Riders in the GTA are asking for your help. A group of volunteer builders recently reconstructed a section of trail here in Toronto's Don Valley. A network of trails that give riders a good 60km or so on dirt in the heart of Canada's largest city. Yes, it's not The Shore but it's pretty cool. And it gets a lot of use. How much? I am not sure. But the section in question shows over 500 riders on Strava alone.
About half of that trail is managed by the city of Toronto. It's called Crothers Woods. On that section there was a nasty off-camber section of trail that fed into a blind corner lining you up perfectly with a tree. If you were going down you were flying with little control into said blind corner and tree. If you were climbing you were hoping that the oncoming traffic would see you in time. Needless to say it was the result of numerous crashes. Both collision and the single bike variety.
A group, featuring some of the most veteran trail builders in the Don, took it upon themselves to fix that. A separate up and down line was created to avoid head-on collisions. It was a big job spanning several weeks. Berms were put in place to solve the off-camber section. Direction was changed to avoid the tree. Drainage was dealt with. It was done right. It was safer, much safer. It was also more fun. It was clearly marked. Trees were transplanted wherever possible. It was all done by volunteers. It was all done for free and out of love.
This is the bottom of rebuild, with clearly marked up and down lines. Down is on left. Up on right.
Photo courtesy Timothy Charles
Here is one of the new berms added (upper left) and a turn put in after it (lower right) Ignore the upper right photo, that's my trail building rig:
Photo courtesy Ben Aylsworth
Here are some comments from riders on the new changes.
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Big thank you for peeps who built the new lines. The downline is fantasic, loving the booters."
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The new section is awesome and probably one of the most important spots to employ trail directionality. I rode it downhill for the first time Friday and had so much fun I went back and did it 4 more times."
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That modification was beautiful and sustainable it is so sad to see it go"
After completing the new changes one of the builders reached out to the city to let them know. This may have been our undoing because the build was done without permission.
Yes - it was an illegal build.
Photo courtesy Timothy Charles
As we speak the City is working hard to undo the work done several weeks ago to restore the trail to its 'original' condition. Yes what was done was done without permission. Yes it was on a city managed trail. But it was done to make things better. It was done by the same people who work with the city when the city needs help managing trail. It was done by the same people who have spent literally hundreds of hours this year and every year maintaining those same trails. All for free. All because they love to ride and understand that in order to do that someone has to be in there; clearing deadfall, finding drainage solutions, raking leaves and getting dirty because no one else will.
I'd like to think Pinkbike and its users could help push back. That if they took two minutes to send an email maybe we could change what is happening. Which, if done in time, might get the city to stop and listen. Instead of just rip it out, assess the changes that were made and then act. Maybe nothing will come of it. But perhaps this can be stopped. But only with your help. I think it's worth a shot.
I know this is coming from Onterrible and worse, the centre of the universe, Toronto. But let's try to look past that and see this is about builders doing what we all love them to do. Build great trail for us to ride.
If you could send an email to these two people:
councillor_fragedakis@toronto.ca
slaver@toronto.caBelow is a template to work from. All you need to do is add your name. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Happy fall riding.
-Ben Aylsworth. Just a guy who loves to ride his bike.
Dear Councillor Fragedakis,
I am writing to you to express my concerns regarding the City of Toronto taking continual efforts to remove volunteer-built trail developments on the Crothers Woods nature trails. I was saddened to find out that just this morning the City is removing a community volunteer-built upgrade to "The Ridge" trail behind the sewage treatment plant near Millwood Rd.
At a time when the City is continually pressed for resources, it would be beneficial for both City Staff and the community to work together in supporting the work of volunteer trail builders who provide critical development and maintenance on these trails. Why is the City wasting precious resources to remove trail builds that are beneficial to all trail users in Crothers Woods and were constructed by skilled community volunteers?
Let me clarify: the developments in question were constructed by a skilled group of community members, one of the leaders of which has worked closely with the City in performance maintenance and improvements to these trails for some time. These are not "rogue" individuals out to make the trails hazardous. The changes the City is now removing were safer for all trail users, as they implemented "up" and "down" routes on a heavily used segment of trail, and helped to reduce erosion through limiting direct fall-line mountain biking through the use of berms and gradation changes.
I would ask that you please respond to this email indicating:
1. Why the City chose to take action to remove these recent community-supported trail changes.
2. What plans the City has to work together with skilled community volunteers to design and implement trail improvements and maintenance in Crothers Woods and other natural environment trail networks throughout the City. The current disregard for the interests of trail users is unacceptable.
Thank you in advance for your response.
Sincerely,
(Your Name Here)
Why weren't the appropriate rules followed prior to manipulating the trail(s)?
Do you think asking for forgiveness is actually easier than requesting permission in advance?
Hopefully the signs and fence are removed soon and we can just get along.
I'm all for making the trails better - but there is a "right way" and "wrong way" to do it.
