It’s all happening up at Kielder Forest. We’ver reported recently on the new trail developments and the race being held upon them fairly imminently. Looking further ahead, 29 September to 1 October will see land managers and mountain bikers from across the UK descending on Kielder Castle for IMBA UK’s trailbuilding conference and AGM.

The mountain bike advocacy organisation is running the weekend in association with the Forestry Commission, and the organising partners expect several hundred delegates.

Friday 29 September will see a one-day conference entitled “Managing Trails for Mountain Bikers”. While aimed at land managers, IMBA UK members are welcome to attend – there’ll be a reduced fee for members.

The two attractions on 30 September are a trail building workshop led by IMBA UK Vice President Dafydd Davis, and the AGM and Open meeting itself in the evening.

Sunday is given over to forest and moorland rides around the Kielder area. More details of the programme will soon be available at www.imba-uk.com, but if you’ve got any sort of interest in trail building or management this should be a valuable weekend.