'The Jungle Run' Filming in The Wyre Forest

Ankle cracker?

“As for conflict in the wyre, I have seen the workings of stick man but other than that in 7 years of riding the forest almost weekly both during the weekend and at night I have never had any conflict with other forest users. Think things get blown out of proportion sometimes, if you ride with consideration for the environment and other people there is little to upset anyone, it is usually minority things that spoil things, maybe stick man was clipped by someone on an mtb who couldn’t slow down/didn’t slow down/was using cheeky trail etc, the action of one can affect the perception of all.”

Its not the other users you need to worry about, the FC have been looking for excuses to ban bikes from the main froest for a few years now. Publishing this stuff on websites will only assist in their arguement. I have met a couple of the FC guys and they hate bike being on the cheeky stuff as these areas are required for conservation purposes. They are looking for any excuse for a full ban. It wont take long for them to find some of these clips, they are not stupid.

Fingers cross it dont come to a ban, but we could be shooting ourselves in the foot

the FC have been looking for excuses to ban bikes from the main froest for a few years now

Ppl keep saying this but exactly how would they go about enforcing such a ban?
They already have a policy of no-mtbing in the main forest… it’s not stopped anyone yet has it?

I ride regularly in a wood where they put up 6 ft fences & (6ft) kissing gates, to try to stop bicycle access (it was BMX & dirt jumper causing some erosion issues), do you know who it actually stopped? Parents with pushchairs…

PS: I’m not being adversarial for the sake of it, just interested in what ppl think they could do to stop riding?
I mean would they have the power to stop riders and confiscate bikes? (as per the army land thread, IIRC)

When we have met FC people in the main forest they have never said more than a greeting to us, where has this rumour/myth/fact that FC want mtb’s banned perpetuated from? We used to regularly have a pint with one of the rangers in the duke on a weds night, he was very pro mtb and actively sought our opinions on how to develop mtb’ing in the forest.

They used to rally in wyre forest. AFAIK one or two people got it “banned” for eco reasons.

It’s odd for me – we first started riding in there about ’91 or ’92 – you’d never get anyone venturing more than about 200 meters from the visitor centre.
On return visits from that time, you can see a huge growth amount of cheeky trails.
However, a lot of the forest is not natural and will be managed and farmed.
Banning bikes is more about the English cancer of banning and preventing anything you dont like or agree with. We are a diseased, bitter and unpleasant race.

Pepsi Max.

thanks for the suggestions, think i know all of them, some by other names, not sure about jedi and garic and as for ankle cracker that really lives up to its name!!

Just found this post while looking for locals I could ask about current trail conditions… any good at the mo?

While on the subject though – I always steer clear of the sections that clearly state no biking, and tend to ride on weekdays and evenings to avoid running into walkers, and drawing attention to trails.
That said – it’s a (relatively) big place, and due to the unmarked and generally well hidden nature of the trails, as long as people do use common sense – apart from the odd vigilante rambler, I hope we can continue to ride there without trouble for a long time to come.

Id suggest the increased traffic over the last 15 years (I first rode there back in ’98) is in line with the increase in the popularity of biking generally. That said, if anything is going to increase traffic further – it’s the growing number of videos showing how good the riding is, in conjunction with GPS routes and apps like Strava.

Enjoyed the OP’s vid, btw – good fun, think I’ll have to get back down soon

I spent some happy days seeking out some of my old favourites and some new ones last year, also put together a couple of helmetcam videos mostly for my own enjoyment (on the same trail, i think…?)

Wyre Forest Helmetcam

just got back from riding in the forest, conditions were really good, surprised me just the odd bit of mud here and there trying to catch you out!! had a look at your vid and it looks like the same place to me!!
have you seen our other vid