Tyne Valley MTB newsletter: August 2014www.tynevalleymtb.co.uk

You can improve mountain biking by being a member of Tyne Valley MTB

A bridleway section of the Sweethope and Ray Fell route 9 of us enjoyed one July evening

Hello members of Tyne Valley MTB and interested people,This is the summer 2014 edition of the Tyne Valley MTB club newsletter. And what a summer it’s been so far – many days of sunshine, warmth and clear skies and DRY trails! Long may it continue but of course we all know it can’t. The club has been active on your behalf on a number of fronts as this newsletter reports including a Lake District weekend in May, the North Pennines MTB Marathon in July, many midweek evening rides plus a few day rides and much advocacy work at all levels as well as working hard to implement the Sandstone Way by MTB route in conjunction with Northumberland National Park Authority (NNPA). Do please contact me if you need to know more about anything that follows or you wish to make any comments.

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Expect details about a special club meeting in September to plan for 2015.

August 2014 newsletter contents

1. Membership2. TVMTB route projects 20143. High profile fund raising events 20144. Routes, rides & tours in 2014 & 2015

5. TVMTB: Working for you in 20146. News & views 7. Other 8. Finally…….

1. Tyne Valley MTB Membership 2014

Club membership rates remain the same. Since the Spring newsletter, new members James Swabey, Rob Aubrook, Joey Stewart, Jeff Richardson, Patrick Hazelhurst and Graham Bee have joined the club.

Adults: £10 / under 16s in education & unemployed: £52 adults in the same household: £12 in total

New members: Please send your cheque made out to Tyne Valley MTB to:

Tyne Valley MTB, C/o Peth Head Cottage, Juniper, HEXHAM, NE47 0LA

Or make a bank transfer to Lloyds Bank Hexham: s/c 30-94-19 a/c 18207260.

Please kindly send an email to info@tvmtb@yahoo.co.uk to advise payment has been made

New members are welcome and it’s HUGELY important that existing members renew their membership to sustain the route development work the club is undertaking on YOUR behalf.

NOTE: The club’s website has remained static but plans to address this are beginning to take shape. It serves us just about adequately in regard to funding applications and for first time enquirers. Thanks again go to David Grundey for making changes when requested but he can only do this when he is provided with the information. A Facebook account would be useful but this takes someone’s time to feed and respond to. Any volunteers?

2. Tyne Valley MTB route projects in 2014

Funding to the value of £32,000 for the proposed Sandstone Way MTB route was finally ratified in late Spring. This came from a variety of sources – a Defra grant (much needed but the process was really heavy going to say the least), a proportion was for valued contribution in kind (me working for nothing), two separate sustainable tourism grants (NNPA and the Northumberland Coast AONB), NCC Rights of way route improvements and a grant worth £5,000 secured by TVMTB.

Work has begun to waymark the route and this will all be place by mid September (once I’m back from the Alps tour). A support infrastructure report has been completed and follow-up will take place from mid August. The process to commission a route map is now in train and also to create a website. Route improvements will take place on the ground at a few chosen locations although more are desirable.

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Once this has happened then 2 further tenders will be issued to bring the route to readiness for an Easter launch. These are En route business support & training and Monitoring set up.

Map and website sponsors are actively being sought so all suggestions are welcome. The route will be available to ride from mid September but the map may be held back until March 2015 in which case route info will be via a gpx file.

Best keep an eye on http://www.cyclepad.org.uk/listing/The-Sandstone-Way or contact Ted.

Additional info: Further meetings of the Northumberland Cycle Tourism group have taken place and in conjunction with Northumberland Tourism and all main relevant bodies in Northumberland, the new

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County Council Leisure, Tourism and Arts Committee are now joined at the hip to fight the cause of recreational cycling and cycle tourism. A key plank of this is to ensure all cycle tourism-related funding, initiatives and interventions are on message, value for money and focused on lifting this aspect of cycling, which includes mountain biking, to a much higher level than it currently is. To this end, a masterplan approach has been agreed which this writer has made a significant contribution to. As long ago as last December this group agreed that the Sandstone Way route would become an exemplar to demonstrate cycle routes are implemented and managed which would go a long way towards awakening the sleeping giant which cycle tourism has become over the years in Northumberland through lack of direction and management. Plans are now in place to put this right and for all bodies to work as a team to achieve a common goal.

