“Wild Trails” in Wales -
Understanding the need and opportunities for community developed mountain bike resources.
Abstract:
Over the winters of 2019/20 and 2020/21, I was contracted to survey “Wild Trails” in the NRW Estate in Mid and North Wales. While gathering the survey data commissioned, I made observations about the nature of the sites and spoke to riders building and using them.
This paper explains what Wild Trails are, who uses them, and why they are important. It also reveals the level of understanding within communities surrounding them, and a willingness to work with woodland management.
I believe Wild Trails present a unique opportunity for woodland managers and users to work together to benefit the community, and immediate action is required to capture this moment.
Introduction:
Dedicated mountain biking trails were first formally introduced to the UK at Coed y Brenin (North Wales ) in 1995. As the sport grew, the Forestry Commission and its successor Natural Resources Wales continued to develop the “Trail Centre” model, creating riding areas across the country. These centres typically feature a car park, cafe, children’s play area and a selection of mountain bike trails of varying difficulty and length. They are very much designed around the “family day out” model.
However, for many mountain bikers, going to a trail centre involves driving their bike some distance by car. While this may be acceptable on a weekend, people looking for a shorter ride from their door have no official provision. For many years, riders been working in local woodlands to create their own short trails.
The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 created a “steam engine moment” in trail building, as many people gained spare time (due to furlough and cancelled schooling) and were restricted to their immediate neighbourhood. This created an explosion in the quantity of rider-build tracks, and the emergence of communities behind them.
What Are Wild Trails?
Over the winters of 2019/20 and 2020/21, I surveyed over 100km of wild trails in Mid and North Wales on behalf on NRW. While the data from that survey is NRW property, I wish to share my observations and opinions for the benefit of other woodland managers finding such trails on their land.
The majority of Wild Trails found in Mid and North Wales were similar in design, construction and technical difficulty. Within a given woodland, the trails would start at a highpoint reached by forest road and take a direct or traversing route to the bottom of the hill depending on gradient. The trails would typically be of a few hundred meters in length, often with several options from a similar start point.
Builders of these trails usually used materials immediately to hand. Trails were built on the ground using dirt and fallen logs to make bermed (banked) corners and small jumps. Raised timber ramps (known as “North Shore”) were not found, as this style of riding has largely fallen out of fashion. The technical standard of the trails were generally a little bit harder than what one would find on a “Black Grade” (difficult) trail at an NRW forest. This reflects the recent advances in rider skills and mountain bike technology that allow more difficult terrain to be ridden.
Although generally short in length and not of exceptionally high quality to ride, the placing of several trails in a small area of woodland would allow riders to have a good hour or more exercise, with a range of options to enjoy.
Who Uses Wild Trails?
Typically, the wild trails surveyed were built by riders in the local area to create short mountain bike routes they could ride during the working week. Trail builders were highly invested in their creations, citing the importance of regular exercise from their door to their physical and mental health. This is backed up by desktop research which found wild trails had a low number of total riders generating a much higher number of “laps ridden” when compared with figures from traditional Trail Centres.
Throughout my eight months of field work, as well as discovering trails, I found communities. Over the last five years, the mountain bike scene has evolved from one dependant on others to provide its resource, into one willing to create its own. This community connection among riders at each site often transcended generations. It was common to find groups of teenagers and older riders using the same tracks. The sense of pride riders felt in their sites is seen not only in the care taken to build the trails, but also the lack of litter and destruction around the more difficult and isolated trails. Conversely, trails built nearer public carparks had more litter.
Why are Wild Trails essential?
During the 2019/20 winter I met several riders and builders along the wild trails I surveyed. All were friendly and approachable. When asked why the trails were important to them, all replied along the lines of “I like to ride from the house during the week” and “it’s important that the youth have somewhere to ride locally”.
Two example responses were:
“My friends and I built these trails so we can train for enduro racing in our local woods without needing to drive. We would like to work with NRW to make them ‘official’ and are happy to make changes required”
Rider in his 30’s - Gwydir Forest“Trail centres take you outdoors but off piste trails allow you to be properly immersed in nature. They don’t have to be challenging or gnarly but I’d always choose the natural off piste trails”
MTB Coach and Guide (20’s) - Dyfi Forest
The COVID lockdown restrictions imposed throughout 2020 were a catalyst for an explosion in wild trail building across the country. With official trail centres closed, trails nearer to riders’ homes met many people’s needs for maintaining their physical and mental health during this period. A snap shot of responses from this period included:
“We’ve been coming here for most of lockdown. Since rugby has stopped, there’s loads of us riding bikes. It’s great fun and a place to hang out with our mates”
Youth in mid-teens, Lampeter.“I like riding from my door, not driving to ride, plus the chance to give something back to the community by helping maintain them. They also give opportunities to progress as a rider, with much more variety to experience.”
