If you want to build your own mountain bike and BMX track that is community run and urban based then this post could help guide you by recounting some of the do's and dont's of what happened in the project to build the now constructed Lorsdship Loop bike track in Tottenham in London.

Identify all the stakeholders

You need to identify these but the most important thing is to talk to them, meet regularly, understand their point of view in detail and empathise with their needs even if initially you don't get a particular point of view. Compromise with active negotiation is core at all times. Try and keep some consistency in who from the club attends the many meetings to come as it is all about relationships. Make sure though the knowledge is shared so you have a back up.  A list of stakeholders to identify and build relationships with is likely to include:

• Council Project Lead or Parks manager
• Park Gardeners
• Park Friends group
• Council Environmental officer
• Landscape Architects
• Construction engineers and contractors
• Specialist Bike Park designers and track builders
• Local cycling clubs
• Local nature community groups (e.g. Back To Earth)

The best way to build relationships is at the meetings but outside of this meet up, have coffee, attend each others community projects and get involved locally in other stuff they are involved in outside of your core interest. Your project is not an island. Your bike track will be part of a much larger ecosystem. To succeed you must genuinely ingrain yourself in and become part of the community or you will fail from the start.

It's not a small list and it generally grows as the project moves forward.

Identify a suitable venue

So you don't have 1000 acres and the potential of 15 miles of singletrack over 3 wonderful hills leased from the Forestry commission. You will have an area in a section of a park, a pocket basically. Parks have history and multiple users and needs to fulfil. Get to know them. The hill may be the best part for a bike track but it may be where an apple orchard is to create a quiet area for users who want solitude. Or the open fields are many and seem mostly unused but then the vibrant football club overtake them all on Saturday or the area by the kids playground offers the best vantage point to encourage families to the club but there is not safe access points to avoid collision conflict.

So yes aim for an area that has a high influx of people so it is visible to help with adoption. Make sure it had access points, is not too waterlogged and has a bit of an incline and is not secluded. But be ready to compromise. We have a flat bog land that is also a wildlife conservation area in the form of a spinney which seriously restricts what can and cant be built where inch by inch but we have a design that works as it is near the skate park and adventure playground as well as in site of the local estate so it is highly visible. The woody spinney adds to the mountain bike feel for such an urban setting and the flat nature has made us go for a more leading edge pump track design to ensure momentum and skill progression.

Identify any pre-requisites

It may be your funders have specific requirements. Ours the Heritage Lottery fund wouldn't allow us to build on the base of an existing run down track due to it's proximity to a model traffic area area which would be listed and be frequented by very young children. They felt this was a clash. Your funders may also determine a certain age group or have significantly high numbers to use it or they may state it needs to be all abilites which would affect the design significantly. It may be your land is waterlogged in parts and so drainage will need to be put it.

Do a site visit with all stakeholders

aim of this is to agree plot, identify access points and any danger points, identify any ecological or environmental concerns, see the incline, existing drainage  and of course map out size and start planning a route. Identify other logistics like where would materials and maintenance equipment be stored as well as where would a club store bikes and hold meetings etc.

Research the community and run a user and public consultation

We did a short survey asking park users and local schools and community centre members what they wanted and didn't want in the design. It also identified who would use the bike park. We also evaluated via census information the socio-economic and ethnic mix of the community.
Our findings told us the park needed to be all ages (i.e. not just kids) and be suitable for mountain bike and BMX bikes. It also needed to be multi disciplined allowing for skills development and offer opportunity for jumps as well as recreational racing. It needed to be sustainable and run by the community for the community and allow both beginners and skilled experienced riders to use it. It needed to not destroy the natural woodland or existing nature habitat and be accessible to all and all abilities. It also needed to encourage those that did not have bikes or places to store bikes.  If we had more space we could have gone for an Olympic sized course which would have opened up more funding. Make sure the survey is objective and all results publicly published

Involve bike track designers

This can be done earlier in the project and the earlier the better. You do not necessarily need to have chosen your designer just yet but you need experienced input to the design. This is core of you are working  with landscape architects to put together the initial design which is likely the case in a parks project. I bought in two experienced designers to give input to the design at this stage.

