£250,000 cycle centre opens at Kielder this weekend
Vicky Griffin checks out the new Kielder Bike Centre (Mark Pinder)
A new £250,000 bike centre opens at Kielder Water & Forest Park in Northumberland this weekend. It is part of a bid to make the 155,000-acre wilderness one of Europe’s top outdoor destinations.
As well as offering a huge range of bikes for hire – including top-end machines from Yeti and Lapierre – the centre will stage events ranging from night rides to family sessions and outings aimed at women, school children and corporate clients.
The state-of-the-art facility, built by the Kielder Partnership, will be operated by Purple Mountain, the people who run the bike centre and cafe at Dalby Forest in Yorkshire.
Vicky Griffin, owner of Purple Mountain, said: “This is a massive move for us, but we are absolutely thrilled by the challenge. There’s a fantastic vibe in Kielder Water & Forest Park, with so much happening. The new trails are top-notch and there’s nowhere else in England where you can have such an exhilarating day in the saddle with the added chance of spying red squirrels, goshawks and even ospreys into the bargain.”
Earlier this year a 17km red-graded mountain bike trail was unveiled at Kielder, together with the 26-mile Lakeside Way which is open to bikers, walkers and horse riders. There's also a 14.2km blue trail for casual and intermediate riders and the challenging “Up and Over” black trail. A trials park is due to open this month.
Elisabeth Rowark, director of the Kielder Partnership, said: “We are forging ahead with brilliant new trails, but we need to match them with world-class facilities and the bike centre fills this role. It will be a magnet for bike fans of all abilities – from novice to expert – and will help to exploit the immense interest in off-roading in Kielder Water & Forest Park.”
The Kielder Bike Centre will open daily from 9am to 5.30pm (6pm in August). To find out more, go to www.purplemountain.co.uk. For more details on bike trails in Kielder Water & Forest Park, go to www.visitkielder.com.
English junior downhill champion Danny Hart is ready to cut the ribbon on the centre
User Comments
There are 3 comments on this post
Showing 1 - 3 of 3 comments
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TheGeordieLegend
Posted Thu 2 Jul, 4:04 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate
its worth pointing out that Ian Bell of the bike place also tendered to run this centre. He was there fromt he beginning, re-locating his family, and setting up a hire center, the bike place in a dilapidated building to help support the Kielder trail building. As well as this he's invested days and weeks of his own time maintaining and building the trails, yet once again the FC give the tender to someone from outside the area with NO experience of the local trails etc. Well done FC another great, well thought out decision!!!
PS the bike place will continue to operate in Kielder as far as I know, so if you are up at kielde for the opening be sure to drop in on Ian...
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bluehelmet
Posted Fri 3 Jul, 6:24 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate
Here here! The Bike Place has relocated to the village. Always popped in when I was there for news on the trails and they were always a friendly bunch. I'm going to give them my continued support. Now if only they would spend some money on the new trails to make them as good as the Deadwater as the new red route isn't in the same league.
Which should come first: the trails or the bike shop?
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gadmack
Posted Sun 5 Jul, 9:16 am UTC Flag as inappropriate
Well said. In my experience (which is both long and varied) The Forestry Commission have always been the biggest obstacle mountain bikers have had in this country. It was only once they got a whiff of the money in our pockets that they decided to make a token effort at fleecing, sorry, helping us. Also, the facilities at Dalby are pretty good but the level of service I've always received is diabolical. Now when I go to Dalby I reluctantly pay the astronomical parking fee but remain self sufficiant while I'm there. Why do they need so much money to run a building that allegedly generates it's own power? Anyway, I really hope that the Forestry Commision in collaboration with Wallace and Wallace pictured above don't try and turn Kielder into an overpriced novelty, in the way that Dalby is, but by giving the tender to purple mountain, it seems that's the plan. so despite all the flag waving I feel this is a dark day for mountain biking..
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