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Hinton, Alberta

Hinton Mountain Bike Association.  Our goal is to develop, maintain and promote the best possible mountain biking opportunities around the Hinton area, while ensuring responsible and safe practices in environmental conservation, trail construction, trail maintenance and riding.

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Filtering by Category: Hinton Bike Park

HMBA Recipient of Hinton Community Grant Program Funding

Hinton Mountain Bike Assocation (HMBA)

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.

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.

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

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!"

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

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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Spring Cleaning

Hinton Mountain Bike Assocation (HMBA)

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.

 

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!

Flagged tree for falling.

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.

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Repsol Sponsoring a Bench at Hinton Bike Park

Hinton Mountain Bike Assocation (HMBA)

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!!

 

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...

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Stay Active! Try Disc Golf

HMBA VP

What's up?

A group of Hintonites are looking into the potential of setting up a Disc Golf course here in Hinton.   A 'drop in' event is planned for this Saturday, October 17th! 

What is Disc Golf??

Disc Golf is becoming more and more popular, especially in areas already popular with other outdoor recreation such as mountain biking and nordic skiing.   Whistler, for example, has a very popular course. Never played? No prob's... its easy to figure out and then practice makes perfect.... People will be present at the drop in on Saturday to teach you and you don't need to bring anything but good spirits...and maybe some water...

Come try it out!

Drop by anytime on Saturday the 17th between 3:00pm and 5:00pm  at the Hinton Bike Park.  You will be given a course map and some discs with instructions.

Where to park

If the Hinton Bike Park parking lot is full, PLEASE do not park on Robb Road.  You can park along Eaton Road, east of the Mountain Street/Robb Road intersection.  Once parked, follow the town trails (west side of Robb Road) .  Head south and you will end up at the Bike Park in just a few minutes! 

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Fixit Bike Repair Station Now at Hinton Bike Park

Hinton Mountain Bike Assocation (HMBA)

Handy Repair Station

Daniel Duval of Assante Wealth Management generously donated a Dero Fixit Bike Repair Station to the Hinton Mountain Bike Association to be installed at the Hinton Bike Park.  Daniel, a HMBA member for many years, also volunteered his time towards the installation of the stand.    This repair station is Hinton's second - the first one was installed earlier this year by the Town of Hinton and is located at the Dr. Duncan Murray Recreation Centre.  10 minutes after the installation was complete, Daniel witnessed someone needing some quick repairs on their bike and was glad to see the station was put to good use!


Site Preparations:

West Riddge Sand & Gravel donated the concrete for the pad.

Hoots Inc. framed and formed the cement pad.


Installation:

 

End Result:

A thumbs up for this great addition to the Hinton Bike Park!  


Available Tools:

Tool List: 

Philips and flat head screwdrivers; 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8mm, Allen wrenches; Headset wrench; Pedal wrench; 8, 9, 10, 11mm box wrenches and 2 Tire levers.  Air Pump for tires.


Hinton Bike Park Fixit Stand made possible by:

 
Assante.jpg
 
 
 
 

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Community Contributions

Hinton Mountain Bike Assocation (HMBA)

Jay Hoots and his hardworking crew arrived early this week to give some TLC to the Hinton Bike Park and to start getting ready to work on the Happy Creek Trail boardwalk repair - a 2014 Hinton Participatory Budget project.   A special thanks to a few key individuals who have greatly contributed their own time this past week: Shawn Lee (our very own HMBA president!), Brayden Langford (a super keen HMBA Youth Coordinator), and Shawn Cripps who has been a longtime HMBA contributor!

A new and different kind of technical feature was added to the Skills Area on Wednesday.  A special thanks to Summit Machining & Welding, Napa (cables/hardware), Alstar Oilfield (paint) and Shawn Cripps for building it!

Cement was poured on Thursday for a small cement pad that will be home to a Fix-It station for the Hinton Bike Park.  Thanks to West Ridge Sand & Gravel for the donation of the cement!

The HMBA also values all the Hinton businesses who contribute in so many ways to our mountain biking community !   Your support is greatly appreciated!!  Below are businesses who have contributed to the work done this week.