Rider in his 40’s - Dyfi Forest
The more technical nature of Wild Trails points to users being at the upper end of mountain bike ability scale, and probably under-challenged by current official trail centres. A rider of high technical ability is also likely to ride at least twice a week in order to maintain their fitness and skills. It was also interesting to find these riders as people with a greater understanding of the need to address climate change: Many were wondering “why should I need to drive in order to ride my bike?!”.
What are the issues?
Although riders spoken to during my surveying were environmentally aware, not all people making tracks in woodland have such a breadth of empathy and understanding. Some may be so focussed on building a track that suits their needs, they may overlook the needs of others, or the environment.
Typical problems encountered included bikes travelling on or crossing footpaths at speed; riders digging up ground in sensitive areas and advanced riders making trails containing features that could be hazardous to less skilled mountain bikers. Many of these problems can be addressed by engagement and education at an early stage, ideally as soon as trails start to appear. All trail builders contacted by me were willing to discuss methods of working with the landowner in future.
It is likely that biking communities in other areas may be more difficult to engage with, but history has shown that simply destroying the trails creates antagonism and does little to generate good-will to the land manager. Riders on one site told of games of “cat and mouse” with the land manager for over 30 years, with neither side having spoken with the other!
Management Options
Wild Trail sites typically cover a relatively small area and have regular builders and riders who live within a short distance of the site. The trail builders spoken with were all keen to work with landowners to make trails safe and to preserve them for future. It would seem possible that agreements could be made with these groups. If given a a set of standards to work to and defined area to work within, my feeling is that uptake among the community would be good
To achieve that, I suggest using defining three boundaries (The Three Boundaries Approach):
Physical:
Each site will have areas where building of trails will and will not cause issues. A site manager can assess these against concerns from other stakeholders, user groups and environmental constraints. The manager can then produce a map showing areas were building is acceptable, and where it is Out Of Bounds.Design:
While signage around trails is important, risk reduction can be more effectively achieved at the design and build stages. Many texts on mountain bike trail design and public safety exist, and the site manager should select methods most suitable to their patch. I would suggest starting with the principles of careful trail design, using features such as tighter corners to control the bike’s speed where necessary (such as when crossing a footpath). Where jumps and drops exist, they should be clearly visible and built to allow a bike to roll over them smoothly. This allows the less skilled rider to enjoy the trail without finding nasty surprises.Behavior:
To gain the “right” to build in a woodland, it is only reasonable that a community of riders should expect to be held responsible for their actions. Part of any agreement should included education on the country code (particular fire safety) and an agreement to clear up any litter. Riders’ behaviour while on site should also have boundaries: For example: Discrimination by any users should not be tolerated.
Conclusion:
Over the last five years, the mountain bike scene has evolved from one dependant on others to provide its resource, into one willing to create its own. The creation of local trails has lead to strong, multi-generational, communities forming around them. These communities are generally aware that their trails are unsanctioned, and expressed willingness to work with land managers to reach compromise to ensure the trails remain available.
Land owners affected by Wild Trails need to act now and allocate resources to engage with trail builders. Through using the Three Boundaries Approach, I believe there is also plenty for the land owner to gain from this arrangement. Many of the topics highlighted in this report fall into categories defined in the Second State of Natural Resources Report (SoNaRR2020, NRW), and other community development targets, so it is probably funding will be available for this work.
The emergence of Wild Trail is a prime example of local communities wishing to make use of and manage their local woodland. The readiness to engage from this user group presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redefine the landowner / user relationship. This opportunity should be grasped with both hands.
About the author:
David Evans is a British Cycling Level 3 mountain bike guide with over five years commercial experience. David has also ridden mountain bikes throughout the world over the past 25 years. A former project engineer in wind farm development, Dave has used these skills as a consultant contractor to Dyfi Bike Park, NRW and the National Trust. He is also a director of the community interest company Dyfi Mountain Biking.
