Wheels and wheelbarrows in one Community Mission? Unwheel.

Today, GoodGym (in an unintentional blue-waterproof uniform) became part of an army of volunteers helping Pedal Progression fix the trails in Ashton Court. Beyond renting mountain bikes for people to use, Pedal Progression are hugely involved in trail advocacy. This has resulted in them reaching an agreement with the Bristol City Council to have ownership over fixing up the Nova trail in Ashton Court. This trail is extremely well-used and has become very worn-down. This has resulted in bikers recently having to cycle dangerously and directly on tree roots, harming the natural habitat. Pedal Progression want to change this, so have enlisted the help of volunteers to take part in 6 work days to completely redo the trail.

After Matt from Pedal Progression gave us a tour of the work that had been done so far, we started raking the trail to make the ground clear and as dry as possible before the stone was laid (a hard task after a huge downpour just an hour before we started). We then got to the main task, moving gravel down the trail to rebuild the path. This was tough work, filling wheelbarrows then pushing heavy stone along the bumps and jumps on the trail for it be raked into place. After several hours, we then moved on to the top 'dusting' layer to add an extra layer of protection.

With arms showing signs of a good workout and backs aching, we waved goodbye to the team from Pedal Progression (impressively, they were still going strong!).