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Bike Park Prep and More

Hinton Mountain Bike Assocation (HMBA)

This week, work is being done by Jay Hoots & crew at the Hinton Bike Park and on Happy Creek Trail East (boardwalk sections).  As work progresses throughout the week, you may see piles of dirt or flagging tape in some areas.  These sites will be temporarily closed until maintenance is complete - so we thank you for your continued patience throughout this important work!

If venturing out on or near Happy Creek Trail, you may hear a moto bike nearby.  Please rest assured that this moto bike is setup to leave as minimal a disturbance as possible and is used to help transport material in and out of the area.  As you can imagine, the two boardwalks add up to a lot of lumber!  This particular project is funded by the Hinton Participatory Budget in the amount of $30,000 which HMBA was awarded in Fall of 2014.   Thank you Hinton!!!

 

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New Re-route on Gulley Trail

Hinton Mountain Bike Assocation (HMBA)

On August 8, 2015, the IMBA Canada Trail Care Crew (aka Justin Truelove) came out to teach us trail building techniques on how to build and maintain our trails.  The first day consisted of a 3-hour classroom session followed by an afternoon of putting our skills to work!  The builders-in-training tackled a trail re-route on Gully Trail where it joins with the North access to Stinger, within the Hinton Bike Park.  The re-route allows better flow and easier access to Stinger.

Justin and Kevin selected a site for the re-route and flagged the new proposed trail.

14 HMBA members attended the full day of training.

New trail built and old trail section reclaimed!

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IMBA Canada Trail Care Crew Coming to Hinton August 8th

Hinton Mountain Bike Assocation (HMBA)

The IMBA Canada Trail Care Crew is coming to Hinton on August 8th and 9th!!   This is a great opportunity for ALL trail users to contribute to our awesome local trails. Learn about trail building and maintenance techniques to help sustain our trails for all to enjoy for years to come! 

Directed by the Canadian office of the international Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) and sponsored by Parks Canada, the IMBA Canada Trail Care Crew travels across the country in a Subaru Outback, giving workshops to IMBA-affiliate clubs, Parks Canada sites, and other land managers. The two-person team of professional trail builders educates Canadians on how to build and maintain sustainable trails, manage volunteers, and develop trails as community resources.

The IMBA Trail Building School is a half-day of classroom education followed by several hours of building new trail, rerouting and reclaiming old trail or adding new features to an existing trail. The goal of a TCC visit is education, not to build as much trail as possible. And remember: Sustainable trails don't mean sanitized trails!

Is the Trail Care Crew program only for mountain bikers and cycling clubs? No! The principals of sustainable trail design apply to all trails and all trail users, no matter if you are a hiker, a trail runner, or a mountain biker. We invite all members of the community to our events to learn something new, and meet fellow members of the trail
community!

Half-day classroom session on August 8th, 9:00 am to 12:00pm at the People's Center at the Dr. Duncan Murray Recreation Centre.

Other locations and times to be determined - stay tuned!!

You must pre-register for this training:


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Tool Locker for HMBA Youth

Hinton Mountain Bike Assocation (HMBA)

Shawn Cripps once again donated time and resources to HMBA, installing a tool locker on the Hinton Bike Park seacan. This allows HMBA's youth committee to access tools for bike park maintenance whenever they want.  Big thanks to Jay Hore and Alstar Oilfield Contractors for painting the locker (and another feature to be installed soon!). It takes a solid community to make awesome things like this happen! Thanks!

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Summer Day Camp Will Visit the Bike Park

Hinton Mountain Bike Assocation (HMBA)

Each year, the Town of Hinton's Summer Day Camp visits the Hinton Bike Park. Each year, we ask any available members to come out and be a Bike God or Goddess for a day and share their passion for biking.

This year, its on Friday, July 24th. Discovery Camp will be there all day, so feel free to stop in at any time. The Camp will be on trails, jumps, skills area, and pump tracks. The Camp appreciates anyone who is willing to share their passion, knowledge, and skills. 

Our reward will be a $250 honorarium to HMBA, which will go towards something awesome, as always. 

It would be great to see some of our teen riders out, sharing their knowledge and passion for biking with the younger ones.

