(Note: Posted above is YouTube videos taken on Boulder Mountain trails)
The Revelstoke Cycling Association is welcoming new members for a day of volunteer trail-building designed to rejuvenate the Bike Club Trail on Boulder Mountain.
Revelstoke Cycling Association (RCA) director Bruno Long oversees the club’s downhill and freeride activities.
“We’re trying to bring everybody together,” Long says. “We’re just trying to get lots of people out.”
As previously reported in the Times Review, the RCA was recently amalgamated, drawing in new membership from the downhill riding community. They’re looking to fix damage done to downhill biking trails caused by logging on Boulder Mountain last year. Logging company Stella-Jones logged extensively on the mountain to deal with a beetle infestation.
Long says the Sunday event will radically refurbish the Bike Club trail, taking out many of the existing features and replacing them with new, better ones. They’ll be designed up to ‘Whistler trail standards,’ a trail-building protocol developed in Whistler, B.C.
They’re starting with the Bike Club trail because it’s the only one that currently has official tenure. The RCA is in the process of applying for tenure on the many ‘rogue’ trails, but work can’t start until the paperwork is complete. “Everything is going to be totally legit and by the book,” Long said, “now that the club [has] amalgamated together.”
Long said the plan is to work together with tenure-holder Stella-Jones to design trails that co-exist better with logging activity, such as not building new trails where logging is planned. Long said Stella-Jones is “really being supportive of having mountain biking up there,” noting their $3,000 donation that will go towards work this weekend.
What do they need this weekend? Rob Parkin of Little Big Works will be doing preparatory work with heavy machines this week. Sunday will be hands-on work in the dirt. Bring rakes or Pulaskis if you have them. Long says there’ll be jobs for people of all skill and abilities, and kids are welcome. They’re also interested in business partnerships and shuttles.
Meet at Boulder Mountain at 8, barbecue at noon. See the RCA website or local bike shops for more info.
Note: An earlier version of this story indicated participants would need to be members of the RCA to participate in the trail-building day. This was based on information provided to the Times Review by the RCA. The RCA has now indicated participants don't have to be RCA members to take part.