Sprockids Bring Energy to the Bike Park

The Hinton Sprockids had a bumpy start this spring.  After a very sunny, hot and dry April, the May and June sessions were met with rain, rain and even more rain.  3 of 5 sessions had to be cancelled.  Still, the coaches and kids are having a blast enhancing their riding techniques and general biking know-how. 

The Hinton Sprockids program is backed by many supporters!

Sponsors who directly support Hinton Sprockids:

• Dig That Stitch Embroidery
• DQ Grill & Chill
• Frieson Bros. - Hill
• Frieson Bros. - Valley
• Hinton Wealth Planning - Daniel Duval
• McDonald's (Hinton)
• Ouiprint
• Repsol
• Safeway
• Subway Restaurants
• The Hinton Voice Inc.
• Vicious Cycle
• West Fraser Mills Ltd.

Sponsors who support the Sprockids program via general donations to HMBA:

• Juventus
• RBC Royal Bank
• Steve Sevcik
• Talisman Logging

Vests Donated by Dig That Stitch Embroidery

Thank you Bill at Dig That Stitch Embroidery in Hinton for donating HMBA branded vest to all our Sprockids coaches!!

HMBA Has Full Board

A Full Board

At a recent monthly meeting, HMBA's Board of Directors voted in another member to complete our roster!  It is a sign of a healthy board to have both seasoned and fresh faces on the Board as it helps to minimize volunteer fatigue and ensures board continuity into the future.

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Brayden Langford

At our AGM in April, Brayden Langford stepped up into the role as HMBA's new VP.  Brayden is definitely not new to HMBA.  He has been involved with HMBA in different roles, both as a Youth Coordinator and as a valued volunteer for trail/bike park maintenance and for the Beaver Bike Fest.   Welcome Brayden!!

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Bill Heir

Bill is another long-time HMBA member and avid volunteer.   With 30 years of riding under his belt, Bill enjoys our trails systems and routinely volunteers his time to help maintain them.   At the AGM, Bill had volunteered to help out the Treasurer (Julie Duval) with bookkeeping.   Later, he offered to step up as Treasurer and allow Julie to fill the Secretary position - a role that suits her well.    Please welcome Bill as HMBA's new Treasurer!!

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HMBA Board of Directors

• President:  Shawn Lee
• Vice President: Brayden Langford
• Treasurer: Bill Heir
• Secretary: Julie Duval
• Operations (Trails): Kevin Myles
• Directory at Large:  Maureen Harper

Bill

Brayden

Kevin

Julie

Shawn

Maureen

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The Ones that Got Away

HMBA wouldn't be where it is today without it's committed members.  Two board members had stepped down at our last AGM.   Marie-Soleil Pinet (past Treasurer) and Jenn Hunter (past Secretary) were valued members and their positive energy will be missed!  Thank you Marie-Soleil and Jenn!!

a1 Signs

A BIG thank you to Steve at a1 Signs Design Company in Hinton for giving us a super great deal on directional signage! Expect to see signs refreshed at the Hinton Bike Park and on Happy Creek Trail System in the near future!

Hinton RBC Branch Staff Volunteers at the Bike Park

Six staff members from Hinton's RBC Branch came out on June 8th to volunteer their time.  They came with smiles and ready to work - it was so great to have such wonderful volunteers!  A lot of work got done, despite the dark clouds looming on two sides of the town.  Unfortunately, after an hour, the first lightning was seen in the sky, and was soon followed by more.  These ladies quickly finished up what they were doing, and got out of the park in the nick of time!  The skies opened with heavy rain, more lightning and nearby thunder.  It was quite the storm!

The RBC staff volunteer their time to local groups such as HMBA and in return, their employer grants $1,000 towards that same group.  HMBA has been a recipient of this generous "double" donation in the past and we want to thank these wonderful volunteers for their time and for choosing our association as a worthy group to support!

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The old maps on the main kiosk were taken down and the wood given a fresh coat of varnish.   Unfortunately, because of the incoming lightning storm, there was no time to place the new maps!  10 more minutes was all we needed!