There is a proposal in train to braid the Reivers Cycle Route (RCR) which was invented by this writer in about 1997. This is a fine route but at the time it was opened, a one size fits all approach was deemed to be the right way to present long distance cycle routes. Lack of funding, nil management and almost nil interest from key parties has caused this cycle route (and others) to gradually fall apart at the seams. All of a sudden the RCR has been re-signed along its original alignment most of which will hopefully benefit route braiding when it is implemented in advance of a re-launch in Spring 2015.

What is braiding? Braiding the RCR would provide a 100% all tarmac route for road bikes signed west of Ponteland AND a closely intertwined tracks and trails version starting at Tynemouth which is off-road as much as possible as the scaled down map below reveals.

Brace of Reivers Cycle Routes: On-road (blue) and off-road (brown)

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Two enjoyable sections of the RCR by MTB in mid Northumberland

The brown dotted line represents the cross-border route via the Lonesome Pine and the Bloodybush toll road which is about to get some TLC funded by a £14,000 which for some strange reason Sustrans is providing the money for. I say ‘strange’ because they say their remit is to focus on “where the most chimney pots are” and where their skills set and momentum are centred so to unilaterally decide to spend £14K in the outer reaches of rural Northumberland is indeed strange – especially when there are so many other places on ‘abandoned’ main cycle routes in the county that desperately need repair and improvement.

FC is right to snap their hands off and all passing MTBers will be the beneficiaries but the motive behind this surprising gesture remains a complete mystery. Albeit entirely unwittingly, Sustrans will have played a part in creating a quality braided route for the RCR but it would be far better if they were part of an agreed team approach which aims to improve cycling in Northumberland rather than independently commit to interventions without reference to the adopted masterplan everyone else is working to.

To summarise, it’s fair to say a ‘braid’ approach will revitalise, much improve and re-launch the RCR to two new audiences and very simply, easily and cheaply provide a second largely off-road option for MTBers who will want to ride another long distance trail having enjoyed cycling the Sandstone way.

Plans to add the new Brace of Dozen Dales Cycle Routes to this family – yes, another braid product – in late Spring 2015 are also being progressed. There will further updates in the Autumn newsletter but the principle is shown below by this basic map. Note the optional MTB loop shown as green dashes via Alston which will provide an excellent two day ride in its own right. Note also the DD by MTB shares the Sandstone Way between Alwinton and Hexham.

Brace of Dozen Dales CRs

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FYI: The Borderlands Cycle Route – one for the roadiesThis is a new route for road bikes between Carlisle and Berwick on Tweed via Longtown, Newcastleton, Bonchester Bridge, Kirk Yetholm, Millfield or Wooler and Norham. It uses wonderfully quiet minor roads and passes through beautiful scenery for its entire length of 105 miles.

Once the Scottish referendum has taken place it is hoped the three relevant local authorities will agree to support the implementation of this route and other cross border routes. Cycling has never been so popular and the Tour de France cycle race visit to Yorkshire in early July 2104 brought about a level of publicity and profiling for cycling the like of which the UK has never seen.

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The proposed Tour of Cheviot and Kielder cycle route will be launched when a Sportive following this route is held in summer 2015.

PLEA!Cycling is very popular and rising but a minority of cyclists is doing our sport no favours by behaving inconsiderately, even rudely, to other road users and landowners. Farmers will appreciate your courtesy and thought!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do all you can when out cycling or in conversation to be a good ambassador for cycling by riding considerately, by taking all your litter home (including banana skins and orange which take months to rot).

And please always pass horses slowly - first making sure you have been seen and then exchanging a friendly greeting. Sadly, too many cyclists don’t do this! 3. High profile fund raising events 2014

The North Pennines MTB Marathon took place on the 19th July 2014 ostensibly to raise money for cycling projects in our area. It was co-ordinated and organised for the club by members Paul Marshall and Roy Nicholson with help from a small core of members. Here is Roy’s report…..

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The inaugural North Pennines MTB Marathon has been and gone, and without wishing to blow our own trumpet too much, it was an amazing success!

125 mountain bikers aged between 9 and 66 braved the forecasted thunderstorms - which thankfully never quite materialised - to set off from Garrigill at 10am on Saturday 19th July to head over the flanks of Cross Fell to Blencarn and back, following one of three routes of varying length from 35km to 65km.

