aj and rachael

Throughout the past 6 months on the road, we'd always get a laugh when we told folks that we were wintering in Thunder Bay. Our final visit of the year was December 9th, in balmy Nanaimo, then AJ and I repacked the car one last time and did the four day drive back to Ontario. We're hibernating for the next few months, while we wait for spring and the trail building season to arrive. Meanwhile we have lots of time to catch up on office work, and couch surfing.

Trail design can sometimes be a pretty complicated endeavour. One must balance many considerations when adding new trail to an existing network. This includes the basics like user types, difficulty level, existing trails, and the ever present question of sustainability. Furthermore, different types of terrain provide additional challenges; a beginner trail in rooty and rocky terrain can require significant effort.

For years, mountain bikers have had to tell land managers exactly what type of trail we like. For those who've never ridden a mountain bike, it would be reasonable to assume a wide doubletrack with gravel or wood chips is good enough. But anyone who has ridden a mountain bike knows the amount of fun that can be had on narrow and twisty singletrack.

The residents of Jasper, AB, are typical of most residents in mountain towns for their ability in the outdoors. Whether on bike, foot, or horseback, most would be quite at home on a back country expedition or on above alpine technical trails.