PMBA » Blog Archive Gisburn Forest Update

Gisburn Forest Update

Published on: Dec 17 2011 by Jon Swift

Things have been progressing at Gisburn over the last month of two. Here's a round up of what's been happening:

XC Trail

The XC volunteers have finished another half kilometre of trail. Although not officially open it is rideable but be aware it is a little loose in places. The section completed so far is like a less extreme version of the end of Hully Gully, closely hugging the steep sides of a river gully, using the terrain to create a fantastic swooping trail.
Swoopy

Access is via a (very) muddy trail coming off the long fire road descent before the first blue section. In time we hope to take this section of trail all the way back to the barrier at the top of the fire road descent. This is next years big project and hopefully won't take as long as the bench cut has done as there will be less digging. In the meantime the XC volunteers are going to concentrate on repairing the start of the blue section before it collapses beyond repair. Next planned dig day is the 8th of January. Drop us a line if you want to get involved contactus@pmba.org.uk

Hope Line

Now fully open. Richard Duckworth's video riding the Hope Line (and a sneaky bit of Stainburn in the middle!!!!)

Car Park

About half the funding is now in place for the new car park and skills loops. A bid has been submitted for the remaining funding which at the moment is looking optomistic. We should know early in the New Year if the money is going to awarded. If it is, work's likely to start early in the new year.

Gisburn Forest Partnership

All of the people working on the various projects came together at the Dog and Partridge on the 8th of December to discuss what each group had been doing and was planning with a view to integrating all the efforts. We're hoping to continue with these meeting every six months going forward as more thing develop. PMBA will be supporting this group as much as possible. Representatives from Hope, the downhill trail builders, the XC builders, the skills coaches as well as Martin Colledge and Tony Lund attended, some even managed to go for a ride and try out the new Hope R8 lights (general verdict was they were ridiculously bright) although personally sat in front of the fire with a pint was more my style.

Skills Courses / Guided Rides

Skills Some of the original trail funding was used to put a number of riders through Trail Cycle Leader and Mountain Bike Leader training and assessment. A number of those riders have now qualified and have been putting their training to good use by running skills course in the forest. More courses are planned, particularly for novice riders just getting into riding. Courses are offered at an affordable £15 'donation' or are free to anyone who has done a day trail building whether at Gisburn or with Singletraction. If you're interested let us know and we'll put your name on the list.