IMBA CANADA Blog

There are three things that draw people to Newfoundland & Labrador: whales, icebergs and trails. While we didn’t get to see any icebergs or whales, we did experience many trails.

We were in Terra Nova National Park for an entire week. There are relatively few trails in the park and only two that were designated for cycling. Unfortunately, those trails were completely unsuitable for biking because of erosion and standing water. Fortunately, the staff at Terra Nova are open minded about converting some existing hiking trail to multiuse, as well as increasing the amount of singletrack available to both hikers and bikers. The most exciting of these is the potential to connect the Louil Hill loop, which sees the highest unofficial mountain bike traffic in the park, with the Malady Head campground and lookout trail.

For the first IMBA Trailbuilding School we took the park staff and other trails community members to the Newman Sound campground. Children in the campground have no where to ride bicycles other than on the busy roads. The park is visiting the idea of a dedicated children’s bike park at the edge of the campground. During the workshop we focused on design and layout. Everyone had the chance to measure grades, flag corridor and set pin flags. It was interesting to see the completely different ideas that each group presented. Even more interesting was watching them empathize with seven year olds on bicycles. Some were more in touch with their inner child than others!

The second Trailbuilding School was spent in the community of Sandy Cove just outside of the park. Over 300 years ago, most of the small towns on the Eastport Peninsula were connected by trails. In the late 1990’s the Eastport Peninsula Heritage Society was established to connect the old heritage trails together. On the “Old Trails” we taught rerouting with new bench cut, reclamation and rock armoring. We couldn’t believe how hard the group worked and their attention to detail was amazing. They even went as far as replanting moss to provide an astounding aesthetic finish.

We want to give a huge thanks to Kevin Robinson from Terra Nova National Park for organizing the visit. Thank you to all of the staff who helped with maps, tools, digging and armoring. A special shout-out needs to go to Andy Hennebury who is working hard to establish quality trails all over Newfoundland.

IMBA will celebrate its sixth annual International Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day on Saturday, October 2, 2010. This is a great opportunity for you to pass your passion for pedaling on to kids!

We’re sure this year’s event will be even bigger and better than ever. Here are some things you can do to participate:

1. Organize a ride in your local area. If you register your event by Sept 15, you will be sent a Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day Event-in-a-Box, which will include snacks, official Race Plates, and special kids stickers to give away as prizes. Your group will also be eligible for any raffled prizes.
2. Spread the word. This event is a great opportunity for kids and groups to experience mountain biking for the first time or to get back on the saddle again. We are updating our online toolkit to We’ve created an help you get the word out about your event. In our Toolkit, you will find Posters and templates for Press Releases and Fliers you can use to help publicize your event.
3. Plan to go mountain biking on the first Saturday in October — and bring a kid along for the ride! Check out these helpful tips for taking kids riding and learn about other kids’ cycling programs.

Go to imba.com to get more information, register your event, and download IMBA Canada’s Take A Kid Mountain Biking Guide.

Fundy National Park is a stunning park about an hour away from Moncton, New Brunswick. It sees some of Canada’s highest tides and has an abundance of waterfalls. Fundy was established in 1948 and most of the current trails were created at that time. We focused on White Tail, the only trail that connects Chignecto Campground to the main visitor activity area (playground, golf course, outdoor theatre). White Tail is currently a hiking only trail but sees the most ‘poached’ bicycle use in the park. Overall the trail runs along old forestry or ox cart roads, has many steep sections and the connecting pieces are showing their age. The hope is that with a little bit of work the trail will be officially opened to bikes.

Our visit started with sitting in on a visioning exercise led by Mark Schmidt for the Fundy Park staff to determine some priorities for the trails within the park. 20 potential projects were presented for prioritization to Parks staff and community members. A common theme that surfaced was the allocation of more trails for mountain bike use. We did two trailbuilding schools while we were in Fundy. One for Parks staff and a second for volunteer groups who work on trails just outside of the park.

Nestled right next to the park is the small village of Alma, which has a population of about 300. Alma is home to one gem of a trail called Green Snake. Unfortunately this trail currently does not have an easily accessible entrance or exit. Built in 2003 after an IMBA workshop Green Snake hasn’t seen a lick of maintenance since it was built. It is a perfect example of sustainably built rolling contour trail and only needs a few small knicks to make it completely dry and ride smoothly again. We helped a few of the keen local mountain bikers locate a suitable entrance and hopefully soon the Green Snake trail will be accessible right from town.

