Rushup edge resurfacing

Didn’t spot this threat until about an hour ago this is part of one of my regular rides absolutely gutted. I have posted on DCC FB and will try and get time off work on Monday to attend the picnic.

Morning!

I’ve had 148 replies so far!!! Thanks to everyone who has taken to time to reply to the survey, this sort of group action is really important and I’m glad all our anger and energies can be channelled into this. I will try to collate the answers later today to give you an idea of what it says. I will also email those who left their email address. I’m off to Wharncouver so will be later this afternoon.

I will bring the results to the PP Picnic on Monday. We already have Singletrack attending and hope to get more press involved by then. Thanks to the support from the Peak MTBers.

If people think they might attend on monday, could they FB message me and I’ll send them my phone number.

Why not just wait for it to erode away again or do some heavy braking wont take long for it to be spread about the trail, friends with mxers ?

It’s an interesting example of how the anti motorised off-roading policy pulls us into the crosshairs. Now motorised vehicles have been expelled from these trails, in the eyes of DCC, we are now the outliers in terms of legitimate trail use, and our wishes can be put in the margin and ignored.

Phil – the nature of the trail (bedrock) and the sheer quantity of shite dumped on it means that it will take a long time for the original surface to reappear. The best you can hope for is massive dangerous loose ruts, provided they don’t stick water bars in.

Mr Pea and I are both planning to come to the picnic on Monday.

The DCC Facebook page is getting a lot of posts from pissed off people. Keep it up. Make sure the £70k figure and an email address is prominent if possible. We need to grab the attention of Derbyshire locals who pay council tax to fund this destruction.

Someone needs to go to the next meeting of the local access forum and show them why you’re pissed with it.

They allow the public to address the group by prior arrangement

It’s an interesting example of how the anti motorised off-roading policy pulls us into the crosshairs. Now motorised vehicles have been expelled from these trails, in the eyes of DCC, we are now the outliers in terms of legitimate trail use, and our wishes can be put in the margin and ignored.

If you read the link that someone posted earlier in the thread, the one to the policy document on Chapel Gate, which appears to also include the Rushup Edge track, there’s some interesting stuff. They grade the track on various criteria including whether it’s problematic for different user groups.

They actually say that the track in its pre-works form was dangerous for cyclists, or words to that effect, and that council observers had seen mountain bikers falling off. Thing is, organisations like DCC don’t understand mountain biking. It’s not that we’re ‘into the crosshairs’, ironically they tend to think they’re actually improving the trails for all users no matter how absurd that seems.

Think I’m nuts? A few years back, I attended a meeting, along with NBT, Nick Craig and a fella from Chase Trails, with the guys responsible for the Pennine Bridleway route on the campsite descent above Hayfield.

They’d smoothed everything out to make it safer – as they thought – but failed to understand that actually the work they’d done combined with an off-camber corner and a really badly positioned water bar meant they’d actually created a hazard.

They were amazed that we preferred the trail to be rough and narrow because they simply don’t understand mountain biking. And I suspect DCC is much the same.

I’m not saying that makes a thoroughly depressing bit of trail sanitisation better in any way, but interpreting it as being some sort of mountain biking conspiracy isn’t very helpful and, I suspect, will be baffling to the council. It makes a lot more sense to try and help them to understand how mountain bikers think, which is where the Peak mtb guys are coming from.

Just because something’s obvious to us, doesn’t mean it’s obvious to DCC’s highways people.

Have to disagree with BadlyWiredDog I’m afraid… it’s not like this is the first trail DCC have sanitised; there’s been an outcry from mountain bikers every time and they’ve carried on regardless. They know our feelings on the issue and they don’t give a toss.

Email sent to both of above saying that they are driving us to other areas of the country.We are only 40 mins away but will have started to travel much further afield. Copied in a few local businesses and newspaper. When you add up how much 6 riders will spend on food etc in the area in one day. Made a point of saying that if it starts to hit local businesses bottom line maybe something will be done?.

@BWD – up until a few months ago I would have been right behind you – we have offered and tried to help them to understand mountain biking.

Over 6 months ago we invited DCC to come and meet with a group of MTB riders and discuss why they were doing what they doing, listen to our concerns and understand why we had an issue with it. Promised to give us dates, never did, stopped responding to emails.

