22 Jan 2012 - Build day with 10 people

This build day saw us tackling the downhill section before the trail crosses the exit road for the first time. Once again We did this without a diversion, so as before the Kanga was used to rotavate one side of the trail before it was heavily brashed to allow it to settle and harden.

7 Jan 2012 - Build day with 11 people

We tackled one of the most worn out sections of the red route - the opening section. We did this without a diversion for the first time. The Kanga was used to rotavate one side of the trail before it was heavily brashed to allow it to settle and harden. The trencher was used to drain some of the large puddles. We managed to finish the whole section - quite an achievement as we start to see the productivity benefits of the Kanga. See the method statement for more details.

17 Dec 2011 - Build day with 10 people

This build day saw us tackle one more section of the red that badly needed attention near the end of the route. The Kanga Loader was used to rotavate the trail bed before sculpting using rakes. A diversion was put in place to allow the new trail bed to harden.

4 Dec 2011 - Build day with 5 people

We still needed to work on our organisation with the Kanga at the start of the day but we were a bit quicker this time. We started off by drilling holes for red route signs to improve the diversion signage we'd setup at the previous build day - which meant a bit of faffing. We then moved on to the section after Duck and Cover. The bit we'd done last time had been ridden despite the fence and clear diversion - so it all had to be re-raked and brashed some more. The rest of the section was rotovated and re-sculpted. We then got the trencher in to improve drainage. It was then well and truly blocked off to prevent idiots ruining it.

19 Nov 2011 - Build day with 14 people!

This build day was a milestone for TIMBER. Not only did we start work on fixing the remaining sections of the red route but it was the first day we were let loose with the Kanga Loader. We managed to rotovate a couple of sections on the red long loop simulating what happens on a Motorcross event (where most of the trail originate). Diversions were installed to allow these sections to compact and harden. See the method statement for more details.

6 Nov 2011 - Build day with 6 people

We'd now accelerated to one build day every 2 weeks and this was our first Sunday build day. The aim was to carry out vegetation management, removal/concealment of exposed roots and any necessary filling of pot holes on the proposed new green route. See the method statement for more details.

30 Oct 2011 - Kanga Training

A bit of a milestone as this Sunday saw us start training TIMBER volunteers to use the new Kanga Loader. More training is scheduled to allow us to train regular build day volunteers to make use of this useful bit of kit.

22 Oct 2011 - Build day with 11 people

This build day saw us back at the Tightrope section on the red route - the first section TIMBER ever worked on in the forest. We wanted to sort out the horrible tangle of roots at the start of the section and also all the rotten wood holding up the berms - that risked the section failing an FC inspection.

7-8 Oct 2011 - Dusk 'till Dawn Race

This weekend saw us putting up the TIMBER marquee again at High Lodge to try to encourage racers to join TIMBER, do a bit of fundraising and support TIMBER riders taking part in the race. Similar to the previous year, the weather was an appalling mud fest requiring dedication from riders and their supporters!

24 Sept 2011 - Build day with 8 people

The first build day for some months saw us starting some work on the Green route concentrating on vegetation management and root removal/pot hole filling duties. The idea was to bring the route up to standard and address other issues with it.

18-19 June 2011 - Bike Week

This weekend saw us invited to High Lodge to have a presence for Bike week. The weather didn't play ball for us - it was cold and wet which kept the crowds away. But we put up the TIMBER marquee and took delivery of the Kanga loader so celebrated with a few beers and a bar-b-que.

21 May 2011 - Build day with 5 people

We were asked by the FC to do some vegetation management on the blue/black routes. This would be our last build day until September for a number of reasons. The forest was so dry due to lack of rain that any work would have been undertaken in a dust bowl. Also we'd been promised some new kit which would make us more productive, so we wanted to get trained up on that before we broke our backs with spade work!

26 Mar 2011 - Build day with 12 people

We planned to fix the lead in section for the 39 steps section. The surface of this was loose and badly worn in places - not much fun at all. We installed a diversion around this section while we allowed the new trail surface to harden - we hadn't been able to compact it with Wacker plates due to the dry conditions. We re-opened the 39 steps section which had been closed for a couple of months.

24 Mar 2011 - TIMBER AGM

A uncontroversial meeting saw us set the priorities for the coming year and Graham Elliott stand for another year as chairman. We also changed our constitution to make way for CASC membership. You can read the minutes in the forum.

26 Feb 2011 - Build day with 6 people

We tried to finish off the maintenance work on the 39 steps section, which had been closed for a time to allow new trail surface repairs to harden. At the end it was as good as finished, except for the lead-in track for which we'd ran out of time. The  highlight was removing a tree stump on the following contractor build section that took 5 people nearly an hour to shift!

29 Jan 2011 - Build day with 10 people

Our first build day of 2011 saw us back at the 39 steps section on the red route removing rotten woodwork and re-aligning some of the berms as well as other general maintenance. This work was necessary to allow this section to pass an upcoming FC inspection. More details can be found in the method statement.