MikeDK

FOSS has secured funding and hired a forestry company to create a minimal risk cooridor along Lost Lake Trail and Pink Highway in Myra Bellevue Provincial Park. The crews will be working on Pink Hwy as of Monday, December 7th. Their mandate is the same as they had for Lost Lake clearing work now completed. They will be cutting down the larger burned trees that could potentially fall on the trail. They’ll be working on Pink Hwy from Teddy Bear Junction to just north of Flamingo.

Ryan Ingham of ARC Forestry checked out the project and he notified FOSS that he will “fall, clear trail, and cut back the edges to parks standard. Unfortunately, you should expect to lose a large portion (>50%) of the larger fir stems that could target the trail. Its simply past their safe lifespan, stem-rot has reached to point where even the soundest of them will be failing in the next few years. Adjacent to the area are good amounts of suitable habitat trees, so the only issue is the visual impacts”.FOSS reps have noticed a lot of living fir trees uprooted in the park, so Ryan’s assessment isn’t a surprise. Ryan expects to be finished in a couple of days.

When complete, FOSS’ Lost Lake and Pink Hwy projects should make these double tracks less prone to blowdowns, providing a better option for park users during wind events, and also making it easier for FOSS, MTBco, BC Parks to access other trails in the park for projects and events.

With these ‘safe zones’ and the continued hard work of local trail clearing/maintenance crews and individuals the park continues to be improved for all user groups. Your club membership and/or financial support goes directly to these types of efforts….

Mike Kittmer

MTBco Director

I got the call sometime last week from Brad Wright of The Friends of The South Slope (FOSS) asking if I could take a look at the flagged line re-routing the very top of Captain Nemo in Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park (Crawford). The re-route is intended to provide all users with an easier climb up the final few hundred meters of Nemo onto the Kettle Valley Rail bed (KVR).

Anyone who has ever climbed to the KVR via Captain Nemo can attest to the fact that this last section is brutal. It’s a hike a bike pretty much. Seems the horse riders and hikers of FOSS don’t like it either. The email went out to a group of MTBco members who had helped out to do some re route work on Vapour last year and everyone was on board to go get some work done on Sunday, November 8th. Everyone met up top at 10am (except Scott who climbed up to come do some work!). Brad Wright of FOSS brought Mccleod tools and Pulaskis and within a few minutes of arriving work was started. Teams worked away at various sections of bench cut, most of which required a lot of engineering work with rocks and logs to support the trails as it cut off camber along the steep KVR slope. Massive rocks were moved and placed to help reduce the grade of the only major swithback within the new section.

After a few hours of hard work the crew managed to get the section of trail to about half done with the bulk of the more difficult areas complete. Althought its not yet ridable, one more day of work should seal the deal. Weather dependant the work may get done this fall but most likely it will be a spring job. Look forward to a much easier climb for this last section of Captain Nemo and a longer, more flowing decent along the new section of trail.

Big thanks to all who helped out!

(Dave Petrik, Kinga Gortel, Scott Lahrs, Lee MacKay, Jon Matlock (and friend, can’t recall his name?), Joe, Roy, Brad Wright)

Mike Kittmer

Director, MTBco

Recently MTBco presented a prominate local trail builder with a cheque for $250 for his huge effort to clear deadfall from local trails. This builder has logged well over 50 hours in just deadfall clearing in recent weeks to ensure all can continue to enjoy local trails. Each year MTBco provides donations to key local builders to help offset their often huge costs for the work they do.

Next time you run into a builder improving or clearing our local trails be sure to thank them. Without their dedication we would not have the great world class trails that we do here in the Central Okanagan. You can also help us to continue to support these builders and continue to work on protecting and enhancing local trail networks by signing up each year as a paid MTBco member or club sponsor. You can also help us by spreading the work to other non members  or potential new sponsors that they should become paid members/sponsors.

