Welcome to the Jorvik MTB Club web site!

As the current chairman of the club it was thought that I should 'say a few words' and perhaps explain what the club is about. I took over from Jake Goddard a couple of years ago and have been trying to keep things moving along, get more people involved and try to ensure members get value in return for their subscription fees. The setting up of the web site is a great opportunity to reach more mountain bikers and hopefully attract new club members - a club is only as good as its members and the more of them the more diverse the input and the more fun we all get out of it.

On the subject of diversity, we probably have far more road riders than the average mountain bike club, with road rides taking place each week, but there are good reasons for that. Anyone who knows the geography of the York area will appreciate that it's not the best area for mountain biking - it's virtually flat! To avoid spending our lives driving to more suitable terrain lots of us have taken to the roads to maintain fitness but first and foremost, Jorvik is a mountain bike club. A few people have asked why there is a club in an area with very little good offroad riding. The answer to that is we can share information, lifts and ideas and get the best out of our riding time out on the trails of the North Yorkshire Moors and the Dales.

One of the club's favourite haunts is Dalby Forest near Pickering, which offers a good variety of terrain including some testing climbs and scary descents. In exchange for promoting responsible riding in the forest we also get a discount on the toll for entry to the Forest Drive and have a good relationship with the Forest Enterprise rangers. Forest Enterprise, who manage the forest are keen to promote access and this includes us bikers which is good news in these days restrictions and concern over trail erosion. We try to organise rides in as many different venues as we can and again everyone can have input here. An area we would like to develop is that of a club holiday - either in the UK or abroad - where we can spend a week or two in an MTB friendly area and just enjoy the riding.

The club currently has a strong interest in racing, we may not have many prolific race winners (although one former member has ridden semi-professionally for Kona) but we do enjoy the challenge and our members are up there in the results. Team kit is available, made by Impsport, so we can at least look as if we know what we're doing! The coming year should see even more active racers than last year so look out for the grey and black shirts in races throughout the north. We do cater for other areas of competition including cyclo-cross and Trailquesting. We are also affiliated to the CTC (Cyclist's Touring Club) both to support their work fighting for cyclist's rights and trail access and also to give the club and its members access to their insurance schemes and other benefits. A new area of interest is trail building along the lines of IMBA (International Mountain Bike Association) in the USA. Many of the club members are also members of SingletrAction, Yorkshire's trail building club and we often combine the work with a ride when we have the opportunity. Click on the link below to find out more about SingletrAction.

So, that's very briefly what we're doing, as I said I hope this site will attract new members and with them, more ideas and input into the club generally. If you want to know more you can reach us by email and don't forget to revisit the site, it's planned to keep it updated and to keep adding more useful stuff.

Steve Shepherd
Chairman, Jorvik MTB Club