trail care crew

Setting goals - and seeing them through - is no easy feat. Are you a head in the clouds, long-term planner? Or maybe a short-term, master of to do lists?

It can be hard to strike a balance, and even more difficult to manage short and long term goals. Even more difficult when you're talking about the future of an organization, or a trail network.

3...2...1...the doors open and IMBA Canada Staff are ready to go!

It’s the annual hussle and bussle of this event that spells springtime for me, one because we get the opportunity to see a great number of likeminded people, the other, because we are passionate about riding bikes and like to see if we can score a few last minute deals before the upcoming season.

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.