MTBco relies on financial support from the local riding community and our sponsors to put on great events and work on our many ongoing projects such as the creation of the region’s first mountain bike skills park, partnerships to enhance and protect trail networks with land managers/government and trail enhancement.

Spread the word…membership and support does have its priviledges…great trails!

MTBco

Thank these people/groups when you see them:

• Ken Tucker  (local trail building hero)
  
• Brant  Lyon  (local builder/MTBco director)
  
• Andrew Mc Intosh (local builder/MTBco director)
  
• BC Parks local ranger, Erin Gunoff
• Various FOSS members/directors

These People spent their Sunday (and many other days for Ken!) this long weekend working hard in the heat and smoke to clear dead fall in Crawford (Myra Bellevue). They did this to help all riders who enjoy the park. Everyone who has been to the park recently has been disappointed to find an unbelievable amount of trees down after recent wind/thunderstorms.

BC Parks Senior Ranger, Erin Gunoff put out the request to MTBco for help with the clearing. MTBco’s certified operators answered the call and spent Sunday, August 1st clearing with Erin. It may not be all clear on all trails but it’s now way better than it was. More trees will fall so it will take more clearing days of course, so again, remember to thank these people when you see them (if you  know them!) or just remember to not whine too much about the condition of the park after storms…BC Parks knows we all want the trails clear and they, with MTBco and FOSS’s help (and of course the chain saw fairies) are doing their best !

‘A big thank you should go out to Andrew, Brant, and Ken for their amazing work today (and Ken’s work for the last few days). Trails were clear, and cut to standard. It was a hot one out there today. Bikers, hikers and horse-riders in the park today were amazed and impressed, as was I. Great job! ‘

Erin Gunoff BC Parks Senior Ranger East Okanagan

As a director of MTBco and rider who loves Crawford, my most sincere thanks goes out to all of you…

Mike Kittmer

Director

MTBco

The International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) Trail Care Crew visited Kelowna from June 18th to 21st as one of their 70 stops throughout North America. IMBA and MTBco helped local riders, experienced and aspiring trail builders, club members, government staff and clubs from the Shuswap to the South Okanagan learn more about sustainable trail maintenance and construction.

The visit started on Thursday, June 18th with a government employee specific trail school were staff from the City of Kelowna, District of West Kelowna, Regional District of The Central Okanagan, BC Parks and the Ministry of Tourism Culture and The Arts learned about sustainable trail building techniques. 17 government staff members participated in the session showing their commitment to the Regional Mountain Bike Stategy.

On Friday, June 19th directors from MTBco, Friends of The South Slopes, The Central Okanagan Hiking Club, The North Okanagan Cycling Society, The Shuswap Trail Alliance and The Pentictona and Area Cycling Association and the South Okanagan Bike Club all participated in a club building workshop. The groups learned techniques to keep their clubs strong, motivated and effective. The session also laid the ground work for future regional club meetings. The clubs will pursue ways to further work together on issues such as sign standards and design, regional trail opportunities and joint promotion.

The main event was of course the Trail School held on Saturday, June 20th. The 32 participants spent half a day in class on the shores of Okanagan Lake at the Mission Activity Center. This in class session provided the back ground needed to participate in the afternoon field session held on Knox Mountain. The in class session taught participants how to ensure their future trails will not only be sustainable, but also fun. We all now know you can have both! After the in class session participants were treated to an amazing lunch at the Bike Shop Cafe located on Ellis St. right across from the library. What a meal! Darren and Kim went all out ensuring our crew was ready for an afternoon of trail work. Once up at Knox the crew went through an initial safety meeting to discuss tool use and work site safety then it was up to the top of the mountain just above the ranger station to do a trail decommission and re route. The group was divided into two teams, one team, lead by Jason Van Horn of IMBA, was to begin the decommission of the old unsustainable (aka erroded) trail section and begin the re route while the other team learned about trail design from Inga Beck of IMBA. The crews applied their new found knowledge to create an awesome new trail section with tons of flow. Everyone worked really hard and had a ton of fun in the process. We all learned that having access to a water tank trailer and hoses to soak down the trail makes life wayyyyy easier….hmmm, I think MTBco could use a water tank!