A more reasoned approach would be to assess the changes and see whether they should stay or be removed. The new section's value should be judged on their merits not on a paper trail.
While I'm not a fan of some of the seemingly arbitrary changes made to the trails over the years, this one was right on all counts.
Why is the city mobilizing all this energy to make the trail more hazardous?
For better or for worse Crother's Woods is the most scrutinized, politicized part of the entire trail network. It sees lots of use from dog walkers, kids on Canadian Tire bikes, right on through to the speedy locals. Deciding that's the place to modify the trail to up the speeds was, honestly, really stupid. I'm sad to see the new lines go but I really can't be angry about it at this point.
Edit - Okay, MrThirteen1, you're not from Toronto, so I don't even know why you're calling me out. Understand that the affected section is like, a small portion of ONE of the many trails that everyone knows about. It's a tiny sliver of a huge ravine that runs through the entire city. There have always been bigger jumps, harder wooden features, and more exposure elsewhere on really popular (and nearby) trails.
The issue to be looked at isn't about permission or ignored because it's one small section in a long line of trails. It's to be looked at because the city put in a substantially dangerous section and ignored numerous calls, letters, and in person complaints about the issue. I think you know how I ride, and I know how you ride, so skill level isn't a question when it came to navigating that section. It was a blind corner that was way better off before they got involved. Their solution was prone to erosion at an extremely fast rate (I get a kick on the 'sustainable trails' nomenclature, which is nothing of the sort) and was the cause of several serious accidents (broken bones). So after exhausting themselves on trying to get the city to make the change, they went ahead and made the section safer, more robust, and more fun.
We can't ignore it because it's a small section of woods. It's by and far the most used section of the trails and is what 99.99999% of the riders in there use to make it to the other trails in the first place. And while it could have been ignored because there's more to work on further down the line, it's still a dangerous spot that broke wrists, legs and other bones. Not to mention concussions and soft tissue injuries. So rather than wait for the weighty bureaucratic system to enact their shitty trail building crew to come and fix the mess they made, the community fixed it themselves. It's a much better way. Hardly something to berate, and in fact, activism like that is exactly what the community needs to do to get a point across. Our 'illegal' trails is what the city is using to begin with and this move by them is hypocrisy and ignorance. Don't forget that.
"renegade builders" is why I changed my name on there
Let kids be kids and stop trying to smother our youths this stuff bothers me so much
I HATE INSURANCE (crooks)
WE ARE ALL ON THE SAME TEAM
Mountain Bikers, trail users AND the City want these trails to remain open, sustainable and accessible to all users. I am an avid mountain biker but like many cyclists realize we need to work with the city to make this happen. They are/have been improving the sustainability of a number of trials. I should note that at every trail-build I have ever been at mountain bikers made up the vast majority of the volunteers. TORBA, IMBA, U of T Mountain Bike Team and many other groups come out to help.
So, as someone who has been around a while, I thank you for your efforts, amazing work, but lets not be to quick to attack the City of Toronto. Open calm dialogue is often a better route to take.
David Wright
Head Coach - U of T Varsity Mountain Bike Team
Former Member - City of Toronto - Task Force to Bring Back the Don
CROTHERS WOODS IS A DESIGNATED ENVIRONMENTALLY SIGNIFICANT AREA (ESA)
They could easily close these trials. I didn't know this at first, but the steep valley walls of the Don Valley that are too steep to build housing on, and fun to bike on, are also home to very rare native plant life. There are Butternut which are currently listed as an endangered species by the Species at Risk Act. In, 1995, the forest was designated as an ESA partly due to the quality of the forest but also to the presence of rare understory plants. These include Greater Straw Sedge, Thin-leaved Sunflower, and Pale-leaved Sunflower. The City is mandated to protect this as well. Having well-intended people building stunts and trails in this area is not a great idea.
I'm taking a quick poll,
1.how many of you guys would like to see a slope style event in Ontario?
2. How many feel we could benefit from a true bike park that accompanies all aspects of mountain biking?
I know I for one am tired of blue mountains soil and their lack of passion towards the bike park. Yes, great people work there and they have brought in the gravity logic crew, but they know they hold a monopoly on the bike scene in Ontario resulting in slower development of trails.
Thanks guys
Unfortunately, large companies have major bureaucratic problems that leading to slow development just like governments of all levels. Blue Mountain is a huge resort, and from what I'm told mountain biking provides very little revenue compared to all the other activities going on there. If you're managing a multi-million dollar enterprise, where would you be putting most of your funds? I've heard that a weekend of skiing/boarding in the winter brings in more money for the resort than mountain biking does through the entire summer.
I really don't think Blue Mountain is using any kind of monopoly power. They budget as much as they can for mountain biking, and that has to consider the opportunity cost of lost revenues in other areas.