In that period they have also failed to deliver on promises made when we met them in March: never consulted, ignored concerns re drainage bars, reversed agreement to preserve features on Long Causeway, and on it goes.

May I suggest that whilst all this nice attempt at communication was underway they merrily flattened a lot of well loved routes. We have moved beyond the point of trying to help them understand – we really need to shout now.

Are the DCC trying to ruin the very park they are meant to be protecting?

DCC are not in the business of protecting the park, that is PDNP’s remit. DCC is the Highways Authority in the area and they see their responsibility as maintaining the road network. Sadly, bridleways come into this category and for some bizarre reason (I suspect pressure from some vested interest) they choose to spend money on schemes such as this rather than fixing holes in public highways.

I don’t know how the relationship works between PDNP and DCC but if anyone should be pressing DCC not to damage the natural environment and to maintain the “amenity value” of the area, it’s PDNP. I think questions need to be asked of PDNP too. They might simply say “not our area of responsibility” but it is their business if the public’s enjoyment of the environment is being impacted.

One of the big issues is how DCC continue to plough on (!) with these jobs without consultation despite previous objections. The only way we as MTBers are going to have any clout against large bodies like DCC is national representation (as with BMC or, dare I say it, the Ramblers). That in turn requires the establishment of local clubs which the national body represents, which of course requires club members. Now I’m not the club member type. I tend to plough my own furrow (which the DCC come along and fill in). I suspect that I might be typical.

The only other way to be heard is (seen) is through direct action in large numbers. I hope Monday’s picnic is well attended though I’m sure a better turnout would be available at a weekend.

Anyway, for what it’s worth I’ve added a like to the “Stop Ruining Our Trails In The Peaks” FB page and added comments to the DCC and PDNP FB pages.

Are they really afraid that mtbers would sue?
Every mtber I know that regularly rides natural trails in the Peaks, knows they have hazards such as drop offs, these are the very reason we ride them.
Yes riders fall off many times, some suffer injuries, some are lucky to ride away with a few bruises. It’s the nature of our sport.
I’ve seen more incidents/accidents riding down Coldwell clough, the Hayfield campsite descent (as mentiond by BWD^^) and other more local trails that have been sanitised than before.

Just don’t know what to say really. I see a bleak future for our sport and us being pushed onto manmade trail centres 🙄

I still think it’s more likely that DCC has a culture of just bull-dozing on with stuff regardless of outside interests than them being anti-mountain biking per se. I guess that’s something of a moot point in terms of consequence, but there you go. I’m not defending them, I’m just saying that I doubt we’re being singled out for special treatment.

Roger, what do walking and equestrian groups make of this? I can’t imagine surfaces like these are any more popular with walkers and horse riders than they are with us?

One slightly outside the box thing to do is to make them use up their repair budget so they have no money for this. How to do that? Report lots and lots of potholes in real roads.

Wouldn’t help with stuff already ongoing, but might prevent any more.

Wasn’t the recent work on the Roych done far more sympathetically than this piece of wanton vandalism? Why the difference in approaches?

As has been mentioned above, getting the views of other user groups would be good too.

Dear Anne Western,
I am sure you are aware by now of the anger among mountain bikers at the vandalism of the Rushup Edge bridleway, the latest in a series of thoroughly unsightly “improvements” to the historic old roads of the Peak District.
As a mountain biker I enjoy my visits to the Peak District, usually made once or twice a year. On May Bank Holiday I joined a group of friends at Edale Hostel, where we spent three nights, and we ate twice at the Cheshire Cheese Inn. Mountain biking is hungry and thirsty work and we spend our money in the local communities.
Sadly, someone in the Highways Department has an agenda to drive mountain biking from the Peak District. I want you to be aware that we will take our custom and money elsewhere, unless action is taken to stop this destruction of historic routes.
With Best Wishes
…

Also sent to Andrew Bingham MP and the Cheshire Cheese Inn

We may be kidding ourselves about our value to the Peaks tourist agency. I am fairly sure the DCC and PPPB would much prefer the hordes of grockles who spend loads in gift shops and cafes and whose only traffic demand is for more over priced carparks .

FOG,we can’t just give up without a fight.

The Peak District pride themselves on being a great place for outdoor recreation. They won’t easily be able to justify that if the council continue to turn old trails into modern pavements.

@al2000 – I am led to believe that the work on the Roych was done by a third party organisation and had additional funding. It really should be a benchmark of quality against the cut price approach we are currently witnessing.