As the start siren blew the rain started to fall, and the majority of riders who were signed up to the “Biggest” route set off up the valley towards Tynehead and Moorhouse. They were shortly followed by the “Bigger” (45km) and “Big” (35km) route riders, who took the shorter route up the Corpse Road to Rake End Junction before heading over Wildboar Scar.

Blencarn Village Hall was the halfway point for the shorter two routes, and it contained a huge amount of food and drink to fuel hungry riders in the form of bananas, cups of tea and vast amounts of cake from the local Merryvale Bakery in Long Marton. Once checked in and fed, riders then set off back up the fell in occasional sunshine, back toward Rake End. The steepness of the climb and the boggy ground on top proved too much for most. Once at Rake End, where those on the Biggest Ride were due to turn back down to Blencarn for a second round of cake, all but 17 of the hardiest riders decided that today they were beaten by Cross Fell, and shot back down to Garrigill along with those on the “Big” Ride. The brave 17 followed the “Big” route rode back to Blencarn for a second attempt on the climb from Kirkland. Post-ride legend has it that someone was witnessed riding the entire climb. On return to base, many riders enjoyed a well deserved cup of Allendale Pennine Pale Ale.

It wasn't a timed race so there were no winners and losers; the event was organised by the Tyne Valley Mountain Bike Club purely as a back-to-the-roots, Big Single Loop epic. In our eyes everyone that took part was a winner! The biggest win for us was that every rider returned through the finishing arch with a smile on their face, which is exactly what the event is all about.

Spot prizes were chosen at random. A set of Gloworm X2 lights worth £170 were given to Ian Woodcroft of Preston; three vouchers from Paramo clothing were given to Richard Davis (Sheffield), David Horridge (Bolton) and Laurie Wyatt (Hexham) and gift packs of Allendale Brewery beer were distributed to 10 other lucky riders.

Event photography http://www.sportsunday.co.uk/, http://tynevalleymtb.org/https://www.facebook.com/pages/North-Pennines-MTB-Marathon/239603412888357Extra special thanks go out to the route-marshals who spent the day standing in the rain cheering riders and lifting their spirits, the feed-station marshals who kept the cake and tea coming, and the medics who patched up the few injuries.

Finally, a massive thanks to all those that braved the wilds of the fells - see you next year!8

Possible dates for the event in 2015 are either the 4th July or the 25th July.

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The event WAS a success but the truth is we needed more volunteers to help beforehand, on the day and afterwards. Please do your best to provide support next year!

A HUGE ‘well done’ goes to Paul and Roy for all the work they did to make this event happen and very many thanks to the club members who helped and / or were marshals on the day. Muchos respect to club members Jonathan and Allen who rode the event and for all the feedback received – lots went well but undoubtedly there were lessons to be learnt.

Sadly, after all the bills were paid we only made a £150 or thereabouts but the event is now a fact and hopefully next year the club will raise enough money to build a trail section somewhere where it is needed. For example, £2,500 will build a little over 1 km of new singletrack on the Sandstone Way.

Other fund raising events are in the pipeline – watch this space!

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4. Routes, rides & tours in 2014Evening, day and weekend rides Only one route clearing evening took place although one or two members did a lot more on their own.

Wednesday evening rides started on the 16th April and have taken place every week since with notification going out by email. All are welcome including non members for 2 ‘free’ rides.

Damn good ride 16/04 Salter’s Nick 23/04

Backa Prudda 07/05 Slaley & Beyond 14/05

Hexham south 21/05 Gorgeous gorge route 19/06

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Bolts Law 25/06 Heathery Burn & Beyond 02/07 ALSO BELOW

West of Simonburn 09/07 Belly up 23/07

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Sweethope & Ray Fell 30/07

Aydon & Abettin 06/08

Ali Tye continues to co-ordinate rides on Thursday evenings. Always a hoot!

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A newbie’s impressions of Wednesday night ridesDespite reassurances beforehand from Ted that Wednesday rides were relaxed affairs there were the usual worries - am I fit and skilled enough, will I hold everyone up/get dropped etc? There wasn’t time beforehand for a personal fitness regime so made do with stashing bananas and energy bars and bringing along an OS map in case I needed to bail out halfway round. So what have been my overriding impressions?

