Phoenix Cycleworks Bike Park has a new skills/progression area with new start ramps leading to new lines consisting of tabletops, doubles, drops, and berms.

Newbold Comyn Cycle Hub in Leamington Spa is still not open until Spring 2023 but the trails (we are talking green, blue, red, a skills area, jump zone, and 4X!) are starting to shape up with the On Track team hard at work.

Thetford Forest Mountain Bike Trails have finished phase two and kicked off phase three of their enhancement plan.

Twisted Oaks Bike Park who we thought had everything now also has a new Mulch Zone. Huge wooden kicker ramps (small, medium, and large). The large is a 10-foot kicker. Medium around 8 feet. The zone is weatherproof. Mulch is what the landing is made of to make it soft.

Aston Hill Bike Park is currently closed and has been since winter 2020 due to Ash Dieback disease infecting the local tree population (not the first and unlikely to be last MTB venue to be affected). The ambition is to re-open in summer 2023 once clearing (no trails currently left) and a full redevelopment is complete. Feel ambitious, still, this place is pure MTB royalty so fingers crossed.

Twisted Oaks Bike Park in Suffolk has planning permission approved for an extension to their XC.

Cannock Chase has Clixbys Trail Builders carrying out extensive maintenance on Follow the Dog from early Feb. Expect ✔ Re-surfacing where there are lots of braking bumps, ✔building bigger berms where needed, ✔de-berm the edges to improve drainage ✔installing pipes on large in-sloped turns to drain the big puddles.

Isle of Wight Mountain Bike Centre has green, blue, red, and black MTB trails and tracks. There is a selection of both XC trails and Downhill tracks. Accessible by ferry and the season kicks off in the next few weeks.

Chicksands are temporarily closed whilst they find another insurer and renew their insurance.

Tarland Trails have a neat new logo and more importantly, have managed to get all the funding needed to complete the Tarland Trails 2 set to launch in spring 2023. This part of their funding comes from Just Transition funding secured by North East Adventure Tourism and Opportunity North East. Aberdeenshire's first MTB Trail Centre is getting very close now.

Dalbeattie's Community Initiative team have announced their Rocks and Wheels project will benefit from the Levelling up fund by creating an outdoor activity centre with indoor bouldering, 60-bed hostel, outdoor pump track, training and community rooms, and outdoor civic space. Being at the entrance to Dalbeattie Town Wood will allow easy access to the 7stanes mountain bike trail.

New report out on eMTB's shows eMTB riders are riding further, faster, and more frequently throughout the year compared to other cyclists. Mental health was cited as the biggest benefit of riding e-MTB’s.

1 in 4 people will experience mental ill health at some point in their life. Numerous studies link the impact of getting active outdoors and improved mental health. DMBinS run a Trail Therapy programme in this space. Check it out, support and spread the word.

Finally, as a reminder, yes it's back, the Trail of the Year campaign is live for 2023. You can start voting now by rating and reviewing any trail on the site.

 

 

As always, please share in the comments below any news we missed or upcoming to be promoted.