bcc trail development plan

Trail Development Plan

Black Canon Collective Trail Development Plan Last Edited 02/07/2009

www.blackcanoncollective.co.uk

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Introduction The ultimate goal of the Black Canon Collective (BCC) is to provide permanent, purpose built mountain bike (MTB) trails in the Longleat area. More specifically; to develop the ‘Allotment’ site and some surrounding woodland into a professionally run, purpose built, mountain bike trail network, to cater for the full spectrum of abilities and broad range of MTB disciplines. In addition to trail development the BCC organises many ‘club’ activities however this document will only focus upon the BCC’s trail development activities.

Figure 1



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The BCC is currently licensed to use the Allotment site (Wind Hill Gate & Gartrells Bottom) situated in the Longleat Estate, Wiltshire (the area within the blue boundary, see Figure 1) until June 2012. The BCC is also negotiating the use of additional woodland (Upper Hares Batch, Kings bottom and Hares Batch) also situated in the Longleat Estate, Wiltshire (the area within the dark green boundary, see Figure 1). It is not the intention of the BCC to use the entirety of this area; it must be noted that there are many existing forest users who must be considered with any future expansion plans. The marked out area simply shows the usable area and hence will be subject to change when further defined. At the time of writing, the BCC has 72 members ranging from 5 to 60 years of age. The range of ability can be described as full; from complete novice through to expert and even elite and importantly the spread of this range is very even. The members take part in a broad range of MTB disciplines: including but not restricted to Downhill (DH), Cross Country (XC), Dirt Jump (DJ), and All Mountain (AM). Many members focus upon one of the above disciplines however most can be described as enjoying multiple disciplines and no one discipline can be described as being the main focus of the membership group. It can be assumed that the make-up of the membership is largely dependant upon how the BCC focuses its activities. It is the intention of the BCC to cater for a full range of abilities, across (but not restricted to) the four disciplines listed above. Therefore it can be assumed that the make-up of the membership base will not change significantly.

Methodology

“The ultimate goal of the Black Canon Collective (BCC) is to provide permanent, purpose built mountain bike (MTB) trails in the Longleat area.” To achieve this goal the club will generate a series of detailed trail development plans, each will identify the desired/projected state of progress at a given point in time;

Short Term (3 months) Mid Term (12 months) Long Term (36 months) Ultimate (120+ months)

The four plans will make up the BCC Trail Development Plan, a living document that will be added to on a quarterly basis with each individual plan being adjusted accordingly. Each year will be broken down into four quarters as follows to coincide with the membership year;

1st Quarter: April - June 2nd Quarter: July - September 3rd Quarter: October - December 4th Quarter: January- March

Plans will be released on the first day of April, July, October and January respectively. Each plan will cover the full area shown in Figure 1, which has been broken into the following areas;

The Allotment (The area within the blue boundary) The Extended Area (The area within the green boundary, to be further defined ASAP)



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The Allotment has itself been further broken down into sections based upon the lay of the land (See Figure 2). Each can be described as follows;

B1 - Bowl 1; Moderate/steep slope, defined gully, natural undulations, moderate/dense tree coverage, some bushes, forest track access.

B2 - Bowl 2; Steep slope, moderate to dense tree coverage, good drainage, some bushes, forest track access.

B3 - Bowl 3; Steep/moderate/gentle slope, moderate tree coverage, good drainage, some bushes, forest track access.

P - Plateau; Almost flat, sparse tree coverage, many bushes, good drainage, forest track access.

M - Marsh; Moderate/gentle slope, moderate tree coverage, derelict building, stream, dense ground life (scarlet elf cups), many bushes, poor drainage, forest track access.

Bk - Bank; Gentle slope, moderate tree coverage, some bushes, good drainage, forest track access.

Figure 2

The Forestry Commission (FC) Mountain Bike Cross-country Trails and Bike Park

Signage document and the standards within will be used to grade all BCC trails. Consistent trail grading will allow members to compare trails both at the Allotment (and extended area) and with FC trails nationwide. Each section/area will be looked at as a whole, detailing any club planned activity (wood stacking, hole filling etc) and also detailing any additional planning (planning of push up trail and seating area etc) that is expected to be carried out over that period. The same will be true for existing trails which will each be subject to the same level of review.



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For example:

B1 This area has had the most use from mountain bikers over the past 10 years. It is the most developed area with three existing working trails and evidence of many wild trails and borrow pits. General Area

Planned activity:

• Collect and pile wood and rocks for use during trail building, and to tidy the area. • Identify best location for seating area. • Erect notice board at new seating area. • Use materials from pre-existing (and unused) trail features to create new trail

features. • Tidy or fill pre-existing borrow pits.

Further Planning:

• Begin planning of additional trail to cater for the novice end of the scale, a 'groovy blue' AM track running down the deer fence (east boundary).

Existing Trails

Trail Name: 143 Trail type: DH/freeride Trail Summary: Undulating, intermediate & advanced jumps and drops, fast, smooth. Grade: Red (but accessible to Orange) Location: B1 Notes: This will be the main focus from April '09 to June '09. Planed Activity:

• Extend the top and bottom of this trail (as agreed at the Feb Dig Day) so that it becomes a flowing roller-coaster of undulations, jumps and banked corners.

Further Planning:

• Plan extension of the trail down to the mid forest track (B1 - M boundary).

Etc…

Each quarterly trail development plan will form the basis of all trail development activity over the following period, dictating all Dig Day and Evening Excavator activities.

bcc trail development plan

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