To all who ride at Sherwood Pines from time to time.

[steve_sordy]

The Red, Blue and Green trails have all mostly dried out and are running well. Because they are maintained by the Forestry Commission (edit: now Forestry England), the numerous and widespread fallen trees have all been cleared. The numerous off-piste trails are also dry and running well, but are still troubled by some fallen wood. The National Coal Board Area (not part of but adjacent to Sherwood Pines) is also rideable but is not quite so lucky.

The whole area beyond the old railway line (now a cycle path) has been felled and is devastated. It is going to take a while to work out what is rideable. The further NCB area beyond that is also unmaintained by anyone except people who ride there. It is taking some time to dry out and there are some proper boggy bits. There are also fallen trees that have blocked the trails and are too big for me to shift.

 

[steve_sordy]

I have worked out how to avoid the really boggy bits (more of a quagmire) in the NCB area and still have a good ride. As at today I haven't had time to come up with anything to deal with the cleared area except ride around it. It looks as though special efforts have been made to prevent bikes and 4WD from gaining access. That will be a job of work for the summer.

Yesterday, I rode from Vicar Water and did a 20-mile circuit around VW and into Pines and back with 3 buddies: @JohnCphoto, @Jessmolly007 and @Davvee. We started from Vicar Water because parking at Sherwood Pines is now £11. At VW its £1 when the machine is working. Enough said!

Starting from VW has a different feel to it and it's not as convenient (no public toilets), but £10 saved is £10 saved!

The trails we rode were not 100% dry but they were very grippy and fabulous fun. All the new berms made by the new guy that Forestry England hired are superb.

I feel a group ride approaching.

 

[steve_sordy]

I have found my way around the devastated area I mentioned earlier. It is rideable if I really wanted to but absolutely no fun at all! At least it's not preventing access to other aeras any more.

Here are a couple of pics to illustrate.

At least when Forestry England have a clearance, they give specific instructions in how they want the cleared area to be left. But maybe the NCB told the clearance team to leave it like this, to discourage riders? They have also piled up trees around the periphery to stop bikes (of all kinds) riding up and down the steep embankments.

I also found that a dozen or so trees have been uprooted and transported elsewhere, quote possibly to block off another trail at the end of the desert. (The one to the left of the road, just inside the tree line). Why else go to the trouble of moving those uprooted trees and distributing them down the road?

 

[steve_sordy]

I was chatting to the head Ranger (a very keen emtb and mtb rider) on my last ride out. He confirms that Forestry England had nothing to do with clearing the NCB area. He believes that those doing the clearing must have been given specific instructions to leave it like that, probably to keep out the 4WD vehicles.

I mentioned the £11 parking charge for over 3 hours and said that I thought it was high. It was why some riding buddies of mine were parking at Vicar Water for £1 (when the machine is working). He became a bit irritated and said that they were riding into Pines and using all the trails and other facilities for free. They are not built and maintained by the trail fairies, he has spent some serious money on the trails over the past few years and if people want trail development and maintenance to continue, they must expect to contribute to the cost. The only way is through car parking charges. I could see that he felt strongly about this. He wasn't having a go at me because he knows that I buy a yearly pass that gives me free parking and other benefits.

He told me that within a month, the red and the blue trails will each be extended by one mile. Have patience, it will happen!

He also told me that Forestry England had their budget cut this year from £24m to £14m. So that £10m cut has been shared across all the Forestry England sites. Pines's share of the cut was £1m! In other words, Sherwood Pines has to do everything they did last year but with £1m less money. Which they can't do. (Now you can understand his earlier irritation!)
Fortunately, the red & blue trail extensions were already signed off and will go ahead despite the budget cut.

The budget cut is the reason that the car park charges were increased. Car parking alone brings in £1m/year at Pines.
Judging by how full the carparks are, the £11 charge does not seem to have put many off. From what I observe, the vast majority of visitors by car/van/coach are not bikers.

 

[Peaky Rider]

£11 to park at Cannock also. More interesting trails than the Pines but even so people will just stop going to such places to ride or just find alternative parking.
My group of riders haven't been to either for years now, but we are lucky in that we live in the Derbyshire Dales as well as having the Dark Peak just twenty minutes away.
The downside is that we now have too many riders turning up.