Create an initial design for draft submission and approval

At this point and initial design is created and you can review with the stakeholders and the wider cycling community. It is also the basis by which the safety officers and end environmental officers can start to formally comment. It is likely a few more site visits will be required to get this to an acceptable point. It is also likely that early drafts will go to the funders for review and approval. This is the point to name the track. We did a club workshop and then an online vote. Core for this to happen so the community can start to take ownership. Lordship Loop was born. Thsi stage also allows the track to be costed and aligned with budget or fo rthe design to be addressed or additional funding sourced. as a result materials will need ot be chosen e.g. all year use (needs good drainage and draining materials), minimal maintaining (harder surface) or regular club maintenance (more pliable surface) would all effect what is used in the design. Important to incorporate in design the agreed allocation for somewhere to store maintenance equipment e.g. shipping container

Commission a bike designer

This can happy right at the onset and must happen before final plan is reviewed and published as you will need their expertise. For clarity they must attend at least one of not two of the final site visits before publication to give their input to the architects and stakeholders and in particular the council nominated safety organisations who must sign off on the design e.g. ROSPA or PI.

The club put forward three leading bike designers they knew and whose parks and trails they had ridden and felt fitted the nature of the local community needs. The council have the final say as they are likely to own the funding relationship and are legally liable at the end of the day so work closely with the council to educate and share your experience and the nuance of bike design and why it is core to have an experienced bike designer.

Publish publicly the final design footprint

Based on all the feedback you will have a design footprint. Some of the things our design incorporated where:

• Looped pump track design
• Singletrack design with overtaking points (Consistent width of track @1.5 - 2 metres)
• Drainage to be built first.
• Large starting ramp
• Large area near starting ramp for crowds and hanging out.
• Progressive rollers and jumps that can be rolled over, manualled or jumped depending on ability
• Speed controlled naturally by ability
• Large berms and corners
• Variable built up height of track for drainage and skill development (1 foot to 1.5 metes) with 45 degree slope and a safe distance allocated between returning track to avoid collision. Height would be lower when corridor width for outgoing and returning track was more narrow (to allow for increased safety distance between tracks) and higher where wider and safer to go higher.
• Safe distance between tracks
• Protected wildlife areas through use of fencing and ride lines
• Fencing to dissuade users form riding into or over neighbouring river
• Large space post exit for run out
• Spectator points for time trial racing
• Limestone base
• Signs to state no bidirectional riding, body protection, skill level etc.
• Storage for Maintenance equipment, track surface repair material, and loan bikes to serve community

Building and maintaining the track

At this point your track builders really take over (we used Rowan Sorrell and the Back on Track team) but it is important to stay close .One of the main benefits is the more you understand the nuance the more you can explain to the wider community and the next generation of riders its construct principles as well learn how to maintain it. Your designer should run a community session to train you on maintaining the track. Including the months to check, repair and resurface the track. You will need proper risk assesments before any build session as well as a sign in process (disclaimer) and insurance for volunteers. IMBA run some great schemes here and can help source insurance also.  Get your track fenced off and securely monitored. Our 400 metre track took maybe 6 - 8 weeks to build (weather permitting) and once built it is likely to remain shut for another 4 - 8 weeks whilst it compacts and the grass often planted on the sides grows, which helps hold the surface layer in place. Finally don't forget signage especiallty if you have commissioned a one directional track.

Momorandum of understanding with stakeholders

This is often referred to as the management contract and it is highly recommended as it covers the roles and responsibilities of the club, council, parks groups, wildlife groups and so on. It minimises ambiguity and ensures a smooth long term relationship and plan. Ours is attached for reference.

Attachments:

Lordship Loop final design.pdf	[ ]	244 Kb
Memorandum of Understanding (2)-1.doc	[ ]	49 Kb