Good news…

http://www.dmbins.com/riders/news/scottish-government-announce-support-for-scottish-mountain-biking

Come on England, Wales and NI, what you got..?

Troll.

Yet another Dumbins pile of crap written in flowery language designed to ensure they keep getting funding for their cosy, tax-payer subsidised jobs. In all the time Dumbins has been on the go they manage to produce glossy reports and little else.

Very slick. Good luck to them I say. It’s easy to criticise. I don’t need no strategy. Just give me free access and keep out of my way. But they are trying to do something, which is more than I am if I’m honest. So I’ll wish them well and see if I can find a way to support them in some small way.

Kind of agreeing with Scotroutes…the intro piece almost sounded like a tourism pitch…2million trips and they want more. Weirdly the Forestry guy was pitching about just rising bikes and nothing from the tourism angle.
It did look good, sounds good but other than more PR for Glentress, I’m struggling to see what they do or provide for the whole country other than another sales pitch to drive more people to Glentress.
I’m sure the intentions are good, just not coming across that way to someone who tends not to stop looking listening at just the fluff that catches the eye.
Hopefully it will encourage more people to mountain bike…would be better if it got more people to ride responsibly as well though.
(Aware I sound like a crabbit old man)

Show me the money!

Was almost like a party political broadcast. I’ll believe it when is see it.

Meh.

Looks good to me, can’t argue with the aims of a strategy to continue to develop the sport, facilities, and increase participation.
Good luck to them, I hope its very successful.

I think thats bloody brilliant – set a vision and some targets, crack on and get it done. I’d like their support to build some stuff out west of Glasgow, maybe this will help.

I suspect the timing might be related to this
As someone involved in tourism who lives in the Borders and rides a lot in the Tweed Valley, I do think it’s all positive, but also worry that there is a bit of a fixation on Glentress as an easy win rather than looking at tourism in the wider Borders.

I don’t think this is going to be as successful as it could be – everything they seem to do is purely in the Tweed Valley – great if the plan is to create a MTB ghetto of that area and nowhere else, but the idea of getting more people participating is only going to really work if they take this outside their office space and go across Scotland.

big_scot_nanny has already mentioned that – build more stuff west of Glasgow (that is definitely outside their office space of Glentress).

I know I sound like a right moan, but this kind of idea is only going to work if it goes across the whole country – and they really aren’t doing that – which is a real shame as this really could have huge potential, but it needs to be outside the Tweed Valley.

The Forestry have long since staked a claim that they want Glentress (and the Tweed Valley) to be the jewel in their crown of MTBing – which is great, but everywhere else then suffers as they don’t get the development they need to really benefit and help grow the sport and participation. This stuff just seems to help reinforce that aim, just with a different hat on saying a very similar thing.

A fair old avalanche of patter there. Hopefully it will provide something positive overall though.
Good to see the gender stuff getting shoehorned in too.

100% what Dick says, and Big Scott. Stop concentrating on one area, that has poor transport links.

I’d rather they focussed their time on getting a public transport infrastructure that allowed people to get their bikes to and from some well served spots, there’s no lack of potential places to achieve this.

They need to look beyond the vegan valley.

The local bus service from Melrose to Edinburgh does now cater for mtb’s, services most of the tweed Valley.

62 Bike bus

Aye, like 4 bikes. It’s a start though.

Full buzzword bullshit bingo there – bravo!

Wonder how much support they will give when the first Stane is allowed to revert to nature ie be abandoned??? I suspect the money they have been give will mostly go to wages,travel, expenses, rent, meetings etc……

big_scot_nanny

Subscriber
I think thats bloody brilliant – set a vision and some targets, crack on and get it done. I’d like their support to build some stuff out west of Glasgow, maybe this will help.

Agree about west of Glasgow, something in Muirshiel would be great, it’s a big park with nothing in it

I’d rather they focussed their time on getting a public transport infrastructure that allowed people to get their bikes to and from some well served spots, there’s no lack of potential places to achieve this.

They need to look beyond the vegan valley.

It’s a bit of a muddled presentation IMHO, talking about 3 or 4 really substantial challenges with probably not a great deal of funding behind it. But if they are serious about the destination part of it, then the Tweed valley is surely the only game in town. Hands down one of the best riding venues in the UK, but still iffy as a destination for a week’s (say) cycling holiday.

It’s really hard, and takes years to get the trail density together, before you can start talking about ‘international mountain bike destination’. Seems like the Tweed is a good way down that path so pushing it over the top would have huge impact. Be crazy to fragment that impact by building wee blue routes round Broxburn or where ever just to try and drag the kids out of the bookies.

Be crazy to fragment that impact by building wee blue routes round Broxburn or where ever just to try and drag the kids out of the bookies.

