Staff from Specialized’s UK headquarters have teamed up with the Surrey Hills Mountain Bike Working group to maintain trails on Leith Hill.

The staff will undergo training from B1ke and then regularly help maintain sanctioned trails such as Barry Knows Best, Yoghurt Pots and Summer Lightning that were officially opened a few years ago.

The trails were designed to be segregated for mountain bikes only to reduce trail conflict in the area and protect wildlife. So far they have proven popular with local riders, however they need regular maintenance to meet safety standards.

Steve Cole from Specialized UK said “ Our UK office is a stones throw from the Surrey Hills and its where you can find most of us riding in the evening, weekends and sometimes, before work! Giving something back to the local riding community is something that we feel strongly about and maintaining the trails we ride is something that we have wanted to get involved in for a while.

Cole is hoping that in the future even more staff will be willing to be trained up to maintain more trails.

Richard Kelly, of B1ke, said: “Volunteer contribution plays a big part in any managed trail network and it is great that a global brand can support the local effort.  Through the support of trained volunteers we now have the capacity to roll out the managed approach adopted on Summer Lightning to other sanctioned trails across the wider area, working to support landowners where required.”