Steveb
04-05-2006, 09:44 AM
From www.irishcycling.com (http://www.irishcycling.com)
By Sean Herlihy
Last Saturday, the 1st April, saw the first work day on what is to be Ireland’s first authorised user built mountain bike trail. Over 40 volunteers turned out to spend the day digging the first sections of the trail. Organisers, who had hoped to get around 20 volunteers, were somewhat over whelmed with the turn out. But no one ever complains about having too much help and once tools were sorted out, they got to work clearing 325 yards of new trail.
Kindelstown has always been a popular area for bikers, the forest already has a quite good but unauthorised trail. At a meeting before Christmas Mountain bike representative made Coillte aware of the existing trail in the wood. Coillte were optimistic that the trail could be retained, conditional on its routing not interfering with other forest users and the trail itself being upgraded to IMBA standard. Inspections of the site were carried out by both the local Coillte area manager and a representative from IMBA. After some initial safety concerns were dealt with Coillte gave the go ahead to begin the upgrade work.
http://www.irishcycling.com/2004/uploads/trailbuilders.jpg
The IMBA standard for sustainable trail construction is quite high, meaning quite a bit of work will be needed to get the trails up to standard. The first task was to construct a new section of trail leaving the car park area, bikers had been using the existing walking trail to get further into the wood, the new section, it is hoped will take bikers away from the walking trail and on to a better quality bike specific trail.
The work itself was carried out with the support and guidance of Mountain Meitheal, who provided tools, equipment and valuable know how in organising, managing and motivating volunteers. While some finishing work is needed on the new section, and there is quite a bit more existing trail to upgrade, this was very encouraging start to the project. Further digging days are now being organised, so if you feel like getting out and giving a hand keep an eye out for details.
© Copyright 2006 by IrishCycling.com
By Sean Herlihy
Last Saturday, the 1st April, saw the first work day on what is to be Ireland’s first authorised user built mountain bike trail. Over 40 volunteers turned out to spend the day digging the first sections of the trail. Organisers, who had hoped to get around 20 volunteers, were somewhat over whelmed with the turn out. But no one ever complains about having too much help and once tools were sorted out, they got to work clearing 325 yards of new trail.
Kindelstown has always been a popular area for bikers, the forest already has a quite good but unauthorised trail. At a meeting before Christmas Mountain bike representative made Coillte aware of the existing trail in the wood. Coillte were optimistic that the trail could be retained, conditional on its routing not interfering with other forest users and the trail itself being upgraded to IMBA standard. Inspections of the site were carried out by both the local Coillte area manager and a representative from IMBA. After some initial safety concerns were dealt with Coillte gave the go ahead to begin the upgrade work.
http://www.irishcycling.com/2004/uploads/trailbuilders.jpg
The IMBA standard for sustainable trail construction is quite high, meaning quite a bit of work will be needed to get the trails up to standard. The first task was to construct a new section of trail leaving the car park area, bikers had been using the existing walking trail to get further into the wood, the new section, it is hoped will take bikers away from the walking trail and on to a better quality bike specific trail.
The work itself was carried out with the support and guidance of Mountain Meitheal, who provided tools, equipment and valuable know how in organising, managing and motivating volunteers. While some finishing work is needed on the new section, and there is quite a bit more existing trail to upgrade, this was very encouraging start to the project. Further digging days are now being organised, so if you feel like getting out and giving a hand keep an eye out for details.
© Copyright 2006 by IrishCycling.com