FOG – Member

We may be kidding ourselves about our value to the Peaks tourist agency. I am fairly sure the DCC and PPPB would much prefer the hordes of grockles who spend loads in gift shops and cafes and whose only traffic demand is for more over priced carparks

There was a study a few years ago that concluded cyclists tend to spend more than people travelling by car as they don’t tend to carry much with them and buy en route.

It would be interesting to hear the viewpoint of the owners of cafes such as the Woodbine and Edale station as to what the affect of a lack of MTBers cash in their tills would be.

Over 6 months ago we invited DCC to come and meet with a group of MTB riders and discuss why they were doing what they doing, listen to our concerns and understand why we had an issue with it. Promised to give us dates, never did, stopped responding to emails.

In that period they have also failed to deliver on promises made when we met them in March: never consulted, ignored concerns re drainage bars, reversed agreement to preserve features on Long Causeway, and on it goes.

May I suggest that whilst all this nice attempt at communication was underway they merrily flattened a lot of well loved routes. We have moved beyond the point of trying to help them understand – we really need to shout now.

Roger, I feel your pain. We had a local guy (I think, unless it was a put-up job) who insisted on pressing our local (very anti-mtb) parks authority for legitimate use. The land agent from the park put up loads of encouraging “I’m a really cool guy and seeking to engage” bullshit on here. A few people got sucked in to emailing him and then guess what happened. Silence, followed by a load of cross-reading of forum activity on here, followed by a stake out and bust when they knew we were going to be riding. Since then, nothing. No more engagement. The message is clear.

These people think they are better than us. They think that their way is the only way. They will look you in the eye, spout mindless platitudes at you whilst promising the earth (to keep you quiet and get your tacit buy-in), then snidely stab you in the back without so much as a blush.

They are dishonest, arrogant and curmudgeonly fascists. They cannot stand anyone actually enjoying themselves in the countryside they think they own.

It is a ‘them and us’ situation I am afraid.

To hell with them.

Just back from a ride around Edale, I wanted to get one last blast at Rushup before it’s lost forever. As it is currently, there is still a chance we can stop this madness and revert back to all its bedrock glory. The stones that have been dumped can still be removed and they are only in around 4 or 5 patches where the drops were. Unfortunately I’m out of the country as of Monday morning, otherwise I’d join the protest, but I hope it goes well and some awareness of the issues can be raised to local and national levels. Somebody needs to look into stuff like library closures, council cutbacks (specifically jobs) in Derbyshire over the past year or two to give any attending media some comparison of where this £70k could have gone.

Below are a few additional pics of the track’s current state. You can see that some of the bedrock is still exposed and the real contrast between the natural rock (sandstone?) and the imported stuff. Not really sensitive to the local area, but not doubt there are plans to cover it all anyway! [sad face] If they end up topping and compacting with the same materials as Chapelgate, expect road planings, which is completely adverse to the natural rock in the area & looks shite. Not only that, for everyone who is suggesting that a couple of harsh winters will get rid of the material, I doubt it very much. Can’t remember when Chapelgate was done (2-3 years ago??), but the surface is holding up very well. Only now is a small amount of erosion from weather (a water channel) starting to appear.

For the rest of my ride today I staged my own mini Kinder Tresspass as a disgruntled user. It happened that I was stopped at one point by the NP ranger and he quizzed me about whether I knew I shouldn’t be up there on a bike. I responded by letting him know I was completely aware of the distinction between FPs & BWs. He came back and asked “so you’re just choosing to ignore the rules?”, to which I then replied “seen as my user group is being ignored by PDNP and DCC, absolutely” mentioning the work on Rushup, which he was fully aware of. I also said that there’s probably going to be an increase of mountain bikers on FPs off the back of this situation. He didn’t have much of a comeback to this, but I really hope that he has to pass on our conversation at the end of his shift.

Which got me thinking…is there any scope to use this a catalyst to start fighting access laws properly. We’re currently on the losing side of pretty much every battle (bar some of the work Ride Sheff has done), we should up our ante and take the fight to them properly!