We’d like to thank Matt Smith and his family for hosting us, the Parks Canada staff who came out to get their hands dirty and we can’t forget a special thanks to Vernon and the crew at the Octopus’s Garden for making the most amazing lunches and coffee in town.

Volunteer Workshop
Crowsnest Pass, Alberta

The recent Crowsnest Pass Volunteer Workshop went off without a hitch at the Pass Powderkeg Ski Hill.  IMBA Canada’s trail specialist, Daniel Scott, ran the workshop for folks in and around the communities of Crowsnest Pass who are keen in becoming involved in the construction of new mountain bike trails.  Originally slated for mid-July, low numbers due to various vacations caused the workshop to be moved to a later date where those interested could participate.  With that being said, Daniel didn’t expect such a dedicated, boundary pushing crew to step up to the plate.

Over the course of the three, four hour evening sessions, IMBA Canada hammered home the quintessential “5 Elements of Sustainable Trail Design”, touched on the subtle nature of perception in the art of trail design and ran through the gamut of various construction techniques that the folks of Crowsnest would be implementing on trail.  With all this information swirling around in their brains, the volunteers headed out to put it to the test.

The location for the practical portion of the workshop was just past the one kilometer mark on the trail that is being built on the ski hill.  Participants tried their hands at the processes of bench cutting new trail, stone pitching, and building a boulder causeway, all with solid results.

Here is what Daniel had to say regarding the workshop, the volunteers and the work they accomplished:

“I am super stoked on what everyone managed to get done over the course of the workshop.  Between the long hours (over what is generally everyone’s dinner time), the constant threat of inclement weather (which never came thankfully) and overall amount of information that these folk were bombarded with, I think that everyone should be proud of what they accomplished.  I didn’t get a chance to ride the new section but am keen to do so as it looked at an absolute blast, especially the new rock features that so many folks contributed on.”

This beautiful rock roll down that you see above you was created using one existing rock and two huge rocks found nearby.  A burly band of volunteers, six in total, used a rock sling, two rock bars and some serious strength to position these beautiful behemoths into place.

Alright folks, Whistler’s Kokanee Crankworx is well underway now and we hope that everyone who has been lucky enough to attend so far is having fun!  That being said, IMBA Canada is gearing up to fly our colours for the final weekend extravaganza of this amazing bike festival with a booth set up in Zone 5, just around the corner from the Village Common.

We will be on hand to chat about our various projects and programs, as well as offer great deals on our IMBA swag.  And if that were not enough, we are going to raffle off one of our last sets of Race Face Ltd. Edition IMBA cranksets.  How does one get a chance to win these sexy bad boys?  Why, by joining IMBA as a member of course!  So come on out and pay us a visit.

Gorefest is an 8-hour endurance race that has been running since 1997 and is now based in Gore, Nova Scotia. Mark and Lora attended this event when they were Trail Care Crew and the section of trail that they worked on during their visit is still holding up perfectly. Gorefest is an important event because it provides a fun atmosphere that attracts riders of all abilities. You don’t have to be an elite racer to appreciate the bike toss and naked nighttime crit. Just like any other 8, 12 or 24 hour event the main goal of the event is to get together with friends, ride and have fun.

We arrived on Saturday morning to find about a dozen eager volunteers itching to get some trail work done. Our project was to tweak a trail that in the past had always been used as an uphill but that needed to be adjusted to flow well as a downhill. We conquered a few projects by lunchtime and after lunch Chad took five really keen volunteers back onto the trail to continue work. After everything was wrapped up we hopped on the bikes and rode a lap around the racecourse.

After a boisterous night on Saturday we registered for the event and managed to get in a few good laps before having to get back to work. We met with the primary builder and did a quick in the field trailbuilding school to help him trouble shoot some problem areas and provide insight on future development.

We want to thank Mike Phillips, the organizer of Gorefest for letting us participate in such a fun event (we’re going to work on our bike tossing skills for next year).

After camping at Blomidon Provincial Park we headed into Wolfville, Nova Scotia to work with the Annapolis Valley Mountain Bike Association (AVMBA). Glenn McMullen, the president of the IMBA affiliate club, is also the owner of 52 acres just 10 minutes from town. The purpose of our visit with the AVMBA was to help design a trail network close to town with a focus on beginner trails, and to train some new volunteers to help build the trails. Glenn had done some scouting around the property and discovered that some corridors had been cleared, most likely from past logging operations, so he began to lay down trail in the open corridors. After consulting a map of the existing trails along with topographic maps and aerial photos we helped Glenn lay out a stacked loop system on his property so that there was something for everyone to ride.

