Police chase Yorks trailies
By TMX Archives on 25th Mar 11
Is booking illegal' off-roaders good use of police time or is the fault within the system that has left us few places to go...?
RECEIVED a press release from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority recently to the effect that park rangers and the police were having a blitz against illegal off-road riding/ driving within the YDNPA. The release did acknowledge that the ‘vast majority' of riders/drivers conduct themselves well but as usual a ‘small minority' were making vehicular use of ‘green lanes' that had been closed to off-road traffic after, it has to be said, much lobbying by the YDNPA. Vehicles and motorcycles had also been used on YDNPA land away from rights of way or green lanes.
Now, I don't in any way condone riding or driving illegally, but what I did and still do object greatly to is the mass closure of ‘green lanes' that previously enjoyed long-standing rights of way. Many thousands of miles of these roads were closed at a stroke thanks to heavy lobbying by big hitting organisations like the National Parks Authorities and the Ramblers Association plus a host of other ‘opposed to everything' organisations who think they are the only people who should be allowed access to the countryside. The antis don't even like horses or mountain bikes. Or people breathing.
While T+MX did its duty and printed a dead straight story pointing out the illegal riding I did in fact reply to the press officer by email pointing out much of the above and adding that if all the previous rights of way hadn't been closed down by the YDNPA perhaps there wouldn't be the temptation or pressure for so many riders/drivers to now behave illegally. I also couldn't resist the urge to point out that while vehicle and bike theft are treated with virtual disdain by many police forces it never ceases to amaze me that they can always find resources to patrol places like the Yorkshire Moors looking to trap honest and legal citizens riding a motorcycle off-road. I am not anti-police in any way and acknowledge that they have many difficult jobs to do. In my opinion this should simply not include harrassing people riding on what have been rights of way for centuries.
Needless to say I didn't get a reply . I do realise that these days you have to be politically correct and not question any decisions made by those in authority but I did think it warranted a cursory answer, if only to acknowledge the points made. I say this because they obviously jump every time someone contacts them and bleats about a motorcyclist riding off-road, and they diligently count exactly how many people have had a whinge. It obviously doesn't work the other way. My view is that if there were more rights of way there would be less illegal riding. Seems seemples to me. It is also the kind of logic that authorites normally love so I await the re-opening of the thousands of miles of rights of way now denied us (like Walna Scar, to name just one famous 'lost' right of way, in the Lake District). Not.
THERE'S plenty of doom and gloom out there so last weekend was a welcome change on the off-road front. We enjoyed the first ‘big' weekend of the year on an events front and this week's paper is full of major championships kicking-off or big one-off events (Tough One) taking place. And the great news is that there were some impressively big entries right across the spectrum. Trials are frequently topping the 100, even 150 mark. Well, the best ones are, including many traditional National events. And hare and hound type events are still logging 200 plus entries.
Even the World X-Trial event in Madrid, Spain. drew a massive live audience, estimated at between 8 - 10,000. You may well say "So what?” to the latter but considering that the Spanish economy is an even bigger basket case than our own (paid for a beer in Spain recently!) I think that a full house at an Indoor trial is pretty impressive. It hardly rates as a necessity in life does it but people are still prepared to pay for their sport and their enjoyment of sport.
I've had my annual dose of X-Trial this year in Barcelona (although I admit I wouldn't have gone if the enduro hadn't been running alongside the trial) so on Sunday it was back to my roots and the Normandale Traditional trials championship on a distinctly cool Bootle fell. Well, 150 competitors can't be wrong about trials on old bikes (plus a good helping of older riders on modern bikes). I don't blame the oldies as more and more opt for an easy to ride modern bike over their old knac...sorry, their precious classics.
The ACU trad series goes back to basics with (in theory anyway) straighforward sections and a good long lap. It was southern enthusiast Barry Roads that pointed out to me that you can spend as little or as much as you like on a bike for the trad series. You can spend a fortune on a super-tweaked twin-shock (as I suspect Barry has, his new mount is an awesome Bultaco!) or you can bag an old air-cooled Yam mono for a few hundred quid and be in business.
There's not too many sports where money doesn't necessarily buy you success...