After a hard day of trail work what could be better than showing up at the bike shop to a smoking bbq, two kegs and music. Cyclepath and Tree Brewing had it all lined up…burgers and veggie burgers for all, salads and Tree Brewing Thristy Beaver! Awesome. The gang took a much deserved seat, socialized, ate drank and raced…yeah raced. You see we decided that giving out prizes with your basic raffel ticket draw was good at first but when it came to the final two best prizes you just had to earn it. A Camel Bak pack donated by Cyclepath and Outdoor Gear Canada and a shuttle for 10 to Vapour trail in Myra Bellevue Park by Monashee Adventure Tours were up for grabs and the slowest rider wins. The good ol slow as you can go race on kids bikes. Perfect for really tired, slightly intoxicated mountain bikers.

Sunday. Finally the day to ride. Everyone started to arrive at the base of Knox Mountain about 10am as a light rain fell. A rider from Revelstoke reminded us that it was not raining out, but was rather only sprinkling. I guess some of us are Okanagan soft now. There were downhillers, all mountain riders and cross country riders. The groups were formed and destinations were chosen. The downhill contingent would be off to Gillard while the others headed to Smith Creek. Lesson one, don’t hold up a bunch of DHers that are stoked to ride. It can get ugly, just let them go. Lesson two…cross country riders must be let off the leash. Don’t even try to keep on them with your 6 inch bike…there’s no shame being outclimbed by these animals. Lesson three, don’t be mean and tell out of towners (aka, the IMBA rep) that its ok to bring your DH bike to go climb Smith Creek. Thats just mean. Dave, you are mean! We all took our time and sure enough we got to the top and had a blast ripping down the Smith Creek DH line. What a trail…we are so lucky here in the Okanagan to have such awesome trail builders. Thank your local builders, better yet, give them money for tools, nails and fuel and buy them beer when you see them at the pub.

After the ride we all headed back to see if we could put a bit of dent in the remainder of the keg of Tree Thirsty Beaver then it was time to say goodbye to our IMBA crew, Jason and Inga. The event had been a huge success with everyone learning a lot and having a ton of fun. Events such as this are only possible by the hard work and dedication of volunteers and the support of our sponsors. I want to thank the crew that helped to make this event possible and our sponsors that stepped up to make sure the event was top knotch.

A big thanks goes out to:

• Lori Evans for taking care of the entire invite, registration and communications end of the event. This is the stuff that takes a great deal of time, a lot of skill and far more organizational know how than I will ever have…

• Lee McKay and Studio A Graphic Design. Lee not only sponsored the event by providing the awesome promo poster and maps but he took on site logistics at the various venues (with help from Steph of course…!)

• Stu Evans, Darren Pugh and Scott Lars for volunteering your time to take on site prep work, logistics at each venue, sign in and of course the set up of the water tank. It started as a  crazy idea that just happened to work like a champ.

• Dave Petrik and Kinga Gortel. Dave and Kinga welcomed Jason and Inga from IMBA into their home providing them with an amazing place to sleep, rest, work and enjoy the veiw overlooking Kelowna from the door step of Knox Mountain.

• Don Moore, the beer man. Don didn’t even let me finish my sentence when I was asking him about how to get free beer for the event. ‘No worries, I got it covered….’ thanks Don! Tell the gang at Tree how much we enjoyed the Thirsty Beaver.

• Jim Maybee and the Shuswap Trail Alliance for providing us with insight on choosing a field work site and for bringing a ton of tools. We couldn’t have done it without your support. Thanks Jim, and thanks to whole Shuswap Trail Alliance team.

• Friends of The South Slopes (FOSS) for providing us with tools and for always supporting MTBco and our events.