Firstly a great bunch of friendly non- competitive guys to ride with. And yes I could keep up! Lots and lots of expertise waiting to be shared of the terrain, routes and bikes, especially notable being Ted’s encyclopaedic Northumberland off and on road route knowledge. Although I love maps it is a real luxury being guided and just being able to concentrate on riding and the scenery and leave the route choice to the ride leader. This is always flexible enough to cope with things like delays caused by unexpected mechanicals etc.

So far the group size has varied between 6 and 14 and you tend to ride alongside and chat to everyone at least once every evening - facilitated by the amount of shuffling that goes on every time the group remount after going through field gates. Stops are long enough to admire yet another stunning Northumberland panorama and get a banana down but even around the longest day there has been little daylight to spare at the end of the rides. So now I always put lights in my pack, just in case.

These are not terrifying macho rides where things just get faster and faster and more and more daring. For example there is no shame in pushing uphill on those sections where the cows or erosion have done their worst to the surface and made riding almost impossible for all but the fittest and most skilled riders.

I may have been lulled into a false sense of some sort of Northumbrian mountain biking idyll as every Wednesday evening so far has been sunny and clear with amazing views. However I am sure future wet and cold Wednesday evening rides, possibly with little visibility, will be just as enjoyable.

Day rides & Half day Sunday rides take place according to demand or opportunity. Only one weekend trip took place and was thoroughly enjoyed by just 4 club members although lots of regrets for absence were sent in. The route was Ravenglass to Ambleside in sunshine and it was a cracker!

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We rode the green route at a leisurely pace and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Future rides generally - please contact Tyne Valley MTB organiser (Ted) if you fancy a particular route or if you would like to lead a ride. This way your preferred route type isn’t overlooked.

It is noted some members have commented the Wednesday evening rides have become rather pacy and would be better if they included 1 or 2 more ‘catch your breath’ stops.

The Club 2104 Alps tour takes place as outlined below

MTB Alps 2014 8 ride days

Austria:Gastein Tal to Hinterstoder

Friday 15/08 to Sunday 24/08

This year we plan to fly from Manchester to Munich airport then stop over to ride at Leogang* en route over the Gross Glockner Pass to complete sections we missed riding in 2013. We then head into the Dachstein range of mountains which we circumnavigate rather than cross due to its glacier and high craggy profile. We then wend our way through this very picturesque area riding selected sections of the Dachstein MTB Loop Tour to end our 2014 tour ideally placed for where in 2015 we will start in our final leg of the Great Alpine Chain route by MTB between Geneva and Vienna. Our last night will also place us relatively close to the motorway which will take us back to Munich airport for the flight back to Manchester.

All days are planned to be door-to-door riding although 2 days will involve a transfer by minibus at some point. As ever, our overnights will be memorable. Ruth Marlee has agreed to cheerfully drive the support minibus once again for our 2014 tour. We will ride two bike parks – info below…

*http://www.salzburgerland.com/en/trendsport/bike-parks/bikepark-leogang.html^http://www.salzburgerland.com/en/trendsport/bike-parks/mountainbikepark-wagrain.html

Alps by MTB tours in 2015The last section of the Great Alpine Chain Route by MTB (GACR) will be completed during the last week in August 2015 and end at Vienna with excellent singletrack trail riding right up until the last day.

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It certainly looks like enough club members are up for a SECOND Alps tour by MTB in 2015 and several have already made a commitment to this. The proposed date is Saturday 11th July to Sunday 19th July which is the week before the schools break up – important to some.

The route is yet to be finally decided but with the experience of the GACR to call on, the plan is to ride one of the very best parts of it again because it is SO good.

Take a look at these websites for flavour of the upper limit stuff! http://www.altarezia.biz/video/?p=no&id_video=30108881&hd=si and http://youtu.be/ZrikONR7yLA (short version) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG6-jhQHPFM (8 minute version)There’s lots of easier fast flowing stuff and many miles of high mountain trails are served by lifts.

This not for profit trip always costs what it costs with all riders paying an equal share. The guideline sum to budget for is £1,000. Please let Ted know if you are interested in taking up a place and plan to pay a deposit of £30 in early September.

