IMBA Trail Solutions
IMBA
Trail Solutions.
Trail Solutions is IMBA’s professional fee-based trail consulting program. We offer trail services that range from trail planning, design, and assessment to trail management, education, and volunteer teamwork.
Our organization excels at careful and diligent planning and collaboration to create trail systems that provide high-quality experiences for diverse visitors, minimize environmental impact and user conflict, and require less maintenance over time. We are experienced with trail master planning, risk management planning, community collaboration, GPS/GIS mapping, and more.
Trail Design and Trail Planning
Trail Solutions believes that the success of a trail is highly dependent on both the environmental and social sustainability of the trail. A well-designed trail should cause minimal damage to the surrounding landscape and require minimal maintenance over time. That same trail should also provide the trail user the experience they are seeking. Melding these design parameters is a great challenge. Whether that challenge means designing a shared-use trail that minimizes potential user conflicts or planning a low impact downhill-mountain biking trail, Trail Solutions is up to the task.
Trail Assessment
Most trails and trail systems have developed socially. Beyond getting from here to there, little thought was given to the potential long-term effects of the chosen route or the experience provided along the way. Trail Solutions provides guidance on retrofitting haphazardly developed trail systems into networks that efficiently disperse trail users, provide the experience they are seeking, and do so with minimal long-term environmental impact.
Trail Education
The foundation of a successful trail or system of trails is a high level of knowledge regarding sustainable trail design, construction, and maintenance. Trail Solutions provides custom-designed trail training seminars covering topics ranging from economic/ social development through trails, design and construction of advanced-level mountain biking trails, trail system design, volunteer management, crew leader training, and mechanized trailbuilding.
Project Management
The Trail Solutions staff takes great pride in staying on the cutting edge of innovative trail construction and management strategies. Tackling a project from a hybrid contracting standpoint by training and utilizing volunteer crews, and working cooperatively with other professional trailbuilders. Trail Solutions is flexible and seeks to put the best trail product on the ground within the construction timeframe that is available.
IMBA Trail Care Crew
IMBA
Trail Care Crew.
engage your volunteers
COMING SOON!
Do you want to engage your volunteers, learn new techniques to build sustainable, multi-use trails, and have some fun? Then you’ve come to the right place!
The IMBA Canada Trail Care Crew is a dynamic team of professional trailbuilders, educators, and enablers. The Crew travels across the country, getting Canadians of all ages outdoors, and educating them about sustainable trails!
Typical visits take place over four days and include a trail project assessment, an IMBA Trail Building School, a social night, and group ride. With more than 30 visits and events each year, we rely on local volunteers to help coordinate many of the details.
- Follow the Crew’s travels on the IMBA Canada Blog
Have you been to an IMBA Canada Trail Care Crew visit in 2019? We want your feedback!
See the Trail Care Crew in action
Western Mountain Bike Advocacy Symposium
IMBA
Building A Diverse Mountain Bike Community.
IMBA Canada is partnering with the North Shore Mountain Bike Association (NSMBA) to present the inaugural Western Mountain Bike Advocacy Symposium.
The symposium will be taking place October 12th through 14th, 2018 in North Vancouver, British Columbia and for the inaugural theme we have chosen “Building a Diverse Mountain Bike Community”.
Our organizations wish to host a timely conversation on the need for us all to work collectively towards ensuring mountain biking is seen as an open and inclusive recreational pursuit. We want to introduce new perspectives, outline why this is an important issue and help create a cohesive vision for building a diverse mountain bike community.
Keynotes, presentations and panel discussions will be hosted on the following topics: Privilege and the Mountain Bike Community, Building First Nations Relationships, Adaptive Mountain Biking, Supporting Youth Voices, Encouraging Female Representation and Reducing Barriers to Participation.
Space will be provided to facilitate conversation and answer questions through the delivery of discussion groups and workshops. We’ll also be making time for ad hoc conversation and reflection through some organized trail work and numerous group rides!
We wish to be a spark that ignites further conversations within individual communities on how each of us has a part to play in ensuring mountain biking is seen as an inclusive and open space for all – building a diverse mountain bike community one rider and trail at a time.
We hope that you will join us this fall for this exciting and important discussion! Please fill out our questionnaire if you are interested in attending and if you would like to help support this initiative or have questions please email symposium coordinators Justin Darbyshire – jay.darby@imbacanada.com or Christine Reid – christine@nsmba.ca.
Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day
IMBA
Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day.
Established in 2004, Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day challenges adults and biking clubs to introduce kids to the sport of cycling. The event celebrates the life of Jack Doub, an avid teenage mountain biker from North Carolina who passed away in 2002.
Developed and coordinated by the International Mountain Bicycling Association, the event officially takes place every June and October, however clubs and groups are encouraged to organize an event at anytime! We’ll give you advice and tips to structure an event that makes sense for you and your community.
In 2022, clubs around the country hosted 17 events, getting over 90 kids on mountain bikes for the very first time! To learn more about what an event could look like, our Pinkbike blog captures some of the stories from the events.
LET'S GO FOR A RIDE!
In 2023, we’re continuing the tradition of getting kids on bikes, and are excited to announce our official dates:
- Saturday, June 3rd
- Sunday, October 1st
We hope that event can help kick-off or round-out your season, if those dates don’t work with you organization’s schedule, you are always welcome to host an event on a different day.
Register your event here! Even if you don’t have all the details, letting us know you’re interested in hosting helps us plan our resources and pitch to sponsors.
There are many ways to participate:
- Events range from a few kids in a neighbourhood to larger festival style events in a community park, open space or trailhead.
- Develop a grass roots event in your community, support the national outreach, contribute to event “host packages”, or join an existing event.
For additional information or resources, please email ming@imbacanada.com. Digital assets and other promotional material can be found in the Toolkit at the bottom of this page.
TAKE A KID MOUNTAIN BIKING DAY TOOLKIT
Thank you for organizing a group event for IMBA’s Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day! Take a Kid events have ranged in size from a few kids and families to several hundred gathering at a local park or trailhead. IMBA Canada clubs, retail shops, Trips for Kids, schools, Scouts, and community groups are encouraged to host events. We’ll give you advice and tips to structure an event that makes sense for you and your community.
Find information on planning your event, promotions and marketing, and resources available for download in the menu at the left. Also find a PDF checklist to aid in planning your event available for download below.
Model Trails
IMBA
Model Trails.
IMBA’s Model Trails program, including Epics, Flow Trails, Gateway Trails, and Ride Centres spotlights places that exemplify what mountain biking looks like when it’s done right.
Get more information about the Model Trails program on IMBA U.S.’ website.
Council Program
IMBA
Council Program.
IMBA Canada is currently developing a new model of provincial representation for mountain bikers in Canada, called the Council Program. Currently in its infancy with a pilot model in BC, we are hoping to push the program out to the rest of Canada shortly.
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Signature Series Ride and Signature Series Trail
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Canadian National Mountain Bike Patrol
IMBA Canada’s Canadian National Mountain Bike Patrol (CNMBP) was launched in 2018 and consists of dedicated volunteers partnering with land managers, land owners and emergency personnel to assist, educate and inform all trail users in orders to enhance their recreation experience.
Canadian National Mountain Bike Patrol Volunteers:
- Assist in medical and mechanical emergencies
- Educate trail users
- Inform land managers, land owners and trail users of trail conditions through regular monitoring efforts
- Work with land managers, land owners, clubs and communities to maintain or gain trail access for mountain bikers
- Offer volunteer services at events and races
- Collaborate with local clubs and organizations on trail work days, clinics, group rides Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day events and other trail based activities.
Is the Canadian National Mountain bike patrol for you? It is if you enjoy:
- Riding Your Bike
- Helping other people
- Being involved in the management of your local trails
- Learning and growing skills such as; outdoor first aid, trailside bike repair, mountain bike skills techniques and trail-use education.
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Parks Canada sites that have taken part in TPP Programming:
2017
Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area (ON) – Signature Series Ride and Signature Series Trail, Winter Trails and Fat Biking
Kouchibouguac National Park (NB) – Signature Series Ride and Signature Series Trail, Winter Trails and Fat Biking, Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day
Riding Mountain National Park (MB) – Signature Series Ride and Signature Series Trail, Winter Trails and Fat Biking
Mount Revelstoke National Park (BC) – Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day
2018
Fundy National Park (NB) – Signature Series Ride and Signature Series Trail, Canadian National Mountain Bike Patrol, Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day
Jasper National Park (AB) – Signature Series Ride and Signature Series Trail, Winter Trails and Fat Biking, Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day
Gros Morne National Park (NL) – Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day
Mount Revelstoke National Park (BC) – Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day