• A big thanks to the City of Kelowna Parks Department, Recreation Department and Outdoor Events Committee for providing us with the venues for this event, for trusting us to work on Knox Mountain, assisting us with funding the event and ensuring we would be free to work in the park without running into an angry bride to be whose wedding was ruined by a bunch of mountain bikers (long story). Cheers to Barb Davidson, Jim Gabriel, Claudia Buhler and Ian Wilson for your support.

• Our title sponsors, Cyclepath Bike Shop and The Bike Shop Cafe really stepped up to help turn this event into an experience to be remembered for all. An amazing lunch in an oh so cool resturant (you really have to go see this place) by the Bike Shop Cafe and a dialed BBQ and social at Cyclepath Bike Shop took this from a good event to great one.

• Nato of Okanagan Sign Design produced killer trail maintenance signs for us that the club can now use at all our our trail days. Cheers, Nato.

• Winn Rentals provided us with water hoses to run our water tank. Most of these guys ride too so they were stoked to help us out.

• Thank you also to our prizing sponsors, Monashee Adventure Tours, IMBA, Bush Pilot Biking, Outdoor Gear Canada and Giant Bikes. Mountain bikers love swag and these companies came through.

To everyone who participated, thank you for coming out and making this event rock. And to IMBA and Subaru, thank you for running such a great program and for choosing to make a stop in Kelowna. This event has helped us to keep the momentum gained from the Regional Mountain Bike Strategy alive and has given MTBco an opportunity to host people from all over our region. Good times, new friends, more trails.

Feel Shame if you missed this event…

Heres a link to a summary of the event by Jason from IMBA:

http://www.ihatebikes.net/wordpress/spots/kelowna-bc-imba-tour-de-canada-part-i/

Cheers,

Mike Kittmer

Director

MTBco

There are still some spaces left in the IMBA/MTBco trail building/maintenance school. To register just email imbaevent@mtbco.ca…

Come learn sustainable single track building techniques in a one day (half in class, half of trail) course. Lunch and a dinner bbq are provided for participants. Registration details and fees are below.

If you don’t want to come to the school session, make sure you come by Cyclepath Bike Shop on Saturday, June 21st at 7pm to hang and talk trails or come to the GROUP RIDE, at Knox (shuttles to Gillard for DHers) on Sunday, June 21st at 10am. Come on out and meet some great people and have a good time….

The International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) Trail Care Crew visits up to 70 areas in North America to help affiliated clubs learn more about proper trail maintenance, construction and care, work more effectively with land managers and maintain healthy, strong community based clubs.

This weekend long event will consist of the following:

IMBA TRAIL SCHOOL

A one day session where participants will learn IMBA’s trail building philosophies and techniques. The school consists of three hours in the classroom followed by 1/2 day in the field doing hands-on trail work and field instruction on Saturday, June 20^th starting at 8am (see poster and map below for further details). This session is the only fee based portion of the weekend and will include a lunch and wrap up BBQ for participants. Interested parties are asked to contact imbaevent@mtbco.ca to receive more information about registering.  Space is limited to 45 participants only.

IMBA GOVERNMENT STAFF TRAIL SCHOOL

Parks staff from the City of Kelowna, Central Okanagan Regional District and District of West Kelowna will be invited to participate in a trail school just for parks employees on Thursday, June 18th. This is at the request of the local governments and shows their commitment to the recently adopted Regional Mountain Bike Strategy.

CLUB CARE WORKSHOP/REGIONAL ROUND TABLE (Clubs only)

During the Club Care Workshop being held Friday June 19^th at 7pm, the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew will share techniques that advocacy organizations across North America have used to reach goals, overcome challenges, and grow the mountain bike community. This is also an opportunity for representatives of various Thompson/Okanagan club’s to meet other groups, share successes/stories and discuss long term visions for mountain biking in our regions. This event segment is open to representatives of all mountain bike clubs from up and down the valley as well as all other user group clubs.

