As you know, KoftheP is a simple idea; you ride your bike and then tweet what the conditions were like on the ground. On the back of that riders can choose where to ride so that it’s not just a slog through mud. Also, the muddy bits get chance to recover.

Pretty simple.

But the Twitter feed only hits certain people, and rarely non-bikers. So it’s important to be able to take what we all do to those other groups.

The Cut Gate thing has been ace in showing that we are a responsible bunch and has led to some great conversations with other users. I’m looking forward to seeing that collaboration grow.

But it’s brilliant too to get the message into the mainstream media and maybe into the minds of those who perhaps have a different, less positive view of the mountain biking community.

You might have seen this week’s Sheffield Telegraph where I’m posing badly and freezing my tweets off. It was in The Star too.

It’s a small thing but hopefully it’ll get into non-riders’ minds that we’re a decent bunch really and we can all get on on the trails and more importantly; work together to improve them.

So that’s why I’m in the paper.

You know all the stuff going on locally that shows what mountain bikers do for the area – you just need to look at Peak District MTB’s and Ride Sheffield’s pages for examples on the ground.

If you want science, you can look at the work of Marion & Wimpey, Pickering et al or Thurston and Reader to know that the impact we all have on the landscape is comparable.

But ultimately it’s better just to have a chat, do our bit for the Peak District and to put it simply: Be Nice, Say Hi and always wear your pants on the outside.

*thanks David Bocking for the piece and Sheffield Telegraph and The Star for running the story.

Apologies Shed Seven and Adam West.