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Mountain Biking Management Practice Guide
John Ireland, Visitor Safety Review Co-Ordinator
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The Customers in Action from - family
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More Customers in Action
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To the Extreme
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Mountain biking: - Management and Constructionstandards.
Practice NotesPractice Notes update and furtherexpand on specific topics dealtwith in Practice Guides betweenrevisions and provide detailed“How to” information.
Practice GuidePractice Guides give backgroundinformation and providecomprehensive practicalguidance
OperationalGuide Booklet
OGBPolicy, guidance and health
and safety information
Produce a series of practicenotes/field guides on specificsubjects e.g. dirt jumps technical,timber features Signage etc
Aimed at Forest managers, Planners andPractitioners
Outputs - produced by February 08
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Outputs - produced by February 08
To provide best practice guidance on managing mountain bike facilities. Guidance needs to cover the management of existing facilities, including legal and health and safety considerations, how to manage conflicting land-uses by different user groups, how to go about setting up new mountain bike facilities, and how to control unauthorised construction. [Detailed guidance and specifications on the building and construction of facilities/apparatus would be in linked supporting publications, not in this management/best practice guide].
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Outputs - produced by February 08
The core reason behind this document is to aim and strive for a sustainable pragmatic approach to the subject that benefits both the land manager and the user.
If you follow the process outlined within this guidance you will get a good result.
Audience:
FC and private forest and other land managers.Community groups/cyclists
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What will you find in the guide?
1. Introduction
BackgroundMountain biking as a sport/description of disciplinesBenefits of mountain bikingRecognition of risk inherent in the sportImportance of safety and planning ...
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What will you find in the guide?
2. Legal framework
Health and safety legislation (GB wide)Access issues (different in countries CRoW, etc)Consideration of other forest users
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What will you find in the guide?
3. Planning a mountain bike trail/facility
Introduction to different types of trailIssues/considerations
Description of the ‘8 stages of planning’
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What will you find in the guide?
3.1 InitiationYou need to set up a project team with specialist team members experienced in the required skills to initiate, follow through and complete the project.3.2 Design and PlanningYou must capture the key information about: The site; Its status; and most importantly What is the long term objective? And why you want to build it in the first place. 3.3 Detailed information gathering It is essential that you evaluate the trail route to gather site specific information on the design of the trail.
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What will you find in the guide?3.4 Creating a specification
- in house or contract? using contractors, inspection regime, budget, OGB 3
3.5 Tender and Award OGB3
3.6 Construction process- fitness for purpose, testing,
trail opening, sign-off etc
3.7 completing work- record keeping, maintenance
3.8 Monitoring & evaluationPlanning ongoing management
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What will you find in the guide?
4. Managing/controlling unauthorised building by mountain bikers
5. References and Useful sources of informationGlossaryAppendices
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Format of the guide
It will be an interactive PDF software system The document will sit on the FC Internet system and be effectively accessed by FC Staff ,general public and other interested bodies. The information within the document, links etc can be easily navigated around and the relevant sections and topics found and printed if required or stored in an electronic format on appropriate devices e.g. pda memory stick etc and accessed in the field.
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Format of the guide
This style of system I believe will be a highly appropriate format to present the Mountain Bike Management Practice guide as opposed to the more traditional route of printed material. It will be easy to update and manage.
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Format of the guide
A real strength of the system is the ability to link easily to other web sites and organisations that feed and influence the subject as well as other FC sites.You can also easily distribute the whole document as a hard copy on CD /memory stick for example at conferences / meetings etc.
The first draft of both documents has been through internal and external peer review and is currently being revised. External feedback is that we are producing guidance that is not just nationally significant but will also be internationally definitive.
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Key points in the management of Cycle Trails
Build Management Systems InformationFit for the purpose thatthey are being marketed
Regularly Inspected andMaintained
Provision of Information
Construction Design &Management (CDM)appliesYou must be able toDemonstratecompetence ofcontractorsYou must be able toCompetence ofManagersGrade the trails (links toprovision of Information)
You must have a RobustSystemYou must know what tolook forYour inspectors must havetraining and you must beable to prove it.
InternetLeafletsOn Ground- trailhead-Way-markersAt Visitor centreVia Clubs /EventsMountain Bike press
RECORD KEEPING-keep it and be able to lay hands on it.
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Key points in the management of Cycle Trails
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Risk and management of facilities and the natural environment
Use and management of facilities and the natural environment can be complex. For cycling facilities we have identified that features used by visitors can have a complex management pattern. In simple terms they can be:
Forestry Commission facilities, such as a way marked single track trail; user built facilities such as a dirt jump park or; part of the natural environment that is largely unmanaged such as a steep rock face used by downhill riders.
In practice the situation is much more complex and we have identified 7 models of management with varying levels of duty of care and business risk. Diagram 1 sets out the overlapping responsibilities and table 2 sets out the associated business risk and duty of care. NB these examples need to be seen as a continuum not with hard edges as the degree of management by the Forestry Commission or user group will vary considerably from site to site
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Diagram1Interaction between ownership models in Cycling
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Table 2 - Business risk compared to duty of care for different management models.