I disagree.
Over in Kelso the community built a tiny trail centre on Angraflats Road. It is on a sloped woodland about the size of a football pitch and it is awesome. It gets loads of people out riding who otherwise wouldn’t be riding. Kids ride late into the evening, they run mini enduros, host coaching sessions and it is a community hub. A fist class facility that was build in a relatively tiny area. In my mind it totally reset what you need for a trail centre and should be used as a template up and down the country (whilst still doing all of the other large scale and elite stuff). The kids who are learning to ride there now will be the kids who are winning the medals in the future.

Be crazy to fragment that impact by building wee blue routes round Broxburn or where ever just to try and drag the kids out of the bookies.

I kind of understand this way of thinking. The vision of DMBIS seems to be focused on economic value, visitor numbers, major events, and creating opportunities, and it’s hard to not consider the Tweed Valley as a central tenant to realising any of those.

If the no.1 focus is developing mtb FOR Scotland (as in the people already here), then absolutely a much wider approach would reap localised benefits, but if its developing mtb IN Scotland (as a destination), maybe the focus on the Valley for the medium term to truly establish Scotland as a world class destination is the way forward? Then once that is established, the focus of this small group of individuals can shift to developing the wider needs of the mtb community?

Either way its awesome to have people fighting our corner…they can’t be all things to all men at all times!

Agree about west of Glasgow, something in Muirshiel would be great, it’s a big park with nothing in it

That is for sure a large empty nothing, with a pretty big population close at hand. I agree.

I was thinking even more local, visiting my mum and dad in Gourock last week, got out on the bike up on the moors behind Gourock and Greenock – there’s **** all up there, some ridable trails (just, thank god it was dry), but the land and the contours would lend themselves superbly to great trails. (although, is that technically still part of Muirshiel?)

although, is that technically still part of Muirshiel?

Aye, it’s all clyde muirsheil mate. That’s pretty much the area I think of too, From Lochwinnoch over to Largs and Gourock is **** huge, brilliant in terms of geography, transport links (train stations all around there) and catchment is perfect too.

The Campsies are another vast tract of nothingness, just to the north of Glasgow.

In which case, I’m in! Stevie-nobeer, lets make us a video 🙂

Doesn’t need a trail centre to be built though, there are thousands of trails all over, all natural. Why can’t they be signposted? Cheaper than building a new centre. Glentress has been a focus for about 20 years, should be about time to spread the development budget around.
I’m not knocking the idea, just the limited vision in terms of the location.

Doesn’t need a trail centre to be built though, there are thousands of trails all over, all natural. Why can’t they be signposted?

Keep up at the back. That was the strategy before last. Or maybe even the one before that.

Same two key problems that have been said

1. Lack of good bike friendly public transport form cities to most of the trails.

2. Not spreading the love. Did the forget about Ayrshire?

If they want to develop Tweed Valley as a ‘destination’ then how about a decent campsite? both in Peebles are pretty grim – the ‘trailer park’ residents don’t seem to take too kindly to visitors. The one in Inners is worse. I’m sure I could hear the sound of 6-fingered banjo players when I was there.

Campsite? I’m sure the visitors they want will all be staying at the Hydro

Hmm, I was wondering about staying at Inners campsite in a couple of weeks (a local warned me about the one in Peebles) – maybes I’d better start looking at B&B’s😄

I’m with scotroutes and roverpig on this one.

It sounds like an attempt to monetise offroad riding.

Scotland has open access, so as mentioned above improved signposting, perhaps a few more connecting links would be good, but I suspect this initiative is more about building more trail centre cashflow generators than encouraging self-reliant access to the mountains away from artificial playgrounds.

(My viewpoint is as a proponent of RSF style riding)

Scotland has open access, so as mentioned above improved signposting, perhaps a few more connecting links would be good, but I suspect this initiative is more about building more trail centre cashflow generators than encouraging self-reliant access to the mountains away from artificial playgrounds.

One of the previous strategy documents proposed a way of linking “natural” trails to hubs, with some signposting as a way of spreading the load (and the income) and getting folk used to riding away from formal trail centres. The only evidence I ever saw of this was the series of trail guides and videos that Lee Craigie created. They were never loaded on the DMBinS website – in fact I don’t think there was ever a link to them.

Edit: found it!!  http://www.dmbins.com/riders/where-to-ride/52_highland-e-guide

something in Muirshiel would be great, it’s a big park with nothing in it

Look harder

(and not for colour coded signs for the lazy or an app)

Aye, there is stuff geex, but it kinda just stops, plenty out and backs, misty law is a decent up n down etc, but there’s so much potential. a few windfarms built in the area around the fringes that are a few hundred metres from the path out by the mine, but stop a frustrating distance between, with bog in between.

I’m no bothered about signs, though they’re good for attracting some family type rides to get out in the wild, so I’d rather see them than not tbh.