Trail Crew Design Corp.

August 2006 - 2006 IMBA World Mountain Bike Conference

I had the opportunity to attend the World Mountain bike Conference in Whistler this June. I would have put this up a lot earlier if it weren't summer and I wasn't riding my bike and digging trails every bit of spare time I have. But I'm tired today and its hot out so I figure it's a good time to put something up. The conference was a great gathering of minds within the mountain bike industry. Many like minded people talking about what's most important to them in life, riding trails. Many of you may have heard about it but I haven't come across many accounts of what actually was talked about. IMBA hosted the event and held different workshops delegates could choose to attend. Here's my run down on some of the ones I was able to sit in on.

B 102 - Building Trails in Urban Areas
I had trouble picking which classes to go to and which to miss out on, Day 1 had a lot of good choices. I chose this session because of my experience both in Toronto and Calgary. Both cities are urban areas with unique trail dynamics. The speakers were Patrick Jansen from Probos, Keri Mchaon from Calgary and the Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club from Seatle represented by Justin Vander Pol and Jon Kennedy. Patrick Jansen spoke about the trail situation in a dense urban environment such as the Netherlands. For them he described the situation as more of a trail management approach to their trail systems. It seems few new trails are cut; they are simply plopped on a map and marked out and signed. Various user groups have input on how these trails are marked. This was one talk that made me realize how lucky we are here in Canada to have so much room to create new trails to ride our bikes on.

Next Up was Keri McMahon from the Calgary Parks department. Keri recently emigrated from Toronto. She was here mainly to discuss her work on Toronto as position with Calgary Parks has just recently begun. Keri was part of bringing the IMBA Urban Hot Spots campaign to the big city. Keri discussed and showed chronicles of their work in the Don River, a local hotspot for mountain biking in downtown Toronto. With such a large population of cyclists in the city of Toronto, the Don Valley sees a high number of cyclists and therefore needs care and attention. IMBA provided trail crew sessions which trained a base group of volunteers to act as trail crew leaders. This along with the City's new Trail Ambassador program which sees a group of educated cyclists bringing awareness to the community's users regarding the area is a step in the right direction to sustain a trail system in Canada's largest urban setting for mountain bikers of all ages and abilities to have at their disposal.

The last two speakers for this session were from the Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club and boy did they have something to share. Justin and Jon discussed their project in Seattle, The Colonnade Mountain Bike Park. They are working on constructing what I can only call an urban bicycle playground. They have been given some land underneath an inner city overpass which and have begun construction of a 2 acre bike park that will never see rain. In a city situated so close to the ocean you can imagine what a relief this will be for the city's cycling population. I wish these guys all the luck and can't wait to see the finished product. From the few pictures I saw during their talk I can tell you that these are some well constructed tracks for all ages and abilities. Keep it up dudes!

A 201 - How Does the Whistler Mountain Bike Park Do It?
I sat up front for this one. We all know how good Whistler is and the three guys managing the operation have it down. They are Dave Kelly, Tom Pro and Rob McSkimming. Along with an accomplished crew of builders this team has brought about a change in how every day folks ride their bicycles. Dave Kelly was the brains behind creating A-Line. The topic of the morning was what makes Whistler so successful in the mountain bike world. Plain and simply, they have the right ingredients. Whistler has been blessed with the perfect terrain, climate and location for a successful park. A short drive from Vancouver, plenty of rain and the perfect rock, soil combination for building sustainable trails allows Whistler to create a quality product that people seem to crave like a drug for their aching muscles. Tom Pro spoke about the hill's involvement with the local scene as well. Whistler is a hill that listens to its patrons. Features get added and changed all the time based on feedback from a variety of sources. This allows them to keep up to date on what's satisfying the needs of their customers. Tom also stressed the importance of a competent trail crew. A crew who can ride what they build and understand the ins and outs of their work are essential to a quality trail system. It was refreshing to hear that they had really done nothing magical at Whistler; they just have the proper resources to build trails the way trails should be built. Machines, tools, knowledgeable staff and a little help from Mother Nature make for one great bike park. It showed me that any ski hill out there has the ability to create something magical, they simply have to source out the right help and get out there and cut the lines.

B 301 - Management Solutions for Unauthorized Trails
As a builder of many so called "Illegal" trails I had a personal interest in this session. The talk was given by Jim Richardson of Surrey Off Road Cycling, Shawn Gurney from the City of Surrey and Mark Peterson from Kona Bicycles. Shawn Gurney from the City of Surrey started the discussion and talked about renegade trails built by "kids" in Surrey. They showed pictures of poorly constructed obstacles and talked about why these cannot take place in an urban setting. The City of Surrey, like many other cities in Canada and I'm sure the United States, have been dealing with the issue of renegade trails for some time now. Their response was to use the land some of the existing trails were on and create a city sanctioned downhill mountain bike park. Some of the old trails were uses, some new ones were created. The construction of park features meets the requirements of city playground regulations. The Surrey Off Road Cycling club has been involved in aiding the city in their development of the park. A great bike park was created for the residents of Surrey and has set the tone for many other municipalities to follow suit.

While I share their opinion that in urban settings these renegade trails may not have a place, I feel that without these "illegal" trails our sport would not exist. Most, if not all trails I have ridden were at some point considered "illegal". Many of these "kids" who build these trails are 30+ years old and are simply trying to create a place for them and their friends to ride their bikes. The city building a park using an "illegal" trail system only confirms this. We have built our sport which now includes city bike parks, lift accessed ski resorts, indoor playgrounds all on the backs of those out in the bush. The guys hanging in the trees have given us all a sport in which we can now have day jobs. The way some might see it is that in areas with a lack of legitimate trail access, if we all go out and build trails then someone has to do something about it. Maybe this approach will give us a legitimate place to ride our bikes? Obviously this isn't the answer I'm advocating but sometimes do not the ends justify the means?

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