Cheers for the signature. I agree – my view is it’s basically an all weather pump track on a slightly larger scale – but people have this mental block on it.

I don’t think they just hate the young – I think they hate most things ;) Judging by some of the posts some even hate riding.

Blatant bump…

Thanks mamadirt – really hope this goes ahead too. We’ve put so much work in so far.

Blown away by all the positive comments and support – if you get a moment please sign and show your support.

Thanks for all the positive replies and the signatures on the petition – every single one is valued.

He’s shit at golf but has won a bendy bully more times than you can imagine.

Nice one Bumley! Bring out the kid!

Yeah, we were initially worried about sanitising trails to make them horse friendly.

Bump – more emails please.

Story from todays paper

http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/BMX-track-come-Pittville/story-17050173-detail/story.html

If you’d take advantage and/or believe it would be a welcome addition to the countries cycling infrastructure then your support is welcome

Qwerty – thanks for the email.

Qwerty – my email is barnt at hotmail dot com

Our grants are focused on Cheltenham but I’ll raise it with the committee as a plan B. Cheers.

This is an example of what is being sent:

Dear Mr North,

On the back of our great sporting successes at the Olympics and also Bradley Wiggins’ great Tour de France victory, I believe that it’s now time to establish a fine BMX racing cycling facility in Cheltenham, for young people to enjoy and excel.

The Cheltenham & County Cycling Club have secured a grant of £75,000 from various sport funding bodies and were all set to re-develop the old Arle Road site, until ownership issues of a section of the land scuppered the plans

Now there appears to be a new possibility of the land at Pittville Park, adjacent north of the Prince of Wales stadium Sports Field, becoming host to a BMX race track facility. This would allow young BMX cyclists to compete frequently during spring, summer and autumn evenings, being able to host regional league events. This would give young people an opportunity to emulate their Olympic heroes & heroines right on their doorstep and even maybe become one themselves.

There are experienced volunteers currently available who are ready and eager to run these BMX competition events, already well versed having run a successful BMX league in Plymouth, but who are now resident here in Cheltenham. This facility, once open, is going to be just as busy as the rugby or athletics if not more so. It will take youths off the streets and give them something cool to be involved in, get them fit and healthy.

Therefore, I strongly urge you to support the construction of a BMX competition track to be built at this new location.

Best Regards,

Did the existing line and now done the postcode checker on mine and its not available – which is bizarre considering I’m nearer bath road than you. Bastard!

ALfabus – you can get infinity in your street? I’m not enabled yet :(

Child friendly sections on planes will never happen.

When in NZ a few years back we found a restaurant which had a play area for kids – awesome idea – kids went off and played and it was close enough / designed so we could supervise from a distance while we enjoyed a bit of a relax.

Looked at whether the concept would work here in the UK but we’re obsessed with making money so the idea of having a kid area takes up tables (except in those horrible brewsters pubs).

The same in planes – extra room would take away seats which takes away revenue. Plus if anyone does want to go to an almost kids free zone Business class is the place. Kid free zone on a plane should cost more.

Solo – I think the point I was trying to get across is that actually most do… but even the most considerate parent will find that there are times when children are “seemingly” uncontrollable.

Like the time when my 2 year old sat on my lap next to the aisle and all she wanted to do was crawl across my and my wife’s lap to poke the guys newspaper who was sat in the window seat – no matter how hard we tried we couldn’t stop her doing it and the guy was a **** about it.

Or like the time we flew to New Zealand and she wanted to run about and make noise when the lights were down. To avoid making too much noise or disturbing nearby passengers I did laps of the airplane but even then you could see some passengers tutting. Am I supposed to sedate them???

Both my kids are really well behaved but put them in a confined space or a new environment and all they want to do is explore – bit like a rider exploring trails – its in our nature!

The point is, it’s not just the parents but society as a whole who need to change their approach and be more accepting.