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Parking options for Hinton Bike Park visitors

Hinton Mountain Bike Assocation (HMBA)

Welcome to Alberta's Mountain Bike Mecca!  As summer unfolds, many locals and visitors alike are expected at the Hinton Bike Park!    The Hinton Mountain Bike Association would like to remind everyone to park safely in designated areas - not on Robb Road, an active haul road.  

Currently, the parking overflows onto the active gravel haul road which has the potential to create dangerous encounters.  This can be a safety issue for both patrons of the park and the active transportation along the road.  Logging trucks are present all the time and can't stop as fast as they wish.   Large dust clouds, flying gravel and steep grading of the road are also concerns.

Parking along Robb Road is discouraged.

Parking Options

It is not uncommon for the parking lot a the bike park to be full!  Below are multiple options to suit most everyone!

If parking across from the cemetary, please use the crosswalk at Mountain Street.   All parking locations are close to Hinton's town trails which all connect to the Hinton Bike Park.

Bringing the whole family?   Why not park at the Dr. Duncan Murray Recreation Centre on Switzer Drive.  There is trail access nearby and many different options sure to please all family members: a library, swimming pool, skateboard park, playgrounds, spray park, ball diamonds, climbing wall, courts and arenas.

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Inventory of Directional Trail Maps

Hinton Mountain Bike Assocation (HMBA)

HMBA needs your assistance!!

Our 1ft x 1ft directional trail signs (see images below) are out of date and need to be updated/replaced.  However, we need to know how many are out there, or need to be out there - and WHERE they are.  YOU can help by participating in a member-sourced inventory.  Using your smartphones and linking to this form via your web browser (with GPS enabled), enter the info at the location of existing directional signs - or at locations where you think there should really be one! Unfortunately, we cannot put them everywhere ($$), so select the most optimal locations. THANK YOU!!

Bike Park and Happy Creek Trails are priorities at this time.

About the form

Note: please click on the 'get GPS location' button a few times until the accuracy is within 5-10m.  Thanks!!


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June Dirt Jam

Hinton Mountain Bike Assocation (HMBA)

This Friday, June 19th at 7:00pm,  there will be a Dirt Jam at the Hinton Mountain Bike Park. Music. Shaped jumps. And rad riding with awesome guys and gals. Hope to see all of you out there!   Jump shaping starts at 7:00 pm and the event and music with start right after.

Important note:  The two smallest sets of jumps will be closed. This event is geared towards the big jumpers, so they don't have to worry about running the little ones over.

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With the rain comes good dirt!

Hinton Mountain Bike Assocation (HMBA)

Some TLC for the Jumps

On Thursday June 4th, after a day of rain, a small crew made it to the Bike Park to fix the dirt jumps (aka give them some good TLC).

It was a solid evening of work. Thanks to Lindsay, Nathan, Heather and Gavin, a youth from Hinton Sprockids and out-working most other members I might add!

Gavin showing the others how it's done!

Great results!

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Edmonton family supports Hinton's backyard playground

HMBA VP

Steve Sevcik's family travels from Edmonton every summer to play in our Bike Park and to ride our fun network of trails.  Members since 2011, they have generously donated over $2,500 over those years!  They see a lot of value in supporting the Hinton Mountain Bike Association and every dollar they donate helps to improve biking in our community!

An ENORMOUS THANK YOU to this wonderful family for their ongoing support!! 

In, 2013 funds were used towards this sign and box mounted on the seacan next to the Hinton Bike Park parking lot.


 

The reasons we support the HMBA!! 

We would like to thank the executives, countless volunteers, local businesses and the Town of Hinton for creating and maintaining such an awesome place to ride.  The amount of time and resources that your community has contributed to the park and trails is the real reason that the park is as good as it is. 

We love trail and gravity riding and want to try and share some of the responsibility of maintaining such a great community facility.  We donate because we want the cash resources to be a little less scarce for the HMBA when deciding on whether to add a stunt, build a berm, buy toilet paper, or just need gas for the equipment.  

We are fortunate to be only 3 hours away from such a great bike park and network of trails and we often recommend the Hinton Bike Park and trail network to anyone that we know who is looking for a new place to ride.  We can’t think of a better place than the Hinton Bike Park for someone to be introduced to the sport.  

- Steve and Lara Sevcik

 

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