A turf war between mountain bikers and Caerphilly mountain residents has led to cyclists from across South Wales descend upon the town to clear “sabotaged” trails.
The long-running feud has seen several trails and routes down the mountain obstructed by logs, rocks, and even barbed wire, putting riders at serious risk.
Caerphilly Mountain has become a hotspot for cyclists and mountain bike riders, with its gradient terrain, sweeping downhill loops and narrow ridges proving increasingly popular with local enthusiasts, especially on the area known as the Warren.
However, disgruntled residents are said to have been deliberately blocking certain routes in an attempt to discourage and prevent riders from using them.
One local rider became so fed-up with the issue, he arranged a clean-up operation on the trails.
Nick Ball, 32, from Caerphilly, organised the mass ride which saw over 50 riders from across South Wales descend upon Caerphilly Castle, before heading up the mountain to clear the strewn debris.
He said: “The trails in question are basically just desire lines that riders use to keep off the main walkers’ paths that are full of dog walkers or families, so it makes sense to use an alternative path when riding, as it’s ultimately safer for everyone.
“It came to the point when you could not ride down a track unless you had first walked up to ensure there had been nothing put on a corner.
“I have personally been riding that side of the mountain since I could ride a bike as a kid. I like riding there because it’s easily accessible, so there’s no need to load the car up to travel just to ride a bike.
“We spent the day on Sunday clearing logs, branches, stumps, roots, stones and wire from the tracks. How long they stay clear is unknown, nothing seems to be being done to prevent it.”
Nathan Manning, 28, from Penarth, is a member of South Wales Mountain Biking, and said: “Over the last 18 months, the local mountain bike trails in Caerphilly have fallen victim to sabotage.
“The majority are supportive of the trails and use them in harmony with us mountain bikers but some have recently taken to laying obstacles.
“We had verbally agreed with locals that they would stop sabotaging trails and initially began to clear them for use again, but recently the trails have seen stones, rocks, logs and even large trees laid across with no warning to mountain bike riders.
“It is a matter of public safety now as many children and teenagers use these trails.
“We want to raise awareness of the dangers of trail sabotage before someone is injured or worse.”
Trails at the Warren have previously been removed by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) as a result of 12 undocumented complaints, a Freedom of Information request revealed.
Peter Cloke, Deputy Regional Land Manager from Natural Resources Wales, said: “Our forests are a great place for people to walk and ride and enjoy the outdoors.
“We’re aware of a dispute between some users of the forest and local residents.
“The two groups have now come to an agreement which we hope will allow them to continue to enjoy their own interests in the forest.”
However, by Wednesday September 14, trails had once again been obstructed, suggesting tensions still exist between the two parties.
Such a childish and dangerous approach to a problem. “I don’t like this so I’m going to hurt people”
In a nation of increasingly obese children and adults the more biking thats done the better.
Great to see this positive action by the riders. South Wales has been the breeding ground for some of the world’s best mountain bikers, and a recent data set from the Office of National Statistics showed the MTB sub-economy is worth £300 million to the Scottish economy, suggesting similar numbers for Wales too. The idiots setting traps not only endanger life, they also hamper growth of one of the few growth sectors in the region. Hopefully NRW and the police will act swiftly and harshly to punish the culprits to the maximum limits set out in law.
Hundreds of riders use these trails on a regular basis for exercise and enjoyment of the woodland. The trails are not on the Caerphilly woodland trust land nor have they damaged or cut down any trees. Hundreds of mountain bikers recently opposed the LDP and are proud of and respect the local natural environment (I see no litter left by mountain bikers unlike numerous bags of dog poo, camping equipment and rubbish left in the woods by others) it’s inspiring to see people in the local community coming together to clear the trails, but I’m sure the time could be better spent on a organised litter pick or volunteer day if the trails were left alone by spiteful individuals trying to put peoples safety at risk.
I was one of the 50 plus riders on the day and I for one think these person should be punished, one day someone WILL be badly hurt, and there will be no one held responsible, the sad thing is NOTHING will be done UNTIL someone gets hurt,
Come on NRW pull your finger out
There are people who just like to stop other people doing what they themselves are unable to do.
This attitude seems to be rife in Caerphilly at the moment. Whether it be bike riding of various types or running in races or any type of healthy fun, there is always someone who wants to stop it. Often these people seldom leave their armchairs yet they claim these events and activities affect their lives adversely.
Sad, sad people.
Yes there is a bit of that Pete, but the real issue is ever declining free space as housing estates are built on every bit of ground in the Caerffili basin. I love spending time outdoors and at my tiime of life enjoy walking and camping.
In my youth I learned to ride motorcycles ‘on the rough’ as the plentiful empty spaces were called in the 1970’s. A young person would now find all sorts of restrictions on where they could ride as the open spaces reduce in size. Today cyclists, horse riders and walkers have to use the same small areas. We need to work out how to co-exist and, by and large, we do.
The isssue with ‘events’ is a different problem, roads are closed for hours on end preventing people from earning the rent money, visiting ill relatives and confining the elderly to their homes. I do not exagerate as for the last two years road closures have cost me 19% of my week’s wages as I have been unable to work on the Sundays that cycle events are held.
Running races and cycle races are not too much of an inconvenience as the duration of road closures is of a modest length of time. The problems appear when the council officers think that closing roads all day on a Sunday is fine as they always have this day off. This is not the case for people who work in retail, continuous process industry, hospitality, NHS and a host of other sectors who find themselves grossly inconvenienced, out of pocket or both in order to allow cyclists or runners to use the public highway exclusively.
Let us all live together and think about how our hobbies, however worthy in themselves, impact on other people and how we can minimise inconvenience for our fellow human beings. Personally I would love the roads of the Borough to be closed to cars for several hours on, let’s say, one Monday a year so me and several hundred other motorcyclists could fully enjoy the open road. On reflection though I would feel too guilty about the disruption to the lives of other people and realise that we have to share what we have.
Yes Pete too true, there are sadly some folk who deliberately interfere into other people’s business simply to course mischief and misery, or to stop people enjoying something that has no bearing on their sorry sad little lives. These miserable individuals would not lift a finger to do anything positive for the community they live in yet they whine, complain and sabotage anything anybody else does.