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These ladies glued our new signs to plywood.  Thanks so much for the help!

Upcoming Events

Monday Ladies Rides

• When: Every Monday
• Time: Meet at 6:45pm and be ready to ride for 7:00pm  (Rides start earlier in September - check calendar!)
• Where: Hinton Bike Park, Parking Lot
• Who: Ladies of all skill levels welcome  (sorry NO Boys allowed)
• Why: This is just for the Ladies to go for a ride together and help each other become better riders with No Boys allowed, so go have some fun. (also feel free to also come to out on Wednesday Nights)

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Wednesday Group Rides

• When: Every Wednesday
• Time: Meet at 6:45pm and be ready to ride for 7:00pm  (Rides start earlier in September - check calendar!)
• Where: Hinton Bike Park, Parking Lot
• Who: Everyone of all skill levels welcome 
• Why: To have some FUN by getting out and riding with other people and riding new trails. Our goal for club rides is to get more people out on the trails enjoying mountain biking.

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Hinton Sprockids

• When:  Thursdays from 6:00pm until 7:15pm (until June 30th, then back 4 weeks in September)
• Where: Hinton Bike Park
• What:  2016 marks the fifth season for the Hinton Sprockids program.  We are stoked to continue this program in Hinton and look forward to seeing Hinton's bike culture grow with kids of all ages.
• Who: kids aged 2 to 13, all abilities (sorry, registration is closed!)

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Busy Hinton Bike Park Day

Devon's DBA Bears and Edmonton's Juventus Sprockids are going to be at the bike park all afternoon of Sunday, May 29th.  These two groups have been making the annual trip to Hinton as part part of their programming.

Expect a busy afternoon at the park!   Line-ups on Flow Master will be a given!

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Muscular Dystrophy Slope Wars Challenge

A group of local individuals is hosting an 'MD Slope Wars Challenge' at the Hinton Bike Park on June 4th.  This event is in conjunction with the annual MD Walk, BBQ, and Car Wash at the Hinton Fire Hall on Eaton Road. The MD Walk is Saturday, June 4th from 10am - 2pm.

• When:  Saturday, June 4th, 4:00pm.
• Where: Hinton Bike Park, Slope Wars
• Who: Two age categories: 11-15 and 16+. Men's and Women's divisions.
• How:  Registration is by donation with a suggested minimum donation of $5.  Donations of $20 or more will be eligible for a charitable tax reciept.

Registration can be done from 11:00am-1:00pm at the MD Walk (Hinton Fire Hall) on Saturday morning or at the bike park from 4:00-4:30pm.   Come out and take the challenge or just cheer on your favorite rider!

See you there!

If anyone has any questions, please contact Stacey Cherry.

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Check out our Events Calendar and Stay up to Date!

Ride Dirt Not Mud

Just a reminder to all our bike park and trail users!   Please don't ride when conditions are unfavorable. 

Thank you!!

Hinton Bike Park Beautification Cont'd

Continued Support from Sevcik Family

Another big thank you to Steve Sevcik's family for their continued support! This Edmonton family, also HMBA members, have recently donated $500 to the Association. Please view last year's post about this great family!

Talisman Logging Continues to support HMBA with generous annual donations!

Robert Doorenbos, owner of Talisman Logging, likes to keep it simple.  He simply rides - Every. Single. Day.  Chances are you have seen him out on the trails, all winter and summer long, ''logging'' up his hours on the bike, pun intended :) Thank you Robert for giving back to what you enjoy.  HMBA will use your contributions towards the maintenance and expenses of winter grooming!  Thanks to your donations of the past two years, HMBA was able to purchase it's own winter sled!!

HMBA Recipient of Hinton Community Grant Program Funding

The Hinton Mountain Bike Association was one of the successful applicants for the Spring 2016 intake of the Hinton Community Grant Program.    The grant will be used for parking lot upgrades which includes the installation of a light standard at the Hinton Bike Park parking lot to provide a safer area for riders in twilight hours.   During the winter months, HMBA has expanded the use of its trails and purchased grooming equipment that will be stored in a second seacan, which is also part of the funding request. 