With the help and enthusiasm of four volunteers we spent time designing, building and repairing trail to make a large section of trail more beginner friendly. At the end of the day everyone who we talked to and worked with understood the importance of beginner trails within the context of their trail systems and promised us to go back and rework existing trail. We left Glenn with enough ideas and work to last him a few more years but we hope to return to see how his trails have improved.

A big thank you to Glenn and his partner Angela for hosting us in their beautiful home and cooking us the most kick-ass scallops we’ve ever eaten.

Prince Edward Island is well known for many things; Anne of Green Gables, the vibrant red soil, potatoes and the birthplace of the Confederation. Canada’s smallest province is just teeming with history and we couldn’t wait to pay the good folks of PEI a visit. We arrived in Charlottetown a day early and met with Luke, a long standing member of the cycling community, who gave us a crash course on the history of cycling on PEI. After experiencing some of the trails first hand we quickly decided where the focus of our visit should be. Getting beginner trails established on the Island.

During our stay we had the opportunity to meet with the head of forestry for the Island, the director and technical delegate of Cycling PEI and two local landowners. At each meeting we offered solutions and insight on how to improve trails and mountain biking on PEI. The most important goal of our visit became providing direction for mountain bike trail development on PEI.

We focused our efforts on the first 5 kilometers of existing trail in Murray River and were delighted to find so much history lying around the forest. Old homesteads, vehicles, and artifacts littered the sides of the trail, which made the trail interesting and unique. However, the trail itself was not spectacular. We designed a new 50 meter section of trail which eliminated fall line, provided better flow to the trail and left the local builders a template to work with. On Saturday after the trail building school we worked with 4 volunteers to create a beautiful bench cut which looked like a piece of red ribbon laying the forest and was so smooth to ride that even the non-mountain biker in the group was able to ride it.

A big thanks to our two hosts Luke and Alison MacDonald, and Paul and Susan Jenkins. Thank you to Cycling PEI for putting us up at the Rodd Hotels and bringing us to the beautiful province of Prince Edward Island.

 

We arrived in Sherbrooke, Quebec three days early. We heard the situation there was “complicated” so we decided that it was best to meet with everyone as early as possible. Through a clever manoeuvre with the city using the 2013 Canada Games as leverage, Mont-Bellevue has been secured as a permanent mountain biking venue. The purpose of our visit was to convince the city of Sherbrooke that when they finally contract out the job of building trails for the games, the needs of mountain bikers and hikers must be met for years to come.

 

Two indoor theory classes were required for this visit. The first was an overview for city officials, including the mayor’s representative as well as people involved with tourism and the park. The second trailbuilding school was held for dedicated volunteers from across Quebec.

 

The existing trails were a terrible mess. We wanted to present examples of repair, reclamation and new construction, but repairs became the main focus. Luckily, we had access to a truck full of quarry rock, a jackhammer and a diesel powered loader on tracks. Over 100 meters of trail were repaired using knicks, drains, bench cuts and more rock armouring than should ever be attempted in a single weekend. Shortcuts were closed and reclaimed and a new 200 meter reroute was planned out to provide a project for future work.

 

The weekend was a huge success. Not only did we have both newspaper and television coverage, but every representative from the city of Sherbrooke felt that IMBA’s influence would bring positive results to Mont-Bellevue’s future.

 

There are some HUGE shout-outs needed for those that made this project possible. First and foremost, our host Kathy Sue Daniel and her family were instrumental in every aspect. David Lauzon, the president of the ADSVMQ also provided us with a place to stay and lessons on the didgeridoo. Dalbix made arrangements for the rocks and heavy machinery without which very little armoring could have happened. Home Depot gave us access to everything in their rental department without charge and Siboire’s tasty brew was a real treat. As always, not everyone can be mentioned but they are all appreciated.

Congratulations to Mark Battiston for winning the Chumba frame at the East Coast DH Open this weekend. Special thanks to Renegade Cycle Solutions, Chumba Racing and X-Fusion for donating the frame and shock, and raising $650 for IMBA Canada! Also a big thank you to Pete and the guys at Sirbikealot Racing who ran a great race and made the raffle possible.

“Renegade Cycle Solutions stands behind IMBA and it’s supporters. We offer a 10% discount to all active IMBA members on all our products.”