Bike facilities get EVEN better at Avon Tyrrell thanks to fresh funding

The leading youth work charity UK Youth has further enhanced the off-road cycling facilities for young people and the local community at its Avon Tyrrell Activity Centre in the New Forest. £8,000 raised at last summers’ annual ‘Big Bike Bash’ and a recent £2,000 grant from the New Forest National Park Authority have been used to make the improvements.

The money has been invested in improving existing sections of bike trails and new ‘north-shore’  decking at the 65 acre site near Bransgore as well as a fleet of new bikes and training for instructors who cater to growing demand for biking skills sessions. The work has just been completed and further support from the bike industry and the CTC (National Cyclists’ Organisation) has ensured great deals to make the money go as far as possible.

Louis Bonney, UK Youth’s Director of Fundraising said “ It’s great to have a place where people of all ages can come and have fun and learn new bike skills in a fantastic environment. We are really grateful to all those that support UK Youth’s work with young people and the local community who make events like the Big Bike Bash such a success! We hope to continue investing in cycling opportunities for all in the coming years.”

To keep the fundraising for cycling momentum, this year’s Big Bike Bash www.bigbikebash.co.uk event takes place on the weekend of August 18^th/19^th. A celebration of all things mountain-biking, music and real ale Avon Tyrrell is the ideal setting for the event which is supported by a range of sponsors including local companies and organisations, the bike industry as well as an army of local cycling club volunteers.

Aimed at the keen mountain biker or the happy amateur, the event will have more riders, prizes, bands, and beer than ever before. The cross-country racecourse is 5 km of twisty single-track that includes water crossings and north-shore and there are unique competitions like pint-to-pint racing, malt loaf eating and the famous lake jump.

The weekend is perfect for the whole family, with live music, DJs, a beer festival and plenty of activities to keep non-bikers and children entertained.

Ticket prices for this year’s event, with overnight camping available, are £40 per adult and £20 for under 18’s for those who want to take part in any of the competitions and for those that simply want to soak up the atmosphere, enjoy the music and beer festival, tickets are £10. Under 12’s tickets with an adult cost just 1p.

If you would like to be a part of this year’s event or would like to know more about UK Youth and its work with young people at Avon Tyrrell contact Louis, Catherine or Anne on 01425 672347, email bigbikebash@ukyouth.org and visit www.bigbikebash.co.uk . Find this event on Eager Beaver by clicking here.

A Quick update from the team behind HOTS 2012 on the 19^th May – 20^th May, 2012:

Plans for the second Heaven of the South Mountain Bike Endurance event are well under way in Kingswood, near Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire.

Last year saw 250 hardy mountain bike enthusiasts take to the trails and roads around the beautiful Cotswold countryside.  This year organizers are hoping to attract around 400 participants.  The riders are given the option of either a 75k or 50k ride which will take them through scenic valleys and woodland, climbing steep hills and negotiating swooping downhill descents. HOTS is a fantastic opportunity to explore one of the most beautiful parts of the country on two wheels!

With just over £4,000 raised last year for local charities including Bristol Children’s Hospital, HOTS  are aiming to raise over £6,000 this year and with your help feel they can achieve this.

The event starts on Friday afternoon when riders make their way to Kingswood Playing Field where they can pitch their tents and get settled.  Catering, this year, has been organised using members of the local community and as last year there will be a bar and local band to entertain the riders on the Saturday evening.  The Event starts at 9:00am on Saturday morning, all riders start at the same point and ride the first few miles together.  At the first check point and after enjoying a flap-jack and some water, the rides split into the 75k or 50k route…. Many of the riders waiting until this point to make their choice of ride dependent on weather and how they are feeling!

One highlight of last year’s event will also be repeated this year – Roller Racing!  Two static bikes, one large timer screen and two riders competing against each other for the fastest time to “sprint” the distance!  Even after a hard days riding, this still proved to be extremely popular and the Organisers are sure there are some battles to be revisited this year!  Details of the Roller Racing can be found at www.southcoastsprints.co.uk/news.html

HOTS look forward to welcoming you to their event, for more details visit the events listing on EB at here!

