally help me get over my fear of proper doubles.

Tom,

Did you ever put those deep dish wheels on your caddy that I gave you? 😉

Regarding chicky, are you guys building anything aimed at the younger riders I.e under 9’s etc?

Hi

Any chance XC racing might return to Chicksands?

Would be nice if the friendly atmosphere Chicky used to have some years ago came back…

Good luck with the new developments, not been to chicky since the days of the prawn and bubba flying over from canada to fail at the log plop.
Halcyon days.
:thumb:

😉

tom,

I personally feel that the pump that is there at the moment is quite good, but far too small! Can you expand it, maybe to join up to the new ‘beginners’ one you are going to build? I reckong it should be 3 or 4 times as big at least! 😆

Andy

Hey,

Am local and willing to help out on dig days if needed.

Ben

I could help out with digging as well.. not that local but work in MK so its a quick drive over for a ride and dig after work! normally go to woburn but it’d be nice to have some variety!

@Transporter13

Yep I had them on the caddy for a bit now I’ve got some bbs rms splits so I gave them to my mate for his mk2 golf.

@Oldgit

In the bike park we will be putting in a short fun loop but outside the fences we are unable to build and if we do we risk losing our lease. The only thing we can do and are trying to do at the moment is pressurising Forestry into rebuilding them after the ruined them after the tree fell and failing to rebuild them as promised.

@Bullet.

I think that friendly atmosphere was lost due to a certain course manager of ours who has been sorted out. Its been a good atmosphere as of late.

@Iridebikes

Don’t worry about that we’ve got another couple planned. The beginners one that will be separate to the current and even bigger one that we have planned. But the current one and bigger one we have planned will interlink. Diggers will be coming in in the next couple of weeks.

@Palmer77

That would be awesome, if you like the chicksands bike park page on facebook we’ll put up when the next one is. Thats for offering :).

@_Tom_

That would be awesome too, I’ll let everyone know I have the digger in.

I’ve not been up to Chicksand in a fair few years now, used to ride there most weekends, but since moving away its dropped off my radar…

I remember helping to dig some of the 4x in and I know the woodwork over the other side was under threat for quite some time, I remember being told a whole load had to come out as the insurers had said it had to be twice as wide as it was high???!!? – a 2m wide platform 1m off the deck ain’t really a riding challenge, clearly some people got their way and its gone all together now, Shame as it was quite well developed and I don’t remember anyone spangling themselves on the timber, but a fair few ballzing up certain jumps and needing an NHS taxi…

My standing impression was that in recent years it had become all about the 4x and the Dirt jumps, and less about building the sort of stuff less able riders or beginners could get to grips with, and with that came a bit of an elitist atmosphere, a bit of a “If you ain’t razzing the 4x flatout or chucking out monster backflip-tailwhips then **** off sunshine!!” sort of vibe…

I thought the freeride area was basically being turned into a set of monster kickers to test your bravery on, rather than the nice flowy lines with fun booters, drops and some woodwork that had existed, hence I’ve not really bothered to go back…

More trails is always good news, but Chicksands needs more stuff to entice beginners, and the less Gnarr riders back (Pump track sounds good), more complete 20~30 second runs for people to session (I used to love sessioning the forgotten about lines out towards the back of the FR area)…

I miss Chicksands a bit, I might pop back and have a look sometime…

I agree with the statement above. Their was definitly a sense of Elitism there. The last time I went was 2008.

Been trying to go since but just haven’t got round to it. Hoping to arrange a meet up so that I’m not all on my lonesome.

Myself and a friend are having our first visit this weekend. Cant wait 🙂

cookeaa, last time I went the dual had been toned down a lot. Big swoopy berms with a couple of drops removed. The jumps were the same size though.

Ive been recently a few times – found it a great atmosphere, bloke taking the money was nice and cheery and the food at sold by the Thai chap simply brilliant.

Love it as it is, but if your making it better Im even more *stoked.

