€500,000 investment in Ballyhoura trails

xxyyzz

http://www.vsopublicationsltd.ie/2014/01/e500000-investment-planned-for-ballyhoura-trails/

Great news for Ballyhoura. It could really do with a few new technical sections.

Tenzor07

Great, about time Ireland had MTB trails up to European standards..

pointer28

All well and good and delighted to see it but what about the rest of the country?

They've been talking about the Slieve Blooms for years and have other projects earmarked as well but there doesn't seem to be much happening with any of them.

xxyyzz

pointer28 wrote: »

All well and good and delighted to see it but what about the rest of the country?.

Mired in Coillte bureaucracy I'd imagine

Tenzor07

pointer28 wrote: »

All well and good and delighted to see it but what about the rest of the country?
They've been talking about the Slieve Blooms for years and have other projects earmarked as well but there doesn't seem to be much happening with any of them.

Between the various state boards/Quango's and the "NIMBY" gang it will be a long time before Sport/cycling tourism is developed to a standard where people will come from other countries to do it..

xxyyzz

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Between the various state boards/Quango's and the "NIMBY" gang it will be a long time before Sport/cycling tourism is developed to a standard where people will come from other countries to do it..

It's sad - every spare bit of scrubland in Wales is now a bike park or trail centre. Problem here is that Coillte have been given the responsibility to develop mountainbiking when they are primarily a forestry company and semi-state which makes them about as useful as tits on a bull to mountainbikers. Daithí De Forge seems to be the only one in Coillte assigned to MTB development and he just seems to get lost in the noise. I really think private operations like Fairymount are the way to go.

Tenzor07

Wales have done some really great work turning unemployment black spots into places where people will travel to and spend money in..

Whereas in Dublin we have a few trails scraped into the side of a hill where you dice with large groups of pole carrying walkers, horse riders, motor-crossers and Dog walkers to get around, before returning to your car which hopefully hasn't been broken into, and get changed standing around in the cold and hopefully get home before the mud dries in! :rolleyes:

On a positive note, Rowan Sorrel and his team who designed and built Bikepark Wales have arrrived to start work at Fairymount Farm MTB today. A private facility in Tipperary..

xxyyzz

Tenzor07 wrote: »

On a positive note, Rowan Sorrel and his team who designed and built Bikepark Wales have arrrived to start work at Fairymount Farm MTB today. A private facility in Tipperary..

Will that be all DH? Bike Park Wales has a a great mixture of disciplines.

deandean

That's GREAT news about Ballyhoura. I gave it a trash last Christmas and really enjoyed it.

Tenzor07

xxyyzz wrote: »

Will that be all DH? Bike Park Wales has a a great mixture of disciplines.

DH only.

pretty sure they don't quite have enough land for more XC/Enduro type trails..

Eamonnator

Tenzor07 wrote: »

DH only.

pretty sure they don't quite have enough land for more XC/Enduro type trails..

And therein lies the problem. Coillte control most of the land, that is suitable for XC and Enduro.

Tenzor07

Eamonnator wrote: »

And therein lies the problem. Coillte control most of the land, that is suitable for XC and Enduro.

Sad but true, Coillte have no interest in creating decent XC trails.. only hope is private landowners, but they would have a lot of insurance costs and planning issues...

Ah.. Sure off to Wales in the Summer I think! Or Scotland!

Daroxtar

There's plans for a big MTB development going ahead in Sligo, feasibility study is starting soon and everyone involved seems quiet confident that it will happen

Popoutman

Coillte have a lot of interest in developing the MTB side of things. I've two mates working in the management side of things in Coillte, and they are pushing hard and getting traction in the projects going ahead.

It's available funding, insurance issues, and some local resistance that are causing the problems to new centres coming up.

The forestry manager in BallyH is a mountainbiker so he's always been interested in maintaining those trails as best they can, and they have been listening to the cyclists issues and fixing up the trails to suit, when the cash comes in for it.

Coillte aren't making money from the biking at the moment to any great extent, and that's another small problem. After all Coillte is a properly commercial company. It may be labelled as semi-state but it is run as a commercial entity without having to rely on state subventions.

silvo

Tenzor07 wrote: »

DH only.

pretty sure they don't quite have enough land for more XC/Enduro type trails..

