Let there be light!

The time of year when the lights go on! Part of the Hinton Community Grant received in April 2016, the solar panel and lighting setup (inside and outside of the main seacan) has been made fully operational this year. The lighting will be useful for visitors who ride a bit longer than anticipated and for those who enjoy night-riding. For those wishing to better plan their rides, this link can provide some information for the daily changes in sunrises and sunsets.http://www.sunrisesunset.com/canada/Alberta/Hinton.asp

Not a biker? Play disc golf!

Going to the bike park with family and friends and looking for optional activities? Check out the disc golf course managed by the Hinton Disc Golf Association (they have a Facebook group). The course is only a minute walk away from the park's parking lot. Discs can be borrowed (with deposit) at the Travel Alberta Hinton Visitor Information Centre.

Donation Received for Recent Bike Park Refurbishment

The Hinton Mountain Bike Association (HMBA) would like to thank Daniel Duval for donating $500 towards the Community Grant project at the Hinton Bike Park: Refurbishing Slope Wars, Fo'Shore and the Drop Zone. In the photo: Jay Hore, HMBA President (left) accepts the cheque from Daniel (right).

The HMBA was awarded two Community Grants from the Town of Hinton in April. The second grant will be used to build a ladder bridge over the 50-70 feet of wet/marsh at the end of Rock Band, a black diamond trail that was added to the Happy Creek Trail System last year.

Jay Hore, HMBA President receives cheque from Daniel Duval

Book Nook at the Bike Park

For those who enjoy reading a book while friends and family enjoy the Hinton Bike Park, a new "Take a Book - Leave a Book - Borrow a Book" box can be found behind the seacan.

Donated in 2016 by a visitor who loves reading and sharing!

Behind the Hinton Bike Park

Build it and they will come....but who will maintain it???

To help give Hinton Bike Park users and visitors an idea of what goes on behind the scenes, some information is provided below.   When the weather makes bike park conditions poor, there are many reasons why the HMBA reminds all users to stay out of the park, and the main one is the knowledge of all the hard work put into keeping the park in great shape for the enjoyment of all.

How it all started

When the Hinton Bike Park was in its first phase (2008), the goal was to build an outstanding mountain bike skills park that is fun, safe, free of charge, and accessible for all abilities and ages, thereby facilitating the promotion of skills development, active lifestyles and mountain culture.   It was the first of its kind in the Yellowhead region, a regional hub for activity.

Grand Opening of the Hinton Bike Park

Partnerships

The Hinton Bike Park was made possible by the Hinton Mountain Bike Association (HMBA) - all volunteers!!!, the Town of Hinton, and the many, MANY, supporters over the years.  Check out our list of growing supporters!

The Stats

• The Hinton Bike Park has 37 Acres of land with the possibility of future expansion.  
• The cost to build the first two phases (2008-2009) was over $400,000 in cash, material and time.
• Free of charge to users (donations are welcome!)
• Central location to access Hinton's trail network (over 30 km!)
• Visitors from all over Alberta, Canada, US, and many international countries have been to the park

Fast Forward to 2017

The Hinton Bike Park is almost 10 years old and was showing signs of aging and deterioration.  It was time to focus on refurbishing many areas within the park.  The HMBA applied for grants, made use of the annual maintenance fund provided by the Town of Hinton, and used funds accumulated from donations received from its wonderful sponsors.

The total value of the 2017 maintenance work was $25,500, and focused on these areas:

• Skills Area
• Mini Pump Track
• Dirt Jumps
• Drop Zone (part of the Hinton Community Grant)
• Fo'Shore (part of the Hinton Community Grant)
• Slope Wars (part of the Hinton Community Grant)
• Midway Pump Track
• Business Time
• Jodoin's Journey (erosion/drainage issues)

Dirt Jumps

Midway Pump Track

Business Time

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New Trail

Earlier in the Spring, a representative from Pembina Pipeline Corporation contacted the HMBA about the opportunity to donate towards something Sprockids-related.  The Board of the HMBA suggested building a trail that was suited for the younger Sprockids group (dubbed the run-bikers).   With Hoots Inc. and Crew lined up for all this work, the new trail became a reality in mid-June!  The total value of this trail is $20,800, which includes $3,295 of services donated by Hoots Inc.  and $15,000 donated by Pembina Pipeline Corporation.