OMG – you can tell the people who have no idea what its like being parents!! :roll:

Kids are part of society and strangely we were all one at one time. Kids explore, kids make noise and there is a kid in all of us but most of us have become too serious and dull to remember. :wink:

Its worth remembering children have a mind of their own and aren’t just some remote control part of their parents. If they were then jesus it’d be easy to control them.

funny u mention that SSboggy – I was having a similar discussion about the benefits of sidewall protection on the more expensive Mountain kings compared to my mates cheaper versions just 5 mins before this happenned too

Jedi

Has Lou calmed down yet? ;)

Great day! The weather was on our side and the riding shone through.

We’re gonna need more jumps and drops now just for Lou! :lol:

I was talking to a mutual friend at the weekend about how things change when the pace increases – something I’ve got to practice.

Ton – I had Chronic Fatigue and you speak to Docs and they tell you there ain’t no hope of recovery – luckily I’ve proved them wrong.

At the time finding I couldn’t even cycle along the road for 10mins without feeling like shit for 5 days was a tough pill to swallow. I even cycled up a hill – nothing major and ended up with chest pains for a week after. Anyway, when I thought I was likely to never recover I started to get seriously down – it was like a grieving process. MTBing has been my life and passion and to have that taken away was like my life was over. However, after I’d got my head around the fact that this may be the case I took positive action and started looking at how I could get involved in the sport in different ways – I bought a camera so I could get out and film people riding, I started looking at how I can encourage younger generations into the sport and now I’m on a committee working to bring a BMX track to our town. I also tried uplift days or just rolling down hills but I found that too much but serious fun.

I’m not saying do these exact things but have a think about what you can do without risking ill effects. Combine other passions or things you’ve always wanted to try but cycling got in the way and give them a go.

I like the light idea… May have to steal that one.

I know what you mean, I find myself looking down over every jump or drop rather than where I’m going. But I had a real effort to do it this weekend and I noticed the difference.

I think practice is the way to go.

Here’s a crazy idea – how about a helmet cam – go down the trail and try to keep the cam pointed at the vanishing point on the trail – you’ll get some good footage and the need to get the cam on the point will make you consciously do it.

Ton – what’s your situation?

I spent 18months unable to ride and back about 12 months ago I thought I’d never ride a bike again and had a very serious headf**k as a result. That was all due to a illness / condition.

I wasn’t aware of the sponsorship issues but from reading the reports this was one of many problems this year that hit the series.

The guys in the shop have looked after me and I know they’ve looked after others too but I only speak from first hand experience. ;)

Did you? Didn’t even know they hadn’t and whether or not this is true doesn’t detract from the good service I had.

Cheers for the info. I’m really keen to spend some time with a breeder or two to get to know them and the dogs before I make any decision.

A technique I’ve found very useful is to play my day back in reverse, helps to soak in the day and focus on something rather than let your mind jump around uncontrolled.

Also, reading a good fiction book helps (anything non-fiction doesnt have the same effect, no does tv or surfing the net – will stimulate the mind too much)

My insomnia wasn’t I could get to sleep initially but more I’d wake at 3am with my mind racing. Some good technique out there to deal with it.

Camping FOD this weekend with family so FoD Blue tomorrow on my Soul hopefully with a new dropper post courtesy of Fetish Bikes :)

I used to get it bad, now I spent time consciously calming my mind down during the day so when I go to bed My mind isn’t racing as much and its pretty much sorted it out.

great bike – that’s some cockpit you’ve got going on there…

Can be a faff to get set up r if you want to swap tyres (if you regularly do swap) both otherwise its awesome. I had to change a mates tyre the other day and had forgotten how annoying it is to have to spend 10-15mins faffing on the trail.

Guessing I’ll be taking it easy initially to help the healing.

Thanks for everyones input :) even your’s IHN ;) when we riding next anyway?

So basically just man up and I’ll be fine.

Tom – Which track is it? I went ot Bristol for the first time a few weeks ago on my BFe and loved it although it was hard work, much harder physcially and technically than I expect, but big grins all round :)

Damn – meeting has been cancelled at the last moment, so will have to save this for next time. :(