I just got this news in from Jerome Pelland IMBA’s Quebec rep.

The Town of Montreal just appointed a new delegate for Mountain Biking in the Sports Division. Despite maintaining their “no mtb in public parks” stance, this move demonstrates that they want to address the needs of mountain bikers in Montreal. I met with Nabil Lamhili this morning and he told me that he pretty much has carte blanch to do whatever he think is okay for the good of the sport. Next week, he will join us for our monthly group meeting for the Mount Royal project.

This is not Ontario specific, but Montreal doesn’t allow Mountain Biking in the City so this is something of a Big Deal.

Read more (in French) at Jerome’s blog.

I can’t exactly remember where I became aware of this, but that’s not as important as that I did. Now I’m going to let all of you know about, and ask for a little help as well.

As part of the Ontario Trails Strategy, Land Information Ontario (LIO) has to collect and collate trail information in the form of maps (digital and hard copy) and interpretive information (i.e. name, length, surface, etc) and integrate this information into a consolidated spatial database to be called the Ontario Trails Network (OTN). The OTN Data is publicly accessible under a separate license(s) at no charge on an unrestricted use basis. It currently contains 2100 km of trails within the province and over 750 trail heads at this time.The OTN will focus on all single and shared-use outdoor designated trail networks in urban, rural and wilderness settings that are specifically managed by a named organization for recreation, active living, utilitarian or tourism purposes including but not necessarily limited to:

• Trails with natural (e.g. cross-country skiing) or treated surfaces
• On-road bicycle routes
• Walkways, boardwalks and sidewalks
• Trails located with transportation and utility corridors
• Access roads (i.e. for forestry and mining) “designated” for trail use
• Trails that are integrated with public transit services
• Waterway routes (e.g. canoe routes, canals) and portage routes

The Ministry coordinating this wants to know:

Does IMBA have such mapping or trail head locations or known trail routes that could be incorporated into the OTN? Or perhaps access to mountain bike organizations within the province that could help me acquire this information?

There will be several workshops across the province in association with the Trans Canada Trail and the Ontario Trails Council and hoping to get all trail organizations out in order to discuss the formation of Regional Trail Committees. You’ve heard my take on the OTC before, and it hasn’t changed. So the unfortunate effect is that the bicycling community has not been represented at previous meetings.

Dates for upcoming meetings are:

• North Gower (near Ottawa): November 14th, 2008 - Strathmere Country Retreat, 1980 Phelan Road, North Gower, Ontario
• Barrie: November 21st, 2008 - Travelodge Barrie, 300 Bayfield Street, Barrie, ON
• Peterborough: December 5th, 2008 - Robinson Place, MNR Building, 300 Water Street, Peterborough, ON
• Sarnia: February 6th, 2009 - TBD
• Sudbury: January 16th, 2009 - TBD
• Niagara Region: February 13th, 2009 - TBD
• Thunder Bay: To Be Determined - TBD

In addition, workshops and community meetings are planned in North Shore Lake Superior, Cochrane, Atikokan, Dryden, and Kenora.

I hope that those reading this post, and who have an interest in mapping, GIS, GPS, etc. will take the time to attend one of these meetings to see what is going on. How can mountain biking contribute to this? What can mountain biking gain from it? If you plan on attending one, please get in touch with me. That way we can act in a more coordinated fashion. More after the jump…

Continue reading this post…

It took a lot of planning, six days of machine construction, five volunteer days of building, 3 tons of granite, 3 yards of gabion stone… but we finally got it done. The new advanced line in the Don Valley is now finished. The line features a downhill section with some jumps and berms, 6 log overs, 3 rock sections, a rock skinny, some ladder bridges, and narrow single track with lots of exposure. Enjoy.

This trail is something of a big deal. It is the first advanced trail built by the City of Toronto. It is also the first section of trail that is entirely brand new and not built to replace something that was being closed. This is a very bold step taken by the City and I for one appreciate it. If any of you riders reading this have rode the trail and like what you see please contact your City councilor and let them know. If you aren’t a resident of Toronto it would still be worth contacting Case Ootes, whose ward the trails reside in, and letting him know you appreciate what is going on. By letting the councilors know that we appreciate what City staff is doing, we’ll hopefully be able to get them more funding to continue their great work.

