“THERE’S BEEN CANNABIS GROWN HERE FOR YEARS AND I JUST THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING BIG!”

multiple runs, either van or pedal-powered, quick and easy.

With so few people using the woods, it was a while before Ryan’s work was discovered. “There was one old chap with a Jack Russell who we met on the fire road and we asked him if he minded what we were up to,” says Jason. “He said, ‘Well, it’s different to what I thought was going on. There’s been cannabis grown here for years and I just thought you were going big!’” The number of vegetable grow bags Jason and Ryan had found on the hillside while digging trails now made a bit more sense. Nothing quite so illicit takes place any more, but the trails at Tirpentwys remain unofficial – at least for now.

Vision is one thing, but a plan is something quite different, and although there wasn’t a formal plan as such, a series of trails began to develop one after the other. Bob Gnarly, Grannies Fanny, Bob More Gnarly, Gnarlyness, all were built by hand over a three-year period by volunteers who bought into Ryan’s vision of a bike park they could call their own.

THE PERFECT LEGACY

Tragically Ryan died in 2018, riding his bike in the place he’d helped build. His vision could have died with him, but thanks to the determination and hard work of Jason and the other volunteers, Tirpentwys Trails has