Eager Beaver is delighted to announce the launch of Evans Cycles 2012 Classic and Challenge RideIt! series. Evans Cycles RideIt! is the ultimate cycling series with over 42 classic events spread over 24 weekends for mountain bike and sportive riders to keep you in the saddle all year round. We are pleased to welcome some exciting new hand-picked partners to the RideIt! prestige who will be adding to the classic RideIt! experience.

Evans Cycles philosophy is to design great rides that are affordable and enjoyable for all, and in its fourth successful year, that is just what we have done. RideIt! is still the only organised cycling series to make a date with. The rides are designed by cyclists for cyclists, so we know what makes a good ride. In fact, Evans Cycles detailled that only when their rides have been tried, tested and got the ‘thumbs up’ do they get included in the Classic RideIt! series.

For those seeking adrenalin busting cycling, hail the return of our Challenge Series. King of the Downs, 27^th May & King of the Pennines, 19^th August are back, bigger, better and bolshier  than ever. These Sportive rides know how to put sportive riders through their paces, plus riders who sign up for both Challenge rides get a free RideIt! training ride to any 2012 event.*

King of the Downs punches well above its weight with 113 miles of tarmac, and 10 killer climbs to conquer! While its northern sister, King of the Pennines is a true contender, with 101 miles spread over 11.000Ft of climbing and highs of 1913Ft! These rides will test stamina, endurance and egos!

Our 2012 RideIt! series includes some great features for riders to enjoy with the introduction of Garmin GPS hire units for elevated navigation, free High5 products for advanced sports nutrition, Osprey sample packs for active travel solutions and Gore Bike Wear with fantastic sample clothing to try. Plus look out for more brilliant offers, giveaways and RideIt! competitions all year-round.

All the RideIt events dates are live on Eager Beaver... logg in and check them out!

Action Medical Research Charity Events- Now online!

Eager Beaver is keen to promote all types of cycling up and down the UK... a major and growing part of the UK's cycling scene are charity events and cycle sportives. We are proud to now host all of the 2012 Action Medical Research affiliated charity events.

If you wish to find out more about Action Medical Research, please visit: www.action.org.uk.

Logg in to find out more about each event!

Eager Beaver is proud to announce one of the UK's best and biggest charity biking events- The Big Bike Bash 2012!!

The Big Bike Bash is a celebration of all things mountain biking, 500 riders and their families attended the event in 2011, then in its 3rd year. Grant Fielder opened the new jump track facilities. The event was a huge success, and raised £10,000 for the country’s leading youth work charity, UK Youth, which helps disadvantaged young people across the UK. The money raised is going into further off-road bike tracks and trail facilities for young people at Avon Tyrrell, building on previous events’ successes.

The Big Bike Bash 2012 will be bigger and better with more to see and do for the whole family, aimed at both the keen mountain biker and the happy amateur with events for every level of rider, including under-12s.  The cross-country racecourse made up of 3.5 miles of sweet, twisty single-track, river-crossings, boardwalk, gravity and pump tracks, and the events unique Lake Jump proved to be massive hits last year! Avon Tyrrell, UK Youth’s New Forest headquarters, provides the perfect setting and it is the perfect festival for the whole family, with two days of live music and DJ’s, a real ale and cider festival and many special activities to keep the kids entertained.

As with last year, the Big Bike Bash’s top quality facilities include on-site camping areas, loos, showers, bike doctors and trade areas. Ticket prices for this year’s event are kept the same at £40 per adult and £20 for under 18’s for those who want to take part in any of the competitions and for those that simply want to soak up the festivals atmosphere, enjoy the music and beer festival, tickets are £10. Under 12’s tickets cost 1p – all ticket prices include camping.