 

[November Bravo]

@steve_sordy head ranger here, that's not actually my job title, but never mind. Couple of points to clarify firstly and most importantly, Pines does not have a £1m share of the pot, far from it the share is in the thousands not millions. Forestry England did have its budget settlement awarded from Defra cut from £20m to £14m which is shared amongst every Forestry England site, whether that's a Forest Centre like Sherwood or Cannock or smaller satellite woodland that doesn't have a car park or any facilities.

Second, Income is generated across the organisation via recreation through car park revenue, SLM (sustainable land management) or Timber production, estates properties on the estate such as businesses like bike shops and cafes and their rent and Forest Live. All that income goes back into the DEFRA pot to be shared back out again in the form of £14m. If we want anything anything e.g. new bike trails, new play equipement etc. it involves a business case and funding applied for usually from capital expenditure which is outside of Sherwoods budget. This means it's very difficult to access funding for everyday maintenance and trail development.

We get around this by building and maintaining the trails ourselves. Previously, I've always worked on the trails usually by myself but on occasion with the support of other members of staff when they have been available. The benefit to visitors is that between October and April each year you should see the trail develop almost on a weekly basis. This year, with me stepping into a new role I've been able to recruit and restructure the team so that we can provide more focus on site maintenance, not just trail maintenance. This means we now have 4 people engaged in trail devlopement/site maintenance, instead of just me.

Despite this, we still need car park revenue. We still need to provide for people who aren't riding bikes, safe car parks, clean toilets and better play equipment AND major trail development (like the recent blue trail work) Which is why I get 'irritated' when I'm told of group rides being organised to ride the trails, use the toilets etc. but the meeting point for all the guys with expensive ebikes, unloaded from expensive cars and vans is in another car park, with the boast that their machines don't work anyway. We're working flat out to make it better, find ways around the difficulty in accessing funds and then receiving recommendations or suggestions on what we could or should do on the trails. In the knowledge that people expect a free lunch and baulk at the cost of paying for car parking.

 

[billwarwick]

Thank you, a good insight into the problems that you have to face. I still think that the car park fee is a bargain for a days riding. You have to pay for entry to cinema, etc. so , same thing really .

 

[Tubby G]

Thank you, a good insight into the problems that you have to face. I still think that the car park fee is a bargain for a days riding. You have to pay for entry to cinema, etc. so , same thing really .

We buy the Forestry England pass. It’s great that it now covers all sites. Since renewing it at beginning of May we’ve already saved more than the cost from potential parking fees. It’s a no brainer if you regularly visit Forestry England sites.

 

[steve_sordy]

@November Bravo Thanks for the info, fascinating stuff.

Ref the £10m budget cut, I heard from £24 down to £14m, hence the £10m. The subsequent maths that I did in my head while we were chatting about who that cut was shared amongst led to me believe that Pines had a £1m budget cut, the maths was mine. I had thought that I was listening carefully when you were talking, but clearly not carefully enough! Please accept my apologies for misunderstanding you. (Note: from the post above, it was £20m down to £14m, hence a £6m cut).

For the number of years that we have known each other, in my head I have always thought of you as "Head Ranger". You may be in charge of the whole lot, even more, or less; I really don't know, but you are clearly a person of influence. Referring to you as Head Ranger enabled me to easily avoid naming you, it was not meant to either big you up or to demean you.

I have been visiting Sherwood Pines since August 2008, only weeks after I bought my first mtb. The place in that time has changed enormously. Only parts of the red and blue trails are recognisable from that time. The red trail was pretty much unrideable from October to February, but now all trails are rideable all year round and much more fun too. I don't know how much of that was down to you, but the evolution of the trails seems to have accelerated in recent years, and that must be you. Thank you.

PS: I promise to renew my Forest Pass when my current one expires at the end of June.

 

[November Bravo]

@November Bravo Thanks for the info, fascinating stuff.

Ref the £10m budget cut, I heard from £24 down to £14m, hence the £10m. The subsequent maths that I did in my head while we were chatting about who that cut was shared amongst led to me believe that Pines had a £1m budget cut, the maths was mine. I had thought that I was listening carefully when you were talking, but clearly not carefully enough! Please accept my apologies for misunderstanding you. (Note: from the post above, it was £20m down to £14m, hence a £6m cut).