Fairymount Farm will have both XC/Enduro and DH trails so something for everyone. Its a great facility for all types of rider and only an hour and bit from Dublin

See this map of their planned trails:

xxyyzz

Popoutman wrote: »

Coillte aren't making money from the biking at the moment to any great extent, and that's another small problem. After all Coillte is a properly commercial company. It may be labelled as semi-state but it is run as a commercial entity without having to rely on state subventions.

This is the big issue, there is no real onus on Coillte to promote mountainbiking, they are primarily a forestry company who just happen to run the land where MTBing is done. My local club has found it exceptionally difficult to deal with Coillte - it is almost like they have been told explicitly not to engage with us.

The other big issue is that Coillte don't seem to have any central policies for dealing with MTBing - it is all at the discretion of the local managers so while the guy in Ballyhoura is very accomodating, the guys in areas like Killarney, which could potentially be better than anywhere in these islands, won't give MTBers the time of day.

Tenzor07

silvo wrote: »

Fairymount Farm will have both XC/Enduro and DH trails so something for everyone. Its a great facility for all types of rider and only an hour and bit from Dublin

Deadly, well can't wait to see what they do, and maybe they'll even host an XC race once completed..

silvo

Yeah, I'd say they will have something in the pipeline. They hosted the DH Nationals this year and did a great job.

Tenzor07

Popoutman wrote: »

Coillte have a lot of interest in developing the MTB side of things. I've two mates working in the management side of things in Coillte, and they are pushing hard and getting traction in the projects going ahead.

I don't believe that for a second...

Well, maybe individual forest managers are, just not Coillte as a whole...

I realise that a lot of the time it's local residents objections which cause the issues, but it's also lack of interest or just plain old dislike of Mountainbikers by the head of Coillte outdoors which are the main issues..

Popoutman

xxyyzz wrote: »

The other big issue is that Coillte don't seem to have any central policies for dealing with MTBing - it is all at the discretion of the local managers so while the guy in Ballyhoura is very accomodating, the guys in areas like Killarney, which could potentially be better than anywhere in these islands, won't give MTBers the time of day.

I'll confirm this (who/why) with the people I know within the organisation.

Tenzor07

xxyyzz wrote: »

The other big issue is that Coillte don't seem to have any central policies for dealing with MTBing.

They do: Coillte Outdoors

xxyyzz

Tenzor07 wrote: »

They do: Coillte Outdoors

How much of that has been followed through with?

Tenzor07

xxyyzz wrote: »

How much of that has been followed through with?

Specifically?

xxyyzz

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Specifically?

You tell me, you supplied the link. Is there any engagement with clubs on building club trails? I believe there is a section in there on that. Were any of the regional trail centres followed up on? What's the story with the slieve bloom trail centre or the proposed one down near Waterford? I've asked daithi de forge about this numerous times but he's not willing to engage.

Tenzor07

xxyyzz wrote: »

You tell me, you supplied the link. Is there any engagement with clubs on building club trails? I believe there is a section in there on that. Were any of the regional trail centres followed up on? What's the story with the slieve bloom trail centre or the proposed one down near Waterford? I've asked daithi de forge about this numerous times but he's not willing to engage.

Yes, to show a poster that there is an off-road strategy which Coillte published.

I don't know anything about trail centres in the midlands or South East, not my part of the country..

I think you will find that the heads of Coillte outdoors have a contemptuous view of mountain bikers and the "mountain bike problem"

also, there has been no engagement with clubs in the Dublin area about turning there club trails into regional trail centres...

Boomchickawawa

Daroxtar wrote: »

There's plans for a big MTB development going ahead in Sligo, feasibility study is starting soon and everyone involved seems quiet confident that it will happen

yes this is true. im involved with this and i can safely say this will happen... Watch this space

http://www.oceanfm.ie/sp/article_manager/detail/26000_for_coolaney_bike_route

twincamman

this may be a reason why trails in ballyhouras are being built/changed.20 windturbines are to be built.click the map.it affects blue and red trail. http://www.dpenergy.com/wind/irishsites/buttevant/images/layoutb.jpg blue dots are turbine that have got planning and red dots are still awaiting planning permission