The Ontario mountain bike scene is vibrant and active. We’ve got some excellent racing, whether you like straigh XC Ocup style racing, 24 hour events, marathon length distances, or downhill. The XC trailriding contingent is huge and getting larger by the year. Dirt jumps keep popping everywhere, and there are more and more legal parks as well: Chicopee, McLennan, Joyride150, Inverhuron, and soon Georgina. The downhill scene is smaller, but still lively. Blue Mountain is a popular spot, and Horseshoe Valley Resort opened some lift accessed runs last year too. Trials: with the popularity of Ryan Leech and Danny MacAskill is there any doubt that mountain bikers love trials?

Despite the afore mentioned strong racing scene most riders are out riding in their clubs mostly sticking to themselves, not racing. Why so little cross over between the styles? Why very little collaboration between clubs? I think we’d all agree that a bad day on the bike beats a good day at work. But we really should hang out together a bit more. We should all get together an throw a big mountain biking party. It doesn’t matter if you’re a spandex clad XC weight weenie, a plad shirt and skinny pants wearing DJer, a baggy shorts and 3/4 sleeve wearting big bike riding DHer, or an "always in the wrong gear" single speed fully ridgid 29er rider. Whatever style you ride, whatever bike you have, whatever clothes you wear, at the end of the day you like riding your bike on dirt. So lets get together and celebrate mountain biking.

With that in mind I’d like to announce the inagural Ontario Mountain Bike Festival: Trailblazing

You’ve probably read about other mountain bike festivals in the cycling magazines and thought "why not here in Ontario?" Well a few other people did as well and decided to do something about it: throw a festival. On Saturday July 16th, 2011, Kelso Conservation Area will play host to the first ever Ontario Mountain Bike Festival.

What’s on tap:

  • chairlift access to the Kelso trail network
  • guided rides, skills sessions and clinics (XC, DH, trials)
  • ladies only and youth rides
  • pumptrack
  • trail building workshop with the IMBA Canada Trail Care Crew
  • exciting competitions (fastest mechanic, best slow speed bike skills, CCM toss)
  • performances on the "Crank It Up" main stage
  • bike demos, shops and other vendors in "The Hub" festival village
  • overnight camping
  • prizes, swag and much, much more

Who’s in so far:

  • Sacred Rides
  • IMBA Canada
  • Joyride150
  • Hardwood Ski & Bikes
  • Manufacturers: Norco, Rocky Mountain POC, LaPierre
  • Shops: Silent Sports
  • Clubs: Defiant MTB, Shorthills CC, Hamilton CC, GORBA, DMBA, Waterloo CC, Cancel That $*!% (CTS), TORBA, Wild Bettys, Toronto Bike Network, Lapdogs, Beaches CC
  • Sites: Trailburn.ca, Pinkbike.com

Are you in? You really should be. Get in touch with me. I’m on the planning committee and can get you sorted out.

  • Sponsorship: We have a number of sponsorship levels for manufacturers and distributors.
  • Shops: We have a specific sponsorship level for shops looking to be a part of "The Hub."
  • Clubs: If you’re a club we’re hoping to add you to the list of attendees, that you’ll promote the festival to your members and that some members will volunteer to help out.

It’s exciting times to be a mountain biker in Ontario. Come to Trailblazing and be a part of Ontario mountain biking history!