Singletraction Forum

There has been a lot of disinformation recently about what’s happening at Wharncliffe.
I wanted to take this opportunity to make it clear why we are at where we are.
If anyone wants to get involved with the trail developments then anyone is welcome to join in, everyone's opinion counts, everyone’s effort is more than welcome on dig days, it’s no secret society and certainly NOT a closed group. If you need more info don't hesitate to email / phone / carrier pigeon either Phil (Gravity-Slaves) Chris (Reluctant head of DH dig days) or me any time.

In the end all the group want is to secure wharncliffe as a permanent MTBing venue and extend the amount of riding available to users.

Cheers.

Wharncliffe Developments background

24 months ago the FC had serious complaints from the horse riders at Wharncliffe. This was due to some near misses with horses as riders exited plank gate. The FC asked for local people to come foreword to represent the MTB riders in order to solve the conflict issues. This message reached several people who decided they had time and the inclination to liaise with the FC. Phil who runs Gravity slaves being one of them and Rob (DLC) who was the main contact.

The FC asked for a local group to be created, The Wharncliffe Riders Collective, WRC, and plans to be written up for XC and DH. This included creating a DH MTB area basically from jump spot to waterfall. The plans took ROB about 40 man hours to write up. These are loose plans that are for an FC process called an OPS 1. This allows the FC to bounce around ideas within there organisation and see if there are any objects from any of there departments, such as forestry, H&S or conservation.
This OPS1 gave the go ahead for the XC trail last year.
From the FC's point of view the DH's priority was to sort the exits onto the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT), and this is all they really wanted to do. The WRC's idea was to put the local riders in a position where we could enhance / improve / build more lines / free ride / 4X areas in the woods.

In order to gain credibility with the FC it was decided on two paths to take.

Firstly to affiliate with Singletraction. They have a track record in handling large projects that are funded by grants. This is key to our future development as daily many of us are involved in trying to win Grants for both XC and DH Trail building. To date we have raised around £2,500 from private companies (BT, Five Ten, and Avanti Conveyors). We are aiming for funding of six figures. Going for funding like this needs buy in from the FC.

Secondly, in order to get the FC to see our groups as a serious dedicated group we elected to start work on some areas of Fastrack that they saw as an issue. Again the idea was to show that we now have a group that can work in a responsible and professional manner to plans agreed with the FC. One of the main issues they have is with avoiding claims cases. Any claim the FC loose would come directly from FC's normal revenue. They have NO insurance as they are a Govt agency. So solving any push up issues was a priority.
The work on Fastrack was aimed to enhance what was there, Make some parts safer (e.g. the new push up route around the switchbacks) and to cure some old problems such as the bog in the middle, a new line in the centre to avoid the bog was the easiest solution without massive investment of machines and materials.

That's some back ground on how we got to where we are, Recently I met with the FC and our contact said Specifically that a lot of ground has been gained with the FC in the last 18 months as it's the first time there has been a consistent group at Wharncliffe who have proved there worth with actions.
That just goes to show what a great effort and commitment everyone has contributed over the last 18 months, WELL DONE ALL!

There are many people putting in lots man hours in there own recreation time into developments at Wharncliffe. Any one can help though and all opinions are welcome, feel free to come to a dig day, or join an evening meeting. These are always posted on here and other forums. The more people building trails the quicker its gets done and we can ride them

A lot of the recent rumours have come about because the full story isn’t out on the Web / press etc. We’re going to make the effort to try to get more information out in public as it happens. We will post on Gravity Slaves, Singletraction and http://www.wharncliffe.info but please bare with us as we all have real jobs to hold down (and some of us wife’s to keep happy) as well as trail building

Finally,
FE requires all trail builders working within the woods on designated projects to hold third party liability insurance (in case someone is injured as a consequence of the building works e.g. a member of the public). Trail builders without this insurance seriously jeopardise the future development of the woods. Like it or not, insurance is mandatory for many walks of life.

STA holds this insurance and paid up members are therefore covered by it. So, if you want to dig you have to join, you can still attend a dig day where we will sign you in as a guest, in advance of membership being received. All funds raised from the membership fees are ploughed back into trails throughout the region, e.g. tools and materials,
Membership forms can be found here
http://www.singletraction.org.uk/member_form.htm

Many thanks and Happy riding
Simon (Head of XC trail design Wharncliffe)

I was riding up at Warny for the first time in months on Tuesday and one thing came to mind. The area around the Nemba trail is a really bad advertisement for trail building - it's an ugly mess. I met a local walking through who was justifiably scathing of the abuse of the forest there which, after all, is there for many different interest groups, and wildlife. Surely extending the amount of riding available has a limit (that has possibly been reached), as too much environmental damage may cause mountain biking to fall out of favour with the FC and therefore jeopardise the future of wharncliffe as a MTB venue?

