Tales from the Trails: 2006 World Mountain Bike Conference

You wake up in the morning. Your legs are stiff from the day before. Nothing but the sound of the river woke you up. You have somewhere to be but you’ll get there when you get there and not a moment sooner. You open the tent and the light hits your eyes. You can taste the cup of coffee, greasy eggs and juicy bacon that soon awaits you in town. Early in the morning you gather your self, going through what seems like an effortless routine. Helmet, pads, tools, cooler, snacks, a shovel and your bike. Everything you need to have the best day ever. I try and start as many days a year as I can like this. Just thinking of everything I need to go out and enjoy a day on my bike sun-up to sun-down.Something about it has captured me the last 10 plus years. A bike has been something more then a mere toy to play with, it’s become a key part of how I choose to live my life. Recently its all been about the shovel. I’ve found there aren’t enough places yet for me to ride my bike. We need more parks built, more trails made, old ones fixed up, more jump spots, more time to shred. I needed some inspiration, something fresh and exciting, different then what has been happening in my world lately. I decided what better a place to be then Whistler for the middle of June. Pinkbike was having a get together at the hill, IMBA was hosting the 2006 World Mountain Bike Conference and Tobi had a couple weeks off work before Stampede. It all seemed to fit perfectly.

After all the Pinkbike posse had headed out, it was time learn a lot about our sport and its future. IMBA was holding their Annual Trail Conference in Whistler Village. The weekend was jam packed with people from 17 different countries taking part in various discussion groups all regarding one thing, The Mountain Bike. There was lots of discussion on a range of topics that are going on in our sport at the moment. From Ski Hill management to dealing with the “problem” of illegal trails. I’ve written some commentary on the sessions I took part in; check them out if you’re interested on Trail Crew Design Corp.. For now I’m just gonna get into my take on the weekend as a whole.

In my eyes, the conference was a huge success. IMBA was able to bring a large audience together and discuss the issues that surround securing infrastructure to support the growth of the sport over the last few years. As we all know the mountain bike industry has had quite a growth in Freeride sales the past couple of seasons. Bike parks, new trails, legally sanctioned skills and jump parks and of course “illegal pirate trails” are a direct result of this growth. We need more places to ride and IMBA is one of the players involved in helping create more access by uniting a fragmented industry.

My personal take on the future, it’s all about the bike park. We need them and they need us. If the Freeride portion of our sport is going to be able to sustain itself with the number of new users coming into the game, bike parks will help us achieve this possibility. Likewise we have a world of possibilities to offer them. Just one of which includes an extra season of revenue every year. With bike parks having between 50,000-100,000 tickets being sold every summer, it’s no wonder why we are seeing more and more lift accessed facilities cropping up all over the world.

A major theme throughout the weekend was directly tied to growing our sport. Bringing new users to the trails and how this will help us. A key point that stuck out in my mind during the weekend was a comment from a local trail builder. He was one of the guys on the Shore looking after CBC. His comment was that we are at a stand still with regards to our trails. Our trails can not stand any increase in traffic without an increase in care and the builders are overworked and tired of the “users” simply using the trails. I was sad, yet relieved to hear that I was not alone in this saga as I’ve had these feelings here in Alberta for quite some time. I was sad to hear the story is the same over in BC where I had hoped that a larger percentage of people using the trails would mean that maybe they had balanced ride time with care time to keep the trails they love to ride buff. Our sport needs dollars put into the trails. The amount of use that some of our trails are seeing can’t simply be cared for by volunteers in their free time. There just aren’t enough of us.

Another eye opener for me at the conference was the attitude towards “illegal” trail building. I sat in on a discussion regarding illegal trails. This was sad for me. My take is that our segment of the sport has come about because of these few individuals who chose to build these “illegal” trails. Many of our trail systems we now have access too started out as pirate renegade trails blazed with beer and buds. Peoples hard earned dollars and countless hours going into the trees was labeled as near criminal by an official Shawn Gurney from the City of Surrey. While some see these people as a liability of our sport I see them as an asset. One of the best parts about our sport is that you can just grab your bike and ride. You don’t have to buy a pass, you don’t have to drive anywhere you can just pick up and go. However most of the just pick up and go type trails are deemed illegal. Most of the people making these trails that so many enjoy, if caught, could face hefty fines. Why do they do it? Because they love to ride. They love to watch others ride their creations, because there are simply not enough trails out there for the number of riders riding trails. What ever their reason I hope they never stop.


The conference went on for three days which didn’t leave me with too much time to ride. This is where extended play is Whistler’s greatest new feature. I was able to get in a full days worth of runs even after spending all day in sessions. Sessions would get out around 4-5pm so I’d meet up with Tobi after the day and catch her for some runs. We’d had some friends roll into town on a road trip so the evenings were spent shredding then having beers at the Longhorn at the base of the hill. Robb, Marky V and Steve, a.k.a Papa Seeta were a blast to ride with.


The last couple nights we decided to get away from Whistler and avoid the weekend lift lines. We’d been there the better part of a week and it was time for something new. Kamloops seemed like a good destination to break up the drive back to Calgary. Our buddy Matty D in the loops was kind enough to put us up for the weekend and lend us his house. There's something weird going on because every time we roll through to ride with Matt he’s broken something or other, this time his wrist. Matty has this
reputation of being the most hospitable guy I’ve ever met. He’s always willing to show you around. Feed him some beer and he’ll take you to all the fun spots in his backyard. Its always fun hooking up with your buds on a trip. I was learning a lot this trip about why I love doing what I do. It’s not the bike necessarily, it’s the atmosphere the bike brings you. It brings lifelong friendships, beautiful scenery, fitness, drive, determination and most important a smile on you’re face every time you ride.


We had a great week in Whistler and Kamloops was the icing on the cake. Harper is always a blast and the Bike Ranch in Kamloops is getting better every year. It was time for this trip to come to an end. It was one of the best trips I’ve had over the years, I learned so much, progressed my riding, my relationships with my friends, my relationship with my girl and just had a blast. We had a killer week, one we’ll have to do again soon but at another destination perhaps.


Our sport is headed upwards and onwards. There was quite a bit of support for the Freeride movement and what we’ve been trying to achieve within an established industry. I’m happy to see IMBA take a strong stance. I was extremely happy to see so many land managers and parks types out there supporting the evolution that is happening with the bicycle and being open to helping us with more access. The ball is rolling, its up to us to take the pass and pop it in the net and taking care of our trails is a great place to start.


“Life’s a Trail, Dig It!”

Aaron

www.trailcrewdesign.com