Everything you need to know about the new Oakwell Hall Mountain Bike Trail

Interview with Gordon McMinn, Chair of Ride Kirklees

Oakwell Hall and Country park in Birstall has recently opened a new mountain bike trail in part of the more underused woodland that runs alongside the M62. The trail was developed by the Oakwell rangers and a local mountain bike advocacy group – Ride Kirklees  (you can join their Facebook Group here).

The trail has been built by Bike Track, a well respected and professional trail construction company, who are responsible for a number of mountain bike facilities, including Leeds Urban Bike Park and Lady Cannings in Sheffield.

Gordon McMinn is the chair of Ride Kirklees and is responsible for developing the Oakwell bike track and for setting up the advocacy group. He worked at Oakwell as a ranger for a number of years and is a keen mountain biker with a passion for encouraging people to get outside and take part in adventurous activities. He currently works at an outdoor residential centre run by Kirklees Council, and knows first hand how important it is to get young people out and engaging with the natural environment.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your family?

I am a father of 3 girls aged 1 and a half, 4 and 6 years old and an extremely keen mountain biker. I’ve always had a passion for adventure and ‘playing out’, spending over 20 years skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing. My main passion now is mountain biking, and when I’m not spending time with my family or working, I’ll be out riding my bike on the hills and moors around Huddersfield and the surrounding areas. However when I am spending time with my family, I’m usually getting them ready to go out and ride bikes or go exploring.

I work as an outdoor instructor at Cliffe House in Shepley where I lead groups of school children in a range of activities from pond and woodland studies to archery, canoeing, walking and of course mountain biking.

Why did you want to build a bike trail at Oakwell Hall?

Through my experience of running guided mountain bike rides with young people, I found that in most cases they don’t have the technical skills to tackle some of the rough off road terrain around the moors and hills in Huddersfield, and the closest places to go and develop those skills (at the time) were Lady Cannings, Parkwood springs and Grenoside woods in Sheffield.

I felt that one thing that Kirklees was missing was a place where I could coach the skills needed, or where the kids could go safely on their own or with friends and family to get used to riding something other than tarmac or canal paths.

I worked as a ranger at Oakwell for a number of years and knew the site well, it has all the facilities for a family to have a great day out on their bikes – a carpark, cafe, friendly staff and a playground. It’s also situated in an area that doesn’t have much for young people to do, so it was an ideal place to develop the first purpose built track in Kirklees.

Can you tell us a bit about the process of building the trail?

It’s been a pretty intense and lengthy process to be honest. It all started with the idea of getting a group of fellow riders to grab some shovels and go into the woods to hand build a trail. After a  couple of conversations with Oakwell staff, and plotting a rough line of the trail, we decided it was a good plan, and told the council what we were thinking about doing. The council then informed us that it was a great idea, and if we were to do it, it had to be done properly by a professional company, and there was possibly some funding to get it done.

It then came down to me to write a funding application to the area committee, which was accepted and provided the majority of the cash needed. I wrote a couple more bids to Sport England and the Big Lottery Fund and we had enough money for the trail.

After that it was a case of putting the contract out to tender, selecting the best contractor and letting them get on with building it.

What was the most challenging part of this project?

Writing the bids for the money was probably the hardest part of the whole process. Researching and gathering together all the information needed was a painstaking task, and meant hours sat behind a computer putting it all together, and then waiting to find out if all the hard work was going to pay off.

What ages or abilities would you recommend the trail for?

The trail is blue graded, which means it has some technical features like berms (banked corners) rock gardens and some moderate gradients, but it was designed so that it allows any one of any ability to experience mountain biking and progress and develop.

The brief set out to Bike Track was that we wanted a kid on a balance bike to be able to learn how to ride ‘off road’, but also have a trail that would be fun for seasoned riders. The great thing about this track is that if you’ve never ridden that type of trail then you can easily roll along it and start to build the skills needed.I am planning on taking my 3 year old over on her balance bike soon, and my youngest has been down on a wee ride.

What advice do you have for families who would like to start riding together?

The most important thing is to make it fun. It doesn’t have to be about going any distance to start with, just riding to a play park or cafe. There are a few country parks that have story trails, for instance Anglers park in Wakefield has a circular ‘room on the broom’ trail and Sherwood pines has a ‘gruffalo’ trail. These are great because it’s not just about the ride, but the inbetween bit as well.

Places like the Trans Pennine Trail from Dunford bridge to Penistone was where I got my girls really riding. It’s pretty flat with loads of benches to stop for snacks and bits of woodland to go and explore, and a fairy trail with toys and fairy doors.

Oakwell will be a great place to start riding as a family. Obviously there is the trail, but there is also a bridleway that links the hall with the play park and there is a cafe with good cake, coffee and ice-cream.

The other important part is the kit, especially food and treats. It takes a lot of energy for those little legs to keep going. Being able to fuel little ones up regularly is essential. Then there is clothing – plenty of layers to keep them warm and dry. We also have an array of different accessories as well, including a ‘wee ride’ (a seat that attaches to my handlebars and seat, so my youngest is sat up front), a trail gator (which attaches my middle childs bike to my wifes when she gets tired) and a trailer. These accessories mean you can go further and carry more kit, and if they get tired out you can still get home.

What kind of reaction has the trail had from the community so far?

The feedback has been amazing. There has been so many positive comments on our facebook pages from seasoned riders to families, and it’s not just riders, walkers and horse riders have commented on how great it is to see people out enjoying Oakwell.

The best reaction for me has been seeing the smiles and the excitement on the faces of kids and adults and the amount of people just chatting at the start of the trail. There is a great feeling around it.

There has,however been some negative comments, mainly from walkers who have ‘always’ walked in that part of the park, but that was to be expected. It’s new, and it will take time for people to get used to it.

Can you tell us a bit about Ride Kirklees and how families can get involved?

Ride Kirklees is an advocacy group that aims to promote responsible riding on all the shared trails and paths in Kirklees and beyond. We work alongside Ride Sheffield, Ride Calderdale, Wakefield District mountain bike groups and the Kirklees Bridleways association, trying to secure and improve access for riders.

A lot of the work we are doing revolves around public rights of way, where we are working with the council and landowners to improve access and develop the bridleway network. We are working on a number of projects at the moment, with the main ones being the ‘Be nice say Hi’ campaign and also ‘trash free trails’ both of which are about looking after the environment and being responsible and respectful to other user groups.

People can get involved in loads of ways – promoting Oakwell and Ride Kirklees through social media, joining us on trail maintenance days, picking up trail side litter and saying Hi to other trail users to promote the  #trashfreetrails and #benicesayhi campaigns.

One of the main things people can do is let us know if a bridleway or trail is in a bad state, so we can repair them.

Thank you Gordon for sharing your story for us and bringing this exciting new trial to our community!

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