Good news - Independent Panel on Forestry - Progress Report

Independent Panel on Forestry – Progress Report (published 8 December)

We have previously corresponded about the Coalition Government’s plans to sell Forestry Commission woodlands. Good news so far - the panel published its progress report on Thursday 8 December.  Its final report and recommendations are expected in Spring 2012.  The interim report recognises the important role that the Public Forest Estate plays in providing public enjoyment and access, helping to develop new green jobs and protecting biodiversity; and calls for the public forest estate to remain in public hands.

The progress report argues that the Public Forest Estate offers “very good value for money” and calls for the creation of more woodlands and improved public access to private forests and woodlands.  The panel notes that the cost to the state of maintaining the Public Forest Estate, of £20 million per year, is “very modest and delivers benefits far in excess of this” and argues that the Government overlooked a number of benefits of public forests and woodlands when planning to sell off Forestry Commission land.  The full progress report can be read by clicking here.

The panel has listened to the 42,000 people who responded to its call for views and has indicated that it will not recommend a full scale sell-off of public forestry land.  The Government still intends to sell 15% of the Public Forest Estate and is cutting the Forestry Commission’s staff by a quarter, which will undermine the ability of the Forestry Commission to effectively manage the forests and deliver better woodland access and biodiversity.

Will update you as we hear more.......

Malton & District Cycling Club

Malton And District Cycling

The fifty plus and easy rider group

Contact Keith Buck, Sawpit Cottage, The Green, Slingsby, York. YO62 4AA

tel: 01653 628211  e-mail: bucksawpit@btinternet.com

Runs will start from the Slingsby maypole, Slingsby, North Yorks.  Unless an alternative is given.

Pace, steady touring, about 12’s.

The route will be circulated on the Monday/Tuesday before the ride.  Please join the group where it is convenient for you.  Liaise with the leader to coordinate times.

For events shown in  italics  contact the organising club member.

Sun. 18^th Dec. 10:00am Slingsby.  10:45 Welburn/A170 junction.

Cockayne/Bransdale/Carlton (anti clockwise, Martin likes the down hills this way) Helmsley, Harome, Slingsby. 40 miles.

Boxing Day. 11:00am Eden Camp. A one hour jolly with the Malton Wheelers. 

Matthew Entinknap 01653 694571 

e-mail: maltonwheelersrc@tiscali.co.uk

2012

Happy New Year!

It’s a Leap Year. An extra day on the bike.  Yippee!

Sun. 15^th Jan.  10:00am Lidl car park, Welham Road, Norton. Malton Wheelers/CTC 60m or 60K

£2:00.  Matthew Entinknap 01653 694571 

e-mail: maltonwheelersrc@tiscali.co.uk

Sun. 5^th Feb.  10:00am Meet Sinnington to Danby. Return via Blackey Ridge. 50 miles. Martin Baxter, Westholme (to the left of the Fox & Hounds PH), Main Street, Sinnington, York YO62 6SQ 

tel: 01653 691351

e-mail: martin@firefly-research.co.uk

Wed. 29thFeb. Leap Year ride. To be advised.

Sun. 18^th Mar.  Tandems and Trikes. Saxilby, Lincs. 40 milesish. John Nicholson 01522 702638

Sat. 19^th May.  CTC rides from Slingsby.

100m in 10hrs

240m in 24hrs

300m in 24hrs

All rides will be in 50 mile loops, returning to Slingsby at the end of each leg.

£? To be advised

Entry on a standard CTC entry form.

No entry on the line.  Sorry.

Closing date for entries Tuesday 1^st May.

Keith Buck

Sat/Sun 23^rd/24^th June. York Rally

Sun. 8^th July.  CTC Scarborough.  100k.

Jim Buddo 01723 863103 

e-mail: jandjbuddo@iscali.co.uk

Sun. 9^th Sept. CTC Malton. 50 & 80 mile rides.

Jim Buddo 01723 863103 

e-mail: jandjbuddo@tiscali.co.uk

Whitby Wheelers - Club Runs

Whitby Wheelers Club Runs December 2011 to April 2012

All rides start at 10.00am.  From Pickering we leave earlier to meet the main group.  Please text/call Patrick for the meet time - 07733 056876

Dec 18  Egton, Hutton le Hole*, Castleton.

Dec 26  Marton to Helmsley

Jan  01  Castleton ?

Jan   8   Marton to Stockton on Forest

Jan 15   Sleights, Hackness Irton*.  Back by Harwood Dale

Jan 22  Caedmon school Cyclo cross event.// Castleton,  Great Ayton

Feb  5  Coast road to Staithes, Scaling, Danby, Castleton*.