Three local Hinton businesses have committed in-kind labour and materials towards this project.  These include Caylor Contracting, Ascendant Renewable Energy and Ever Enterprises.

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Kevin Myles, HMBA's Trail Coordinator, is stoked about the grant and the work being done to make the Hinton Bike Park even more awesome!

Maureen Harper, HMBA's Director at Large, has been very busy preparing the parking lot and Skills Area in preparation of the light standard and the additional seacan.  Her focus is one of of beautification, making the Hinton Bike Park more welcoming and appealing to all visitors.

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Holly and Karyn were very busy painting all the bike racks.

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Gabby and Ellen made good work on clearing Stinger - make sure this relatively new trail is on your to-do list!

On Saturday, April 7th, about a dozen volunteers worked all morning by removing and piling brush, painting, clearing, stone removal and establishing a short foot path behind the parking lot.  Maureen thanks her volunteers' efforts and commented that "one volunteer is worth 3 employees - that is how hard these volunteers worked!"

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Rocks, rocks and more rocks.  Julie and Gabrielle rocked it!

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Workers from the Town of Hinton will be in and out of the park to remove many of the wood piles generated that sunny morning.    HMBA thanks all it`s bike park visitors for their patience as the work is being done.

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Repsol Bench

The Repsol sponsored bench at the Hinton Bike Park is now completed! Thank you again Repsol for supporting the Hinton Mountain Bike Association!! 
 

Discounted HMBA Apparel Available at AGM

Great news folks! HMBA apparel will be on sale at the AGM. All apparel will be discounted. Freestyle Jerseys (was $70, now $50), Turbo-T Jerseys (was $45, now $30), Yellow 2015 BBF shirts (was $25, now $10), all other cotton Tshirts (was $10, now $5), and socks (was $15/pr, now $5/pr)

Limited sizes available:
Unisex Sugoi Freestyle Jerseys (3/4 sleeve): XS, S, M and XL
Men's Sugoi Turbo-T Jerseys: XS, S and M (great for youth!!)
Women's Sugoi Turbo-T Jerseys: S, M and L
Sock Guy Socks: still have some in S/M (6) and lots in X/XL (15)
Yellow BBF shirts: Mediums only (fits a bit big)
BBF shirts: mostly larger sizes. 1 cute 2T left.

Help HMBA clear out inventory! All proceeds go back into supporting HMBA's operations and initiatives!

HMBA AGM:  Thursday April 21st.  Doors open at 6:30pm.  Come get your memberships!

Check out the photos and see how our apparel are stylin' all year round!

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Spring Cleaning

Work Bees

With the warm spring weather quickly drying up our biking playgrounds, a few work bees have been put in motion starting this Tuesday April 12th, from 5:30pm until dusk.  The work bee will continue on Wednesday and Thursday as well.   So if you have some time to spare this week, come on out to the Hinton Bike Park, pick up a broom or a rake and lend a hand!  There will be lots of different tasks.

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No matter how small...

Tree Falling

On Tuesday, April 12, Wade Forester will be falling dangerous trees at the Hinton Bike Park. Please either avoid the Park or give a lot of distance for Wade to work. Big thanks in advance to Wade and his skilled labour volunteer hours!

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Flagged tree for falling.

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Photo credit: S.Pelley, HMBA facebook group.   Local member contributing many volly hours on our trails!

Spring Vollies

THANKS!!! to all the volunteers who have worked hard this past week picking garbage off trails, clearing deadfall and getting the other Hinton area trails ready for riding.

HMBA Trails 101

In an effort to manage an inventory of sustainable trails in our area, HMBA has outlined some key steps that are needed before new trails, or re-routes to existing trails, are built.  There is also concern that, although more trails would be super cool to add to our existing trail systems, they do increase the amount of trails HMBA's volunteers have to maintain!!

