Blocking singletrack

Sharker69

Hi, I've been out today and braved the elements down my local - Wyre Forest.

Really hard going with mud and water....and logs across lovely singletrack!! It's so annoying, I'm getting sick to the back teeth. Yes we ride off the "Family trails" through the forest, you have to for anything decent. We aren't doing any harm to wildlife and such like, the horses and their owners do more damage to trails than we do. Whoever is laying logs and branches will cause a serious accident soon.

I would love to find out who is doing this and confront them about it. Anyone else experiencing this in the country?

Sorry but had to get it off my chest, rant over....for now :x

JMcP92

Trust me, it's worse up North, there are some unused hillsides that (having asked around) is council owned and not under any specific protection, and yet the council themselves often come along with chainsaws and cut down large trees over the track, making it impossible to get through unless you get your own chainsaw and move it away in bits. Very annoying. It's more of a downhill track, so not really my common haunt, but I know some friends of mine who find it very frustrating, there are few routes up here anyway, less so when they collapse things on them.

allthegearnoidea

more often than not its Dog walkers or in recent issues in my local woods, Orienteerers!
often th smaller logs can be dropped by dogs, but the larger Obvious ones have been put there on purpose, its a regular occurance all over the place sadly, some of the walkers believe that they have the devine right to th access of the Whole woodland and anyone else should be banished!
we get it al the time in the local woods, last lot over tan the offical peeps doing what they have to, was an Orienteering guy, h was seting up his posts fr an even, we were in riding, said a |cheery hello asalways (never know who's going to need to pull you out he ditch!!) on our first loop of the lower setion of the woods, on the secnd section he'd dragged a 12"dia log directly over one of the paths and 50 yards further pulled a 15ft branch over and wedged it nt he trees and wheel height, know it was him as no one else was in, Was so tempted to go and grab a orienteering post and Move it but thoughtthat would be sinking to his level!! ;-)
is a real PITA but not a lot you can do about it really, mayb an email to the wardens about it, enough peeps email then they may put up a notice,

adesaxo31

I got followed and escorted out of my local woods (Trentham woods) by a bloke in a landrover I had a feeling he was following me I noticed him a few times and when I got on open ground he stopped me an told me to get out I asked why and all's he said was all bikes are prohibited. Yet 8 out of 10 times I ride through dog censored he then followed me out I've emailed threntham estate to ask why but not had had a reply yet seems very unfair and pointless

Plyphon

Threads about "Stick Men" turn up all the time on forums, every through months or so. Great shame.

Clank

Sadly, if it's an illegal track, then the land owner has more right to block the track than we have to ride it.

In the woods, a dog can poop just about where it pleases. The same doesn't apply to our right to ride. Fact of life, I'm afraid.

If, however, these tracks are permissive and legal, then there's whole armoury of legislation that applies and your Council recreation/ RoW depts etc have an interest in doing something about it. Sadly, their budget constraints usually mean not a lot gets done (see previous issues of pROW being seeded with nailed planks etc in Derbs).

Sharker69

It's not just me then that comes across it. I'm certainly going to make enquiries to the forestry commission here. There are no signs saying not to ride there, maybe it is walkers. If it is then its just pathetic really, I'm always polite and courteous to them shame it's not mirrored...

supersonic

Sadly it is often best to assume you can't ride there and find out for sure. Have had barbed wire strung across tracks here.

Greer_

There was one incident in Belfast where the council had placed barbed wire at neck height along a trail. Apparently they never realised people used it .... I think the guy that found it was all right.

angry_bird

There were a few incidents earlier this year where people were taken out by wires and cables strung across trails at chest kind of height. Remember seeing a kid on the news though who'd had his face sliced open. Some people are just beyond belief...

Greer_

That, and the nailed planks that Clank mentioned. Nevermind puncturing a tyre ... it won't hurt me .... but a nail through someones foot or a dog standing on it etc ... its just mad! Some people shouldn't be allowed to leave the house.

The Northern Monkey

There was a helmet cam video of a guy on a DH track taking a wire to the chest that had been set up over a drop wasn't there?

Tbh, if its not a waymarked trail or bridleway, then you need land owners permission..

Greer_

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Tbh, if its not a waymarked trail or bridleway, then you need land owners permission..

Even with permission though, there's nothing stopping these things happening :?

mikeyj28

There has been (in south wales) the classic barbed wire, huge logs and pretty big boulders placed in blind spots on paths/woodland trails to ensure a nasty fall from the bike. Either it's kids, the horse riding community who seem to detest mountain bikers or the green brigade who again think all cyclists rip up land.

JMcP92

I struggle to understand the argument that "Bicycles destroy the land!" and so on. We do little more than horses, moreso when a route is cycled often it often makes it quite smooth, so long as it's not major downhill stuff being ripped up by blowing out berms and such, but even so, people don't often walk downhill routes.
I do have some respect for these points. I ride MX and have used my bike for enduro and trail riding before now for fun, and I understand an MX bike with big tyres and power can rip the ground apart, so I do my best to be respectful, and understand when people complain, because the bikes can rip the ground up. With this though comes my confusion at the anger again the MTB's, they do very little damage at all, it all seem a huge overeaction mounting wires and blocking routes which can really hurt people. Seems ridiculous

ilovedirt

The Northern Monkey wrote:

There was a helmet cam video of a guy on a DH track taking a wire to the chest that had been set up over a drop wasn't there?

