<makes mental note to add “skills training” to the Ideas Board at the launch night>

:wink:

I’m in! Looking forward to it. Anyone else fancy this?

You’ll be issued with a map of the course area as well as a list of checkpoints which has a description of the checkpoint locations as well as a grid references. The aim is to visit as many checkpoints as possible in the 3hours. Each checkpoint is allocated points and your score is tallied up at the end. The map has some out-of-bounds areas but apart from that it’s up to you how you choose to get around your chosen course. The link gives you an idea of the area.

It really depends on you as to how you want to enjoy your 3 hours; compete for a podium finish or just enjoy a bimble around some trails testing out your navigation skills. If you only know the area from riding it then looking at it on a map may actually be a bit tricky as you have to relate what you see on the map to lay of the land.

Like Iainc says, it should be a hoot and then there’s the cafe for a bacon roll and some apres-bimble cake. Nice!

As mentioned previously, we’re planning the next trail maintenance session this Saturday (16th March). Please let me if you are able to join us so we can estimate the number of tools we need to borrow from the park rangers.

Here’s the details:

Meet: Drumclog Car Park (opposite the Mugdock reservoirs)
Time: Start at 10am, finish by 2:30/3pm.
NB: It can be a busy car park so you may want to consider turning up a bit earlier or sharing lifts.
Tools: Bring what you have, eg. spades, forks, pruning saws/loppers, forks, mattocks

Plan:

[list]After a safety briefing we’ll split into teams (depending on numbers) and head from the car park towards Rocky Rooty to repair any damage to the paths.
The work we did last year has held up fairly well but we will be looking at clearing/re-digging ditches, de-berming paths and pruning/clearing brush.
On Rocky Rooty itself we may need to review what’s required at certain points based on what we did last year.[/list]

From a review of Riverside 2 weeks ago we were able to clear most of the ditches and clear out drainage pipes but there are a couple of sections that look like they’ll need some remedial work so we may need a small squad to head down there depending on the workload on Rocky Rooty.

A further session is planned for Sat. 13th Apr (meet point & details TBC)

Notes:

[list]dress for the weather, waterproofs, food & drink, strong footwear (boots preferably), gloves
If we have a very severe frost the Ranger will make a call on Friday if we need to cancel and I’ll be in touch ASAP to let you know.[/list]

If you have any questions then I can be contacted at graham[DOT]anderton[AT}gmbc[DOT]org[DOT]uk

That’s great! You can carry the clipboard if you want?! :D

Hi. Here’s a wee write up[/url] of what the Mugdock trail volunteers got up to yesterday.

And a few photos[/url] showing some before and after shots.

Looks like we’ll be organising a 4th session, some time in April, date TBC but it’ll be posted up here and around the mailing list of volunteers once it’s planned.

Thanks again to the guys from GMBC and Meet Up (and local chap Paul too!) who put the hard graft in yesterday, top effort!

moolove – glad you were able to make it along on Saturday and enjoyed yourself. It’s taken a fair bit of my time to get this up and running so it’s great to get positive feedback. Hopefully you heard the Ranger’s chat at the start and how she’s really happy that the the biking community have voluntarily given up their time to help.

re: notices for responsible riding in the park. Interesting idea, I’ll speak to the Ranger and see what she thinks. When I’ve been out (either riding or fixing the trails) I’ve taken the time to speak to other riders to raise the awareness of responsible riding, especially important in a heavily used area like Mugdock. If we all did that then the message would get out pretty quickly. Also, there are some leaflets on responsible riding up on display up at the visitor’s centre which I got from Scottish Cycling. It’s a start.

For anyone interested, the next session is this Saturday 24/3, 10am, this time meeting at Craigallian Bridge on the Khyber Road. Email in profile if you want more details. I’ve posted a similar note over at the Trailscotland forum too.

Yes, it was a great effort by the guys on Saturday. Lots of teamwork and hard graft. Lots more to do though and the next volunteer session is planned for Sat 24th March.

