RideBristol Urgent Call For Volunteers To Refurbish Ashton Court's Nova Trail

Work starts in just a few days to refurbish a critical section of Ashton Court's Nova Mountain Bike Trail, in Bristol, UK.

Ride Bristol is urgently calling on volunteers to join their Dig Days to help make it happen.

They need volunteers to lend a hand on April 20th and 21st 2024 and to sign up on this link.

And, for the first time, under 18s are now welcome to attend. April 21st set aside for parents and guardians to bring the family along to get involved (ages 14+).

The work will, with the help of the community, replace the trail’s surface and rebuild, repair and replace some of the features. It’ll make the trail safer to ride, add bags of flow and remove that tired, worn-out feeling. It’ll make the trail much more enjoyable for riders of all levels.

But without more volunteers, the work can’t go ahead.


Ride Bristol Needs Your Help

The call for volunteers is urgent. With one week to go, Ride Bristol needs more volunteers if the work is to take place.

The Ride Bristol-funded project will take place on the Ashton Court Nova Trail, renovating the section of trail from the Rusty Door Sculpture down to the Picnic Benches Roundabout.

The professional trail builders from Velosolutions UK will start work on the 15th April, using machinery to do the majority of the heavy lifting. Once they’re done, it’s over to the mountain bike community to mobilise and help complete the job.

No specialist skills, training or equipment are required and volunteers will be given everything they need on the day. They need to simply sign up, show up and get involved.

Volunteers will push barrows, shovel stone, rake trails, trim vegetation and all fuelled with plenty of tea and cake from our friends at The Bike Shed Cafe. It’s fun, it’s physical and it’s extremely satisfying.

Right now 100% of the funding for Ashton Court’s mountain bike trails comes from donations to Ride Bristol. And 100% of the trail maintenance is organised by Ride Bristol and undertaken almost entirely by volunteers.

Bristol City Council and other landowners are supportive but there is no funding available to maintain the trails - it’s 100% down to the community to make it happen.

Volunteers can learn more and sign up here to help.


Anything Else You Need To Know?

The work is being delivered by Ride Bristol volunteers and VelosolutionsUK with the help of Plantforce, GRS Stone Supplies, Tarmac, The Bike Shed Cafe, Stif Mountain Bikes and Bristol City Council.

All machine work, design and technical stuff will be handled by the master mountain bike trail builders at Velosolutions, who are providing the work at an 'our local trails' rate. Ride Bristol volunteers will then complete the work.

Plantforce is providing free-of-charge machinery to the project, GRS is gifting 100 tonnes of Type 1 stone and 40 tonnes of dust, Tarmac is gifting 100 tones of Type 1 stone and The Bike Shed is providing a mountain of doughnuts and cakes. All work is done with the support of Ashton Court's landowner, Bristol City Council and the backing of Stif Mountain Bikes, Bristol.

The trails at Ashton Court are pretty special - they're a very short ride from the city, they're all-weather, free to use and suitable for riders of all levels. They're family-friendly and as fun for kids and first timers as they are more advanced riders.


Get Involved Or Donate

Remember - Ride Bristol needs YOU to make this happen.

You can sign up to join the Nova Trail Refurb here.
Can't make it? You can donate money to Bristol's mountain bike trails here.
And you can learn more about Ride Bristol at https://ridebristol.org.

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Racing and Events Trail Advocacy