February's
MBWales 2012 Challenge is to get dirty! Yep you heard us. We challenge you to get involved with some of the awesome community managed mountain bike trails in Wales such as Penmachno and Dyfi Valley. These community based initiatives are always in need of some serious people power and I've heard they can be a lot of fun too.
We spoke to Vicky from Menter Bro Machno – the community group which manages the Penmachno trails - and asked her to tell us more about you could get involved and how people can help to develop the community trails.
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Question - what do you get if you cross 15 mountain bikers with 10 shovels, 5 mattocks and a section of Penmachno trail? Answer – a Penmachno Trail Maintenance Day! OK, so it’s not a great joke but the last one was a fun-filled (and sun-filled!), day and is one of numerous Trail Maintenance Days that enable the Penmachno Trails to be maintained & developed.
So, why do the Penmachno Trails need teams of bikers armed with shovels and mattocks to maintain them? Well, they are one of only a handful of trails that are managed by the local community, which means they are not funded by the Forestry Commission or private enterprise but actually rely on donations from bikers and teams of volunteers to maintain, repair and improve them. The ethos is to ‘pay back your dirt’; if you enjoyed the ride then pay it back by either signing-up for a Trail Maintenance Day or by dropping £2 in the donation box (at the trail-head, Conwy Falls Café or by PayPal). Or, if you really enjoyed the ride, by doing both!!!
The trails were initially funded by schemes using Welsh Assembly/European funding - the majority of the funding came from Cydcoed (a Forestry Commission funding programme), and the rest from Adfywio (scheme designed to support community-level tourism and enterprise development). Loop 1 was completed in 2004 and was built using local constructors whilst loop 2 was finished in 2005/6 and was built mainly by external contractors.
To really reflect it's community-based nature 10% of all funds raised from the trails are given to community projects, which to-date have included the village Football Team (CPD Machno United), the Youth Club.
If you haven’t ridden the Penmachno Trails before (and if not, why not?!), they are the hidden gem of North Wales. Tucked away in the beautiful Machno valley the trails feature 30km of remote, red-graded, super-sweet single-track & easy forest track, which is split into two loops: Dolen Machno (Loop 1) & Dolen Eryri (Loop 2). The loops can be ridden individually or as one amazing 30km ride. If you do ride the complete circuit be warned, just as you get your breath back from the ripping descents of Loop 1 the views from Loop 2 will take it away again!
The next Trail Maintenance Day is on February 25th 2012 so, if you fancy becoming part of the Penmachno Team and ‘paying back your dirt’, then meet at Conwy Falls Café at 10am. If you can’t make the 25th then there are plenty more dates - check out the Events page on this site or Facebook (Penmachno mountain bike trails) for more details. And, if you can’t make the Trail Maintenance Days but still want to pay for your dirt then show your support through Facebook… and the donation box!
A massive thank you to all the volunteers who helped out at the last Trail Maintenance Day – we managed to clear, de-berm & drain a complete section of single-track (about 1km). Hope to see you next time for more digging, clearing & tea-drinking!"
If people want to get involved further they can join Menter Bro Machno – the community group which manages the Penmachno trail (it's free & you don't need to be a local resident) - email bike@penmachno.net for further info.
We seriously hope you decide to take up this months challenge and if
you do then please share your stories with us via the MBWales Facebook
page -
http://www.facebook.com/mbwales. Good luck!