You should also let the upper levels of management in the Parks Forestry and Recreation department know as well. Their contact information is:

From October 28th to 30th a number of Conservation Authorities gathered for a conference called “Take the Trail.” I was invited to speak at the conference about mountain biking and its relationship to trails. This is a very large topic and I was only given 20 minutes to talk. Fortunately my co-presenters managed to finish in their alloted time and had few questions. This left me with an extra couple of minutes to talk, which I gladly used. The main thrust of my talk was to emphasize:

• What we look for in our trail experiences: pretty much the same as other users, but I placed an emphasis of single track and features.
• That our environmental impact is equivalent to hikers and much better than horses.
• That the single biggest contributor to erosion on trails is design (or lack thereof) of the trail.
• The risk and conflict issues that arise and that there are solutions to them.
• That we are a very large user group who are closet environmentalists (without natural areas we’re all roadies), who can and will contribute back to the trails.

I had no questions, but I’m not sure if that is because I gave a good talk or because I was between the listeners and lunch. All the business cards I laid out on the table were gone. I definitely had a good time and told the organizing committee that I’d love to return and speak on more and different topics next time. We’ll see what comes of it.

Coming up on October 18th and 19th is the last build in the Don Valley for the season. We will be back at the advanced trail we’ve been working on for the past few builds. While the trail is open, it is not quite done yet. There are a few things that we need to finish off.

This includes:

• The remainder of the stone pitching,
• A boulder causeway,
• A skinny alternate line for the bridge that was installed, and
• Some more log overs.
• If we get all of that done then there is some repair work on the existing intermediate trail that can be done.

All are welcome. No classroom session this time, just straight to the forest. Meet at the Loblaws parking lot trail head at 11 Redway Road for 9:45 and we’ll head into the forest. Please RSVP to trails@toronto.ca so we know you’re coming.

At the recent GMWW Stewardship meeting the results of the recent user survey were presented. I’ve asked for a full copy of the results. However I did take some notes. Here are the interesting tidbits:

• 64.3% of use is mountain biking
• 18% of use is hiking
• 3 Rocks (South East parking lot) is the most preferred trail head by mountain bikers
• The Towers (North East parking lot) is the second most preferred trail head, usually in conjunction with a visit to Durham Forest first
• Timbers Pit (on the 6th Concession) is the most preferred by equestrians
• Most groups car pool the the trail head
• Most groups are 2 people or more, not too many single riders
• Visitors came from all over, most from the Durham Region with Whitby sending the most visitors, more even than Toronto

It is well known among mountain bikers that the best (really only) single track through the property is in the East. So it should not be surprising that most mountian bikers use the Eastern parking lots, and stay away from the trails further to the West.

The TRCA also had people fill out a more detailed questionnaire. This was what was online, but it was also done in person at the various trailheads.

• 80% of questionnaire respondents were mountain bikers
• There was an even split between whether people wanted multi-use or single-use trails
• Commons suggestions were:
  • The need for more advanced trails
  • A trail rating system
  • Reinstate night time use

I want to thank everyone who took the time to fill out the questionnaire. It not only lets the TRCA know how prevalent we are, but also what we want to see. It also allows the mountain bikers who are on the stewardship committee push for the things that the riders have said they want.

This survey was just for the summer season though, and the TRCA is going to continue its efforst in the fall and winter. If you are interested in lending a hand counting people, and conducting interviews, please contact Mike Goodyear at mgoodyear@trca.on.ca and tell him I sent you (just kidding on that last part).

One last point. The TRCA are going to be installing a user counters at each trail head to get a much better breakdown of not only how many people are using the property, but also when. Unfortunately they can’t tell a hiker from a mountain biker from an equestrian. But given the proportions above it should be reasonably easy to get a realistic breakdown.

I want to extend a big Thank You to all those who helped build at the recent IMBA Trail Care Crew Visit. We had locals and not-so-locals attend. TORBA, and Flygurls were two local clubs that had hard working people on site, digging dirt, hauling rocks, and trying to stay on their feet in the slippery mud. We also had a few attendees from various Conservation Authorities. The Toronto and Region CA, Thames Valley CA (London), and Kelso sent people to learn how to design and build sustainable trails.

Here is the recap from The Crew themselves, Collins and Kelly Bishop:

IMBA Participates in Toronto’s Sustainable Trails Initiative

With steeps hills, thick vegetation and beautiful overlooks, Crothers Woods is one of the jewels of Toronto, Ontario.  Offering a place to ride, run, hike or just enjoy nature to the nearly 2.5 million residents of Toronto, Crothers Woods in the Don Valley has become a local favorite.  As a result, Toronto’s Department of Parks, Forestry and Recreation is in the midst of its ambitious Sustainable Trails Initiative, which will revitalize the existing trail system with the goal providing even better trail experiences for everyone while also reducing both environmental impact and any user conflict.

