Maintenance Night at the Bike Park

Maintenance night at the Bike Park was a big success! A total of 16 volunteers came out: 5 were RBC staff and 3 were under 12! :)  THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS! - YOU ROCK!!!

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Big thanks to the Hoots Inc. crew for all their assistance and direction! A lot got accomplished!

And a really BIG Thank You to the RBC Staff for selecting to support the HMBA again this year. Because they volunteered their personal time, RBC will now donate $1,000 to the HMBA.

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Pine Beetle Control

Update from West Fraser Mills Ltd.

The HMBA has been in touch with West Fraser regarding the Mountain Pine Beetle work being done near Hinton.  They have a huge undertaking ahead of them and have begun work already.  They will have approximately 1500 trees to fall in the HMBA trails area - both in Jacks Trail System and Happy Creek Trail System.  The trees will not be burnt, but they will be felled, limbed and peeled.

The results will be very noticeable, especially on the Bighorn trail and a few other trails that have a large number of trees infected by the beetles.

Infested tree

Popcorn-like pitch tubes created by the beetles.

Key messages from West Fraser

• Crews will be walking into most locations as quading would only get them so far. Some may even be biking in.
• Crews will not be quading on our trails and if they do, it will only be to cross them.
• Before falling trees, they will use signs and have staff along affected trails to advise users to avoid walking or riding the trail where the work will be happening.  Users will be advised both at the entrance and exit points of the trail.
• Limbs will be pulled away from the trails and all peeling's and limbs, cones etc will be raked off the trails.
• Trees will be fallen away from trails as much as possible to help avoid any damages to the trails themselves.
• Any stumps within 5m of the trail will be rounded off.
• The trees, once fallen and peeled, will be bucked to small lengths and left in the bush away from the trails.
• The work needs to be complete by June 15th.  This means it will be an intense activity and will have some impact on accessing some trails but it will be short term.

Contact

If for some reason you run into any issues from crew members or just the public at large, you may contact Hal Jackson at 780-865-8741 and point him in the direction of the issue.

Please note that similar pine beetle control is being done within town limits, but under a different contractor.  Their methods may differ.  Contact the Town of Hinton if you have any concerns of the beetle control work being done within town limits.

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Parking Lot Addition

The Hinton Bike Park now has a designated parking "stall".  There are many times when the parking lot is full: during Sprockids sessions, special events, or just a busy sunny day!   The bike park is accessed by the Town Trail system, but may prove challenging to some visitors.  Having a designated parking spot will help visitors who require such a stall won't have to turn away when the parking lot is otherwise full.

Thank you to Hinton Sprockids, Darryl and Tim Trahan for the materials and installation!!

Rok'on HMBA!

The Hinton Mountain Bike Association recently acquired a new essential tool to help with year-round maintenance of the Hinton Bike Park and trail systems.  The Rokon Trail-Breaker is a powerful yet versatile multi-terrain vehicle that will allow our trail maintenance volunteers to access all our trails.  It can also be used during the winter and has proven to be an awesome trail-grooming tool on it's own!

Expect to see HMBA's grooming volunteers on both the Rokon and the winter sled out grooming many of our trails this winter!

Rok'on HMBA!

Gulley Trail Resurfaced

On the weekend of September 17th,  Gulley Trail had some very rooty sections and other problem areas re-surfaced with 3/8" sand.  

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This section of Gulley Trail extends from the Town of Hinton trail behind Reimer Drive, to the north entrance of Stinger, at the Hinton Bike Park.

Mike Langford, Area Manager for AFD Petroleum, lent HMBA a skid steer for the job.  Bill Heir spent over 22 hours transporting the sand from the Hinton Bike Park parking lot all the way to Gulley Trail, spreading the sand on the sections that needed the most attention.

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Huge thanks to Mike at AFD Petroleum!!!!

A big shout out to Audrey, Keith, Maureen, and Bill for volunteering some time for the final touches!!  The result looks awesome!!

Great Day for a Work Bee!

Work Bee Report

The day went really well - counting all the little kids, we had 25 volunteers.  Members from the following families all chipped in today: Guthrie, Pratt, Trahan, Kadatz, McVey, Cherry, Myles, Beauchamp, Harper/Heir and a few other young folks.  THANK YOU!!!

We won't kid you, it was a ton of work!  We only took about a 40 minute lunch break and worked 10 am to about 3:30 pm.  Not much standing around.  And if you look at it, you can hardly tell we were there.  We all realize there is still so much to do to bring the park up to the level we want, especially in Flow Master, but we had a good start today.  One of the best things is the realization by everyone there of the work needed and the effort involved.  Those attending will spread the word and help again themselves.  Mike drove his skid steer until the dirt was gone, which was an incredible help - wheelbarrows would not have cut it.

Lots of BIG THANKS to give at the Bike Park Maintenance day today:

• Dallas Lambe and Motion Canada for the donation of 10 Silky trail saws and 4 Mcleod Tools!
• Mike Langford and AFD Petroleum for the use of the skid steer and expert operating services!
• Boston Pizza for donating 7 pizzas for our hungry volunteers!
• Bill and Maureen for their major contributions to the Park this year, coordinating the new solar security light at the parking lot this week and a super secret, super exciting trail maintenance tool to be announced soon.
• All the volunteers who sacrificed a beautiful weekend day to come out and make the Hinton Bike Park safer and more enjoyable to others!

