View of where the DH trails used to startThe access road is no longer a sea of mudA few months down the line, and a lot of work has been carried out in the wood. Trees have been felled, the access road has been upgraded, there are new footpath markers in, environmental and Rights of Way surveys are underway, and the site has gone from being neglected - by everyone but mountain bikers - to being actively managed.At the moment the woods aren't...

We've now met up with the Bristol University and it appears there will be a future for riding at Still, although the woods aren't going to reopen immediately.In the wake of the closure a lot of work is scheduled for the site, including forestry, improvements to access and an ecological survey. The work is going to continue throughout 2010.We've been invited to go back to the University once this is completed and discuss terms for using the woods. Things are probably going to start small at first but it's possible that it could...

Photo by Paul HobbsOn Sunday 29 November we had a public meeting in Long Ashton Community Centre to discuss the future of Still and the issues raised by turning the place into an official riding venue, rather than the secret underground spot it's been for the past few years. The place was packed, with around 40 people in attendance. In the wake of Still being shut down a sort of semi-official campaign committee has come together and me,...

As you may already know, we've drawn up quite a detailed proposal to the University, explaining a bit more about the history of the site, the benefits of keeping it open as a venue for mountain biking and mountain boarding, and how we would address any problems with liability, litter and safety. If you haven't seen it yet, you can have a look here.This has now been sent to the University's Estates Manager, who has said that he will be discussing it at preliminary talks next week, and will come back to us in the New Year with...

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who came along. It was great to see such a big turnout and there were lots of helpful suggestions and contributions made. I'll put a more detailed write-up on the site this week. In the meantime, if you want to read the draft proposal to the University, click here to see it. If you've got any comments send them to bristoltrailsgroup@gmail.com and we'll try and incorporate them into the final version.I've booked the Pavilion Room in Long Ashton Community Centre for 2.00 pm Sunday so anyone who's interested...

Two weeks after the trails at Still were removed, there has been some progress, nothing spectacular yet, but give us time.First off, we've been flooded with offers of help and support from members of the riding community. Many people have offered to give up their time to help run a formal club, dig new tracks, and so on. A number of professional trail designers and builders have got in touch to offer their services where they can. The CTC's off road officer, Ian Warby, has met with us and given us some really valuable advice,...

At the start of the week I stuck up a link to a website called SurveyMonkey, which lets you create an online survey. I wanted to get a feel for how much people used Still, what they wanted from the place and whether they would be prepared to keep using it if they had to pay.The results were pretty encouraging:36% of the respondents said they rode there most weekends, indicating that we've got a good core of regular users who could look after the place if it was set up as an official venue.An amazing 96% of the replies indicated...