Gisburn forest – Latest trail developments

You guys are really doing a great job.
Think you guys need a chain saw.

the "flat capped foot soldier"

😳

Still, got to live up to the Northern stereotype eh? Now, where did I leave me whippet… 😉

You guys are really doing a great job.

Cheers, much appreciated. 🙂

Think you guys need a chain saw.

It's OK, we've got the Master of the Forest to do that kind of thing. On the day the MBR guys were there, he turned up at 10am to have a chat with them, but said he could only spare half an hour as he had loads of office-work to catch up on. By 10:30am, he had the chainsaw out, and eventually left with the rest of us about 4:30pm. 8)

Glad I turned up as Im in the mag, couple of digs at us being northern but at least we are able to put gloves on the right way round lol. Look at the pics you'll see what I mean..

Think you guys need a chain saw.

The FC guy is really hands on and leading the whole project, so the available chainsaw resource at Gisburn is very well catered for by comparison to other FC locations, as are most other things. The only thing badly needed at Gisburn are more volunteers to cut trail. 😉

Every volunteer who turns up are just ordinary lads and lasses, there's no 'them and us'. Most of us are just average MTBers (with the exception of Ed-O), just willing to put a few hours in to dig and/or push a wheelbarrow around.

Anyone wanting to lend a hand, just drop me a mail. Next official dig day is going to be Jan 10th. We could really do with extra bodies on that day as we're going to have a go at repairing parts of Hully Gully (they can't easy get machinery in there now so volunteers are better suited to fixing it). We're also trying to arrange a dig day between Christmas and New Year, looking like Tuesday 29th at the moment, but it needs confirming.

Jon

Good news about repairs to Hully Gully. Worth starting a new thread for that one Jon.

What are the trail conditions up there like at the moment?

Also is it OK when it freezes as well or does it become to slippy on the rocks etc ?

Been there twice and the rain both times was "of biblical proportions" 🙄

I'm working up there tomorrow so I'll let you know!

I imaging it'll be pretty good frozen. It will certainly solidify the mud on the top loop climb to Whelpstone Crag. The lower loop stuff should be fine under the trees. Boardwalk sections will be treacherous! If it's windy it will be f. cold in the exposed areas.

hi i rode the trail last Sunday morning with heavy frost and small amounts of ice about, some of the rocks were a bit slippy but the board walk was great despite it being white with frost , all the trail in the trees was fine

Ed, that's a good idea, I'll get one going closer to the time. I'm off next week so might well try and get a ride in up there. Should be pretty good in the frost ans snow (it's snowing where I am and -2 degrees at the moment and the forecast looks great, bit more snow, very cold and sunshine 😯 ).

Jon
Might be worth calling it Hully Gully/ The Rollercoaster. Most posters seem to refer to it as a rollercoaster.

Is the 29th a definite date? if so, I'll book it off work.

I will be in Wigan for 10 days as of Tuesday. Is Gisburn rideable at all this time of year?

Oh well today's session is cancelled. It's probably good fun up there today but not much good for the skills we were going to do.

Ace Hebden ride last night. Proper drifty in the snow and an iced beard too.

i'll help on the 10th. stumpyjon YGM

Ed do you do guided Hebden nightrides? if so what group size do you require?

I can update on what the place is like in the ice because I was there on the 11th of December after there had been a heavy frost. It was bad in two locations.

1. The board walk just past the quarry was extremely icy and dangerous.

2. The berms in the gully/rollercoaster were iced up and pretty dangerous.

It is hard to believe… we have a short section of log ride in Thetford, closer to the ground and only 3 trees long and it is going to be ripped out by the FC cos it is "too dangerous". It was built under FC supervision, they provided and placed the wood work, they even cut the riding surface but now they say it doesn't fit with OGB37 and because a few peeps have fallen off and hurt themselves it has to go. So much for a standard approach to trail building eh?

The attached is someone's vid of the bit in question clicky and you can see how tough it is! 🙄 Interestingly, for you gnarly northern softies, this section of trail is so radical (according to our FC team) that the whole lot is going to be trashed for public safety purposes!

BTW, note how the rider avoided all the obstacles (ref the rock section mentioned earlier in the post). While it is disappointing when people do this, the rider is exercising discretion, this concept seems not to exist in the FC, they believe that if obstacles are there, everyone will automatically ride them. 🙄

Ed do you do guided Hebden nightrides? if so what group size do you require?

Email me ed@great-rock.co.uk

Slowjo
Have they told you specvifically what the issue is within OGB37?. On the face of it, I can't see that obstical would cause any issues width to height ratio within FC guidelines. Any slippy surface issues could be sorted out, as could any H&S signage issues. Presumably, a ranger/forester has to inspect and risk assess the rest of the trail periodically, so it's no skin off their nose to also include any obsticals in that H&S inspection/risk assessment.

It was inspected about 3 weeks ago because of the accidents. The surveyor went on to produce a report with specific reference to OGB37 and consequently the whole section was condemned as inappropriate. This is a section on the red route, the surveyor deemed the whole section to be black! 😯 He then went on to say that it should be scrapped because the build standard was outwith the new regs. So, it is toast, has to be gone by Easter and will not be replaced. We are arguing hard to see if it can be amended to be brought within the regs but at our last meeting when I asked for a definition of a red graded obstacle, a black graded obstacle or anything, they were unable to tell me. They were quite unequivocal in their stand that it will be destroyed. (As for the standard of construction, I can assure you, these obstacles aren't going to fall down or degrade any time soon. They are very well built and as solid as… a very solid thing!)