Feb 12  Egton Delves, Stape, Thornton Dale*, Swainsy lane, Gromont*.

Feb 19  Castleton, Hutton le Hole*.Hartoft.

Feb 26  Thornton Dale, Malton, Driffield (Bells Mills)*.Luttons, Wintringham.

Mar  4  Egton, Rosedale*, Fryup Dale, Ainthorp.

Mar 11  Falcon Inn, Cloughton, Scalby, Lady Edith Drive, Forge valley, Irton*.

Mar 18  Marton, Stockton on forest*.

Mar 25  Dunsley, East Barnby, Staithes, Liverton, Moorsolm, Castleton*.

Apr 01  Marton, Hutton le Hole, Gilamoor, Bransdale, Tom Smiths’Cross,                             

             Nunnington, Salton. ( Patrick’s ride – bring an extra bottle ! )

Apr 08  Lealholm, Hartoft, Lastingham, Hutton le Hole*. Castleton.

Apr 15  Jinglby*, Thornton Dale, Stape.

Apr 22  Majorca three Monastries // Castleton tea rooms

Apr 27  Sleights, Hackness, Irton*  

** Away rides start at 10:00am

Membership of Whitby Wheelers :-

Adults £10; Family £15;  Juniors £5.

Orange MTB Demo Ride Day - ride your Orange dream machine!

On Saturday 26th we are having two Orange MTB demo rides, one in the morning  at 9.30 am and one in the afternoon at 1.00 pm.  The rides take 1.5 – 2.0 hours and have a geat selection of North Yorkshire terrain – we are the local experts for this part of the world! 

Orange Bikes - Dealer Demo Day

The demo ride is free of charge but we will be guiding you and a small group of other Orange MTB fans.  We think between ourselves and Orange we can get just about any bike but please let us know what you want and what size as soon as possible to avoid dissapointment.  If you are not sure on size then just let us know which two sizes you are considering and we should be able to have both bikes for you!  You could try one on each of the rides!

Any other questions or to book a bike– just call or email us at the shop so we can assign you, your bike and tell us if you want the morning or afternoon ride. (t. 01751 474220, e. shop@bigbearbikes.co.uk)

NB  As a special offer on the day, Big Bear Bikes and Orange are offering a free custom colour upgrade for bikes that have this option and £100 of BBB shop vouchers to spend on whatever you want!

UKMTBTRI Dalby Duathlon

Keen to support local events a few of the bears thought we would enter the Dalby Duathlon on Sunday 16th October. This was a run-bike-run event set mainly around the World Cup MTB course with a little of the old black route thrown in to stretch things out a little. The run course was 2.5k long and the bike was 7.5k long. The format for the day was a 1 lap run a 4 lap bike and then a 3 lap run to finish.

You could enter the race as either solo or a team (1 runner & 1 biker) and in total we entered 3 male solos (Joe, Morgan & Richard) and 2 teams (1 male pair – Paul & George & 1 mixed pair – Me & Kay)

Not that I’m competitive you understand, but I had reckied the bike course on Saturday from the map on the website. So I had an understanding of where it was going and how technical it was going to be, but as there were no course markers out at this point I couldn’t tell whether all the features on the route were going to be included. The was no run course on the website so Kay was going to have to run it blind, but usually these event have lots of tape/arrows and marshals to keep everyone on the right track.

Having competed in a duathlon before we had some idea of what we were letting ourselves in for, and knowing Dalby as we all do, thought we stood a reasonable chance in the standings. Instructions from the website were pretty straight forward – registration before 09:30, bike racking before 0945, race starts at 1000.

Registration was a relaxed affair with no signing on as such just a tick you were here and as Kay & I were a team I though we would get a baton to change in transition, but we didn’t?

Just before 1000 a race briefing was called with the usual explanations of safety procedures, first aid arrangements, race etiquette & course format…..which had now change to a 2 lap run, 4 lap bike and a 2 lap run - we were offered no explanation of this only that the was a fallen tree down over the run course, which I presume shortened it? I thought it strange that the organisers did not know this as they should have inspected the course before the event and most of the tree fall in Dalby has been down since before last Christmas!

Eventually the runners were called to the start line and the race was underway. Paul finished the first run in the top 5 and gave George a really good start on the bike as he did not have to change in transition and he was first out on the bike. The solo bears made a good show finishing in the top half of the field and Kay finished the first run towards the back of the field.