If you would like to be a part of this year’s event or would like to know more about what goes on, please contact Nick Clark 07921 092834 or Matt Treviss on 07854 556138 or visit www.bigbikebash.co.uk

About UK Youth

UK Youth is the leading national youth work charity supporting over 750,000 young people, 40,000 volunteers and 7,000 youth clubs, groups and projects across the UK.  UK Youth helps young people to raise their aspirations, realise their potential and have their achievements recognized through non-formal educational and volunteering opportunities.

About Avon Tyrrell

Situated in 65 acres of beautiful grounds in the New Forest Hampshire, Avon Tyrrell has since 1946 been providing new experiences & opportunities for thousands of young people. As UK Youth’s National Activity & Residential Centre, around 20,000 young people visit each year for holidays, training courses and to participate in outdoor activities. The Centre provides full-board facilities in the ‘Arts & Crafts’ Grade 1 listed Avon Tyrrell House, and self-catering facilities within the listed estate, as well as being open to day visits for the local community.

Big Bike Bash website: www.bigbikebash.co.uk <http://www.bigbikebash.co.uk/>
UK Youth website: www.ukyouth.org <http://www.ukyouth.org/>
Avon Tyrrell website: www.avontyrrell.org.uk <http://www.avontyrrell.org.uk/>  
UK Youth cycling team website: www.teamukyouth.co.uk <http://www.teamukyouth.co.uk/>

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Eager Beaver in our travels and various ramblings with cyclists up and down the UK have heard a lot about a brand new cyclo-park due to open shortly. Naturally this got us excited and desired to find out more info- Well, last week Eager Beaver visited the brand new cycling development located just south of Gravesend in Kent. Its situated within easy access of the M25, A2 and Ebbsfleet International Station so, from a cycling perspective- if you have distance to travel- it’s a piece of cake!!

BUT- is it really worth the trip?

We decided to take a look and see what’s been happening and explore what all the fuss is about. Its being marketed as ‘Kent’s new activity place’. With an aim ‘to bring first class cycling, running and extreme sports facilities to north Kent and be one of the leading multi sport centres in the south of England’. Sounds ambitious doesn’t it?!

For something to live up to that statement its got to be impressive. During our visit, on a nice sunny, but chilly windy day we got a tour of the:

• Cycle track 2.9km long 6m wide (possibility to extend to 5.3km)
• 6km Mountain Bike Track with separate trails for differing abilities
• 1400m2 Skate Park
• 600m2 multi-use games area
• 340m BMX track
• Pavilion
• Easy access facilities
• Onsite parking

Having only seen computer generated images via the parks website (www.cyclopark.com), I am dubious as to what to expect as computer aided designs tend to paint an exceptionally rosy picture of the subject they are trying to portray-

However, actually there I could see the designs coming through and coming to life pretty accurately… well, it was slightly muddier as they had just started to re-plant and commenced landscaping. When I say I was surprised- I was surprised!! The hype has lived up to my expectations.

So many activities squeezed into what was a disused piece of land. The quality of the road circuit was amazing, so smooth- when combined with the fact that its 6 meters wide, I will be expecting to see some high-speed racing!! The mountain bike track snakes around the perimeter of the site, twisting, turning up and down- the routes look well balanced. A good mix of novice easy going tracks, and tracks for the advanced technical rider (potential to hurt yourself if you don’t know what your doing is huge on this track!). The BMX park is highly impressive- the track itself was designed by the same team whom did the London 2012 venue… as a result, the USA BMX team have been there ‘testing’ it (probably trying to get some sneaky practice in before the games)!

Seeing this in front of me my mind was wandering seeing the potential of the venue. I have not been so excited about a venue in a long time. All of the above tracks, routes, parks all fused harmoniously together within 43 hectares of rolling landscaped parkland! Cyclists of all types, levels and disciplines will be participating in their hobby, side by side. I truly believe that, if managed properly, this cyclo-park can become the hub for the local community. This venue is simply amazing. World class.