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  • Another Sheffield b/way motorwayed
  • FOG
    Full Member

    I did my quick after work 2 hour loop tonight for the 1st time in a couple of weeks and was horrified to find one of my favourite little descents had been reduced to 6 lane motorway. It drops from Redmires Road to Lodge lane and ,ok, it’s not massive or super hard but it had 4-5 biggish steps which made a fun end to my ride. I suspect again the hand of the Hallam Riders Group who seem to have an awful lot of influence with the council ROW dept. Do councils have to consult if they are not altering a route merely smoothing it? Is there any mileage in protesting? Do Horse riders have more clout than MTBers?
    I suspect so.

    tk46hal
    Free Member

    Where I live there are more horse riders than MTBer’s. A lot of my favourite tracks have also been cleared and made smoother for the horses. I would definitely say that the horsie brigade have more weight in these matters, but what’s even funnier, we get more blame for wrecking the tracks than the horse riders do! 😕

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    bridleways have to be maintained by the council to be passable for horse – not to be interesting to mountainbikers

    FOG
    Full Member

    Well yes, TJ, but they normally can’t be arsed unless some horsey type gets on their case

    antigee
    Full Member

    this one?
    http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/local/path_upgrade_nearly_done_1_3340887

    think there has been a few threads on this my feelings are possibly need to accept that in busier areas demands from other users will mean that paths become multi user and not fun – should be some quid pro in that those with powers to grant access give mtb’ers better access in return – then just treat these routes as dull access to open countryside and a more extensive network of legally or permissively rideable/fun trails

    edit here is one old thread http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/sheffield-riders-lodge-lane-area-works-consultation-meeting

    steveh
    Full Member

    That section has been rebuilt already several times over the years as the area with the steps has been a problem for ages. The horse riders do have more clout than mtbers as the council have a legal duty relating to horse riders but nothing similar for cyclists. We at ride sheffield are now in contact with the council about works they are doing so going forward we will at least have chance to comment (though i fear i comments will be ignored some of the time due to the above). The council do not post signage generally when upgrading paths but do when changing the status of paths etc.

    chiefgrooveguru
    Full Member

    I don’t know why everyone assumes this is done for horses – a decent horse and rider can handle anything a MTB can bar bigger drops or steep roll-downs. Some of the allegedly sanitised for horse bridleways I’ve seen look awful for riding horses on, no fun at all.

    swamp_boy
    Full Member

    Happens round here a lot. I can see that rights of way should be accessible, but Herts CC seem to have enough money to do major engineering work on trails I hardly ever see anyone else using. I thought one of my favourite technical bits was safe, but they are in there doing major earthworks and felling enough trees to make a big hole in established woodland. I would have thought that much money and effort could have done more good somewhere used by more people. The upside is that a lot of them are natural drainage routes and erode away again after a couple of winters. Just have to find a few more cheeky bits in the mean time. Found a lost horseshoe on my last ride, so I reckon I’m due for some good luck.

    FOG
    Full Member

    One of the problems is finding out what the ROW dept are up to so it’s good news that ridesheffield are in touch. I know it’s paranoid but there does sometimes seem to be ‘deals ‘ done behind closed doors around bridleways in particular. Hallam Riders group do seem capable of getting new bridleways created or footpaths upgraded so I suppose we should be grateful. By the way, the fact that my ex-wife is a riding instructor has nothing to do with my prejudice about horses!

    thepodge
    Free Member

    some of the paths Hallam horse riders were told would be upgraded to bw now have nice new no horse / bike signs on them. I suspect you may have seen them on your loop unless you went up the road.

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