Haldon Feeride Project
In the darkest depths of Devon, there's rumours of some construction going on in the woods. Thankfully were not talking the newest batch of Barratt homes or another Centre Parcs resort, but an all new, homegrown free ride spot at Haldon woods just outside Exeter.
Local riders have been working in cahoots with the Forestry Commission to create an all weather, all abilities mountain bike park that will include not only the technical and challenging Canadian style northshore that we are all familiar with, but more modest trails for the less adrenaline inclined also.
The first stages of the project have been about making sure the family cycle loops and XC track were completed. This covers a huge part of the hill, stretching from one end to the other, providing around 8km of trails encompassing a wide range of ups, downs, challenging and varied terrain and stunning views. Armoured stream crossings and north shore dotted around the track means that it is rideable all year around.
In return for all the hard work put in, we have been given a couple of patches of land to create a Double Black free ride trail, and free ride area. With the early stages finally out of the way we are now hoping to be putting a lot more effort into the Double black rated free ride areas. The FC have designated us a great big patch of land for the free ride area. It's a great plot of land with steep sides, a downhill slope from top to bottom, a stream gulley cutting through half way down and masses of scope for shore and dirt constructions.
We've been biding our time to begin full on construction in free ride area as we feel that it deserves to be done right. There is a lot of planning to do to ensure the best use of the area and not to mention a lot of timber to acquire.
Ideally we want to be constructing as much as possible from natural timbers such as 'chestnut' or the trail building holy grail, 'Western Red Cedar'. So far this has been holding us back a little, but we believe its best to get it right first time, so bear with us. You can be assured that as soon as we feel the time is right, construction will begin in earnest.
But fear not, in the meantime we have been building the odd stunt here and there. There's a lot of work to do in the Free ride area, but what has been built so far is big, fast, and scary and looks set to continue that way for a while. There's a lot planned, including wall rides, berms, skinnies, step-ups, platforms, rollers, drops, rock gardens etc. But for the time being we decided to build something challenging, something to push the envelope a little while we are biding our time.
Once completed it's going to be awesome.
All the info you need to make a trip to Haldon including trail maps/photos, and even the local weather is available at haldonfreeride.org. Make sure to join the mailing list to keep up to date with developments.
Say hi or stop for a chat if you come across us in the woods, we'll be the ones carrying spades and bits of timber, and making lots of chainsaw noise. Please be courteous to other riders, abide by the rules and regulations, but above all else, have fun!
By Alan Hayes
www.haldonfreeride.org
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