Calgary Mountain Bike Alliance

Newsletters

CMBA Newsletter #4 - Winter 97

President's Message:

Three days after being elected President (by acclamation) I received in the mail a copy of the proposed draft for the Fish Creek Management Plan. Since that day the fun has never stopped. I have all of a sudden found myself in the realm of political circles, board meetings and bonding with computers. To me it is a small sacrifice if I want to continue doing what I love most in life, riding my mountain bike.

In an amongst this chaos I want to proudly thank those members who wrote letters and made calls to Fish Creek Park, your Alderman, MLA's and for participating in the Thanksgiving Weekend Responsibility Ride. This support has demonstrated to park and government officials, the commitment, credibility and dedication the mountain bicycling community has for the environment and healthy lifestyle choices.

I also want to thank the current Board of Directors. This dedicated group attends regular monthly meetings at my home, sitting on the hardword floor and hashing out ideas for up to 4 hours a meeting. These volunteers have taken on considerable work loads and have done so with great enthusiasm in hopes to educate and influence those that make the final decisions.

CMBA's current goals are to assist the City of Calgary and the Province of Alberta with user group policies for natural parks, initiate our first trail maintenance project (keep an eye out in our next newsletter and the website) and to collaborate with local bike shops to educate and inform the public.

This will be another year of challenges and learning experiences for the CMBA. However, I am confident all members will continue to support and abide by the rules of the trail, support decisions made by the board and most of all help CMBA achieve its mission statement now and for the future. Have a great winter and I will see you on the snow filled trails.

PS. If this is an election year you may consider contacting future MLA's to find our their position on mountain bicycling in local and provincial parks. This may affect how you vote.

For all the News that's New..

a report from Medial Liaison, Kevin Dalton

The Calgary Mountain Bike Alliance has been very active this fall, and is developing a higher media profile. The battles with Fish Creek have resulted in coverage in both newspapers, two radio phone in shows featuring CMBA members, an information booth being set up outside Mountain Equipment Co-op, a rally in Fish Creek Park attended over 300 riders and an ongoing series of letters published in the Calgary Herald. Members have attended all of the focus groups and open houses held in conjunction with the release of the Draft Fish Creek Park Management Plan. In addition, the City of Calgary Parks and Recreation Department has sought input form CMBA regarding developing an overall mountain bike policy for city parks and for developing a proposed mountain bicycling park.

All of these activities have been happening as a result of efforts to influence legislators and avoid more restrictions on mountain biking. These efforts are making a difference. Although the outcome of the management plan for Fish Creek Park does not look favourable, there is no way that park management can deny that they received input from the mountain biking community. Unfortunately, Fish Creek Park management has shown no interest in listening to what CMBA has been saying. CMBA has offered volunteer trail maintenance, volunteer trail patrols and resource management assistance. Fish Creek Park has not responded in any way. CMBA has tried to educate Fish Creek Park Management as to the recreational value of dirt trails and shared trail use. To date, there is no evidence that these efforts are making a difference.

In contrast, relations with the City of Calgary have been improving. Parks and Recreation staff have been very willing to listen to CMBA. They are also showing a desire to work with CMBA members to find workable solutions to the problems and issues that surround our favorite sport. Recently the superintendents requested input from CMBA on what features we would like to see in a mountain bike facility. Our message is consistent: We do not want a segregated facility but it is better to have such a facility than to have nowhere to ride. Hopefully the superintendents will not only listen, but will act on our recommendations.

Next year promises to be interesting. We can anticipate the release of the final Fish Creek Park Management Plan, the opening of a Calgary Parks and Recreation sponsored mountain bike park and the release of a City of Calgary mountain bike park policy. It is hoped that all of CMBA's hard work will result in favourable outcomes.

Reports from the Field:

Fish Creek Zone - Murray Knight

The CMBA has worked their collective butts off since October 1 when we first learned of the proposed ban on all singletrack trails in Fish Creek Park.

We hastily organized the Thanksgiving Responsibility Ride in Fish Creek Park to show management and media what will happen if all users are concentrated on the formalized trail system. I would like to personally thank the 300+ mountain bicyclists who participated in the ride. Thanks to Kim and Kristy at Bow Cycle for phoning and Brad at Spokes for faxing our membership. Thanks to MEC for allowing Chris, Sue, Kevin and Laura-Lee to hand out ride notices at the store and to those who passed on this information at the local bike paths and at the LRT Bridge down in Kensington. I was proud and impressed with the turnout on such short notice. I think the media got the point but it all seems to be wasted on the Fish Creek Management Planning Team (FCMPT).

