It was the monthly dig day up at Dalby today and while it was slightly cut short by the SingletrAction AGM and the track barrow running out of fuel we still managed to get so good work done.

Section 31 also known as Oblivion was the target for the day carrying on from where we left off last month. We started by adding a roller at the bottom of the berm  where we finished last month this should shed the water and stop any gullying.

Before and after the vegetation cut back

There was a fair bit of vegetation cut back as well, its amazing how much it encroaches at this time of year.

We then carried on down the trail sorting out two more berms adding rollers to the bottom of both of them again to aid drainage.

Finally we edged the straight before the last berm cutting back the vegetation to re-align the trail back to its original line as it had moved a good foot down the slope.

The test bike was out just before we left and the feedback was good.

Not a bad days work and we managed to get the AGM in as well!

So what if they have, I hear you say, well it means that with the lighter nights and we can start our evening raids on the trails at Stainburn. We made our second visit this week to finish revamping the drainage at the end of the Black and Aldo’s so hopefully we have solved the water problem ready for next winter.

With that job out of the way it was time to test our latest secret weapon, a two tonne ratchet winch. We can report that it works a treat moving rather large rocks with minimal effort. There was a small learning curve but it did not take us long to winch a decent size rock out of a ditch and on to the trail. So we decided to make use of it and re-do one of the corner features on the red climb, to make it, well “Knacker proof” as he had  already started busting up version 1. It did not take us long before the feature had been demolished and re-built just that bit more nadgery, check it out the next time you do the red climb, its on the first bend after you have gone into the woods.

Buoy up by our initial success with the winch we decided to test it further by dragging out some larger rocks ready for future use and again it worked a treat. We quite easily upended a large rock and dragged it to the edge of the trail. Not bad for a £9.99 Aldi special, I can see it being used very regularly. So here is a short video dairy of the evening exploits.

if you fancy joining us we will be there one evening in the week for the next few months and as always on the first Sunday of the month, 9:30 a.m. in the main car park.

The evening digs will be posted on the Stainburn Facebook group its a closed group, just ask to join.

One final thing you do need to be a member of SingletrAction to dig; its the insurance don’t you know, but it is great fun, you get to say I built that and there are benefits with discounts at various bike shops.

Go on you know you want to and you get the chance to get muddy, its just like being a kid again.

Well if you had gone to Stainburn there were Santa Cruz bikes everywhere, not mention Orange bikes and Niners too. Not that you would have known it had you arrived before 9 a.m. the car park was virtually empty, it was cold and windy, very windy. But suddenly there was a flurry of activity as van after van arrived in all their fine livery. Doors opened and bikes poured out to be hung on racks.

Then the locusts, sorry riders arrived to start registering for the demo day. This process was somewhat disrupted by the strong wind doing its very best to blow away the Stif gazebo. But with a few bodies holding it down and a strategically placed van some semblance of normality was restored. Soon there was a long queue of riders clutching pedals waiting patiently for their steed of choice.

Then there were no bikes in the car park and the red and descent line were littered with people riding bikes on the official marked demo route. Although there where bikes disappearing and reappearing from all over the forest, well you have to test the bikes to the full don’t you.

Then the first set of testers returned and the car park was a hive of activity again as it was all change different bike and different riders.

Suddenly it was knocking noon and the barbie was ready, burger anyone?

So did I try a bike or two well it would have been rude not to, wouldn’t it? A Solo and the 650b Heckler had to be tried, decided not to try the carbon Bronson just in case I liked it too much. All in all a good day.

So why not give Stainburn forest a go, can’t guarantee a Stif and Orange demo every day, but surely it must a good place to ride if its used for demos.

Stainburn has recently experienced unauthorised and destructive activities and these have now escalated to a point where it has become a real concern. We must ask that no-one take it upon themselves to remove, modify or add trail features unless at a SingletrAction Dig Day. Continue reading

We are ready to roll

So what do you get with 2 dogs, 5 kids and 13 adults an unbelievably great dig day. It’s been a long while since we have had such a large turn out for a dig day at Stainburn, and its was quite surprising given the rather poor weather forecast. Drizzly showers first thing followed by lots of cloud and then heavy rain from early afternoon. But no one was put off and we were soon heading off to the red climb.

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It was a great day at Stainburn for the February dig day, the weather was quite frankly spectacular especially given the time of year, several people ended up working in T shirts. We also had a great turnout with 13 people and 2 dogs turning out to make their mark on the trails.

Ok that berm needs to be bigger

 
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The first dig day of the year at Dalby and it turned out to be quite memorable for several reasons. Firstly the weather was fairly miserable particularly early on, but it didn’t put a dampener on proceedings. Secondly it was a great turn out with 14 volunteers opting to get wet and muddy building trails when they could have been getting wet and muddy riding their bikes.

After a bit of breakie in the court yard café it was time to start fettling and building the odd trail feature. We got on with fettling the end of section 17 clearing the drains and the plan had been to finish the surfacing but it was just too wet.

 
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Yorkshire Water have been pretty good in the past for opening up permissive bridleways, though they have shied away from offering shared use of footpaths on their land. But they are still ahead of many with their embracing of mountain biking. They took another big step this year when they invested heavily in a new 1.2km bike trail along side Fewston reservoir in the Washburn Valley, North Yorkshire.
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