About IMBA-UK >> Updates >> Update 61 (May 2009)
Forestry Commission Scotland's Ae Line Trail at 7Stanes
An important step in the establishment of IMBA Europe took place in the Czech republic over the weekend of 23rd to 24th May.
Representatives from many European countries gathered together in the Prezidentska chata, Bedrichovv, Jizerské Mountains, to form an action plan for the new organisation.
IMBA UK was represented by Karl Bartlett and Paddy Harrop. At the meeting we heard about the different issues and challenges facing mountain bikers across Europe, but importantly recognised common needs and potential solutions.
Until now no pan-European organisation has existed to represent the interests of mountain bikers yet we have seen mountain biking increasingly used as a tourism product or development opportunity, often without involving the wider mountain biking community, or understanding the potential impacts of such a decision. It will be the role of IMBA Europe to change that.
For UK mountain bikers the immediate impact will likely be small as we have fairly good trail provision and access for mountain biking, although we learned that parts of the UK do not enjoy the same access rights as some other EU and Scandinavian countries such as Portugal and Norway. However in the long term a powerful European organisation with the support of the bike industry aims to enable national organisations to grow through co-ordinating best practice in trail planning and design, advocacy skills and policy support.
IMBA UK will continue to support the growth of IMBA Europe and help form the initial council.
Oneplanet Adventure, operators of the trailhead at Coed Llandegla in North Wales have an MTB-specific two-day Rescue and Emergence Care (REC) First Aid course running on the 11th & 12th June. Fore full information call 01978 751656 or email . For a full list of courses including CTC Trail Leader (15th to 17th June) and Oneplanet's extensive MTB Skills courses can be found on www.oneplanetadventure.com.
Bike Week is all about getting people out and about on bikes. Our mission is to get people to 'live local and get cycling'. Bike Week provides a unique opportunity to get together with your friends and family, get fit and have fun.
This year, the local community is at the heart of the campaign. Encouraging quality family time and values, cycling can help focus minds on the environment, enable families to reduce their carbon footprints by reducing car usage and enjoy the great outdoors.
There's lots of information on the website, and a really useful Postcode Search facility to find an event near you. For more details, visit the website: www.bikeweek.org.uk.
Mountain bike fans can get a piece of the action for themselves at one of the UK's top sports events this summer by signing up to try out brand new bikes at the Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup at Fort William on 6th - 7th June.
The 'World Cup Bike Test', in association with Singletrack, is new for 2009 and gives fans and enthusiasts attending the event the chance to test the latest top of the range bikes to their limits on parts of the World Championship cross country course, free of charge.
Leading names, including Commencal, Genesis, KTM Industries, Santa Cruz and Trek are making a range of cutting edge models available for the test. Fans keen to take up the challenge, in between watching world-class racing over the weekend, can choose which bike they would like to test prior to the event at worldcupbiketest.singletrackworld.com and book a slot for their own personal Bike Test.
A special Bike Test course has been created, consisting of a shortened loop of just over 4km set over the World Championship trail, with a mix of forest road, technical singletrack and cruising double tracks offering the ideal terrain for testing bikes.
The World Cup Bike Test is open to over 18s only and they must have a valid ticket for the Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Fort William, available at www.fortwilliamworldcup.co.uk or by calling 01397 705825 between 9am-5pm.
Female cycling star and GB Olympic 2012 hopeful Shanaze Reade has officially thrown her hat in the ring to compete in the gruelling 4-Cross (4X) event at the 2009 Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, which is being held in Fort William on the 6th - 7th June.
The Fort William 4X will be the first foray into professional mountain biking competition for 20-year-old Shanaze, the current UCI Elite World BMX Champion, as she prepares for a shot at the 4X World Championship title later this year. The multi-talented cyclist already has world track cycling gold to her name, which she won along with Victoria Pendleton in the women's team sprint in 2008.
Shanaze, originally from Crewe, is set to appear at the UK leg of the Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup alongside around 350 other professional riders from around the globe.
