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After two years of volunteer work, thousands of man hours, and hundreds of tons of stone moved by hand, the first section of Yorkshire’s latest trail is now open to the public.
Located just ten miles from central Leeds, hidden away in woodland above Lindley Wood reservoir, Stainburn Forest Boulder Trail is probably the most technical cross country route in England, with scary descending and knee bursting climbing, all built on Forest Enterprise land by volunteers from SingletrAction trail building group.
The open section of the route is around half a kilometre long, all built using IMBA‘s sustainable designs and with heavy duty stone construction which should see it last through to the next millennium. This is just the first part of what will become a four kilometre trail with technical features to challenge the hardest routes in the world. Already a basic network is open and waymarked, but needs work to bring it up to the level of construction of the Boulder Trail. New sections of singletrack will added as they are completed.
As with all volunteer work this is a long term effort. The plan is to continue the work to make the entire route resistant to the worst that the weather and heavy user pressure can throw at it, and more help is always needed. However this first section is a leap forward in making the dream a reality, and will allow riders in Yorkshire to get out there and ride something technical, sustainable and local – technical enough that only one person has so far cleaned the climb, a real challenge to even the best of riders.
For more information on the location, and how to get involved see www.singletraction.org or meet the gang on site on the first Sunday of every month. There’s a car park but no other facilities on site. The full 4km route will eventually be waymarked from the car park, but already there’s a good morning’s worth of riding in and around the Forest, which like most Forest Enterprise land is open for access 24-7 free of charge.
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