What I am simply stating is that Ontario could benefit from a true bike park, to revive the scene and to gain more exposure to the sport. I'm not bashing Blue Mountain because they have done wonders for us here, but in the past few years have appeared withdrawn and just comfortable with where they are. The demise of the o-cup circuit making a stop or two there, no more east coast open hosted there, a lack of trail expansion or improvement has resulted in them losing repeat customers. You can get all the feedback in the world, take polls or survey's on what you need to do to improve, but none of that improves anything unless the higher ups take action.
Sure, I don't know all the politics involved in this, or their financials, but from what I've witnessed from before the lawsuit to now, Blue has been on a steady decline customers wise. It's not all to be blamed on Blue Mountain, but they should have gotten right back in the saddle and improved their trails a few years after the accident, instead of waiting "for the right time". Its hard to justify the amount of time this has taken, the bike park is out dated and needs a large facelift.
When it comes right down to it, we're all still totally blessed to have The Don
HISTORY
At one time about 20 years ago the city was considering closing these trails to the public. The community (led mostly by mountain bikers) complained and offered to help in any way. The City rethought this plan and later bent over backwards to help these trails remain open and sustainable (especially under Mayor David Miller). This has continued (to a lesser degree = Rob Ford).
There is more involved in building a trail...than just building the trail...even if it IS better, safer, etc.
THIS IS NOT OUR PROPERTY
If my neighbor tore up my weed infested front yard, planted native species plants and made it beautiful - Its still not legal. You need to consult with the City of Toronto (and its not that difficult to do. Simply e-mail/ phone and volunteer or make a suggestion of an area of trail to work on. Get the OK, organize some volunteers and go for it!
WE GET BETTER RESULTS WORKING TOGETHER
Things have changed a lot in the past 15 years. The current Parks Rec and Forestry Dept. Managers with City of Toronto are outstanding, open, and willing to work with you. Just call them and ask! They are always looking for volunteers and they may be willing to help supply you with gloves, shoveles, etc. Your efforts are admirable, thank you, but be you can do better. You ARE doing good work.
I'll make a better example. The land is the peoples land. The TRCA bought it and WE own the TCRA with our tax dollars. The city are merely stewards of this land, and are our public servants. They make an extremely dangerous (several broken bones reported in this thread alone. think about that for a second) trail modification that is also prone to elevated levels of erosion compared to prior. After 4 years of calls, letters and complaints about the section, the city does nothing. People broke bones, concussions, etc. Still, nothing. So people decide to protect themselves and make the change. Does it make it legal? No. Is it right, yes. Not everything can be judged by the bylaws this city holds.....
People stop thinking consciously when they pull the book of "law" and "ownership"...and stop evololution of us as community.
NOBODY and EVERYBODY owns that land.
Wake the fck up!
Is it still closed now?
When will it be reopened?
Hmmmmm, would be a shame if someone were to go through & tear down all the "closed" signs & cut through all the orange plastic fencing! Then others would continue to ride through it as if it had never gotten closed!
Hmmmmmmm..........
The city should never have been invited to "help" with the trails int he first place.
But they are now in it with both feet, so you don't have the choice to go against the rules they have set in, and that you have all agreed on.
This section was good, safe and done right. The city just wants to be notified when its being done so they can green flag it. Just tell them, or move to the other side of millwood. Simple.
Rather than wait another year (That dangerous section was put in, in 2009) the community decided to do something about it. It took 4 years of complaints, emails, and letters (which I sent myself) and that got nowhere. Activism is what got us the trails in the first place, and we built them 'illegally'. Yup, most of the same 'illegal' trails are now official city trails. Something to consider.
docs.google.com/document/d/17pM-lQ3DJecZwm1yJsJb4qpNQGpoqo9TLrMuzzAf818/edit?usp=sharing
Also if you are curious about the City's Trail Stragegy which was published this past June, it is available online here: www1.toronto.ca/staticfiles/city_of_toronto/parks_forestry__recreation/community_involvement/files/pdf/trail_strategy.pdf
**Excerpt**
"I am writing to you to express my appreciation regarding the City of Toronto taking continual efforts to improve trails in Crothers Woods and across the City. I am happy to see that the City takes the environment, the safety of all user groups, and the user experience into account. I support the informed decisions made by the trail managers including the recent / ongoing work on "The Ridge" trail behind the sewage treatment plant near Millwood Rd, although I do have questions about this work which are posed below...."
I know that section sucked and was unsafe. But, knowing this section of trail and city relations, a full on build probably went too far. Signage, padding, brush clearing.... small impact stuff that would have addressed the underlying safety issue and not been the equivalent of walking into city hall and pissing in someone's coffee (especially if TTFs were added when these builders fully know the CoT position on TTFs in that area).
But hey, keep chirping from Oakville because it makes you look like a douchebag yourself. Feel free to come ride Waterdown with me (we're actually neighbors...) and get an education on the history of community advocacy on those trails. Something your father would have been proud of. I highly doubt he'd be proud of doing nothing.....
Was he involved in the preservation of the Ridge etc.? That land seems to have been a dumping ground for decades.