All the rest of the bears were on the bike course before I could get a start and George had about 8 minutes on me so I was off like a rocket! Passing quite a few of the riders on the course through the first lap (especially on the old red route climb from the lake) I made it to the top of the last descent back to Worry Gill and the marshal told me I was in 21st place. In the last quarter of the first lap I manage to catch and pass all the other bears on the course except George who was still out in front.

The lap was basically as I had reckied but they had put both of the World Cup technical sections in the lap before Worry Gill. Marshalling on these points was good and the rest of the course had turn arrows at all the junctions.

On the 2nd lap at the top of the last descent the marshal told me I was now in 6th place! “not bad from 21st” I said and now I was on the hunt for the leaders. I managed to catch and pass George just before the end of the 2nd lap so the leaders couldn’t be far ahead but thought it strange that George was in 5th place at this point. (later I was to learn that he had made an error at the bottom of Worry Gill and turned up Medusa’s climb instead of heading for the old red route climb as there was no marshal or straight on arrow at this point. As the race briefing had said we were racing on the World Cup course, George naturally turned up here as that climb is on the World Cup course! This must have lost him at least 4 or 5 mins on the leaders).

Lap 3 passed and I was now lapping the back markers and eventually I came up to what I thought were the leaders. I finished the last lap and made it to transition in 3rd place as there were only 2 other bikes on the racks! I thought it strange I had not caught the leaders at the pace I was racing at, but nearly last to 3rd ain’t bad!! I had given Kay as big an advantage as I could manage and now it was all up to her where we finished, so, no pressure then!

I have to say that as events go I was not entirely impressed. Registration was a very relaxed affair. The briefing whilst adequate could have been a lot better and not just relying on last years route knowledge, first aid was questionable as I did not see any identifiable establishments on site. The marshalling, whilst good in some places was very lacking in others. On the 2nd techy section before Worry Gill after the first lap the marshal pointing us up the climb had gone. It was witnessed that some competitors were missing this section out altogether and just rolling round the fire road - whilst the marshals returned to the start were heard to say “they know where they are going now”!!!. This is not only poor sportsmanship but you have to ask yourself how safe it would be in the event of an accident. Marshalls at potential accident points, rock drop offs and the bottom of descents etc would have been nice to see. Also a bit more course marking would have made the bike a little clearer. The timing of the race also left a lot to be desired - staff were heard to be not sure of how many laps on the bike competitors had done and when the race was finished we were told there would only be a total time for the race, not lap times or even a run/bike split, and this was due to lack or resources. When the results were eventually published the link on the site was broken and after waiting until the end Monday sure enough only a total time for the race was published. Prize giving was a bit of a lack lustre affair - with prices for first, second & third in the solos (third place in the women’s category was still on the course when the “ceremony” began) only a prize for first was awarded in the team category….and then only one goody bag was presented.

Despite all this we bears managed a good show in a field 60 or so strong.:-

George and Paul came first in the team category and despite my best efforts on the bike Kay & I finished in second a (5th & 6th overall)

In the solos Morgan finished 9th, Joe 18th & Richard 20th.

Unfortunately our good results taste a little sour by a poorly run event and I would have to say…………UKMTBTRI…..…at £30 an entry….…more like UKMTBTRI-HARDER if you ask me!!

Mike

BrownBacks - Race 4 - 2nd October

During the week leading up to the final race of the brown backs series, the excitement was building, I don't quite know why I got so excited, but I did. Friday night was spent prepping the bikes making sure everything was spot on. The bike needed to perform flawlessly as I needed to finish this race.

Sunday arrived and we jumped into the car at 7am to head for Lee quarry. As we were pulling onto New line the song by Sak Noel came on the radio. This was not good. For anyone who is not familiar with this song, it sticks in your head for a while after you've listened to it. 

After grabbing the bike and gear out of the van, we set off up the hill to reccy the course. I knew form last year that the last race is always the hardest, the big hill is included in every lap, which is really nice after about the 2nd lap. Puncture alley was also included in this race, but it was uphill, during the reccy I thought this was going to be pure punishment during the race, but actually, if you just span at it, it wasn't bad at all, and the burns afterwards were really nice, being able to ride them the current way. Another sharp little climb lead us to the highest point of the course, once you reached this point, it was bang it into big ring, unlock the suspension and hold on all the way to the bottom of the hill, winding down the burms, of a drop off into the pump track, then off through the bowl and into the garden to the bottom. The course was great, really flowy, even the climbs were slightly enjoyable.

