[Closed] 'The Jungle Run' Filming in The Wyre Forest

Very nice!

I love that trail. Apart from the new flight of steps at the entrance.

It saddens me that people are promoting these trails in the Wyre Forest on a popular forum. The videos being shown are all in the Natural England part of the Wyre Forest where mountain biking is supposed to be forbidden.

We all know that riding is popular on these trails, but currently there are serious issues about logs being placed over trails which are likely to cause serious injury.

The facebook group has a worrying thread on it that indicates that some riders are willing to confront the person who is endangering peoples lives.

Publicising videos of trails which are great to ride on but is forbidden will encourage more riders to visit the area, as will the recent article in Singletrack magazine.

Would anyone who frequents the Wyre Forest on a regular basis be willing to form a small group to formally approach the forestry commission on this issue. Mountain biking in Wyre Forest is not going to go away, the FC need to realise this but it needs to be handled with care and we need to get them to listen and take action.

I would be interested in your thoughts on this.

very nice. rode there loads over the last year or so and just waiting to get over an injury so i can get back up there.

nick

yep, those steps are a pain but if you start through the water like on the vid you can avoid them!

Nicely made vid - I guess it's not possible if you were just self-filming but some camera movement would add to it I reckon, either just panning/tilting or (even better) dolly-type shots with a slider.

I've got a cool monopod that lets you fake some short dolly type moves (561BHDV).

yeah bit repetitive use of the same camera positions? not that i can do any better! i like seeing some distant shots and high up vantages that let you see the trail better. keep going (but don't get into trouble..)

grum what monopod is that?

You can always cheat some camera movement with pan and scan.

The facebook group has a worrying thread on it that indicates that some riders are willing to confront the person who is endangering peoples lives.

Excuse me? You tell me you bump into a guy who you see actively trying to knock people off their bikes, and you're [i]NOT[/i] going to stop and give him a bit of verbal? 😕

Would anyone who frequents the Wyre Forest on a regular basis be willing to form a small group to formally approach the forestry commission on this issue. Mountain biking in Wyre Forest is not going to go away, the FC need to realise this but it needs to be handled with care and we need to get them to listen and take action.

If you mean the issue of "Stick Man"? Then yes, very much so, as will no doubt a number of others on the facebook group... Though your post is confusing, cos it reads as if you're making out that people riding on the trails in the Wyre is the "issue" so to speak...

composite - this one:

Manfrotto 561BHDV-1

Would anyone who frequents the Wyre Forest on a regular basis be willing to form a small group to formally approach the forestry commission on this issue.

One of my friends who I sometimes ride in Wyre with, a bright, eloquent fella, director of his own company, spoke with someone at F.C in Wyre about a way forward a year or so ago too. He was frankly stonewalled and told we have Cannock to go and "play" in. I have my own views , which I'm not going to go into here, concerning Natural England's involvement in parts of the forest and also to do with the relationship between horse owners and forest management and shall we say "politics" ? on that front.
As far as riding is concerned and there is obviously massive scope here, I'm in two minds. For the greater part I think maybe all is best left well alone and that what levels of tolerance there seem to be, continue. Alternatively it all gets bought to a head, assuming F.C will "come to the table", at which point I fear things could backfire and it all gets screwed over for the locals and regulars, who generally go about their business in the way they do now, largely left alone and enjoying the patch and their "knowledge". Which, for now is probably best guarded a little.
Just my thoughts.

I'm guilty of posting a vid (no where near as good as some) and after reading the above won't be attempting more, as said best leave it to those of us with The Knowledge as i wouldn't want to lose this valuable resource due to over use and conflict

I was only chatting with some mates the other night about your vid RD, common thoughts were for it's well edited start and finish points for most of the sections. Nicely disguised, we thought. Good work !
Btw. I really do like the video in this thread too, good bit o filmaking.

Have you filmed that in slow motion? Sticking it on double speed makes it look more normal.

As for promoting the wyre on forums/vids, tut tut. You are just adding to the friction with will no doubly end up with attempted bans for riders

It's a nice vid, but I'm also of the opinion that it's a bit irresponsible filming and naming such obviously out of bounds riding.
There's cheek (trails of dubious legality) and there's outright cheek and I think notice shouldn't be drawn to riding in areas where there are loads of "NO BIKES" signs.
Not saying I've never ridden that trail, but I wouldn't advertise it in public... 😉

jesterthefirst - Member
It saddens me that people are promoting these trails in the Wyre Forest on a popular forum. The videos being shown are all in the Natural England part of the Wyre Forest where mountain biking is supposed to be forbidden.

We all know that riding is popular on these trails, but currently there are serious issues about logs being placed over trails which are likely to cause serious injury.

The facebook group has a worrying thread on it that indicates that some riders are willing to confront the person who is endangering peoples lives.

Publicising videos of trails which are great to ride on but is forbidden will encourage more riders to visit the area, as will the recent article in Singletrack magazine.

Would anyone who frequents the Wyre Forest on a regular basis be willing to form a small group to formally approach the forestry commission on this issue. Mountain biking in Wyre Forest is not going to go away, the FC need to realise this but it needs to be handled with care and we need to get them to listen and take action.