Table 2- Levels of business risk compared to duty of care related todifferent management models
Managementmodel
Example Duty ofCare
Business Risk(moral, legal,financial, PR)
FC Facilities Waymarked trail High ModerateFC/ Users Club agreement
for downhill routeModerate High
FC/ Users/Environment
FC/ User jointpromote routebut no built trail
Moderate Moderate
FC/Environment
FC promoteroute but no builttrail
Moderate Moderate
User builtfacilities
Jump park withno agreement
Low High
User /Environment
Club promoteroute but no builttrail
Low Low
ForestEnvironment
Steep rock faceused by downhillriders
Low Low
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This table highlights that the land manager has the highest duty of care when we are providing facilities for the visitors.
It is reasonable to expect that these locations will be well managed and that the visitor will be as safe as possible with risks and hazards largely managed by the land manager.
In the natural environment it is reasonable for the land manager to expect visitors to take greater responsibility for their own actions and manage the risks associated with their activity and as a result they have a lower duty of care.
Business risk compared to duty of care for different management models.
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Types of Cycling,likely hood of an Accident and Associated Business Risk
Low Accident Risk High
Leisure Cyclists
(low user self reliance)
Cross CountryCyclists
(moderate user selfreliance)
SpecialistCyclists
(high user self reliance)
High Business Risk(Moral, legal, financial)
Low
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Although accidents are more likely the amongst the more specialistcyclists taking part in more challenging activity this group are unlikelyto make a claim as so far, it is contrary to the culture of the activity.
leisure cyclists may be unaware of the risks faced when cyclingand, although in reality, the risk of a serious accident is very low, theymay be more likely to claim if they are injured. Of particular concernis leisure cyclists inadvertently entering a downhill course or comingacross a jump without warning.
Genuine cross-country cyclists with some experience will expectsome technical challenge and be more wary of their environment.The chances are they will have fallen or crashed at some point.However this group may have a go at more challenging features, butin general will not be looking for someone to blame
Types of cycling,likely hood of an accident and associated business risk
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Duty of Care
Forestry Commission has the highest duty of care when we are providing facilities, it is reasonable to expect that these locations will be :- • well managed and that • visitor safety will be as safe as possible with • risks and hazards largely managed by the Forestry Commission
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Forestry Commission must manage challenging cycle areas to a level of acceptable risk and ensuring that the hazards are clearly identified before entering the site.
Ensuring that less experienced cyclists are fully informed about hazards on trails and where possible provided with easy trails to build up their experience.
Duty of Care
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Where visitors have worked with land managers to develop their own facilities or services the duty of care is shared between the visitor and the land manager. However the land manager may have less control over quality and there may be increased risks associated with the facilities. Also a general visitor to the facility may see these as the land manager’s facilities and expect the same quality of management and risk associated with other facilities that are run solely run by the land manager.
It is in these visitor-developed facilities that land managers have the highest business risk.
Business risk compared to duty of care for different management models.
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Physical Risk
Mountain biking can be a dangerous sport, and taking a few risks is part of the attraction to many who take part.
Mountain biking remains popular, particularly among men, and is considered a hazardous activity. The main risks are from:the constantly varying trail surfaces;varying terrain;natural and man-made obstacles; anda rider’s speed.
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Physical Risk
We should see fewer injuries in future as improvements are made in: safety equipment, like helmets, gloves and pads; rider training; trail design and construction techniques; and more trails available to help riders improve their skills.but this will depend on rate of growth of the sport and overall skills levels
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Accidents
We have a reporting system for serious accidents and accidents where it is considered that there are lessons to be learnt. Within this system the number of reported accidents involving members of the public is increasing:
The Compensation Act 2006 has attempted to reduce ‘ambulance chasing’ activity making it clear that courts should consider what standard of care is reasonable in a claim for negligence or breach of statutory duty. When considering what is reasonable they can take into account whether requiring particular steps to be taken to meet the standard of care would prevent or impede a desirable activity from taking place.
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Accidents
As well as the number of accidents involving members of the pubic we need to consider the severity of the accidents. The types of injuries for bike accidents in 2006/07 include:
fractures, concussion, facial injuries, suspected neck/spinal injuries,1 fatal accident.
226 Cycle accidents on FC ground in total in GB 06/07 that we know aboutThe majority of these were fractures and concussions
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Cycling Accidents 03-04 to 06-07
0102030405060708090
100
year03-04
year04-05
year05-06
year06-07
ScotlandEnglandWales
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Cycling Accidents 03-04 to 06-07
Cycling accidents reported to the FC have continued to rise in number – an increase of 502% over 4 years. All member of the public accidents reported to the FC over the same period have increased by 123%.
As an organisation we only find out about a small proportion of accidents on FC land
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Cycling Accidents detailed study 1st July - 30th Sept 07 at one trail location in Scotland
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Numberaccidents
Unknown
Blue
Red
Black
Freeride /Jump-park
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Type Cycling Accidents detailed study 1st July - 30th Sept 07 at one trail location in Scotland (hospital treated)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Head / Face / NeckTorsoUpper LimbLower Limb
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Landowners role
Ensure that your current guidance and best practice for recreational facilities are being rigorously implemented and support your staff in doing this.
If you don't do what you have said you will do then the Business risk (prosecution, claim & bad PR) is high.
Planning, Planning, Planning is the key to success whether it be a new build / maintenance or furtherdevelopment of an existing facility
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Example of current signage
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Example of the Trail grading system
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“Is this for you”
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Example of a Dirt jump facility
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Example of a well constructed Dirt jump facility
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