Climbing

The race was due to start anytime, but as usual we were a good 10 minutes late starting and the pre-race nerves were building, I consumed a quick gel on the line to fill in a bit of time. Then Paul appeared from the hill and began the usual rider briefing. The horn sounded and the racers were off, we all moved forward, the racers had all reached the bowl before our start (I say all, there was one poor guy who's chain snapped on the line) The horn sounded and we set off up the hill into the bowl. Pulling away from the group I thought to myself i've got to do this hill at least 5 more times. Lap 1 was fast with Ben Howe hot on my tail. One guy appeared from the back, stormed past us both, blew up, then fell off, which was a bit pointless. But we pushed on, we were soon passing the slower guys in the racer category and before we knew it, we were back at the bottom of the hill ready to climb again.

Leaving the bowl

Lap 2 had started and we continued pushing on, the laps seemed to be flying by, I think the flowy-ness made time pass quicker. We were passing other riders all the time, which kept spirits high. Lap 3 came round quickly and after climbing up to the top of the course, I had a random sheep charge straight at me, luckily it stopped before hitting me. Coming down into the last part of the course a marshall shouted 'rider down - follow the diversions' as i looked into the distance I could see the mountain rescue team and my dad wearing the BBB top. It was one of our lads, as I rode past I could only see someones hair under a blanket, but my dad informed me that he was alright so I pushed on. It looked like it was Joe that had fallen off, it wouldn't surprise me either, But when I saw richard coming down the hill on Rob's bike, I knew it was him under that blanket. 

Follow the bear...

The remaining laps seemed to be a blur of pedalling, torq, and 'Jonny, La Gente Está Muy Loca' going round my head. I do remember Ben trying to get into the lead, which he did, then fell off... The finish was very confusing as the Racer leader passed me on the hill, so I thought I had another lap to do, but I didn't. I was finished. Ben wasn't far behind and he came straight over to congratulate me. We were then both informed that Rob had been taken to Hospital by mountain rescue. As the last guy came over the line, we all headed back down to the car park for the awards ceremony. 

The ceremony started and there was some good spot prizes awarded, mainly for being a good climber and a nice guy. Then it was onto the race awards, Steph & Debs, Got 1st and 2nd in the racing Divas. Dave came 3rd in the weekend warriors beaten by Ben Howe (2nd) and Myself (1st). The full results will be on the brown backs website in the next couple of days. All in all it was a great days racing, and I was very impressed on how my bike rode after the adjustments we made to prevent it breaking. Bring on next series.

Weekend Warriors Podium 

Special Thanks :

Dad - For spending the money to buy the bike, and the modifications to prevent it breaking, also all the support            that you've given the Big Bear team this year

Big Bear Bikes / BBB race team - For all the support, advice, and general riding. also the supplying of parts and bikes and such like. And also for sponsoring the weekend warriors, some very generous prizes given out.

Brownbacks team - Big thanks for organising everything this year, looking forward to next year already

The 'Fan Club' - Big thanks for being there and supporting the team throughout the season - it really makes a difference having someone shouting at you throughout the race.

Yorkshire Gallery - Some cracking photos - click HERE to visit their website 

The Mountain rescue team - Big thanks to you guys for clearing up some riders who didn't quite get it right, you feel safer knowing that someone is there to help you when you crash.

I'd also like to wish Rob Farrer a speedy recovery from his accident on Sundays race. What happened Rob? Is it true that Joe pushed you off. And i'm sure Morgan will have a leaflet about recovering from a fractured wrist for you to read.

Until next time...

George  

Coast to Coast - 24th September 2011

Myself and Jimmy left Malton at 5:30 with our support crew (Ade & Sam) and headed west to Morecambe. We decided to drive the route we'd be riding to check out the hills, the section I was least looking forward to was between Skipton and Harrogate, looked like some killer climbs in this section. As we pulled into Lancaster the rain started.. We continued through Lancaster into Morecambe, we were here. We decided that it would be sensible to get geared up in Morrisons toilets, rather than stand outside in the rain. One we had got our stuff together we took the bikes off of the pickup and peddled towards the start point. 

Morecambe - West Coast

As you can probably tell from the picture, the weather wasn't great, but after a quick picture and a quick chat to some other guys planning to do the route over 2 days (they thought we were crazy?) we set off. Heading through Morecambe and Lancaster and onto the A683, Before we knew it, we had reached Farleton where we dived off onto a smaller B road, which had plenty of ups and downs, and an unusual amount of HGV's tying to squeeze past us. The rain had stopped now, and we were starting to push on, before we knew it we'd been riding for an hour and managed nearly 19 miles. We joined onto the A65 Just before Clapham and hit a headwind which slowed us down quite significantly.  Then soon after, the rain started again... By this point the map board on my handlebars was rattling rather a lot, and starting to really get on our nerves. As the clock ticked over to 2 hours riding we spotted the support crew (my dad & Sam) pulled up in Mearsbeck. We stopped to have a bite to eat and removed the map board. 