At the December 6 Open House I pointed out to Roger Reilander, Western District Manager, that only one respondent to the 1995 surveys called for a bike ban in the park, I also stated that the CMBA represented 50,000 hard core mountain bicyclists in the Calgary area and it is our opinion that the dirt trail bicycle ban should be deleted from the working draft. He said our individual or collective opinion was considered as only ONE opinion. Therefore the reams of scientific surveys and studies we provided seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

The purpose of the October focus groups sessions was for the special interest groups and individuals to review, revise and make recommendations to the working draft before the open houses. The Alliance, as always was represented at every session. Most suggestions went on flip charts and the sessions were tape recorded. We were emphatic about "delete all references to banning bikes". The FCMPT claims that they did not have time to bring forward any suggestions from the focus group sessions, but did introduce a new concept. "Fines", will be given to anyone found cycling off of the formalized paved trail system. Additionally, Fish Creek Management is no longer discriminating against one user group, they expanded the singletrack ban to include pedestrians.

It is painfully apparent to me that bikes WILL be banned unless YOU and every cyclist you encounter writes a protest note to the FCMPT. It can be as simple as "I object to the proposed ban of all user groups on dirt trails in Fish Creek Park" and sign it. I would ask you send a copy to your MLA who will recognize that each note equals one vote and a copy to CMBA (REMEMBER, there is an election coming up in May 1997). Sending a copy to the CMBA will give the CMBA a handle on how involved and committed the cycling community is in the continued effort to maintain access to Calgary's singletrack.

Drop in to Bow Cycle and have a look at the enlarged photographs of a cross country bike race in Edworthy Park and Sandy Beach in the 1930's.

We have a right to be here

Sandy Beach Zone - Paul Jeffery

Not to much to report in this area. The construction work that was going on last summer appears to be done with minimal effects. This still remains a nice little area (below Glenmore Dam) to go for a short ride. Although, there can be times with dogs and people, it generally is not to busy.

Just a reminder, no bikes are allowed off the path on the north side (Riverdale) of the Elbow River in Sandy Beach Park. The signs and people will remind you of that.

Trail User's Summit - April 18-19, 1997

Trail access... when, where is it appropriate? How can mountain cyclists interface with other non-paved trail users and recreational land managers to iron our issues before they evolve into full-blown "conflicts".

A casual suggestion from a provincial park land manager about the need to cooperate provincially on mountain bike land access issues has evolved into planning for a "Trail User's Summit" in Alberta for spring 1997. This suggestion made at the 1996 Alberta Trailnet annual general meeting in Edmonton was the impetus for concerned individuals from the Calgary Mountain Bike Alliance to begin to gather information on how to best draw together a forum where "access" issues can both be most reasonably addressed and organized into an action plan for follow-up resolution after the Summit.

Review of others' examples from the Outdoor Recreation Council of B.C.'s "Mountain Bike Symposium" (1990), the International Mountain Bike Association's "Summit" (Jan. 1996) and Missoula's (Montana) Low Impact Mountain Bike (LIMB) group's trail users' meeting (1993) led to the acceptance of the basic principle that we have a "trail users" access issue rather than an exclusive "mountain bike" problem.

Planning and discussions have been ongoing since July 1996. Cohesive plans have been pending contributors's available time. Similar to many events of this nature, concrete objectives begin to formulate when other volunteers share the vision and make the time commitment. With the concurrent support of the Alberta Trailnet, the "Two CMBA's" (Calgary & Canadian Mountain Bike Alliances), Bow Cycle's Bohemian's, Trailmasters Mountain Bike Guides, Ft. Saskatchewan Mountain Bike group, the pending threats of trail closures around the province and the need to "do it or get off the pot" we now have all the "motivation" required to plan for an Alberta "Summit" in earnest.

Current plans await space and keynote speaker confirmation. Format will likely involve a Friday evening, all day Saturday while leaving time for rides and walks on Sunday. Facilitators will guide mixed groups through a process of issue identification and presenting recommended solutions for a core of committed volunteers to, in turn, work on and present back to "Summit" participants two months following the session. Location will be reasonably central and registration fees will be kept to a minimum to encourage participation from as wide a cross-section of trail users as possible.

