Havok Bike Park

The upper reaches of the West Yorkshire’s Calder Valley is home to a dedicated and diverse group of trail-building pioneers

- Sim Mainey

Perched on the edge of the moors that span West Yorkshire and Lancashire, Cock Hill Wood is exactly the kind of place you’d expect to find riders digging trails. Out of the way and tricky to access, from the valley floor its true size is hidden. The coniferous plantation is large and dense enough to conceal a network of trails, and with pliable dirt and a natural supply of materials on site, it provides the perfect canvas for trail builders to get creative with. Woodlands like this are a magnet for riders and there have been trails here in one form or another for years. These have evolved from under-the-radar lines in the soil to what is now an official riding destination – Havok Bike Park.

The journey from illicit trails to bona fide bike park began with Wayne Greenwood just over 10 years ago. Wayne wasn’t the first rider to sink spade into dirt in the woods, but he’s likely put more hours in than anyone else. This didn’t go unnoticed by local riders, who came and helped with building and riding Wayne’s trails, or indeed the company that managed the forest. It was while digging in the woods that men in hi-viz jackets approached Wayne wanting a chat about what he’d been up to. It came down to the fact that the trails had been built without permission and therefore they needed to be levelled. The easy way out at this point would have been for Wayne to apologise, walk away and hope that a claim for any damage done to the land didn’t follow. Instead, he figured it was worth talking with the land owners and managers and seeing if something could be done to keep the trails, with a view to making them official.