Ranger Ride 3rd December

The Sheffield Sustrans Rangers group (some of them anyway) will be sallying forth this Saturday for a ride along NCN6, from Sheffield Station to Ringinglow.

Weather permitting, local ranger Kevin has offered to take us up his stretch and show us all the good bits as well as the not-so-good. (Although this is the least problematic of the NCN sections in Sheffield there are still some issues.)

We are measuring barriers to check they are DDA compliant and I hear that Oakbrook coffee shop is a nice calling in point.

Meet-up will be at 10 at Sheffield Station and we will aim to be finished by 2.

Weather's looking OK  - pretty much like today, maybe even some sun - but if you're coming along wrap up as we go slowly and stop a lot.

All welcome to join us.

News and Events, October 2017

Firstly, I'd like to welcome two new Rangers to the fold - Adam Batty and Nick Woodford. Both have transferred in from other areas. Adam is going to focus on liaison with Sheffield City Council as well as comms and I have yet to settle on a role with Nick.

We had a successful session at the Volunteering Fair with 21 students registering an interest. Converting those EOI's into active volunteers can be a challenge but at least we raised the profile of Sustrans and the TPT. I didn't realise that there was a new Sheffield Cycle Map out until the TPT office office sent me some - these proved popular and I have few spare copies if anyone would like one. 

We also had a successful Traffic Monitoring session with CycleSheffield - Thanks to everyone who came. This is was quite different from the events we've had before as there was no aggression from motorists and a lot of thumbs up from pedestrians and cyclists. In the event only one or two cars stopped before 9:25. It seems that pointing a GoPro camera at people makes a remarkable difference to their behaviour! I think CycleSheffield were quite successful at talking to cyclists with a view to signing them up as members as well. It was good to see Parking Services taking action as well. 

We have the following events in the diary:-

22/10 - Next Working Morning, 10-2. We haven't decided what to do for this one yet so if you have any ideas mail 'em in. 

10/12 Working Morning - We could be into bad weather by then so will play that one by ear. 

28/1/17 Planning Meeting. This is to sketch out a plan for the first 6 months of 2017 - activities rides, who's doing what etc. This will be a key meeting for 2017 so please do your utmost to attend. 

Non-Sustrans cycling events:-  

4/10 CycleSheffield meeting - 7 p.m. Fat Cat (upstairs), Alma St My good friend Damien O'Tuama, of cyclists.ie, Dublin Cycling Campaign and now a Board member of the European Cyclists Federation is stopping by on his way to an ECF meeting is Brussels to give us a talk on campaigning in Ireland and what's happening on the European campaign. In the era of post-Brexit it seems to me to be particularly important that we keep abreast of European best practice in cycling so I think this should be a particularly interesting session. 

15/10 Friends of the TPT AGM, Wigfield Farm. 1-3 followed by tea and cakes. I could organise a ride up to this if anyone's interested. There is some additional resurfacing of the trail going on on the section leading to Worsborough we could have a look at. To attend the AGM you need to be a member, this is possible via the membership form at http://www.transpenninetrail.org.uk/friends/ - or we could arrange for you to join at the meeting. We are working on a proper online membership system but it's not ready yet. When it is we will have a membership drive. 

15/10 East Midlands Cycle Forum. Parish Centre Stonegravels, 91 Sheffield Rd, B6057, Chesterfield S41 7JH, UK. 10:30  - 16:00 Including a ride. A meet-up with cycling advocates from across the E. Mids. There's a lot of commuting between this area and Sheffield so this could be of interest. Chesterfield is making good progress with cycling infrastructure - better than Sheffield in fact. 

19/11 Cyclenation Conference, St Albans - the conference of the National Federation of Cycle Campaign Groups. Always interesting and there is an infrastructure safari in London the next day. 

Simon

Keeping Sheffield Stainless

I'm really proud of the work Kevin, Paul & myself did on Cricket Inn Rd this morning - here's some pics:

We even found a sign...

This bit of path goes around the back of the derelict pub, the pavement at the front not being wide enough for a cycle track. Maybe at some point the pub will be knocked down and we could have a more direct path in, but it would require a fair bit of construction work because of the gradients.

Improvements near Conisbrough Viaduct

We’ve had a date from the contractors to start work on NCN 62 / TPT  improvements near Conisbrough Viaduct  - September 19^th . The path will remain open but people should take notice of contractors directions etc.  So if you're heading up that way, be aware! 

Doncaster to Bolton-on-Dearne

Hi, I rode the above section of 62 on Sat 13/8 and noted the following

Previously you could get lost at the north end of the Doncaster Greenway. New signage has been put in place through Bentley so this is now fixed. I augmented the signage at the junction under the A19 at Shaftholme. 

The vegetation needs cutting back on the Doncaster Greenway- north end & ramp from river don at south end. I augmented some signage at the fork at Bentley Rise. 

There are fallen trees nth & south of Sprotbrough.

Motorcyclists & quad bikes on Conisborough viaduct. These guys are there every Saturday from my experience so shouldn't be hard to catch.