If having input into a legitimate trail access process is your passion, then let's hear from you. We could use assistance into design of the program, lining up speakers/facilitators and the conference centre's logistics.

Please contact for further information: Jeff Gruttz w(403) 268-5221, email jgrutts@gov.calgary.ab.ca or Neil Stark h(403) 277-0872, email starkn@cadvision.com)

Editorial

Disclaimer - This editorial might and then again it might not reflect the aims and aspirations of C.M.B.A

We need to debunk two pervasive myths. One, that people who ride mountain bikes are reckless speed demons, and two, that mountain bike usage leads to trail erosion and degradation. Both these false suppositions are raised as justifications to reduce trail access and use for the mountain bike community. People that ride fast on mountain bikes do so because they like what they do: fitness, exhilaration and a sense of the unique.

People that ride mountain bikes in the back country do so at least in part because they can access a wilderness experience often in more remote areas than can be accessed on foot.

It is simply stupid to be injured as a result of loss of control or conflicts on bike paths. An injury can easily mean the loss of a season in the hills and the loss of hard won fitness while recuperating. Injuries are not cool and injuries are the result of irresponsible use of a bicycle. It is not irresponsible to go fast, it is irresponsible to be reckless, something any seasoned rider well knows.

Mountain bikes and mountain bike riders want to ride on single track trails. It is in part the essence of the sport. It is not in anyone's interest to ride in a manner that causes unreasonable deterioration of established trails. The reality is simply that any use of anything will have some impact, and nine times out of ten, the culprit is trail design.

The fact that some people ride in disregard of themselves and others has no more implication for mountain bike use than does the fact that some motorists disobeying the law has for the use of the highway. No one talks about closing the TransCanada - why does the mountain bike community acquiesce when there is talk about trail closures?

The reality is that using things has a consequence. But mountain bike use of trails is no more a cause of trail deterioration and erosion than is hiking. The culprit is inevitably poorly designed and constructed trails.

For some reason, the mountain bike ethic includes as part of its image the idea of the romantic renegade, highwayman and outlaw. It is easy to overlook the fact that we are part of a community of trail and pathway users. We have as much right as the next person to participate in our sport. Our tax dollars are the same colour as everyone else's.

The two most often cited rationales for limiting mountain bike use are bunk. Think about it. Fight back!

Switchbacks

a collection of informative tidbits of interest to CMBA members

Volunteer Positions

World Police/Fire Games - June 27th - July 4th 1997

Starting July 1, 1997 Calgary will see the greatest Mountain Bicycling events to be held in this city. This will be only one of many sporting events happening in this fun filled week.

Be There Or....

A draft of the new Banff management plan based on the recommendations of the Bow Valley Study will be presented to the round-table and public in Banff. Public open houses will be held at the Banff Park Lodge (Black Bear Room) Jan. 24 from 3pm-8pm and Jan. 25 from 9am- 12pm.

This plan will significantly reduce mountain biking opportunities available in the park (Assinibone?). You guys and others who are interested may want to attend to offer your opinions. Opinions can also be sent to Minister Sheila Copps and Assistant Deputy Minister Tom Lee.

Dig in

CMBA received a $5,000 grant for the purchase of tools in exchange for trail maintenance. You will receive a call in the spring (ahhhh remember spring) once the location has been finalized with Calgary Parks and Recreation.

A NEW LOOK..

A special thanks goes out to Garry Quist and the graphics professionals at QNB Creative Inc. who have donated their energies to the design of the CMBA Logo and letterhead. QNB has also taken on the responsibility to create and develop a newsletter that fellow mountain bicyclists can identify with. CMBA's logo is not just a cool piece of art, it symbolizes who we are and what we believe. The green inner tube with the peaceful tires and balanced tread are symbolic of our mandate. With your help we can grow and make our logo a reality for mountain bicyclists in Calgary and surrounding areas.

Newsletter contributions

Got something to say. Say it in Happy Trails! We are always looking for member contributions for our newsletter. So write fax, or email us with what's on your mind. If it's of interest to CMBA we'll print it in Happy Trails.

Raffle

We will be hosting our first raffle this spring. We have all sorts of funky stuff including a bike. We need your help to sell tickets. Please leave your name and number on the CMBA hot line to be contacted.