(*is that the proper term)

Good to hear stuff is happening there again Tom. Chicky has dropped off my radar lately.
I miss the Northshore too…
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPLCQyThfVA&feature=plcp[/video]

the food at sold by the Thai chap Simply brilliant Thai

thats better 😀

Sounds really promising as it was a great place to ride years ago. I was involved with Giles and co (remember Fatknacker too?) and helped put the old red route course posts in etc and ran a couple of the Friday night series races way back (mega stress but good fun I guess).

What is the membership fee like nowdays?

Cheers for all the support guys. I’ll get the diggers in as soon as I’m back from racing.

Memberships costs are as follows:
Senior (16 years old or over) – £60
Junior (15 years old or under) – £40
Family (maximum 2 senior and 3 junior) – £120

The Thai foods as good as ever, its all I ever eat these days :).

See you all soon hopefully!

Will be booking a day off in the near future to go there and make a morning of it. Just need to get the bike fixed.

Spent half a day there yesterday, and was completely blown away. I’m 40 and spent 2 hours with a friend on the dual slalom, getting faster with each fun, followed by a quick blast down the 4x.

The Thai food was delicious and priced well, and the guy is so friendy, so 10/10 for that.

All in all, a superb half day (couldnt do a whole day due to the distance we drove to get there), and will be getting an annual membership soon. 🙂

handyandy – Member
Spent half a day there yesterday, and was completely blown away. I’m 40 and spent 2 hours with a friend on the dual slalom, getting faster with each fun, followed by a quick blast down the 4x.

The Thai food was delicious and priced well, and the guy is so friendy, so 10/10 for that.

All in all, a superb half day (couldnt do a whole day due to the distance we drove to get there), and will be getting an annual membership soon.

Glad you enjoyed your day bud. Hope to see you soon

Here are some of the new builds in this video. New berms on the 4x, new big drops and some of the rebuilt downhilly runs.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B-M0oQ7jMg[/video]

Quick update for everyone.

We’ve made the dual slalom start ramp bigger now, as in it has a platform at the back with steps up so its a bit easier to get on now.

Also the new single track at the back of the 4x is over half way done now, it rides awesome already.

And lastly we have our Chicksands Dual race coming up on the 14th of October. Facebook event link https://www.facebook.com/events/458266804212889/

Entry and information to come

sounds good, heading up for a ride next week. the whole group is very much wheels on the floor kinda riders, so i hope there is enough to keep everyone happy for a couple of hours.

have you started doing the half day passes, i saw mentioned on FB?

what bike, what tyres, whats the weather gonna be like….

Just to let everyone know we have some races coming up.

Dual race on the 14th October, should be a fun day out. Entry will hopefully be up this week.

4X grass roots race 25th November. Details to follow.

Categories are as follows
Under 13
Youth (14-16)
16-29
30+
Ladies
Elite

Also we had our end of year meeting the other day and decided on the improvements we are making over winter.
Beginners Pump track
Add a new loop to the current track and link to the new flow line.
Beginners skills loop, xc kind of pump track.
A jump skills area to learn to jump, Tabletops with doubles next to them.
3 new progressive drops.
Step up/Mulch jump for tricks
A new step down with 3 different take offs to build up your jumping.
A snaking trail down into the wallride
Hopefully adding a short xc loop within the bike park too.

Check out the chicksands bike park facebook page for dig days etc.

Also I have just sent out my new Coaching newsletter. I run it out of chicksands but can travel to other venues.

October offers and discounts and the Olympic XC course – http://t.co/ibGl3QP1

Just posted some of the new plans up on the chicksands bike park page on facebook. If you guys fancy liking our page and checking out the builds that would be great. cheers

The plans on the FB page look promising, progressive drops and jumps are what ive been searching for.

When are you hoping to have all this done by?

Ive just bought a new Status so if I get over there in the next 2 weeks im going to attempt the drops that are currently on site at last.