I would be interested in your thoughts on this.

I may have misinterpreted this, but that reads like it is ok for locals to ride the areas where mtbing is forbidden, but nobody else should.

grum - Member

composite - this one:

www.vimeo.com/26869155

Manfrotto 561BHDV-1

grum, it looks like a nice piece of kit.
Is it the ball joint at the top of the "mini tripod" that allows that dolly type movement?
I guess it only gives the "dolly effect" for short shots otherwise you get the rotational movement?

Yeah that's right - and yes it only works for pretty short 'moves'. Very quick to move around and set up as well.

CaptJon wrote:

I may have misinterpreted this, but that reads like it is ok for locals to ride the areas where mtbing is forbidden, but nobody else should.

You could read it that way, but I'll wager it's more to do with the fairly small number of riders using these trails trying to keep under the radar and not having the place over-run with bikes, so that people are forced to take action.

I always wondered why when I asked for route information people were tight lipped.

somouk - Member
I always wondered why when I asked for route information people were tight lipped

Nah, it's cause the leader tend to know where they are, and everyone else just follows blindely (really, it happens quite a lot).
TBH I found the magic garden/JR because of video's on youtube, giving me a rough direction/location to search for it. Though when riding with the Sunday crew (WyreFB group I believe) they also took us down it (several months later), so it's not always the case ppl aren't willing to share, just sometimes it easier to show you than try to describe where these trails are.

I tend to keep away from the sensitive areas in the Wyre, if everyone did this there would be no conflict. Sadly it's not the case

Z1ppy...Tend to agree, difficult to describe how to locate some stuff easily.

Mantastic...Also agree with you. There are bits which are obviously sensitive and in some cases rightly so too, from a conservation P.o.V, which probably shouldn't be ridden at all, two "trails" I can think of in particular. There is plenty to find without taking the pee. 😉

Blimey, we are only filming trails that only locals will know about, almost impossible to find if you don't know where they are, and yes i have had meetings with natural England to try and put a trailquesting event on through the forest, but as they own half and fc own other half it felt like we were banging our heads against a brick wall, and that to just use fire-roads and bridleways!! seems like the horsey community know which backs to scratch!
As for the filming yes we want to get someone in to do a bit of panning, we have built a slider to mount the camera but need someone to either operate it or ride in the film, we think 2 bikes look better than 1!!

this was our first film which for some reason didnt cause as much of a stir and yet was a lot more 'cheeky' than our second!!

I enjoyed the video, Wyre forest trails are pretty fun. I've been on a couple of rides with a local guy and rode some awesome flowy singletrack. Need to get back over there soon.

Thanks for the response.

My post was not meant to be confusing. By showing videos of the trails on forums, you tube etc the Wyre is becoming popular with mountain bikers. Because of this, people are exploring more and riding in areas that are sensitive and forbidden. So much so, that a local person is now putting logs across these trails which are going to cause a serious accident in due course. The FC appear to be turning a blind eye to this action which is being perceived by the locals as criminal/malicious activity?

The Wyre has a family mountain bike route so the FC are encouraging mountain biking at the family level so they can't say we cannot ride there. Therefore, policing MTBing in the Wyre is very hard for them, but they have created this situation. Walkers do not stay on the posted walking routes, so are they that naive to believe that Mtbikers would not explore too?

I suppose the point of my post was to ask is it ok for the FC to promote Mtbing on a small scale, yet ignore malicious activity on the forbidden trails? Do they not have a duty of care to all users of the forest? Do we wait for that fatal/serious accident and be banned permanently or do we approach the FC and ask them to do something about it and be banned anyway?

i agree with the fact the person putting logs across trails has got to be stopped, do they realise this could result in a fatality, especially when night riding, it happened to myself and several of the folks i ride with, not very nice for sure.
I think the forestry are really missing the point with mountain bikers, i have been up there when they have had pony and trap racing ripping up the forest with disregard for anyone or thing in there way, yet 99% of bikers are polite and courteous when coming across other forest users, in fact most like myself ride away from the visitor centre to avoid annoying anyone

There's cheek (trails of dubious legality) and there's outright cheek and I think notice shouldn't be drawn to riding in areas where there are loads of "NO BIKES" signs.

[img] [/img]

Thank god that rider has hidden his identity with his helmet, eh?

😉

after much debate we are going to return to the forest and carry on filming, maybe not name the runs and leave it to the viewers to guess where we are!! if any of you who showed an interest in the actual filming side of things want to help out then maybe we can meet up and get some panning and sliding shots in, we are sure this will give us the quality of film we would like to achieve

Despite some concerns about future riding in Wyre. I hope that no one wanted you to stop film making. The vids are ace !
May bump into you at some point. The brother of one of the guys I ride with is working hard with action sport filming, himself. He really liked the two you've posted up lately.

wow, thanx, that is a compliment indeed, we are keen to film again, just hoping to rope in someone to either ride or help out with camera, as there is only the two of us it restricts the angles we can use, we will be posting videos on vimeo and i will put a link on here to start another debate,lol!!

