Starting to plan the routes how hard do you want them?

Comments about the signage are true it isn’t ideal at the moment but I hope to have it sorted soon, part of the problem is we keep adding extra bits in! Not staightforward A to B route lots of options to choose from. Consider Lee and Cragg to be the same site and you have a good few hours riding especially if you take the time to try out all of the options and play on the pump tracks for a while. Very dry and fast up there at the moment take a spare tube! Linking route between cragg and lee has just been recrushed to reduce the size of the stone on it. Needs a bit of reain really so it might be a bit drifty on the way back down.

Bump!

We shall be up in the quarry from 10am onwards to do a bit of trail maintenance, patch up some of the new bits of trail which diddn’t get time to settle in properly and chat through ideas for new features/sections.

Pads are not a bad idea up there, I have patched up a few people up there now and I can think of a couple in particular who would have been much better off if they had been wearing some pads. Knees don’t seem to come off too well when hiting rocks. I tend to put knee pads on when I’m up there now even a small tumble on the pump track could remove a fair bit of knee. Still can’t believe how many people ride up there with no helmet!But that’s another rant!

Table tops have all been freshened up and the new pump track finished so quite a few new bits there now. New drop offs are still causing people some difficulty people are I think going too fast off them and not making the sharp right hand turn. Speed is not your friend with these!

Video of Cragg Quarry here <iframe src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/12086586&#8243; width=”400″ height=”225″ frameborder=”0″></iframe><p>Cragg Quarry, Bacup from Tim Royle on Vimeo.</p>

It’s good to have options! Planning the trails for Facit quarry at the moment which will link up with Lee and Cragg, steep larch plantation so some good twisty rooty fun through the trees to add in to the mix.

Glad you like it Rowan and his guys have done a good job for us up there.

Taking Benji around Cragg tomorrow! So hopefully he can do a bit of a review of the place for singletrack, just hope the wind isn’t too strong I rode round there on Monday very wet and very windy made it hard work just to get round.

Should have some signage sorted out for it by the end of May so it will be slightly easier to find.

They did get some filming done in the end, very windy though. Ali C and Ricky Crompton provided the skill side of things. It will be interesting to see how it turns out hat off to the sound guy if he could get anything usable in all that wind.

We will have security on 24hrs a day at the car park, local police are normally up in the quarry showing us some moves on their bikes as well.

In the middle of the area we use for camping there are some metal railings normally used for trials which bikes can be locked to if you bring a lock.

Most people tend to lock a few bikes together making it pretty difficult for anyone to wander off with them and not be noticed.

I reckon a hardtail works best at Lee Quarry although you can still have lots of fun on a full suser there. Tyre choice and riding smoothly is probably more of an issue judging by the number of people I see with flats up there, it is rocky!

Excelent stuff if you do make it up there we should be around the pump track, I’ll be on a gey Genesis Aplitude or in a white LCC van.

Any one know if there was an accident in the quarry today and if so what happened or where and how everyone involved is doing?

Any one else about on Thursday?

:lol:bump

It would be nice wouldn’t it!

Define not that far? It’s quite a way from Nottingham I would say good couple of hours, it’s just north of Manchester in Bacup, Lancashire. Worth a visit if you have not been before though.

Sorry all makes sense in my head Ali C is probably one of the most talented guys on a bike I have seen,check out what he can do with no brakes! http://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/member/Ali-C-Inspired-Bicycles-Brakeless-Spring-2010,2757/inspiredbicycles,3075 Country Tracks is a BBC1 programme about the countryside sort of sister programme to Country file.

It is all good to go, we did try and failed to keep people off it to allow it to bed in. The result is a slightly cut up surface with a few ruts. We shall try and sort this out by having a dig day probably 17th April opportunity for people to help bash the track back in to place with spades and wacker plates. It has dried out really well so I’m confident we canknock it back in to shape. I shall post a bit more information closer to the time. We shall be having back on track back for a few days in June to do any reshaping etc which might be required to spruce it all up in time for the Singletrack Weekender.

The new pumptrack is more difficult than the first, worth practicing on the origional one first to do the second one justice and preserve your teeth, pride, collar bone.

We removed the logs so you would have something to moan about as all the new stuff is so good! 😉

Did you try any of the drops? Quite different to anything else we have put in so far.

Hope you stayed off the new pump track it still needs time to bed in.