Shanaze says she's excited about her competitive mountain bike debut: "I've always loved mountain biking but this will be my first real test competitively. I want to prove that I'm versatile and I'm really going for a big year - aiming for BMX and mountain bike titles. I've heard great things about the course at Fort William - it'll be brilliant fun but a major challenge too. Bring it on!" Mike Jardine from Rare Management, organisers of the Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Fort William, adds "Shanaze is a great star and an inspirational competitor, so it's fantastic news that she's chosen Fort William to make her 4X World Cup debut. She'll add to the large group of British contenders in both downhill and 4X so there will be even more reason for bike fans to make the trip to the Highlands this year, to cheer on some home winners."
The 4X competition will take place on Saturday 6th June at 7pm.
Volunteer Trail-building group, and IMBA affiliates, Kielder Trail Reavers recently held an event which raise £1000 for local charity the Great North Air Ambulance. The race, the Border Raid, a 50km route, was the second of four in a Marathon Series planned for this year.
The next race takes place on July 11th, and is called the Hot Trod and takes in 45km of trail. For more information, visit the Kielder Reavers website www.kieldertrailreavers.org.uk and click on the link for the Marathon Series.
Mountain biking started off when some friends getting together for a ride then kicking back with a beer and listening to some music. This grew into more and bigger events and these became organised races. Somewhere along that journey some of the original fun was lost. It is the original spirit that the Big Bike Bash aims to recapture. This will be a weekend of camping, riding, eating, drinking and listening to music.
We have had an extremely positive response from the bike industry so can offer amazing prizes like foreign holidays and bikes from our sponsors. There are also many other prizes and these will be given out based on effort and participation rather than simply results. You may not win the event but still win the prize.
There will be XC races for race whippets, there will be lake jumps for jump bunnies, there will be tag-a-long races for parents, there will be children's challenge for children, there will be something for everyone. It is a great event for regular mountain bikers to bring their partners and families to as there will be stuff for none bikers too and the current ticket sales show there is a good family representation.
As well as the bike competitions and things to take part in there will also be a beer festival showcasing some great local beverages and a live music stage with various bands playing throughout the weekend.
Without wishing to sound pretentious, it all kicks back to the philosophy of the event. We are happy with hard racing and hopefully we will get some but this is riding, not life and death. We don't want super-fit people entering the easy categories just so they get a podium. If they want a medal that much, go to a race event (or back to their mummy). This event is about enjoying yourself, racing against you mates for the pleasure of beating them. If you win a prize too then so much the better, if you don't you can still brag about the win over a beer.
To make sure we can maintain the friendly party atmosphere we are limiting the numbers to 500 this year so please buy your tickets early. There will be camping and parking. For full details check out the website: www.BigBikeBash.co.uk.
Tickets:
Some of the Grampian Mountain Bikers have been upset with some of the recent actions by the Forestry Commission. Some believe that our biking clubs have little influence with the FC independently, so we decided to come together to form the GMBA and be more effective.
The GMBA team consists of most of the local mountain bike club leaders and bike shop managers. To date we have only had one meeting, in which everyone shared their opinions, experiences and goals. The outcome was that we agreed on the following goals:-
Our next step is to form a relationship with both the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire councils and arrange a meeting with the FC to discuss our goals.
The Countryside Recreation Network commissioned research in to landowners' liability, and the perceptions around this. The report has been published and can be found on the www.countrysiderecreation.org.uk website, direct link here.
Sheffield Hallam University interviewed landowners and reviewed court cases to see how concerned landowners were about liability from recreational accidents, and whether perceptions matched reality.
The main findings of this report were:
The full report, which is surprisingly reassuring, and may be a valuable tool for clubs to use when negotiating access for a new trail.
For more info, visit - www.wideworldmag.co.uk/feature/show/id/29. It looks as though they quite like Wales!
Tyne Valley Cycling Club: more details to follow, but their website is www.tynevalleycycling.co.uk.
Back On Track: more details to follow, but their website is www.backontrack-bikes.com.
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