If enthusiastic trail builders would like to build an authorized trail:

1. The idea needs to be presented at an HMBA board meeting.  Contact us at info@bikehinton.com to find out when the next meeting will occur.   Trail suggestions/ideas are compared against the existing Trail Master Plan and approved by the HMBA Board.
2. If accepted, HMBA will help the builders apply for a TFA (Temporary Field Authorization) with the Alberta Government on the condition that the builders agree to provide maintenance on the trail in the future. 
3. Any trail within the Town of Hinton town boundary also requires approval.
4. For re-routes, previous areas have to be reclaimed, blocked off and returned to it's natural state.
5. HMBA has various tools that can be loaned out to members for approved trail building initiatives.

These steps ensure that renegade building does not become a liability for HMBA and that the responsibility for maintenance does not fall back on HMBA to expend resources and energy on a potentially poorly built trail. We are aware that certain illegal trails have been grandfathered in the HMBA systems but moving forward, there is a process in place that will be followed.  In extreme cases, renegade building may be reported to the ESRD and the Town of Hinton.

Update on Jack's

Last November, students and instructors from the NAIT Forest Technology Program began a harvest project around the Jack’s Trail System, specifically Christine’s Cutline Cruise and Dan’s Deadly Downhill. They had contacted HMBA as part of the formal notification process for groups/interests in the area, a process managed by the Province to minimize conflicts on the land base.

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The NAIT project is clearly visible from .Christine's Cutline Cruise".  They did a great job of removing debris from the trail. It's a little wet but good overall (see header photo)

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Note the harvest block (yellow) indicated on the above map. Even though the project occured over winter, trails were buffered up to 30 meters and caution signage was placed. NAIT will also inspect trails for any unlikely debris.

Did you know that the NAIT Forestry Program performs a “Cache Percott–Give Back”? Upon completion of their field camps, 30 students cleaned-up around the Cache Percott Forest, removing general garbage i.e. dumped couches, washing machines, garden detritus, household garbage etc.   AWESOME!!, thanks NAIT!

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BIG THANKS! to whoever cut all the downed trees over winter. There's a few new ones down but overall Jack's is riding great and surprisingly dry.

AGM April 21st

AGM Announcement

The Hinton Mountain Bike Association Annual General Meeting will be held Thursday, April 21st at Lakeview Inn & Suites.  Doors open at 6:30pm.  AGM will start at 7:15pm.

2016 HMBA Memberships will be available for purchase.

• Individual Memberships:  $25
• Family Memberships:  $75

Memberships can be purchased ahead of time from our online shop.  Pick up your 2016 membership cards and stickers at the AGM!  If you are unable to attend our AGM, the membership cards and stickers will be mailed out to you after April 21st.

HMBA Apparel will also be available for purchase at the AGM.

New this year: Smaller-sized 'member' stickers!!

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Great door prizes!!  Including a Trek run bike donated by Vicious for our youngest members.

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Thank you to our sponsors for the great AGM door prizes!

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Thank you to Lakeview Inn & Suites for donating the use of their meeting room for our AGM!

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Thank you to The Hinton Voice and Ouiprint for designing and printing our AGM posters!

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And saving the best for last, a great BIG thank you to all our membership card discount sponsors!!

Canadian Rockies Mountain Bike Fest wins 2nd in 2016 Entrepreneurship Challenge

Canmore, AB – The Canadian Rockies Mountain Bike Fest, a developing mega event that will bring Alberta’s booming mountain bike industry to Canmore won second place at last night’s Travel Alberta’s 2016 Growing Rural Tourism Conference’s Entrepreneurship Challenge in Camrose.

Owner/Operator Wanda Bogdane explained, “This is an important accomplishment for the Fest. We’ve had amazing support so far, but an event of this magnitude requires seed money to develop. Having mentorship will also be helpful to move the project into execution at the standard we want.”