I know you guys aren't responsible for a lot of the trail build that goes on around there, but I feel that because you are the represent official trail building there you need to take a strong line on what is and isn't legit' sustainable trail building. Perhaps by means of putting notices up requesting substandard new builds to be abandoned, and on dig days blocking them off. I know this may be little deterrent, but at least you'll be making a better impression on non-MTB users, and the FC.

With the exception of the XC trail, which is actually quite limited, I suggest trail builders at Warncliffe should focus on improving and making more sustainable the considerable number of DH trails that are already there, rather than cutting new trails.

yeh, there are a few local wingers that are upset at trails built within a....er pine plantation (not indigenous forest).


There is plenty of conservation space at Wharncliffe outside the DH MTB area, the conservation areas are FAR greater space than the area given to DH MTBING.
The FE have designated the area from Diamond back to just past the waterfall as a DH MTB Area...

To list some of the untouched spaces... There are at least 3 miles x 5miles + towards Oughtibridge, under the crags, that are being returned to "natural" forest... then there is the whole forest above Diamond back that has been fenced off by the FE for the grazing of some non indigenous cows.. The area above the crags is a SSSI.. that leads down to the ponds at Oughtibridge end... it still amazes me that a couple of locals complain about the DH MTB area.. but then they want it all.

I understand that there is a lot of digging in the designated MTB area, the FE in the end said there were so many lines that each individual one could not be assesed and granted the space between Diamond Back and Waterfall as a DH MTB Area.

That said, there are a lot of badly built lines.. but for one reason it was hard to get all factions at Wharncliffe to dig together. I think that reason was that when singletraction came to Wharncliffe we were promised by the FE.. some control of access to plank gate in the form of berms etc.. and signage to designate the MTB area. So we said, hey guys hang on all this is coming soon so please do not build... 3+ years went by and nothing emerged from the FE.. so we couldn't deliver anything new so people understandably resumed building there own lines... the FE are as responsible for this as the trail builders.

hope that helps explain what you've seen in Wharncliffe.. BTW, if anyone wants to take up the challace of liasing with the FE to try to develop Wharncliffe / organize Dig days (if the FE would allow them to resume !!) etc they are welcome to contact me and I will pass on the contact names of those at the FE.

good luck

From what you and others have said about working with the local FC (FE?), I doubt people will readily take you up on that offer! I might have considered it if I wasn't living 100s of miles away...

Of course, if the FC would charge people for use of the two car parks then they could generate revenue enough to manage the place properly and invest in working with us. Dalby should be proof enough that this works.

indeed... I dont think anyone minds paying £2 for a carpark... many regulars at Sherwood etc paying.

WE paid £6.50 for 6hrs yesterday to park in Glenridding for a ride up Helvellyn, worth every penny.

You'll always get those that won't pay but most people will.

We all know that trails don't just magically appear though?

I don't think this would be a good idea, it would lead to more people parking on the roads around the Pheasant Pub in Oughtibridge which would annoy the locals even more. I live in Oughtibridge and at the weekend the road already becomes a bottleneck because there are so many cars parked here.

Do you ride Mogga ?

I think thats mostly due to the car crime that happens at the top carpark...

Yes I do, I'm up in Wharncliffe 2 or 3 times per week either running or on the MTB, love the place.

Yesterday I decided to follow your 18k XC loop using the GPX file on an iPhone! Its pretty dry at the moment, for once I came back relatively clean, usually I get back covered in muck from head to toe

ahh, cool, for a moment I thought you were an agreaved undercover Oughtibridge resident..

The point with parking has a couple of issues...
1, its better to start at the bottom of the hill for most of us, end on a descnet and all that
2 its closer to Sheffield to drive to Oughtibridge than up to top
3 crime in the top CP
4, DH tracks are closer to Oughtibridge.
5, Parking in the factory road aint safe.

There were plans to put a bridge over the river, and new CP, down in Wharncliffe side... not sure how far TPT got with this..

Crime?

I left the van door unlocked for 2 hrs last time!!

hehe... amazing isnt it.... you can bet if it was all locked up the opposite woulda happend.

I went to Warncliffe yesterday, and was really dissapointed, when I got back to the car park my car was still there!

On a serious note I've read some complaints about the red route lately, one of them on the FC website, but it looked fine to me. It was getting plenty of use.

There were two muppets riding through without helmets.... crackers.