Tbh, if its not a waymarked trail or bridleway, then you need land owners permission..

Hamsterley. Some people are cunts, no two ways about it. I see why people might get angry about illegal trails on public land, but to do something that could potentially kill someone is plain moronic, especially for someone to do that on a Mtb designated trail on private land. I can only hope that the perpetrator wins a Darwin Award soon, as it would be wholly justified.

I've actually found that some of the culprits for putting big logs across the trails are fellow cyclists; cyclocross riders. Even more reason for me to hate the censored .

mrt29er

i live in northampton and are main route out of town is CYCLE ROUTE 6 which is heavly used by dog walkers who cant be bothered to put wellies on and use the fields next to the path..dog pooh all over it.....over christmas its got allmost phyiscal!!!!!! i know some people ride like tits but to start shouting and swearing at anybody on a bike is madness. :shock: ...as for the logs across the path, just do what some lads did in the firs....MAKE A SMALL JUMP OUT OF IT.. its stopped happening now lol

schmako

Had it a few times, but think it was to stop motorbikes rather than mtbs.. I'll still happily get off the bike and chuck it in the nearest river if its obstructs the path too much.

Rambo_123

Come to scotland. No tresspass law haha.

craigw99

glad i live in scotland much less trouble - having said that i did get some bother in my local woods from a dog walker saying i shouldn't be riding there - he'd been walking there for 5 years and bikes had never been allowed blah blah blah.... i politely said i had been riding in the woods for over 20 years and there was a sign at the bottom of the path saying it was a multi use path for walkers bikers and hores riders but this still didnt satisfy him - he seemed to think it was only for his enjoyment - this may be a bit predudiced but he did have an english accent so was maybe assuming we have the same rules!

mrt29er

yes craigw99 thats the way people behave in england, they do seem to think its for them only!!!!

Emphursis

I was out in the Wyre yesterday morning (the mud was awful!) and I did see quite a few places where logs had been out across trails. Most visitors stick to the marked paths near the visitors centre, I could probably count on my fingers the number of times I've see people the other side of Dowles Brook, especially when you get off the fire road.

I do remember seeing something in the huge thread in the 'rides' forum about someone putting branches across trails earlier this year, but I thought they had stopped or been caught. Maybe they're back.

steve_muzzy

craigw99 wrote:

glad i live in scotland much less trouble - having said that i did get some bother in my local woods from a dog walker saying i shouldn't be riding there - he'd been walking there for 5 years and bikes had never been allowed blah blah blah.... i politely said i had been riding in the woods for over 20 years and there was a sign at the bottom of the path saying it was a multi use path for walkers bikers and hores riders but this still didnt satisfy him - he seemed to think it was only for his enjoyment - this may be a bit predudiced but he did have an english accent so was maybe assuming we have the same rules!

Top of mine woods by any chance?

The Rookie

Rambo_123 wrote:

Come to scotland. No tresspass law haha.

What makes you think there is a trespass law in the rest of the UK?

Trespassing is not a criminal offence....you can (like Scotland) be asked to leave and they could take a civil action for any losses incurred.

Long_Time_Lurker

The local landowners do it around this way too - but with huge logs. It's normally at the start and end of the trails though - clear to see and never at a blind corner.
I have spoken to one who was setting up a trail block. Said that it was down to the MXers and off-roaders.
The trails are chewed to hell in this weather and the tracks all belong to motor bikes and cars.
They way they see it, you can carry a bike over the logs. Inconvienient, but I can understand ther motivation.

craigw99

Top of mine woods by any chance?

Give that man a haribo - spot on!

.blitz

Cannock has its own internationally-renowned Stickman who spends a lot of time putting branches across anything that isn't an official trail. There was once a bit of an investigation and by all accounts it wasn't Chase Trails or the FC it was an individual or group of individuals who simply seek out tracks and trails and put branches across them FFS

Fortunately their efforts are counteracted by another group of individuals (me included) who quite enjoy clearing the trails by breaking the branches & flinging them as far as possible into the woods. There have also been reports of a shadowy character called the Anti-Stickman who has been spotted a number of times clearing trails over the North Side

All part of life's rich tapestry eh

peat

Logging/Bouldering is usually to stop 'Green Roaders' etc. And yes, the flap walkers get in about MTB's 'ripping up' the ground is laughable. Especially when you consider they (seemingly) have no beef with horses - whose hooves cause much more damage.

Blue&White Rider

Hmm come to think of it, there has been a few suspicious branches laying on the trail recently. I put it down to the weather at the time, but now just beginning to wonder!

cooldad

Blue&White Rider wrote:

Hmm come to think of it, there has been a few suspicious branches laying on the trail recently. I put it down to the weather at the time, but now just beginning to wonder!

Did they look shifty and wear hoodies?

lostboysaint

The frustration isn't just with people putting this stuff on the trails, it's with the rights of way NOT being cleared when the obstructions have been put there illegally. There's a farmer here who regular dumps bails of hay across a bridleway and despite plenty of very vocal comment from every countryside user to get it moved they have remained until they rot away. In the meantime we've had to cut a trail around them (with permission!).

Oh, and my favourite is still the 3ft deep, 8ft long trench that was dug by a farmer across a double track bridleway near Winchester, only discovered when one of our number disappeared into it at 20mph one very dark night.