We headed off towards the hills, again in the rain, we soon hit Gargrave, where the sun was shining, it felt good to be out on the bike in the Sun with the wind behind us, the sun stayed with us all the way to Skipton where it disappeared just as we hit the long draggy climb. 2 long miles of steep uphill, Our speed must have dropped to about 5 mph up that particular hill. We resisted the temptation to stop at the cafe at the top and pushed on towards Blubberhouses. The decent before Fewston reservoir was really enjoyable, tight twisty corners and no traffic heading westbound, we had the whole road to ourselves so we really used it. We were due to meet our support crew shortly and we were really hoping that they hadn't parked in the car park at the bottom of the steep climb, because food before a big climb is not good. They weren't in the car park, so we continued on up the hill to the lay-by where Dad and sam were sat. After a quick bite to eat and the removal of the leggings, we headed on to Harrogate, knowing that we'd done the majority of the climbing, and we were shocked that they weren't as bad as we had perviously thought...

We hit Kettlesing bottom which marked halfway, the sun was shining and the sky was clear, looking into the distance we could see Dalby Forest on the horizon, It was a massive kick knowing that we had crossed the halfway mark and we could almost see the end... We hit Harrogate doing 50mph (downhill of course) then we hit traffic, loads of traffic. We weaved our way through the traffic and out of harrogate onto the A59. We set off at speed pushing around 30 mph for the first 5 or 6 miles, but then we were slowed significantly by our necks, Jimmy had it worse than me, but our necks were absolutely killing, we soldiered on, we had to do nothing was going to stop us. A tractor passed us, which was a massive help, we were able to sit behind the tractor and use its slipstream to pull us along at a good speed for about 5 miles. York was getting closer by the minute. Sat in the Lay-by at Nether Poppleton, was our support team, and Cameron, who joined on from there. We sent Dad and Sam to Tescos for some pain killers and continued on until they caught us up. 

We ploughed on, onto the A64 and made it to Thompsons before Dad & Sam caught us, we stopped off for some food, and pain killers. Then continued on the A64 drugged up and pain free, the A64 was fast until we hit Whitwell, which was a slow climb up the hill, well for me and Jimmy anyway, Cam's fresh legs meant he flew up the hill. The top of the hill marked 100 miles. Which meant only 30 to go..

Tramping on down the A64

It didn't feel like we'd been going long before we stopped again for the last checkpoint in Malton, Sam Joined on here, and it was a great feeling knowing that Scarborough was only 25 miles away, we'd be there in the next 2 hours, after a quick banana we headed through Malton and out onto the A169.

Leaving Malton

Sam ready to join the ride - Standing with the Support Vehicle

The miles were soon dropping off, and before we knew it, we were climbing up the two hills into the back of scarborough, a MTB'er passed us up the hill and asked where'd we'd come from, he didn't believe us when we said we'd set off from Morecambe at ten to 9 that morning, he disappeared off up the hill and left us to battle on, Cam had also disappeared off with his fresh legs. We re-grouped and headed to the sea front. We'd made it. We decided that it would be a laugh to ride along the sand, and we got plenty of strange looks from everyone on the beach, well it's not every day that you see someone in full lycra riding along the beach on a road bike.. It was an amazing feeling finally reaching the end of our Journey from the West coast.

We met up with everyone who had come to meet us at the end, and headed back to the beach for some photos and we had a little competition - who could ride the furthest in the dry sand. Jimmy and I made it to the wet sand, but cameron ended up rolling around in the sand... 

Scarborough - East coast - 130 miles from Morecambe

Cameron, Jimmy, George & Sam

Thank you's 

Jimmy - Big thanks to you for riding with me, without you it would have been a hell of a lot harder 

Dad & Sam - Thanks for being the Support Crew, without you, we would probably still be at York

Morgan - Thanks for lending me your bike buddy, rode like a dream

Everybody who Sponsored me - I've raised over £600 towards the Camps International trip to Kenya all thanks to your sponsorship, Thank you

The Queens Head, Amotherby - For your generous donation

Specialist Cars, Malton - For your generous donation

Ian Brown Tyres, Malton - For your generous donation

Big Bear Bikes, Pickering - For your generous donation & support

Average Speed - 17.6mph

Distance - 129.26 miles

Total Riding Time - 7hours 20 Mins

GF