After my crash in Ballyhoura 8 weeks ago breaking my pelvis, i'm back in the saddle and returned to Ballyhoura once more with 4 of my friends. 2 were never there before, the plan was to do the white loop, i was pleased to see that the course has got a BIG cleanup, the rocks in the corners are gone making it flow better and the section where i had the crash on the first part of the white loop is now rebuilt, there was not a rock out of place with some nice humps to get some air. We got to the Blue turn point where we let 2 friends go back on the white loop and me and craig continued on the blue loop before leaving the trails and doing the spook trail back to the car park. It was a hot day 25+ and i did more than i planned but the hip felt great with no problems a very good return to the bike after 8 weeks. Well done to Ballyhoura continue with the good work.
After that trip i'm back on for spins cool.
ballyhoura must have been cleaned up for the mtb uk mag report on the trails there i read the report they werent impressed with the trails ,ive been to scottish trail centres twice and they are deadly fun ballyhoura is poor compared to them glentress is magic something for everyone spooky woods decent is the best trail decending ive ever done and kirroughtree is great it can be done on a day trip from belfast to stranraer its only 25 miles from stranraer its great day out
hi lads,chris from the rental facility in ballyhoura www.trailriders.ie
john galvin the forestry manager had been making changes since march on certain trails,this was due to feed back from mbcc and other users about the comparisons elsewhere,so thankfully john got stuck into getting it shaken up a bit and has the intention of making for more features on the trail sections further out,our main concern is due to the numbers just beginning mtb that if theres anyhing too much with drops or speed within reach of the car park that they will mangle themselves,which is happening anyway,so hopefully the next 12 months will get it up and..... away,we have started a new club with about 30 members so far called "team ballyhoura" so hopefully we will see you in sept,we are looking forward to introducing them to proper biking in the epic
good man Chris
Very encouraging to hear the forest manager is listening to riders and actually making improvements as a results, it'd be nice if there were an equivalent model in Ballinastoe but I guess this is a good reference for other trail centres to learn from and eventually adopt the same model.
Good point about locating tricker features further out on the trail, I think it was Minister Herlihy who told me that the majority of accidents in trail centres occur in and around the car park so reducing the risk makes sense alright
Thanks Chris, i was chatting to you for a bit on sunday, it was good to see the work on the trail and to see that the forestry manager is listening to riders. If the trails are entraining and get harder further out people will keep coming back. Safety is always going to be hard to manage but listening to experience riders they can make pointer and concerns and for beginner or have little experience being part of a club is the best way to learn.