Bike Park Work Bee: Notice of Temporary Closures

Temporary Closures

The Hinton Bike Park will have some sections temporarily closed during our Fall Work Bee.  The two main areas will be the Dirt Jumps and Flow Master (circled red on map below).  Other areas may also be closed, depending on work being done elsewhere within the park.

Hinton Bike Park Work Bee

When: Sunday, September 25th from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm.

The time has come to repair our bike park back to its once loved state. All the help is needed. Rider or not, anyone is wanted. More people the better our amazing park will be. The clean up will be September 25th from 10:00 am - 3:00 pm. Hope to see some friendly faces there. Remember to bring gloves, a water bottle, light snacks, and an eagerness to do some dirty work.   Let us know if you are able to help out!  

Click here to let us know you will volunteer for the work bee!

Fall Work Bee - Volunteer Interest

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The Dirt Jumps and Flow Master (circled in red) will be the two main areas closed during the work bee on Sunday, September 25th.  Other areas may be temporarily closed as well.

West Fraser Ltd. Helps HMBA with Dust and Erosion

A dry spring

Hot and dry weather in April created very, VERY, dusty conditions on the Robb Road adjacent to the Hinton Bike Park.  After contacting the Town of Hinton and West Fraser about how to best remedy the situation (i.e. to stop chocking on dust while executing the Superman at the Dirt Jumps - hey, it happens!), West Fraser used calcium chloride (retains moisture) on the road which did the trick!

And then summer happened

Then it started to rain.  And rain some more.  And it kept coming all summer.  (Has it stopped yet?)  Rain is good after such a dry spring, but it did create new challenges for our Bike Park, namely erosion.  Again, the Robb Road became a source of sediment (just too much rain!) which flowed into the park at various points along Flow Master, the Dirt Jumps and the Skills Area.

After positive discussions regarding the process of water diversion, West Fraser has re-graded the ditch and culvert area along the Robb Road, near the bottom of Flow Master.  With a few touch ups, HMBA volunteers were able to make some additional small changes to the drainage which will hopefully prevent further erosion from culvert problems.  Repair is still needed on some sections on Flow Master (TBA later in September!), but the source of most of the problems is greatly improved.     

Thank you to the staff at West Fraser for listening to our concerns and working with HMBA to resolve them!

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Working on channel diversion after the road was re-graded.

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Hinton Bike Park Visitors Come From Near and Far

In July, a guest sign-in book was placed at the Hinton Bike Park. The park has had quite a few visitors sign-in! These two images show where they were from.  Hint: the larger the name, the higher the number of visits from that location. 

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These are locations across Alberta and excludes Hinton.

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These are locations beyond Alberta.

POLL: Hinton Bike Park Favorites

Bike Park Project Almost Complete!

Awesome work done by HMBA's own Maureen Harper and Bill Heir. They have volunteered many hours of their time in the past few weeks getting our second seacan all spiffed up at the Hinton Bike Park. This is part of the Hinton Community Grant project which was awarded to HMBA back in April this year. The final step will be the installation of a light for the parking area.

Maureen Harper, HMBA Directory at Large, on the far right.

Bill Heir, HMBA Treasurer, 

Tree Falling at Hinton Bike Park

Recent visitors to the Hinton Bike Park would have noticed that several trees have had to be cut down mostly due to mountain pine beetle infestation. Crews have had to carefully navigate some of the main trails with a small motorized vehicle for this work and may have left a second or wider "track". Help us preserve our wonderful park trails by staying on the main trails/paths and avoiding all other disturbances so that they have a chance to grow back to their original states. Thank you!

Second Seacan at Bike Park

A second seacan was installed at the Hinton Bike Park, part of the Hinton Community Grant project granted to HMBA in April 2016.   The extra storage was needed to help store a growing inventory of tools and equipment for builds, maintenance and winter grooming activities.  Thank you to Tyson Boutin and his helper in the delivery and installation!!

Expect to see some work done on the new seacan in the coming weeks, as it will get painted and roofed.   Make sure to thank the volunteers when you visit the Bike Park!

Maureen Harper and Bill Heir, both HMBA Directors, have been instrumental in managing this project.  Got questions?  Email us at info@bikehinton.com

Bill likes the new space!

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Maureen enjoys the awesome community support, with Tyson and helper.

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Tyson working on the installation

HMBA Trails Signed

After two years of inventory and planning, map signage at the Hinton Bike Park and on the Happy Creek System trails have been refreshed!  This important project had many phases, including:

• GPSing existing and new locations (usually major intersections),
• fine tuning our trails database,
• acquiring more recent background imagery (2014),
• putting the maps together (digitally) - over 100hrs volunteer time!
• working with local printer (a1 Signs) to get signs created,
• gluing directional signage onto plywood (Thank you RBC!),
• putting up the signs where they need to go and trying not to forget the "You Are Here" dots! - over 30 hours of volunteer time.

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All our awesome signs!

In total, over 200 volunteers hours and community support via donations made to HMBA have made this project possible. 

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RBC Vollunteers

Six staff members from Hinton's RBC Branch came out on June 8th to volunteer their time.  They helped with staining and gluing at the Hinton Bike Park.

The final phase: getting the signs out there

A special thanks to all the volunteers who have helped getting the signs out on the trails!

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Julie Duval

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Gabrielle Duval

Bill Heir

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Maureen Harper

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Tim Trahan

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Jeff Morris

Thank you Bike Boy!

The handy bike trailer has seen a lot of mileage in June!  A special thank you to Bike Boy who had donated the trailer to HMBA over 5 years ago.   

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The sign caddy!

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Going up!

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An up!

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Great travels under summer sunshine

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