TRAIL ASSESSMENT (IMBA, MTBco, City of Kelowna only)

MTBco, IMBA and the City of Kelowna will discuss trail conflict issues in Knox Mountain Park and will evaluate trail opportunities.  MTBco hopes to access the main DH/FR trail used on Knox to gain insight into improvement options than can be included in the upcoming Knox Mountain Management Plan Update.

SOCIAL (open to all)

A social will be held at Cyclepath bike shop on Saturday, June 20^th at 7pm. It is an opportunity for participants to network, share stories, talk about trial building, etc. The IMBA reps will be on hand along with representatives from various Okanagan clubs including MTBco. Come on out, hang out, talk shop and have some fun. All are welcome!

RIDE (open to all)

An IMBA visit without a ride is like peanut butter without jelly! Everyone is invited to join a group ride held on Sunday, June 21st at 10am at Knox Mountain.  Groups will be formed based on skill level or riding discipline. Groups will be led my MTBco members/friends. For all you DHers, there will most likely be a group heading off to ride Gillard or Postil as well. Come out, rip with some new friends and enjoy the local mountain bike scene.

THE MAIN VENUE

Knox Mountain Park has been chosen as the key location for this event due to its ease of access, amenities and significance to the community. MTBco’s goal is to show local government, community members and all other trail user groups that the local mountain bike community is a responsible trail user that is committed to ensuring mountain bikers are welcome within the park. The club is committed to park improvement and user education.

For more information about this great MTBco event please email imbaevent@mtbco.ca or mike@mtbco.ca. Please note space is limited for the trail school day but everyone is welcome to join us at the social and group ride.

…working hard for your right to ride.

MTBco would like to thank our great event sponsors for their support, cheers to Cyclepath Bike Shop, The Old Bike Shop Café, Studio A and Okanagan Sign Design for helping to ensure this will be a top notch weekend!

The International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) Trail Care Crew visits up to 70 areas in North America to help affiliated clubs learn more about proper trail maintenance, construction and care, work more effectively with land managers and maintain healthy, strong community based clubs.

This weekend long event will consist of the following:

IMBA TRAIL SCHOOL

A one day session where participants will learn IMBA’s trail building philosophies and techniques. The school consists of three hours in the classroom followed by 1/2 day in the field doing hands-on trail work and field instruction on Saturday, June 20^th starting at 8am (see poster and map below for further details). This session is the only fee based portion of the weekend and will include a lunch and wrap up BBQ for participants. Interested parties are asked to contact imbaevent@mtbco.ca to receive more information about registering.  Space is limited to 45 participants only.

IMBA GOVERNMENT STAFF TRAIL SCHOOL

Parks staff from the City of Kelowna, Central Okanagan Regional District and District of West Kelowna will be invited to participate in a trail school just for parks employees on Thursday, June 18th. This is at the request of the local governments and shows their commitment to the recently adopted Regional Mountain Bike Strategy.

CLUB CARE WORKSHOP/REGIONAL ROUND TABLE (Clubs only)

During the Club Care Workshop being held Friday June 19^th at 7pm, the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew will share techniques that advocacy organizations across North America have used to reach goals, overcome challenges, and grow the mountain bike community. This is also an opportunity for representatives of various Thompson/Okanagan club’s to meet other groups, share successes/stories and discuss long term visions for mountain biking in our regions. This event segment is open to representatives of all mountain bike clubs from up and down the valley as well as all other user group clubs.

TRAIL ASSESSMENT (IMBA, MTBco, City of Kelowna only)

MTBco, IMBA and the City of Kelowna will discuss trail conflict issues in Knox Mountain Park and will evaluate trail opportunities.  MTBco hopes to access the main DH/FR trail used on Knox to gain insight into improvement options than can be included in the upcoming Knox Mountain Management Plan Update.

SOCIAL (open to all)

A social will be held at Cyclepath bike shop on Saturday, June 20^th at 7pm. It is an opportunity for participants to network, share stories, talk about trial building, etc. The IMBA reps will be on hand along with representatives from various Okanagan clubs including MTBco. Come on out, hang out, talk shop and have some fun. All are welcome!