Rancho Relaxo Resort of Rocky Mountain House took the first place win and Discovery Wildlife Park of Innisfail won third place. Ricardo Miranda, Minister of Culture and Tourism tweeted “Congrats to ‪@TaimiSoil‪@wandabogdane ‪@DiscoveryWild-winners of the 2016 Entrepreneurship Challenge, presented at GRT.‪#ABtourism”

 The Canadian Rockies Mountain Bike Fest

The Fest will be a buzz of activities over a multi-day period at the end of June (2017) and will include:

• Demo-licious Days: “This is where mountain bikers will come to sample the tastiest bikes of the season,” explained Bogdane.
• The Plaid Goat Jump Jam where jumpers of all ages and abilities will come to strut their stuff and put on a great show
• A craft beer tent and great coffee to quench attendees’ thirst 
• Coaching clinics with the best coaches from around the region
• Group rides to make sure festival takers get their “ride-on” and awesome activities hosted by local bike shops
• Partnerships with “for fun” existing mountain bike races
• Trail care days involving local and regional trail builders and designers, with support from the International Mountain Bike Association
• A kids activity area with a pump track and make your own park dirt pit
• Vendors galore showcasing the newest bike goods, food, jewellery, bike art and more

“The Fest will build on the Town of Canmore’s Bike Fest, held in previous years and will add in the regional piece to create an inclusive, for-fun celebration of mountain biking culture for the bike industry and its passion people from around the province,” said Bogdane. “Mountain bike tourists who love to travel to ride will be a big part of the mix too.”

A regional approach to mountain biking is new for Alberta, but common across North America and the world. “The Fest can help fill this gap and will create a new mechanism for our beautiful province to further diversify our tourism economy,” explained Bogdane. “The Canadian Rockies Mountain Bike Fest will bring together mountain bike alliances, destination marketing organizations, coaches, clubs and industry so all of the great mountain bike experiences in the region can be found in one mammoth package.”

The Canadian Rockies Mountain Bike Fest is seeking sponsors and partners for individual components and the festival as a whole. “There are a ton of different ways to be involved, and we’ve had interest from the bike industry and non-industry companies who want to reach the core demographic of a loyal affluent group mostly aged 35-55. However, with something of this scale, we’ll continue to build out our sponsorship program over the next year,” said Bogdane.

For more information contact:

Wanda Bogdane

403-609-7127

wanda@aspire2achieve.ca   

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Background on the Growing Rural Tourism Conference

 The 2016 conference featured the second installment of the Entrepreneurship Challenge, a competition to help operators develop new tourism experiences. Ten finalists presented their business plans to industry experts and received feedback during the conference on Feb 23.

The top three winners were announced and received cash prizes and one year of mentoring to assist in the development of their products. The winners included:

·       1st place: Rancho Relaxo Resort, Rocky Mountain House

·       2nd place: Canadian Rockies Mountain Bike Fest, Canmore

·       3rd place: Discovery Wildlife Park, Innisfail

“Tourism is an important industry in our province—and a key factor in diversifying Alberta’s economy. The Growing Rural Tourism Conference develops and supports tourism experiences that are off the beaten path, bringing economic benefits to rural communities. Innovation and the expansion of travel experiences in Alberta will facilitate the growth of our burgeoning tourism industry.”

Ricardo Miranda, Minister of Culture and Tourism

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is committed to expanding the tourism industry and maximizing the opportunities tourism creates in every region of the province. Working with industry partners the goal is to grow tourism in Alberta to a $10.3 billion industry by 2020.

Links:

http://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=4025464652ABC-A253-BECE-AAD346EB3BA41FDB#.Vst9HEACA1A.twitter

Photos for the winners can be found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/albertaculture/sets/72157664276965799

 Media inquiries:

·       Beryl Cullum 780-644-5588Communications Director, Culture and Tourism

·       Chuck Erman 780-672-3640General Manager, Camrose Regional Exhibition

Repsol Sponsoring a Bench at Hinton Bike Park

Repsol Oil & Gas Canada Inc., formerly Talisman Energy Inc., has contributed $5,000 towards the sponsorship of a bench at the Hinton Bike Park!    THANK YOUR REPSOL!!

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Julie Duval, HMBA VP, accepting the cheque from Jesse Kirillo of Repsol.

During the summer of 2014, benches were built, stained and varnished and otherwise prepped for sponsorship branding – a creative way for the HMBA to raise funds for future projects. 

Cash contributions of $5,000 can mean a unique sponsorship opportunity and be showcased within the Hinton Bike Park on one of these benches.  More details...