Well I’ve finally found time and emailed the various gonks at DCC to make my feelings known, for what it’s worth. And I’m definitely going to be there on Monday. Might make a sign if I can figure out how to get one to fold up into my pack…

I was stopped at one point by the NP ranger and he quizzed me about whether I knew I shouldn’t be up there on a bike. I responded by letting him know I was completely aware of the distinction between FPs + BWs. He came back and asked “so you’re just choosing to ignore the rules?”, to which I then replied “seen as my user group is being ignored by PDNP and DCC, absolutely”

Good stuff. Civil disobedience, perfectly civil by the sounds of it. 🙂

Can that surface actually be ridden on?
Surely a legitimate cycle track should have a surface that is fit for purpose.
At least most of the improvements around our way have washed away.

A nice sit-down picnic all day Monday on those lovely remaining rock steps would be just the ticket. 🙂 Wish I could make it.

Can that surface actually be ridden on?

It’s rubbish at the moment, but its gonna get a topping by the sounds of it!

dannyh +1 DCC RoW dept have a history of deviousness, favouring their particular user group, rich landowners, over every other group. We need to be very careful dealing with them, as Danny says they are quite to promise anything but do little.

I’m really disappointed I won’t be able to be there on Monday. Best of British to those who are going, and I really hope you get some media attention.

As per Roger, please don’t alienate other users and cast them as the enemy. Just look at the state of that work and imagine you are a walker who has walked that area for years, maybe even decades. They are just as likely to be appalled at the ugliness and pointlessness of it.

What DCC and PDNP want is the rural equivalent of 60’s ‘slum’ clearance and the construction of monstrous concrete tower blocks. They want homogenized, easy to manage, ‘safe’ countryside. In seeking this drudgery they will succeed in actually destroying the reasons people love these areas.

Don’t let these short-sighted know-it-alls win.

Well I will be joining you all on Monday.
I’ve been riding that track for 20 years, not all that regularly but at least a couple of times most years.
I finished uni in Sheffield in 1993 and bought my first mountain bike in 1994 once I’d started earning. The old trails like rushup that have been there for all those years are what kept me in the area. I still remember the first time I did the Jacobs loop on my rigid bike in about 1995, and I can still remember the magazine route guide description of the fantastic view from the top of rushup while getting your breath back after the climb. Flattening this is like putting a ladder on stanage edge. It makes it available to all and of interest to no-one.
My wife works in Derbyshire and we spend lots of money at local businesses. If the legal trails end up like urban cycle paths, fit for all users but of no interest to experienced walkers or mountain bikers there will be nothing keeping us in the area and we may as well move to the lakes or Elsewhere and contribute to their local economy instead.
Well done DCC

Good work with the “trespass” peachos!

The Peak District pride themselves on being a great place for outdoor recreation. They won’t easily be able to justify that if the council continue to turn old trails into modern pavements.

Yes and no.
They consider “outdoor recreation” to be a sort of Centre Parcs style affair where British Family Robinson turn up in their X5, pay £5 to park, hire 4 “mountain bikes” and potter off for a 5 mile bimble round the lake on wide gravelled waymarked routes then come back and spend lots of money at the overpriced car park café before driving off home again.

Can’t have anyone doing anything XTreme – that might:
be dangerous/upset the landowner/annoy the walkers/damage the wildlife*

*insert whichever fits best.

Just waiting to hear back from my manager if I can have Monday off.

I see a bleak future for our sport and us being pushed onto manmade trail centres

It does feel that way sometimes – more and more of my favourite trails in Wales, the Lakes and Peaks seem to be disappearing under ill considered ‘improvements’.

The protest on Monday sounds like it is being done with all the best intentions but I don’t think it will achieve a great deal. I say we get up there and remove all of the rocks they have put down. The top slabs and drops can be saved.

I’ve not read all this but do we know who exactly wants this doing?
The council can’t have dreamt it up on their own.
Can we spy on walker\ horsey forums and see if they are excited by these works.
Are similar schemes underway on footpaths?

Zippy,
I’ve made a FOI request for basically costs and reasons. Every one should do this.. Tie them up in red tape.

Oh and peachos.. Good work, and a brilliant comeback. I shall use that!

So the rocks are getting a topping? Great it will be about as much fun as chapelgate. I am riding footpaths from now on and I will be digging as well, if bridleways can be sanitised why not footpaths? Nothing wrong with a few strategically placed berms and jumps 😉

How do you make a FOI request?

If it is easy enough for a numpty like me, I will.

send an email to DCC stating I request the following information…..