The only other obstacle with any technical difficulty is the platform as it has a narrow exit ramp. I have screwed this one up and face planted from half way off it but that was my own fault. We did get a complaint from one guy who took his 3 year old up it (on one of those crossbar seats) but apart from that, if people fall off they just get up and get on with it.

Trail inspections…. we have trained up trail inspectors who do most of the trail assessments, the rangers hardly ever get out at all.

slowjo, it looks fine to me, we're about about to put something in similar as a try and see before the main feature. From what I understand hand rails are advisory if a structure is more than metre of the ground and mandatory if it's more than 1.5m.

The problem is all in the interpretation. If they think that's a black obstacle you should see what our guys are planning for a black section. The logic we seem to be following is as long as the feature is visible so you can see it coming and there is a proper chicken run or alternate route it's in. All these posts are beginning to worry me a bit. Thankfully our main guy is a committed rider and builder as well as happening to work for the FC as head honcho for his patch 8)

Paul 29th is looking pretty likely, I'll email everyone later to confirm. Fair point about the names, been trying to call it Hully Gully after I got a look from Martin for calling it the coaster 😆

Neil, cheers, got your email and have replied. Ta.

hi , yes jon all these posts about the fc and risk assessments and such like are very worrying, i hope martin doesn't get over ruled by head office over what we are allowed to build

It seems to be non-riding FC guys on the ground causing most of the problems. Martin and Nigel were trying to work out how to get around the features at height rules. Something along the lines of if we build the obstacle on top of a mound of soil it'll still comply, even if the fall to ground level is more than a metre 😆 , he was probably joking, probably 😯

WOnder if the FC in Scotland and Wales is going this way. Might have to get a copy of these infamous guide lines.

yes it seems pretty obvious that these risk assessors just don't understand mountain biking or mountain bikers

I think the problem lies higher up the chain in each FC area with FC recreation officers and regional policy makers. A cycle ranger or forester who inspects or risk assess, generally just do what they're told. Martin Colledge is fairly high up in the North West as head NW forester. So, he is in a position to set the policy to a degree, certainly to heavily influence it, especially as he is personally willing to lead it and take ownership at Gisburn. From what Cheeky Monkey has said to me re Yorkshire FC issues, it's much more difficult dealing with policy making FC people who just don't get what trail builders are interested in and trying to achieve, which reflects what the vast majority of MTBers want.

FWIW we have also been told not to expect any financial help from FC in future. We have to raise all the money for anything we want to build as well as financing all maintenance, as well as facing the risk that they could arbitrarily decide to take it down at any time. In Thetford the only thing the FC are going to spend money on is family trails.

.

I might be talking sh1te here, but I presume that the FC can more easily access financial partners with more family orientated trails ie Sustrans money. Other proposals for more ambitious funding require more work and are more fought over ie Sport England, central/local gov., EU cash etc. It's understandable when the poorer parts of the UK get lots of investment and the richer parts don't. What I can't quite fathom, is when long standing official trail building groups, who do everything by the book and request little financial help from FC, just their support, get nowhere or are fobbed off. The arguement of lack of FC manpower and resources, in every case I've experienced or read about, appears to be a convienent excuse rather than genuine reason.

The first dig day of 2010, and only 11 months of the year left… 🙄

Anyway, work finally continued on the new logride section, though it'll still be a while before it's actually finished / open. The two main logs are now nicely joined together, and the entry ramp has been built…

As has the mid-point corner / bale-out ramp (the latter still to be finished off with gravel)…

Both options have been fully tested by our tame crash test dummy Ant… 🙂

Work has also commenced on the "practice log" towards the start of the section, together with the alternative / "normal" trail running alongside…

Next scheduled dig day is Sunday 14th February, when we'll be attempting to patch up Hully Gully.

Looking good.

Valentines dig..?

Mugboo – Member
Looking good.

Valentines dig..?
Cheers. 8)

And yes, Valentines dig will (weather-permitting) be an attempt to cure the sludginess down Hully Gully. Spraying it with concrete was suggested as an option today, but I think we're going to start off with gravel and see how that goes first. 😆

Doh!!! Double post… 🙄

Just out of interest, why is the first section of the main logride (much) narrower than the second, when you can only get to the second by completing the first?

why is the first section of the main logride (much) narrower than the second

I can't see the pics at work but I'm guessing your looking at it the wrong way around, you start with the ramp and finish with the thin bit.

Just out of interest, why is the first section of the main logride (much) narrower than the second, when you can only get to the second by completing the first?

Hmm, my initial reaction was it's due either to a trick of perspective or to my shonky photos, but now you come to mention it… 😕

I guess we'll have to measure them both next time just to be sure.

For anyone who's interested, a couple of logride vids from yesterday have now been posted on the Gisburn Forest MTB Trail Development Facebook thing (towards the bottom left of page).

Looks very neat on video!

Will wait until you have finished the section before trying though!!

Cheers 🙂

Any update on the repairs that were planned to the erosion in the Rollercoaster/Hully Gully section?

Any update on the repairs that were planned to the erosion in the Rollercoaster/Hully Gully section?

Weather and number of bodies permitting, we're hoping to get them done this coming Sunday, Feb 14th, 10:00-15:00 or thereabouts.

As far as I'm aware, the plan is then to keep the Gully closed for about a month afterwards to allow the new surface to settle and harden. The exact countermeasures required to enforce this haven't yet been decided… 😈

Was there at the weekend and was thinking that closing it for a while would be a good option. Rather it was closed now and hopefully back to its best for the spring.

Also had a sneaky look at the log ride section. Not sure if its for me, but it will add interest for some people.

Good work all round!