Do you mean the complaint refering to part of the route being destroyed for tree clearence? There's actually a trail starting to appear now on this section although its not the original route

These are the ones I remember most from teh FC site -http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/recreation.nsf/LUWebDocsByKey/EnglandSouthYorkshireNoForestWharncliffeWoods;


Name: Anonymous ()
8/Jun/2010
Most of the XC trails are ripped up with no trail maintenance other than a few dig days which were organised several years ago by singletraction.co.uk who remain focused on trails in West and North Yorkshire. The wood provides a few very short blast sections some of these areas are often littered with red bull and monster cans (people need to respect the woods).
A section of XC has been destroyed by the Forestry Commission themselves who felled a large section of trees leaving huge trunks across trails. (Was this intentional?)
I feel Forestry commission seem to have forgot the peaks area or very slow on the uptake to provide a trail centre and maintained trails. I find myself driving to Wales or Scotland.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Anonymous ()
4/Jun/2010
It's a pity someone has been sabotaging the new bike trail - the recent deliberate blockages could have killed riders.

The litter is still a problem, loads at the top of Fast Track and Diamond Back today.

As for blockages on the cleared section, even though there is a trail forming its not exactly easy riding. But it is only a small section which can easily be avoided by staying on the fireroad and taking the next right.

As simonm has stated, FE didn't inform Wharncliffe Riders Collective about clearing on the red route and by the sounds of it that was the end of any relationship between FE and the riders. Its a shame as there still seems to be support for the dig days but with no FE cooperation its not gonna happen is it?

Nope, which is a shame as I'm only down the road.

So not even with an adult sit down discussion with the FC could there be any scope for the hatchet to be buried and us be able to develop the trails once more?

It's a crying shame as there is scope for Wharncliffe to be astronomically good for all sorts of riders and room for numerous trails.

Si tried very hard for the best part of (IIRC) 3 years to make things happen in Wharncliffe with FE. This was after the press launch with Steve Peat and FE staff in attendance.

Basically, we never got to meet or convince the Beat Forester (Albin?) that trails were a good idea. Frankly, his approach at the time seemed very ostrich like (head in the sand) given the massive amount of riding and unofficial trails there are in the Woods. Nevermind the support form Sheffield CC and the Peak Park for another resource and venue that could take some of the pressure off the Peak.

Chris Bray (FE, behind Sherwood Pines) tried to help but TBH it wasn't a great success as it was out of his area and (IMO) he had limited influence.

I'm not looking to lambast FE as that would be pointless and counter productive but somehow they do seem to have let a potential jewel slip through their fingers.

Hey ho, we're still around and if someone local wants to step up and take on the (not inconsiderable) mantle to try and drive something forward in the Woods then I know Si would welcome them. I'm sure he'd help but there's only so much time and opportunity he can dedicate what with bairns and business (and buggered bongos).

If anyone is up for it email me or Si and we'll see what can be done.

As for this:



Pffft It shows a total ignorance of what we do and how we do it. SingletrAction is no magic-trail-creation-wand. We're an umbrella organisation for anyone keen and daft enough to try and make trails happen. We can't parachute in a magical trail pixie to do it all. Someone local and with enought time and inclination needs to lead it and we will help and support them as much as possible with experience, money (!), tools and manpower (!)

I wouldn't worry about that comment, it was written by someone on the FC website that is clearly a serial complainer. Wharney is still a good track.

It appears there is a growing group of enthusiastic people who want to make something happen at Wharncliffe... I think with some gentle pressure dig days could resume on the XC... I however, just don't have time to cart the tools in etc and organise digs. If there is enough people wanting to sit down with the FE, then I can talk to our contact at the FE and see if we can at least have a meeting.. This is how the original digging started.

Hi Simon,

How much work does it involved organising it all? Between kid, school, kids dancing and Beever Scouts, and rangering on the TPT my spare time is at a premium. But, I'd be certainly be happy to get stuck in on dig days, and share organising it all depending on how muc time's required.

S

organising is getting word out to people via email / tinternet during week time (work time !) the main time consumer is dig days, getting tools to site etc... O, and coming to a consensus on what to dig on ! always get a dictator to decide that prior to the dig day starting...

May put a post out on here and Singletrack forum and see if there is enough peeps wanting to meet FE, then try and set up meeting with them.

Well, I know nothing about track design or anything like that but am definitely happy to help with the rest of the organising, letting people know, getting tools there etc, and meeting with the FE.

cool... OK, I'll think of some wording for a posting on here and Singletrack world + Gravity slaves, the idea being to get a new group of people together to meet the FE face to face... see where it goes.

There is another group in Sheffield called Ride Sheffield that have started meetings, they arent going to want to get into trailbuilding... I think at all MTB advocacy groups at an early stage don't want to get there hands dirty... until they get nowhere... and realise that the only way foreward is to build with volounteers until funding is available...

So, whatever happens, there needs to be a link in with Ride Sheffield.

thanks.