For the number of years that we have known each other, in my head I have always thought of you as "Head Ranger". You may be in charge of the whole lot, even more, or less; I really don't know, but you are clearly a person of influence. Referring to you as Head Ranger enabled me to easily avoid naming you, it was not meant to either big you up or to demean you.

I have been visiting Sherwood Pines since August 2008, only weeks after I bought my first mtb. The place in that time has changed enormously. Only parts of the red and blue trails are recognisable from that time. The red trail was pretty much unrideable from October to February, but now all trails are rideable all year round and much more fun too. I don't know how much of that was down to you, but the evolution of the trails seems to have accelerated in recent years, and that must be you. Thank you.

PS: I promise to renew my Forest Pass when my current one expires at the end of June.

Steve, our relationship hasn't been affected in any way, I always enjoy our trailside chats. For the record, since 2022 I've been the Manager of Sherwood Pines, which is basically chief drain digger, berm builder, plate spinner, concert promoter, play installer and budget holder. (your continued support through membership is very important to us)

 

[Weeksy]

Despite this, we still need car park revenue. We still need to provide for people who aren't riding bikes, safe car parks, clean toilets and better play equipment AND major trail development (like the recent blue trail work) Which is why I get 'irritated' when I'm told of group rides being organised to ride the trails, use the toilets etc. but the meeting point for all the guys with expensive ebikes, unloaded from expensive cars and vans is in another car park, with the boast that their machines don't work anyway. We're working flat out to make it better, find ways around the difficulty in accessing funds and then receiving recommendations or suggestions on what we could or should do on the trails. In the knowledge that people expect a free lunch and baulk at the cost of paying for car parking.

Hard to argue with any of this really isn't it. But humans at times are exceptionally selfish, this massively shows their levels of entitlement perfectly though. It shouldn't be that hard for people to work out should it ?
I've only been to Pines once, but a mate lives locally and rides there all the time on his Eebs. He does the local friendly races etc too.
I only go to FoD when it comes to Forestry places and have a yearly pass for it (although i could park for free 2 mins away lol).

 

[November Bravo]

Hard to argue with any of this really isn't it. But humans at times are exceptionally selfish, this massively shows their levels of entitlement perfectly though. It shouldn't be that hard for people to work out should it ?
I've only been to Pines once, but a mate lives locally and rides there all the time on his Eebs. He does the local friendly races etc too.
I only go to FoD when it comes to Forestry places and have a yearly pass for it (although i could park for free 2 mins away lol).

It worth saying though in defence of emtb/mtbrs and car parking revenue. FE, FLS and Natural Resources Wales will need at some point to look at their income streams in relation to funding or how investment in infrastructure like trails, car parks and facilities etc is structured. Being dependent on car parking shouldn't be seen as a long-term strategy.

As more and more people ride in rather than drive in (which is something that should be supported) income from car parking will drop significantly and so will will investment. Sherwood is at risk in this regard, we're surrounded by high density housing where in recent years, a ride would generally be by car with a percentage riding in. With ebikes that percentage has increased, with only visitors outside of a 6 mile radius driving in.

Whilst FE has a share in the onsite caravan park, the income derived from that goes back into supporting that business. Forest Holidays is now a separate business and their income is their own, meaning both sites provide car parking and accomodation for people to ride the trails who don't directly or indirectly support the maintenance or development.

We've planned for this to some degree by upskilling some of the team to include trail maintenance as part of their duties, but we're very much stand alone in FE, I'm not aware of any other site doing this or are able to and are reliant on funding and the availability of contractors.

 

[The Hodge]

Kielder has a dedicated trail maintenance team ..I've also been actively involved as a volunteer in the past with Kielder Trail Reavers ..but H&S red tape has more or less killed that level of support ..

 

[November Bravo]

Kielder has a dedicated trail maintenance team ..I've also been actively involved as a volunteer in the past with Kielder Trail Reavers ..but H&S red tape has more or less killed that level of support ..

From what I remember one of the guys who was involved with Keilder Reivers is now the ranger there. For what it's worth I no longer offer volunteer days or dig days for groups, the time taken to register people, log their hours, put together a job plan, do the risk assessment, write it up, means it's not worth the hassle regardless of their enthusiasm. It was much easier to upskill the staff I had here, it improves their job satisfaction levels and the trail gets the attention it needs.

 

[billwarwick]

Ah.. risk assessments. Where would we be without them. For anyone in the USA….I’m being ironic