Meeting Paul Hawkins from Project 1SW www.1SW.org.uk this morning. Will be discussing the potential for developing the area in line with plans to make the south west of England a focal point for mountain biking. I’ve been looking forward to this meeting like a child does to Christmas! Will update later today.. Oh and Russell Burton has produced a draft outline of his thoughts on the area which I received last night!!! Full details to follow. Exciting times.
Category: Learning
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Whoops!
It seems that I managed to screw up the embedded links on the membership page while updating it with the SALE prices a few weeks ago…
It meant that if you tried to sign up you were presented with the club rules pdf rather than the membership application form; which obviously made joining a little difficult.
I’ve fixed it now so please have another go!
P.s. Thanks to Robert Bunce and Sam Wells for telling me.
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National Mountain Bike Conference – MP3
The CTC have kindly produced recordings of each of the speakers presentations from the National Mountain Bike Conference held on the 9th of October.
If you have even the slightest interest in mountain biking development at trail level then these are a great listen:
“The CTC & IMBA-UK joint conference looked at the current state of mountain biking across the UK and beyond. The conference aimed to help everyone involved in mountain biking to learn from successful trails and to get ready for the challenges ahead.”
You can listen to them now (left click on a one of the links) or download them and listen later (right click on a link and select ‘save link as’)
Mike Van Abel – Executive Director of IMBA
Mike is based in Colorado, USA. In his presentation he examined the latest trends and developments in mountain biking from an international perspective. He also shared IMBA’s thoughts on the future, the threats mountain biking faces and where IMBA stand on a range of topics from trail centre location through to the global footprint of destination mountain biking.Kevin Mayne – Director CTC
Fresh from bringing £19.9 million worth of Big Lottery Funding into the Active Travel Consortium, with just over £5million worth of funding for CTC’s Cycle Champions, Kevin knows a thing or two about attracting funding for cycling. In his presentation he talked through how to make your project attractive to funders and how you can tailor it to fit funding criteria.Mike Nelson – Founder of Cascade Environmental
Mike has worked on two of the mountain bike world’s choice destinations, Whistler and Squamish in Canada. Mike brought to the conference a wealth of knowledge on mountain biking’s environmental footprint, and information on how we can plan, build and manage
projects in the future that both complement the environment and meet the needs of mountain bikers.Duncan Mackay – Policy Specialist at Natural England
Drawing on the latest government thinking and policy, Duncan shared his unique insight into the way forward for mountain biking. He looked at how everyone involved in mountain biking can make sure their projects will stand the test of time and ensure a sustainable and prosperous future.Chris Ford – Director CycleActive
Chris outlined how important it is to create the right mountain bike experience and match the trails to the riders and the riders to the trail. He examined what mountain bikers are looking for and how we can make sure that we meet their expectations. Plus how we can create trails to bring new people to mountain biking and keep them coming back.John Ireland – Forestry Commission Visitor Safety Expert
Although to many Health and Safety (H&S) might not be the sexiest of subjects, H&S’s legal and practical implications are far reaching for mountain biking. John has been working on improving visitor safety in the Forestry Commission’s forests and has developed a range of practical guidance for the MTB sector. John looked at how H&S can have a positive effect on mountain biking and how it’s in everyone’s interest to adopt a professional approach.Julie Cartner – Mountain Bike Development Specialist
Julie examined the effect millions of pounds of investment has had on mountain biking. She discussed how successful public money has been at broadening the market and how that investment is reflected in the trails that have already been designed and built. Furthermore, she shared her experiences from across the globe.
Dafydd Davis MBE – Trails By Dafydd Davis
Drawing on his work on trail development projects around the world, Dafydd focused on where his approach to trail design and building has really made a difference. He shared the lessons learnt from key case studies and gave a unique insight into the many mountain bike projects he has worked on.Vince Bartlett – London Development Agency and Ian Warby – CTC
As the capital prepares for the London 2012 Olympics, Vince and Ian explain how one of the first legacy projects was delivered – the Redbridge Cycling Centre. Their presentation focuses on the off-road trail and how the LDA, its partners and CTC put together the pieces of a complex jigsaw to create an exciting urban trail project. -
An inspiring day
Just back from London, been a really long 24hrs but has been very productive. My experience of public transport was tainted first by a crafty bus driver who decided it’d be funny to tell me to take a bus that definitely didn’t go where I’d expected and the fact that I spent most of my journey to earls court this morning running after the 171 bus until enough people had got off it to let me on. When finally there I was greeted by tea and biscuits and lots of people from the MTB world – I however was a panting mess.
The conference was great with some fantastic speakers and lots to learn for even the most experienced delegates who, like me, looked hypnotised throughout.
I’ll give a full write up over the next few days but will try and capture the main messages here and now…
It seems that the key topics were sustainability of both the physical trails, supporting infrastructure and human input. It is essential that this topic is addressed by lots of planning and foresight. Another topic was accessibility of the sport, and how retaining this element is critical to its success and ultimately its survival. This was illustrated by the fact that the vast majority of mountain bike owners don’t mountain bike, yet most probably would if suitably trails were built with them in mind, as has been proved by various case studies. Attracting these inexperienced novices into the sport is the fastest and most effective method of building it’s strength. Finally the issue of impact, and ultimately a reminder that despite the best of intentions trail projects can result in very negative impact to the surrounding area in terms of physical impact but also and social and economic. And lots lots more; all of which can be related to what we’re doing in some way.
I was lucky enough to speak to Ian Warby (CTC), Dafydd Davies MBE (world renowned trail builder and consultant) and Paul Hawkins (Forestry & woodland renaissance), and have learnt a fantastic amount as a result. I am pleased to say that Paul Hawkins was just as enthusiastic to meet and discus our proposal of a Longleat trail development as we are. Paul was really friendly and has inspired me to work even harder for this as there is so much potential especially when you look at the bigger picture of potentially linking such a trail with sustrans networks etc (he also said that he’d seen our website and really liked it!).
I must admit to being too tired to get my thoughts down clearly but I promise to give a full write up soon.
My eyes have been opened to what is possible and sights set higher as a result – today has been a great day.
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Do Lectures
For the past two years howies have held an event called ‘the do lectures’ where they arrange for people who do things to inspire others to go and do things too.
This years event took place between the 4th and 8th of September and was a real success with 22 speakers and 75 attendees.
I must admit to being very jealous of those who were lucky enough to take part but thanks to the kind folk at howies we can watch all the lectures on their do website. Have a look; theres loads to learn……
Look here for a great lecture by Dafydd Davies who’s responsible for building the very first official mountain bike trails in Wales (at Coed y Brenin) and for masterminding the creation of the 5 main trail centres back in the mid 90’s.