Maybe restrict your filming to the bridleways and Kinlet if you're worried about it ?
Although, with no sign posts, it's hard to tell when you've strayed from the official Kinlet Mountain Bike Area over in to Pound Green, where one of the Parish Council candidates promised to continue try to prevent mountain bikers riding if he got re-elected.

we will go for the no signposts idea!! just make up some new names for the runs and see if folks can work out where we are!!

I don't understand the worry over a 'ban' on mountain bikes in the Wyre when all the decent trails are 'cheeky' anyway.

Surely it wont make an ounce of difference and everyone will just continue to ride there until the Government sort their idiotic access laws out?

Great vid btw, thoroughly enjoyed that.....just wish I knew how to find the trail 😉

thanks, was riding in there Monday night, those cheeky trails just keep getting better!! we will be filming again, cant decide which run to do, any suggestions??

jezza - 3 bears, jedi, garlic and technical caravan would be good areas for filming

As for conflict in the wyre, I have seen the workings of stick man but other than that in 7 years of riding the forest almost weekly both during the weekend and at night I have never had any conflict with other forest users. Think things get blown out of proportion sometimes, if you ride with consideration for the environment and other people there is little to upset anyone, it is usually minority things that spoil things, maybe stick man was clipped by someone on an mtb who couldn't slow down/didn't slow down/was using cheeky trail etc, the action of one can affect the perception of all.

Ankle cracker?

"As for conflict in the wyre, I have seen the workings of stick man but other than that in 7 years of riding the forest almost weekly both during the weekend and at night I have never had any conflict with other forest users. Think things get blown out of proportion sometimes, if you ride with consideration for the environment and other people there is little to upset anyone, it is usually minority things that spoil things, maybe stick man was clipped by someone on an mtb who couldn't slow down/didn't slow down/was using cheeky trail etc, the action of one can affect the perception of all."

Its not the other users you need to worry about, the FC have been looking for excuses to ban bikes from the main froest for a few years now. Publishing this stuff on websites will only assist in their arguement. I have met a couple of the FC guys and they hate bike being on the cheeky stuff as these areas are required for conservation purposes. They are looking for any excuse for a full ban. It wont take long for them to find some of these clips, they are not stupid.

Fingers cross it dont come to a ban, but we could be shooting ourselves in the foot

the FC have been looking for excuses to ban bikes from the main froest for a few years now

Ppl keep saying this but exactly how would they go about enforcing such a ban?
They already have a policy of no-mtbing in the main forest... it's not stopped anyone yet has it?

I ride regularly in a wood where they put up 6 ft fences & (6ft) kissing gates, to try to stop bicycle access (it was BMX & dirt jumper causing some erosion issues), do you know who it actually stopped? Parents with pushchairs...

PS: I'm not being adversarial for the sake of it, just interested in what ppl think they could do to stop riding?
I mean would they have the power to stop riders and confiscate bikes? (as per the army land thread, IIRC)

When we have met FC people in the main forest they have never said more than a greeting to us, where has this rumour/myth/fact that FC want mtb's banned perpetuated from? We used to regularly have a pint with one of the rangers in the duke on a weds night, he was very pro mtb and actively sought our opinions on how to develop mtb'ing in the forest.

They used to rally in wyre forest. AFAIK one or two people got it "banned" for eco reasons.

It's odd for me - we first started riding in there about '91 or '92 - you'd never get anyone venturing more than about 200 meters from the visitor centre.
On return visits from that time, you can see a huge growth amount of cheeky trails.
However, a lot of the forest is not natural and will be managed and farmed.
Banning bikes is more about the English cancer of banning and preventing anything you dont like or agree with. We are a diseased, bitter and unpleasant race.

Pepsi Max.

thanks for the suggestions, think i know all of them, some by other names, not sure about jedi and garic and as for ankle cracker that really lives up to its name!!

Just found this post while looking for locals I could ask about current trail conditions... any good at the mo?

While on the subject though - I always steer clear of the sections that clearly state no biking, and tend to ride on weekdays and evenings to avoid running into walkers, and drawing attention to trails.
That said - it's a (relatively) big place, and due to the unmarked and generally well hidden nature of the trails, as long as people do use common sense - apart from the odd vigilante rambler, I hope we can continue to ride there without trouble for a long time to come.

Id suggest the increased traffic over the last 15 years (I first rode there back in '98) is in line with the increase in the popularity of biking generally. That said, if anything is going to increase traffic further - it's the growing number of videos showing how good the riding is, in conjunction with GPS routes and apps like Strava.

Enjoyed the OP's vid, btw - good fun, think I'll have to get back down soon

I spent some happy days seeking out some of my old favourites and some new ones last year, also put together a couple of helmetcam videos mostly for my own enjoyment (on the same trail, i think...?)

[url=

Forest Helmetcam[/url]

just got back from riding in the forest, conditions were really good, surprised me just the odd bit of mud here and there trying to catch you out!! had a look at your vid and it looks like the same place to me!!
have you seen our other vid
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