Calgary Mountain Bike Alliance - Snakebite Volume 4 Number 1

Newsletters

Snakebite

Volume 4, Number 1
January 24, 2002

The Electronic Newsletter of The Calgary Mountain Bike Alliance

Calgary Mountain Bike Alliance
c/o Calgary Area Outdoor Council
1111 Memorial Drive NW
Calgary, Alberta T2N 3E4
Email: info@cmbalink.com
Web: http://www.cmbalink.com/

In this issue:

CMBA Activities Update
Raffle Survey

CMBA Activities Update

CMBA has been working over the last 5 years to convince the City that cyclists should have the same rights as other citizens and that mountain biking does not cause any greater environmental degradation than walking. Largely we have been successful at this and the City now believes in these concepts. Any trails that are closed are now normally closed to all users. Cyclists are not singled out. Unfortunately, we have a number of years of bad policy to overcome and must still fight a number of people who believe that Calgary's natural areas are only for their personal use. This means that we must continue to work closely with the City to demonstrate that cyclists are normal, environmentally concerned citizens.

The efforts at CMBA are shifting away from yelling and screaming about past and present injustices to making positive contributions to improve the City and our (cyclists) reputations. In this regard CMBA has in the past year:

Worked with the City and community groups to create fair recommendations regarding Bowmont Park's Natural Area Management Plan. This has required some compromise on our part but has resulted in Cycling being treated equally with all other Park users. It has also demonstrated to the City that CMBA and cyclists in general are concerned with the environmental impact of human use within Calgary's natural areas.
In conjunction with the City CMBA is creating a demonstration trail in Nose Hill Park. This trail uses IMBA guidelines to create a sustainable natural trail that is interesting to ride. We hope to prove to the city and to other interest groups that trails can be designed and built to standards that provide a natural experience while being easy to maintain. In conjunction with our belief that all users should be treated equally, this trail is being built as a multi-use trail.
We are presently creating a sub-committee to develop criteria for freeriding. The City has asked us to provide them with the criteria that an area must have to be attractive to freeriders. CMBA's (and the City's) goal is to be proactive in identifying logical and acceptable places for freeriding. We want to prevent negative impacts on the reputation of cyclists that would occur if controversy broke out over improper use of natural areas by freeriders.
Visited Calgary bike shops to provide some background and history on bicycle access to Calgary's natural area parks, update them on our current activities, and to educate them on the importance of responsible riding. Most have been very appreciative and supportive of our efforts and are willing to do their part to carry the right message to their customers and the people that they can influence.

Raffle Survey

CMBA is currently investigating the possibility of operating a raffle this spring and has applied to the provincial government for a raffle licence. Our intent, at this time, is to raffle off a gift certificate(s) of significant value this spring, and possibly operate this as a yearly event. We would like your feedback on what you consider to be acceptable/appropriate ticket pricing and on how many prizes and their dollar value. We intend to use the proceeds to further CMBA's activities in rider education, and trail building and maintenance in Calgary and the surrounding area.

Email Bob Scott - Raffle Chairperson at scott.robert@shaw.ca.