Legal Forest Riders - Wales

hi all

me and a couple of friends went out on sunday on the first lfr run and it was fabulous! The guys who organised this have put a lot of effort into getting this going and working with the forestry commision to get some trails open for legal guided rides. Two groups went out the technical run and the intermediate run, the latter was described as mainly hard pack and some mud, the technical as slippery mud and some surprises. Well i went out on the intermediate run and if you can imagine the beacons and to some extent the ryedale rallies but without the gravel fire tracks you'll have some idea as to what it was like.... awesome single track mud, de-forested logging tracks and rocky gullies massive fun, no one else around and was described by some as more like an easy enduro run, personally its as tough as anything i've done on my xchallenge and whilst i wasnt the fastest by any stretch of the imagination i was pretty pleased with my efforts:) :clap as to the technical run that was a lot faster and a lot muddier, think bog snorkling with a bike and you can imagine the state of everyone when they got back, eyes and teeth were about all you could see and lots of smiles, all bikes came back
like they'd just been dredged out the bottom of a canal :)

they've got another 5 days of runs until the end of march and are in discussions to extend this if possible, they're hoping to run multiple groups including beginners, big bike and experts on each day. Maximum group sizes are 15 plus leaders and sweepers, costs 12ukp per rider for the day to cover paying the forrestry commission, insurance and loans for the insurance liability. even the leaders and sweepers pay.

I can thoroughly recommend it, keep an eye on their website www.lfr-wales.co.uk for the next run which i think is due in a couple of weeks time, well worth giving them your support:thumb.
 
Good link Frosty :thumb- Got any pics?

I will keep an eye as I would be quite happy to have a tootle around (even if it means travelling a bit to try somewhere new)
 
I used to be part of this when it was first set up, the idea being getting a route sorted through the forestrys from Rhondda down to Glynneath, that way you would not be going round and round and upsetting people with noise, unfortunately due to some tree disease they put a stop to it and only allowed a small part of one forest and guess what ,they allowed you to go round and round and did'nt mind then as they were making some money from us. They made us jump through so many hurdles to get this up and running and gave us back hardly anything in return with the costs going up and up ( it was originally £7) , i decided to walk away.
I do hope this gathers momentum and forces the foresty to rethink their views and open up more and more for people to use, but i think the price of £15 to go round and round for a couple of hours is too much, also the forestry are insecting it now and again and if it starts to tear up they will stop it until it regrows.
As i said i do hope this takes off and escualtes to other parts of the country and wish them all the best
 
jasext said:
I do hope this gathers momentum and forces the foresty to rethink their views and open up more and more for people to use, but i think the price of £15 to go round and round for a couple of hours is too much, also the forestry are insecting it now and again and if it starts to tear up they will stop it until it regrows.
Click to expand...

i guess it depends on waht riding you have accessible to you, the type of terrain that i can ride locally is nothing like whats available on these runs and riding a larger bike and with limited skill i'm not about to embark on enduros, hare and hounds etc. They currently have access to a limited area due to tree disease and construction, hopefully they will get access to more as time goes by. The basic plan i think is you get to do approximately 2 x 2hour loops one either side of lunch (not necessarily the same loop) so not quite round and round. The 12 pounds is broken down into 5 for the forestry commission, 2 for the insurance and 5 towards paying back the loans they've taken out. Personally i think thats reasonable, after all i've paid 100+ before to enter a rally and done less than a lap
 
Hi everyone. I'm Safety Morris, LFR chairman, and I'd just like to put the record straight on a couple of points in JaseXT's post.

First of all our original proposal to Forestry Commission Wales (FCW) suggested a network of trails, as Jase mentioned, but as we later found out this was not viable for several reasons not least that FCW do not own all of the forestry land, much of it is leased, and the rejection of our proposal had nothing to do with the tree disease. On top of that, South Wales has had a persistant problem with illegal riding and FCW were understandably cautious about letting lots of rider loose in the woods. Subsequent discussions led us to what we currently have available to us.

Secondly, FCW has been instructed by the Assembly Government to be more commercial so they told us up front that they would levy a £5 charge per rider per day. This has never changed and it is unfair to suggest that FCW has escalated costs. We impose a charge of £12 (not £15) to cover our costs, as FrostyUK quite accurately explained.

Jumping through hoops is, in these days of compensation culture, a necessary evil and yes we have had to produce risk assessments, health and safety plans etc for both FCW and our insurers but they should not be interpreted as hurdles put in our way to discourage us, just things we have to do. I have had a number of meetings with the FCW District Manager who authorised this scheme and he could not be more accommodating.

So now the record is straight I'll just say how pleased I am that FrostyUK had such a good day and I hope to see him and others join us soon.
 
Hi Safety,

Is the HiViz compulsory for the insurance? I will keep an eye on the list from now on for any spaces on free weekends coming up. I know the LFR concentrate around Wales but can the same scheme work in other forests in the uk? Who do you need to talk to to try and arrange a similar event elsewhere - Is it through the forestry commission central office?

Did you encounter any walkers or cyclists or were you pretty much on your own?
 
The high visibilty vests were something we suggested to FCW to make it easy for other forest users to distinguish us from illegal riders.

We currently have just one area of forest available to us so I'm afraid we are not operating in any other areas - yet. The aim is to use this trial project as a template and hopefully expand into other areas. I don't see any reason why the scheme could not operate successfully across the country. All our dealings have been with the district manager.

As for other forest users, despite being in an area riddled with mountain bike tracks, footpaths and bridleways our group didn't see anyone on the day (barring some friendly walkers who passed through our meeting point on the main road whilst on their way to the forest on the other side of the road).

Hope this helps.
 
last run

....... for a while chaps whilst a new area of the forest is scouted and set up
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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