£60 each?? Looking at the site its £120 for a team entry seems very expensive it’s a shame I used to really enjoy the Polaris could hide my lack of fitness by reading a map! but £60 seems a lot when I could go and do pretty much the same ride with mates for free. BUT in the information it does say there is a bar and plenty of grass! So perhaps thats where the money is going?

Sign up for the Singletrack Weekender and settle the question for good! Trials, downhill, cross country and pumptrack!

Brownbacks have agreed some dates with us so I’m sure they will be sharing them and inviting entries soon. We have been building some new bits of trail in Lee Quarry specifically to add to the choice and variety of courses for the Brownbacks races so you can expect some new and interesting courses.

Also if you like racing in Lee Quarry don’t forget the Singletrack weekender this July!

Duffer where are you based? we have put quite a bit in (rocks, logs etc)for trials riders in Lee Quarry and as a result it is attracting quite a good crowd of them up there from beginers right up to some of the best in the country. Good place to come and learn from others. Some more beginer sections are gettign built this week.

Have a look at Tarty Bikes for trials stuff.

Still plenty to ride if you link it up with Cragg Quarry just please stay clear of anything with tape across it or signed as closed.

No marshals for this one as it is just a guided ride for the lucky few who book on. Mountian Rescue normally organise a mass ride in September hwich might need marshals though. We will be looking for marshals for the Brownbacks races and Singletrack Weekender if you are interested?

Rangerbill is organising this one I’ll just be taging along to help out, open gates etc. (And make everyone else feel much fitter than they actually are by suffering far more than them!)

We open most of the gates for you gives us an excuse to get off for a little rest now and again!

Volunteers would be welcome, we have set up a Pennine Mountian bike action group to try and co-ordinate volunteering at Gisburn, Healey Nab, Lee Quarry and a couple of new sites we are hoping to develop. Just getting insurance and training, tools,web site etc sorted out at the moment should be ready to launch in a month or two. There is a facebook group set up if you are interested. Will post more info on here once we are sorted out.

Childcare and DIY got in the way, trying to build up the brownie points for some days out in the Lakes. Strange isn’t it man in his 40’s has to barter for time to ride bike!

Heard it was a good event though, glad it went well we need more stuff like that going on up here.

It will all make sense when it’s finished Kev (Shaun) and Yanto (NikKi) the guys building it are really enthusiastic about it, they built the first one for us and it’s worked really well. This time we have given them a bigger area more time and the OK to make it more adventurous.
If you want to see them in action have a look at these web sites
http://video.mpora.com/watch/OWDgLsySi/
http://www.back-on-track.org/movies.html

I have a few pictures but it just looks like a big muddy mess at the moment so not really worth sharing. It is bigger than the existing one and will have lots of line choices on it and will offer more confident riders a bit of a step up and more options than the existing one. Be prepared to be shown up even more by the local kids though!

Some new sections of trail going in at cragg quarry soon too. 😀

Most of the trails are open link over to cragg is now in so if you find bits of Lee are closed have a bimble over there.

Level ground in the Pennines?

hang on though we could use that as one of the trials sections at the weekender!

egg and spoon

The event went really well the guys from British cycling were great, they had a good chat with local politicians presented some team jerseys etc and did a ride with the local kids mountain bike club which was great not every day you get to go for a ride with the likes of Liam Killeen I‘m hoping it has inspired some of the kids. Weather was really poor but the riders didn’t seem to care.

Lots of positive feedback on the site and a promise from BC to help us develop the Brownbacks races and the kids clubs further if we would like to and similar promises from the politicians to continue supporting the development of the mountain bike trails. Should have some photo’s up in the next couple of days.

Back on Track are starting construction of some new trails up there tomorrow if you come for a ride keep an eye out for any signage and please take note of what it says especially if it is saying a section is closed! Next few days will be spent doing some trail maintenance reshaping a couple of the berms, tidying up the table tops etc.

The new cafe Poppies did some excellent food for us and they are very keen for mountain bikers to come in and use the place. Toilets can be used for getting changed etc even if you are not buying something at the time. I can recommend the carrot cake one slice is like a whole meal!

I shall look in to showers but we do provide those logs over the water couple of people have used those as a way of getting wet!

Travellers have gone now, council does move them on as quickly as they can but councils have to use the proper legal process and take in to account the rights of the travellers. That bit of road is currently unadopted so not as easy to move people on as you might think. It is in the process of being adopted which should help to ease the problem as the police will then have the powers to move people on pretty much straight away.

If we can carry the kids club on over the spring/summer they might get one or two days good weather!

Come along and say hi! Has she been enjoying the sessions by the way?