We’ve got more work to do on the Riverside path. Some bits have held up well, others have not. For the bits that haven’t we’ll need to do more work on drainage. The problem is the amount of traffic when the conditions are really soft. Apart from doing the physical work we’ll need everyone to help out during the year and ride paths according to the weather conditions, i.e. avoid the most sensitive paths when it’s really wet. Wishful thinking I suppose but it’s in our best interests to ride responsibly.

Hi there. It was myself that wallace was referring to as the person who was speaking to the land managers for Craigallian & Carglas. I met up with them last week (following a positive introduction via the Mugdock Rangers). They’re planning a fair bit of forestry work over the next few months (April to July). It looks like Flux & Clifftop will be the focus of the work. There are some other sections being felled too. This is mainly because the forests have started to “blow” (their forestry jargon) in those areas. Also, they will be upgrading the forest road from Boards/top of Flux winding round to Khyber Road, exiting at the gate where the black Reliant Robin parks up.

However, it’s not all negative. They know that the forest is well used and accept that it’s a local ammentiy (as well as being a commercial plantation). So, they’ve offered to take the trails into consideration when felling and replanting. For example, they may be able to fell away from the trails and replant to allow space for the trails to be re-instated (assuming the original trail was on a line worth keeping!). They’re not making any concrete promises, just on a best-can-do basis. Also, in other areas of forest that aren’t due for felling they may be able to help clear blocked trails – because of liability and insurance issues they need to use their people to do it (plus handsaws won’t shift some of the huge trees that are down!).

I guess the main thing is they’re aware of us and are open to talk about what can be done. On the face of it it seems genuine. Yes, probably quite a lot of disruption over the next few months but the possiblity of re-instating something and a land manager that is willing to listen has to be a positive. Early days so I’ll try to keep the trail maintenance volunteers and STW updated (either directly or via clubmates/volunteers).

Also, if you’re interested in volunteering to help out with our Mugdock work then drop me a mail (email in profile). NB: we need to balance the volunteers to the work/tools available on the day so we may need to limit the number of volunteers on the next sessions (it just shows the volume of support from the local riders!). Please register your interest though and we’ll be in touch. cheers.

Maybe just take a listen through the line-up for End Of The Road festival:

EOTR Line Ups

As per Mr Agreeable’s suggestion, give Last.fm a go.

Recommendations-wise, have a look for tunes by Y’All Is Fantasy Island and Joe Gideon & The Shark.

GW – rootier than GT perhaps, no?

Rode Drumlanrig at the weekend and it was fantastic; nice technical, twisty singletrack in some beautiful forests! Add to that the quiet trails, glorious sunshine and a warm welcome from Rik and I’ll be going back, even when it’s £4 to park up and ride!

BoardinBob – good idea as an ice-breaker. If it’s the 7th I might be busy during the day (trail maintenance in Mugdock) but I’ve no problem walking into a pub trying to identify a bunch of mountain bikers.

Just as jokey aside, what are the chances of us getting 13 mountain bikers in the 13th Note on Friday the 13th? Maybe best avoid that scenario, it could be carnage! :D

Gary_M – a bit weird I grant you and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but it’s social networking 21st century style! Much better, in my experience, to make a real connection with people.

Fair do’s, you might not get on with someone you meet but you might also make some new friends (absolutely not suggesting that your life isn’t choc-full with lots of friends already, just saying that meeting new people can be enriching).

Saturday 7th works for me, as does Friday 13th (or is that tempting fate?).

Evening is better than afternoon for me.

Location: city centre’s fine. Mono, 13th Note or Blackfriars would get my vote but I’m easy, as long as it’s not too townie/fighty.

Mysterymurdoch – I agree with you 100%! I couldn’t believe I was hearing the M8 was closed because of ice and a 5mph police convoy on the M74! I’d liked to have heard someone from the council on the radio to explain what went wrong. Surely it’s cheaper to put down some grit than deal with the consequences of not doing it.