RIDE (open to all)

An IMBA visit without a ride is like peanut butter without jelly! Everyone is invited to join a group ride held on Sunday, June 21st at 10am at Knox Mountain.  Groups will be formed based on skill level or riding discipline. Groups will be led my MTBco members/friends. For all you DHers, there will most likely be a group heading off to ride Gillard or Postil as well. Come out, rip with some new friends and enjoy the local mountain bike scene.

THE MAIN VENUE

Knox Mountain Park has been chosen as the key location for this event due to its ease of access, amenities and significance to the community. MTBco’s goal is to show local government, community members and all other trail user groups that the local mountain bike community is a responsible trail user that is committed to ensuring mountain bikers are welcome within the park. The club is committed to park improvement and user education.

For more information about this great MTBco event please email imbaevent@mtbco.ca or mike@mtbco.ca. Please note space is limited for the trail school day but everyone is welcome to join us at the social and group ride.

…working hard for your right to ride.

MTBco would like to thank our great event sponsors for their support, cheers to Cyclepath Bike Shop, The Old Bike Shop Café, Studio A and Okanagan Sign Design for helping to ensure this will be a top notch weekend!

Its that time of year again when we bikers have an opportunity to show everyone how great our lifestyle is and how cycling is a great way to travel…

The Bike to Work Week ‘Car vs Bike Challenge’ takes place this coming Monday, May 11^th starting at the Mission Creek Regional Park on Springfeild Rd and ending at our 1^st Bike to Work Celebration Station at Mission Sports Fields.

We need your help…we need cyclists to come out and ride in the challenge so we can show the drivers that cycling is a fast, effective way to travel that is much more fun that dealing with traffic! Please come out if you can and/or spread the word to other cyclists about this fun event.

Below is an outline of the challenge and attached is a route map showing the two optional cycling routes to the finish line (one on street and one on the Greenway). We need road cyclist, mountain bikers, recreational cyclists…who ever. This year’s race will be fun for all whether participants are 1^st time commuters or experienced ‘silent threat’ racers..!

Note, no need to RSVP as noted below if its not convenient for you (feel free to do so if you can  though).

If the ride isn’t enticing enough, remember that there is a free pancake breakfast and social at the finish line to kick off Bike to Work Week!!!

(Bikers like food so I’m hoping this is enough to convince you now).

 Route map available at: http://www.city.kelowna.bc.ca/CityPage/Docs/PDFs//iGo/BTW09/Bike_Route_%20Map.pdf

Mountain Bikers…do you enjoy being able to ride on Knox Mountain? Do you want to make sure the trails remain open to mountain bikers and are improved for riding?

Come out and show your support…

Below is an invitation to attend the first of two open houses regarding Knox Mountain Park.  The second open house will be held in late September 2009.

Please inform others of this openhouse who you think may be interested in attending.  Following the Open House,  the information panels and the questionnaire will be posted on the City website, www.kelowna.ca under City projects.  The questionnaire will be removed from the website on May 21, 2009.

Hope to see you there,

For further information contact:

Barb Davidson, CSLA

Parks Planner

(T) 250-469-8837

(F) 250-869-3349

Eight MTBco directors/members participated in a chain saw certification course held Saturday, March 21st. The course, put on through Wildfire Consulting Ltd, consisted of a half day of in class training and a half day of feild training. Participants learned bucking and limbing techniques and learned about proper saw maintenance.

Neil, the instructor, was great, ensuring everyone had a good time. Everyone learned skills that will be put to good use during MTBco trail days. MTBco would like to send a big thanks out to The Friends of The South Slopes (FOSS) for offering to cover the cost of the course for 4 of the participants. We all look forward to working with FOSS in the future and to continuing to help with projects in Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park.

No excuses for poorly maintained saws or weak technique anymore boys…!

Directors,

MTBco

The woody saw - crafted by Ken Tucker!

Neil, our leader