Mountain Bike Skills: New mountain bike trails to be built at Healy Nab

NEW PURPOSE built mountain bike trails are set to be erected around Rivington - designed by an elete down hill racer.
The move comes after mountain bikers have been left increasingly frustrated by the number of trails flattened or sanitised for walkers.
Enthusiast mountain biker Rowan Sorrell, with 16 years riding experience, from racing cross-country to more recently downhill, has been put in charge of design.
Rowan is an Elite level downhill racer riding for Mojo Suspension, competing on the UCI world cup circuit and currently ranked 5th in the UK, has been enlisted to help design the technical trails.
Ian Hart, Lancashire Countryside Service West Pennine Moors, is overseeing the work - and making sure the area appeals to everyone.

There have been many rumours and much speculation within the biking community about the plans - or lack thereof.
Discussions can be followed at Badforum and Single track and Bike Magic.
Hundreds of riders have been following the discussions and we started a petition to try to make sure something was done.

action

Now it seems that work has begun for the trails around Healy Nab - which is out towards the Chorley side of the Rivington fells.
The work is due to be finished in August - with final consultations finishing at the end of May.
It's going to start at the very top and finish towards Chorley but not leave the woods.
If it's successful then the authorities may look to build more things on the Nab and potentially work with the land owners, United Utilities, to expand the area accessible to mountain bikers.
This could include going over to Jubilee and Darwen tower and Rodelworth woods.

trail maintenance

Ian is very keen to emphasise that the success of the trail and potentially the others, would be helped in a big way if some occasional help with trail maintainance was offered and the had hoc building of trails/jumps etc was stopped.
Some equipment was stolen from the site, and some trees have been chopped down by wannabe trail builders. It is essential that this stops.

Overall it looks very promising, the problem Rowan has is designing a trail that will be OK for both beginners and experienced MTBers. but the consultation is open.

Rowan Sorrell

Back on Track was founded by enthusiast mountain biker Rowan Sorrell with 16 years riding experience, from racing cross-country to more recently downhill. Rowan is an Elite level downhill racer riding for Mojo Suspension, competing on the UCI world cup circuit and currently ranked 5th in the UK.
This long-term experience of mountain biking and travels of much of the world have enabled the build team to see all manners of different trails.

From the sublime to the downright poor, we’ve brought the best of these experiences to our trail building in the UK. Spending a summer working in the French Alps and seeing the constant influx of British bikers, highlighted the need for the UK to follow suite, and provide great mountain bike trails that will not only be exciting to ride, but will also offer a sustainable venture for land owners.

history

Bill Ould from Blackburn & District MTB seems to be closely involved with this. He posted on Badforum: 'For the benefit of those not familiar with the history of this project we have been asked to contribute with this development and have participated in community meetings and have also met with the trail designer Rowen Sorrell. Rowen has constructed popular trails in S Wales - Cwm Carn, Afan Argoed, so we are priviledged to have contracted his services. Matt and myself are prime movers in this project so we will be kept informed as things develop and if we can contribute as a club we will inform you through this forum.

'We have had a communication from the Countryside guys and we saw for ourselves during our visit last Sunday that the tree felling has started. The development of the trail and clearance work presently looks very hap-hazard but the process has started, so we should be grateful.

'The present projection is that the tree clearance in the development area will progress through the spring, the hemlock, is the only valuable timber and that will not be cleared until the ground can support machinery and then trail development will eventually get underway.'