IMBA (Canada) is proud to be a partner in Toronto’s initiative and during the weekend of September 13-14, 2008, Kelly and Collins Bishop of the Subaru-IMBA Trail Care Crew as well as Jason Murray of IMBA-Canada joined volunteers for a weekend of trailbuilding.  Following classroom sessions for both Club Care and the IMBA Trailbuilding School, about 35 volunteers (including members of the Toronto Off-Road Bicycling Association and the Ontario-based Fly Gurlz women’s cycling team) headed to Crothers Woods for two days of hands-on building.

Working alongside City employees and staff from Sustainable Trails, the volunteers helped build a new advanced trail that will compliment the others trails in the park.  With its steep sideslopes, narrow tread, numerous grade reversals, berms, and a monster rock-armored drop, this one is going to be a rocket-ride through the woods.

The weather may have tried its best to dampen spirits, but despite some seriously sticky temperatures and some seriously slippery mud, the volunteers knocked out an impressive amount, including elevated tread work, two bridges, lots of shaping and finishing and a ton of rock armoring.

Overall, this was a great weekend to be a mountain biker in Toronto. It’s not everyday that a city supports the construction of an advanced trail near the heart of downtown, but it’s happening in Toronto.  A huge thanks to Toronto’s Department of Parks, Forestry and Recreation (especially Scott Laver) and to everyone who came out for the weekend.

Our next build is Saturday September 27th, from 10am until 2pm. Please lend a hand and lets finish the trail and get it open and ridable before the seasons ends. Meet at the Loblaws trail head for 10am. If you can’t make it until later you can head into the woods uphill of the sewage treatment plant.

What’s on tap?

Literally 3 tons of work. We have 3 tons of rock that have to be installed on a rather large stone armoured steep section. We estimate it at about 30′ long, 60 degree pitch, 18″ wide. We will also be finishing a few sections of the bench cut near the entrances. This will include building some nice log overs (not log rides) as qualifiers. We also hope to get the uber log-over built. There are some 4′ logs that I want to use. It will be sweet if we could get enough people out to tackle all of this.

Step up and represent. Put in some (more) sweat equity.

By the end of Saturday the line will be open, but not finished. Not quite yet.

One of the main jobs I have as the Ontario IMBA rep is to keep watch on the Ontario Provincial Park System for mountain biking use. With all the trail building this year it has been difficult to do as well a job on this as I’d like to, but I’ve finally managed to read through the “Blue Book.” (So called because it was distributed in a blue binder.)

The Blue Book is the most recent document I can find addressing Provincial Park Planning and Management Policies. The good news is that it is comprehensive. The Blue Book is the “go to” document as far as I can tell. When I dig a bit deeper this might turn out to not be the case, but I’ll work on this assumption for now. The bad news is that it is from 1992. Yes that is 16 years old. Even worse some of the material it relies on is from sometime in the 1970’s. The Blue Book acknowledges that the information is out of date, but that it this information is the best the authors could find.

What follows will be a high level overview of the Ontario Provincial Park System as outlined in the Blue Book. I’ll provide an explanation of how the system is organized, and how it impacts mountain biking.

Continue reading this post…

The TRCA is starting the process to refresh the management plan for the GMWW complex of properties. In preparation for this they are collecting user surveys. The are doing this so they can better understand the interest and needs of trail users so they can make more informed decisions. IMBA Canada encourages all its members and non-members who ride on that property to fill out the survey and get our voices heard.

The survey is up at Survey Monkey here.

The TRCA is also looking for volunteers to conduct an on site survey at the various trailheads of GMWW. Time slots are 4 hours in length and available days and evenings, weekdays and weekends. If you are interested in volunteering email Mike Goodyear or call him at 416-688-3805.

This just in from the City of Toronto.

New Intermediate Single Trail in Crothers Woods Now Open
Parks, Forestry and Recreation’s Sustainable Trails Initiative is pleased to announce that a second section of multi-use intermediate single trail in Crothers Woods, near the Loblaws trailhead, is now open. In total, 990m of new sustainable trail have been built with 1137m of degraded and eroded trail closed and restored. Please respect all new trail closures and areas designated for forest regeneration. The use of closed trails and the continued degradation of restored areas may lead to future trail closures. Feel free to send us any comments or feedback you may have about the new trail.

A special thank you to IMBA Canada, Sustainable Trails, Urban Forestry Associates and the Toronto Region Conservation Authority for all of their hard work and assistance on building these new trails. A special thank you to John Routh, a long time supporter and steward in the Don watershed, who volunteered over 50 hours of his time to help us complete the new trails. John’s expertise in ecological restoration and enthusiasm for our project was a big help.