Remembering Blue Falconer - A Larger-Than-Life Trailbuilder

If you've ever twisted up its narrow last switchbacks or carved a hard rock turn on Alberta's Prospector trail, you know our friend Blue Falconer. He's the trail's builder. He's the trail's spirit whose signature flows through every turn. Blue Sky Falconer, lover of dirt, mountain bike visionary and industrious trail builder, rode into the eternal singletrack on Wednesday July 27th after a short and intense battle with cancer. With his passing, the Canadian Rockies mountain bike community, and all mountain bikers, lost a great friend, dreamer and mountain bike advocate.

Since building the Prospector trail, it has become a favourite stop for all mountain bikers riding in the Bow Valley. And if you ever met Blue, you loved the Propsector even more. His smile and falsetto laughter coupled with his deep passion for riding were infectious. He made you proud to ride his creation, made you feel part of it. And in fact you were. His was a trail for the people, built humbly whenever he had a spare moment between raising four active kids in Exshaw with his wife, Deb.

Even though Blue marched to the beat of his own drum (he probably built that himself too), he loved the power within people and had the ability to make genuine connections with people to create community willingly to help bring his visions to life. He could get you building some sweet berms on his trail in the morning and by afternoon you were helping him jump start an old school bus so he could park it on an empty lot in downtown Canmore to serve ice cream out of. Like the Prospector, the Old School Ice Cream Bus has become a fixture in the Bow Valley. Every hot summer day since he parked the ol' jalopy on Main Street in Canmore there’s been a lineup of kids and adults waiting to get their ice cream fix.

Getting a double scoop of Tiger Tail into the hands of a 10-year old was as important to him as his mountain biking. He loved all kinds of riding and wasn't even afraid of dusting it up in a race or two. Blue's style was to enter XC races and ride his fully-rigid-29’er-hardtail-singlespeed wearing baggie Dickies shorts just to show the boys that you don’t need lycra and expensive stuff to go fast.


He wanted to see a thriving and friendly mountain bike community in the Bow Valley and since he didn't like elitism or exclusivity, he managed to get EVERYONE involved with raising the collective bar. Blue ran his own grass-roots race on the Prospector trail for several years. The 'Paper Plate Race' started in front of his house in Exshaw. The idea was to zip tie a paper plate with a number on it to your handlebars and get one of his kids to start racers on a couple lung-busting laps of the Prospector. Not without its chaos, courses usually included some nebulous new singletrack with dubious instructions ("come on guys it'll be really fun"). Somehow we all found the finish line, which was his backyard where he hosted a barbecue on the very plate that was your once dusty number shield.

Blue’s love for biking was only overshadowed by his love for his family. His passion for family, adventure, and living to the fullest will be remembered forever. And although Blue’s passing leaves our forested trails feeling emptier, generations will live to enjoy what his passion created in his short years. To ride the Prospector is to know Blue, so remember when you crest the top and begin to take that giggling plunge towards the bottom you "Ride For Blue".

A fundraising site was set up for Blue during his cancer treatment and will continue to stay up to support his young family.

A T shirt fundraiser is also underway. All of the proceeds from these shirts will go to the Falconer family. www.rideforblue.com

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