I had got lost twice at Westfield Lane Barnburgh previously so tried to fix that. I spent some applying signage at the former colliery site before realising that this wasn't on the route at all! However I will be able to fix that by converting the signs to this way to (62) which I've ordered from Jane Chapman. I've also re-signed what appears to be the official route, although note that is signed differently on the Sustrans map from what's on the ground, i.e.NE on furlong lane to Westfield Lane then left onto a track (signs) not SW on furlong lane and go off-road at the River Dearne bridge (map)  - the latter would make more sense for cyclists. 

The network of paths in the colliery area needs needs "Not On Network" signs at all other gates.In fact you could almost market this site as a feature since all paths lead you back to where you started from  - a sort of cyclists maze. I met a guy who was lost as I was putting signs up so clearly it's not just me! 

Talking to some local horse riders they complained about the gates in this area which have  extended handles that are difficult to use from a horse.  Apparently there are now sensors that will open a gate for you - it struck me that if you can get these that will open for a non-motorised user but not motor traffic this could be an alternative to access barriers. Perhaps FOTPT could find funds for a trial? 

Note that the existing signage is vandalised & overgrown and street maintenance is poor in this area.

There is fly-tipping in the lane on e. side of Bolton-on-Dearne station.(Barnsley area)

Of course despite all these defects I thoroughly enjoyed the ride, especially as I was on my new Mountain Bike which makes short work of poor quality surfaces! 

Sheffield Cycle Routes

Rotary Club helps keep the Network Clean

The Vulcan Rotary Club helped us out with a working session on the TPT in Darnall, Here's a before and after...

If you have an organisation or club that would like to help us out, please get in touch.

Five Weirs Walk Closure

The Five Weirs Walk will closed at Stephenson Rd on 23rd May for about a week.

Ride Opportunity 20th March

Sun 20 March 2016

Short Bike Ride &  Lazy Sunday Afternoon for MEN UTD (Prostate Cancer UK)

https://www.facebook.com/events/1692623104356178/

​

Lazy Sunday Afternoon for MEN UTD (Prostate Cancer UK)

12.00 pm SFNR-led ride starting from Bramall Lane main car park on Cherry St then via Hillsborough to the Gardeners Rest. 

Cycle Rotherham will be coming from the New York Stadium.

Look at the maps here: ​

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3982063,-1.4566753,13z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!6m1!1sz4GO2PDWDv3g.kMxySISZzP18?hl=en-GB

And the SkyRide The Ranmoor Rollercoaster is joining us as well ....

....from 1pm all women and men (cyclists or not) welcome to come along and join in at the Gardeners Rest, Neepsend Lane

Pls bring some change to donate

Food/soup (#payasyoufeel), Music, Fun & Games, Quiz

AND, before yr very eyes, Pat, the landlady, will have her long, fine hair shaved off in return for donations and will end up as a skinhead

Can't come?

then text PTAM66£1to 70070 to add to the over £300 rec'd by Pat so far

(The txt address works. Mick has tried it!)

This is a fund raising event on behalf of Prostate Cancer UK's Football 

​Stadiums ​

to Amsterdam 2016 Bike Ride. 

​W​

e will all be supporting one team: MEN UNITED v prostate cancer!

Wear a Football Shirt (Shirts will be available for hire); buy a badge, donate in the tin or on my website 
With Your Support We Will Have A Great Day! 

Cheers, 

My ride page is at https://www.justgiving.com/paul-rowland-truin

Paul

​ Truin​

.

Sustrans Ride Out

We'll be riding out to Rother Valley on Saturday 5th March, checking the route as we go. Come along if you're interested in the work we do or just for the ride. Departs 10 a.m. from Sheffield Station.

Five Weirs Walk Closure

As part of the river channel maintenance element, the Lower Don Valley Flood Defence Project will be removing mature crack willow trees growing on the river bank between Norfolk Bridge and Washford Bridge. To enable these works to happen in the most efficient and safe way, they will be closing and diverting the Five Weirs Walk footpath. During this period, there may be movement of people, machinery and vehicles which could be dangerous to members of the public.  By closing the Five Weirs Walk, this work can happen without any restrictions, and can therefore be completed as quickly as possible.

When

Wednesday 16th March to Thursday 31st March. However, the footpath closure will be lifted at the weekends, as no work will be taking place during this time.

Diversion route

Users are encouraged to travel along Attercliffe Road between Norfolk Bridge and Washford Bridge. 

Sustrans Ranger Ride

The first Sustrans Rangers event of the year will be an inspection ride, starting at 10 a.m. at Sheffield Station, this Saturday the 6th. we'll try and cover and much of the network as we can and perhaps have a coffee at some point and work out a plan for any work we want to take on during 2016. Should be back in town by about 2. 

One project I'm working on is a Big Lottery bid to try and get surfaces improved on the TPT so I plan to use GPS to work out how much of the network needs resurfacing in terms of distance. 

Come along if you're interested in the work the Sustrans Ranger group does or if you just fancy a ride.