It’s been a year since the work to sort out the boggiest bits of Cut Gate was started and since the slabs and clapper bridges went down, literally thousands of riders have enjoyed riding a path which for a big part of the year was out of bounds due to the weather.
It feels like ages ago that we took a raggedy proposal about sorting Cut Gate to The Showroom in Sheffield, where the BMC’s Carey Davies (now editor of The Great Outdoors Magazine) was asking for submissions to the Mend Our Mountains campaign.
A shed load of fund-raising later (including a memorable 75% vote for Cut Gate in the European Outdoor Conservation Association funding public vote), and helicopters were taking off over a snow-bound landscape to lift the materials in place and make Cut Gate the near-year round ride we know today.
“Cut Gate was a big project for us,” says Chris Maloney, Peak District MTB committee member. “Bringing a broad range of outdoors groups together was vital and it was great to work in partnership with Ride Sheffield, Moors for the Future and The BMC, as well as enjoying the support of the horse riders and walkers.“
“And perhaps more importantly, it helped to establish mountain bikers as an important voice in the outdoors world. Plus, it made it a good ride year round too of course!”
That’s a sentiment that’s shared by hundreds of riders too who have taken to various forums and groups to share their thoughts on the work.
Across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, the response has been positive – a huge endorsement for the community coming together.
It’s been more challenging when talking about work on North America; work that was separate to the Cut Gate project and conducted without significant MTB input but still, we’re one year on and the project remains a significant success in the MTB world.
There’s still work to be done though. On Thursday, we’ll be working with the National Trust and a team of our volunteers at the Slippery Stones end of Cut Gate. Fancy helping out? More details here.
