There are going to be two lots of trail building this weekend. For the DH-inclined, on Saturday there's going to be a dig at Still, witht eh aim of building a new set of jumps for big full sus bikes. The dig starts at about 11 and will probably carry on until it gets dark!

On Sunday there's going to be more work on the last section of the Timberland Trail in 50 Acre Wood (the unrideable uphill bit). Again starting at about 11.00.

For more details go to www.bristoltrailsgroup.com or ring me on 0771 265 0857.

Antony,

Re Sunday's dig - you noted that you would be working on the 'unrideable uphill on the bottom section of 50 Acre Wood'. Is this the little rocky uphill on the final zig-zag? If so this is rideable!

I am concerned that the trails group are spending time 'sanitising' challenging but rideable sections of trails when it would surely be better to put energies into the heavily eroded sections of trails and those which disappear under knee deep mud in the winter.

Is it not the bits of trail we can't ride which keep us going out to try them 'just one more time' and these are the bits of trails which give us 'the buzz' when they are finally cleaned. Are there not already enough flat bridgeways out there for those who do not want so much of a challenge?

Anyway I have no right to make these comments as I haven't picked up a spade on the trail for years and this is obviously only the view of one biker. Please don't take it the wrong way as I am very grateful for all the work that the trails group do however I am sure you appreciate some feedback every now and again!.

You're not the first person to have voiced these concerns and don't worry, we're not trying to render everything rideable with stabilisers. Just recently we have been fixing a lot of really wrecked sections of trail that needed redoing from scratch . There are quite a few sections like this in Ashton Court, where any inconspicuous fixings we could have done would have been swallowed up by the mud. The open section of 50 Acre is another example. These sections can seem a bit flat compared to other sections of the trail (at least until they bed in). However most of the time we are looking to make the trail fun and challenging.

In respect of the last uphill section, it is doable, but when you factor in mud, wet and fatigue (it's at the very end of the trail don't forget) it's nigh-on impossible to clean, and I do want to alter it to make it a bit easier to carry speed. We were digging there the other weekend and although lots of riders were using the trail that day virtually nobody was riding that section, which is a real shame when you consider the effort that was put in by volunteers to build the original trail. I don't want to pave it, and if it's feasible I want to put in alternate lines so that it's suitable for different abilities.

Anyway, glad you are enoying the fixings and hope you can make it to a dig some time.