Image by Dan Milner

5. TVMTB: Working for you in 2014

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The following meetings and / or commitments are attended / undertaken on your behalf: Northumberland Joint Local Access Forum Northumberland Rights of Way Liaison Group Northumberland Joint Access Users Group North Pennines Access & Recreation Advisory Group Various relevant Parish Councils meetings Public Inquiries – new access Prudhoe Green Infrastructure Group Archival research at Woodhorn County Records office International Mountain Biking Association Dukeshousewood – user conflict resolution PLEASE DON’T RIDE THE PATHS WHEN IT’S MUDDY

AND BE AWARE OF, AND CONSIDERATE TO, ALL OTHER USERS AT ALL TIMES!

Funding for cycling projects continues to be applied for.

6. News & Views

a) With input from Pete Laing, the internationally famous Scottish MTB trail builder, FC in conjunction with Hamsterley Trail Blazers have reconstructed the erstwhile rooty section of Pikes Teeth so that I flows really well (although one or two berms on the steeper section could have been longer). http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/HamsterleyBLACKTrail.pdf/$FILE/HamsterleyBLACKTrail.pdf

The revamped tearoom and visitor area is superb and a new bridge to link the carpark with the Grove Link Trail will be in place in September. Well done to all concerned.

b) New Lake District trailThe Langdale Trail between Ambleside and the head of the Langdale Valley was opened in July. It’s a shared use function trail that provides a very useful off-road route between these two locations.

c) The proposed Acomb ‘Rails to Trails’ application is still ongoing but has had to take its place in the queue for my time. Please refer to the Spring newsletter for the overview of this project.

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d) The CTC is leading the lobbying for suitable footpaths to be used legally with the same access rights as Bridleways – for more info see http://www.ctc.org.uk/campaigning/views-and-briefings/public-footpaths-england-wales and for more info on access see http://www.ctc.org.uk/campaign_policies/category/820

e) Old maps This brilliant link http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/ was sent to us by Sue Rogers our pro-active access colleague in the British Horse Society (BHS) and it is free! For anyone interested in maps, this will provide many happy hours of browsing.

7. Othera) Watching the Tour de France come through on two consecutive days in early July was FANTASTIC!

b) Thanks to Alan Mitcham for sending this in

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?

v=685741498150994&set=vb.100001454510814&type=2&theater

Finally!PLEASE provide your support where it can make a difference - you can’t renovate a house if you stay on the outside just occasionally looking in through the windows (even if just playing in the garden is your thing)!

Please contact Ted for more info about anything in this newsletter

Remember, if you ride – you need to support & build

Here’s wishing you lots of good peddlin’

Ted LiddleTyne Valley MTB - Voluntary Organiser 01434 673038tvmtb@yahoo.co.uk / www.tynevalleymtb.co.uk

You will improve mountain biking by being a member of Tyne Valley MTB

Without access there is no mountain biking!

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More cycling Info!

Nothing will change the status quo for cycling unless local authorities start to do things differently in order to actually make it safer and easier for people to cycle for all types of reason – for utility, health and wellbeing and for recreational and tourism reasons. “Despite the clear need for radical infrastructure improvements, local authority planners remained narrow and risk averse” Graham Titchener: Tour de France legacy officer

STOP PRESS

Cyclist dies after collision with car in ChollertonA cyclist has died after being involved in a collision with a car on a road in Northumberland.

The man, who has not yet been named but was in his 40s, suffered head injuries in the crash, on the A6079 near Chollerton, on Saturday afternoon.

Northumbria Police said the driver of a Ford Fiesta involved in the collision was unhurt.

A spokesman said the cyclist was taken to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary, where he later died.

COMMENT:Culpability isn’t known at time of writing and lots of questions need answers. At least the journalist reporting this tragedy avoided falling into the trap of calling it an accident because it’s not known if it was an accident whereas it is known it was a collision.

This is exactly why traffic police and rescue services always attend ‘incidents’ and never presume to call them accidents. It would be good if the rest of the media and the majority of solicitors woke up to this.

BRAKE, CTC and significant others define an accident as an event that is unpreventable, unpredictable and unavoidable which makes complete sense. All cyclists will be much saddened to learn of a death to one of our own no matter what type of bike the man was riding. My challenge to you is to think how visible you are to vehicle drivers in your fashionable black MTB kit – especially on dull days.

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Uina Schlucht: Could be included in the second Alps by MTB tour in July 2015 M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7myh6UV10Ug

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7myh6UV10Ug (short suicidal version)

WALKING ROUTE SECTIONS LIKE THIS ALWAYS SEEMS A GOOD IDEA!

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