Additional information: Please read this!!
Ride to Roam has just received this idea from Howard Peel, and frankly it's the best idea we've heard in an ever.
Normally, we're wary about mass protest rides off road, because although a shit load of bikes will cause no more damage than the same number of walkers, a hundred tyre marks is a pretty powerful picture amongst people who would normally ignore an image of two hundred footprints.
However, this is just too tempting - we'll let Howard explain...
"I notice that the 70th anniversary of the famous Kinder Trespass is coming up on 27 April (2002). Apparently back then you could not take good honest exercise in the Peak for fear of being assaulted by the sidekicks of the landed gentry and the working man had to break the law in order to get access to the hills. Nowadays it seems that much the same situation exists, only it is MTB riders who are the enemy!
"Anyone fancy celebrating the real spirit of the Kinder Trespass and going out for an MTB ride on some of the 'banned' paths in the Peak on 27 April. I'm sure that a good route could be put together even if we stick to those paths that should really be designated as bridleways but have been misrecorded by the landowners and Local Authorities as being 'footpaths'. I'm sure that even the red socks brigade would welcome such an honest celebration of the spirit of the original Kinder trespass. (I really do live in dream world don't I?).
"With a bit of publicity we might even get arrested!"
While getting arrested isn't a particularly fun thing to do*, there is a corker of a ride around Kinder that not only takes in some superb singletrack, but also Jacob's Ladder (going the sensible way, i.e., down it) and a choice of the Do Not Cafe or the Woodbine if you're feeling particularly energetic. See the Kinder Surprise route in the "Tales & Trails" section, it's simply loaded with quality. If you don't fancy that, there's plenty more to go at, for example Derwent Edge (east of Ladybower / Derwent / Howden reservoirs), where two bridleways mysteriously become footpaths as they enter National Trust land.
Of course, you may think that the Peak is further than you want to travel that day, and / or you don't fancy doing a 25 mile technical ride with a load of people you've never met before and might show you up as having a total lack of technical ability. They wont, there's always someone worse than you (it's normally me), but the thought might be off-putting.
In which case, we suggest you note down the date - 27th April is a Saturday this year, conveniently - and make a point, on that day, of riding somewhere that's currently "illegal". Everyone - even people who never normally stray from bridleways - will know of some path or route that always looks good enough to ride on, but is currently "out of bounds" for no good reason.
As mountain bikers, we owe it to the memory - and the honour - of those brave souls who mounted the original Kinder Trespass which kicked the whole thing off, seventy years ago. And as Howard points out, no true rambler could possibly object to such an action.**
*It's not very likely to happen, either.
**Not without being a complete hypocrite, anyway.
See also: www.thebikezone.org.uk/thebikezone/campaigning/kinder2002.html