New trail!

Thank you Pembina Pipeline Corporation!

How you can help

• Ride Dirt Not Mud.  If you are leaving visible ruts, it's too wet to ride!
• Become a member!  It helps with grant applications.
• Stay connected via the website, facebook or through our member emails.
• Volunteer when maintenance days are announced.
• Be a bike park and trail ambassador!  Educate others.

Hoots Inc. Crew with their biggest fan

Visitors encouraged to sign-in at the Hinton Bike Park

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The guest sign-in box at the Hinton Bike Park has been so successful this past year, that we now have a permanent installation. Guests from Hinton, from Alberta, from Canada and even from all over the world have signed in. The comments left behind are so wonderful to hear and have been a great help in our grant applications. Thank you to EVERYONE who has signed in when visiting the park - please continue! We love to hear about your experiences!

Pembina Pipeline Corp Investing in Hinton

We are SUPER excited to announce the donation of $15,000 from Pembina Pipeline Corporation's Community Investment Program. This amazing donation has funded our newest trail in the Hinton Bike Park, unofficially named "Pembina Sprockids Trail".

This BIG cheque was presented by Clint Walker, of Pembina Pipeline, to Jay Hore (HMBA President) and Julie Duval (HMBA Treasurer). Jay Hoots from Hoots Inc., and his crew were hired to build this sweet new trail. Hoots Inc. has also donated over $3,000 of labour towards the building of the Pembina Sprockids Trail. Revenue accumulated from our Hinton Sprockids Program registrations and donations have also contributed to this trail build.

The trail is over 600m of gently sloped terrain and is suitable for younger bikers and novices.

Thank you Hoots Inc. and crew for this new addition and THANK YOU Pembina Pipeline for investing in our community!!!

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A new trail well suited for riders of all abilities!

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Hinton Bike Park back in Great Shape!

Hoots Inc. and crew have completed three weeks of maintenance and trail building work at the Hinton Bike Park!

Thanks!

 The HMBA would like to thank Jay, Alan, Dalan, Fraser and Ben for the awesome work done!!!

The HMBA would also like to thank the Town of Hinton for the Community Grant received in April. This grant ensured that the Drop Zone, Fo'Shore and Slope Wars skill areas got inspected, re-shaped, and buffed.

Business Time

Other areas in the park that received similar maintenance include the Skills Area, Dirt Jumps, Business time, Midway Pump Track and Jodoin's Journey. Funds for this work was provided by the HMBA, the Town of Hinton's Bike Park Annual Maintenance Fund and from donated services/labour by Hoots Inc.

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Dirt Jumps

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Midway Pump Track

Lastly, the Hinton Bike Park now has a new trail!!! This trail is freshly built over approximately 600m of gently sloped terrain. It was designed with the younger bikers in mind, to allow easier access to the mid-areas of the park. This trail was funded by a generous benefactor which we hope to announce soon! Registration revenue and donations from the Hinton Sprockids program also contributed to this build!

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New trail

Bike Park Closures

We have been very busy putting valuable grant, donation, and maintenance dollars to work on buffing the Hinton Bike Park. There are still some closures marked with Red Tape throughout the park.

PLEASE RESPECT CLOSURES marked by red tape - the dirt jumps, upper pump track, drop zone, slope wars need time to set. Once they have set they will be rock solid for the season.

Thank you for your patience, the rain has been slowing the process but we will be there soon!

Ride DIRT not MUD!

Let's all do our part and avoid these kinds of situations!

A Group Who Deserves our Thanks!

The Hinton Mountain Bike Association (HMBA) is driven by volunteers who want to maintain and continue improving our awesome mountain biking playground in Hinton.  All the work done at the Hinton Bike Park or on our single track trail systems is made possible by the efforts of HMBA's volunteer board, HMBA member volunteers, community volunteers, partnerships with municipal and provincial governments, and partnerships with local businesses and industry.

HMBA relies on memberships, volunteers, grants and donations to make this all happen!   The Board is always grateful for all the support and we love to broadcast such great news via our social media outlets.   

There is a group of supporters that are not always to the forefront of our thank yous: the Anonymous Donors.  You know who you are!!!   At the Hinton Bike Park, on the main seacan door, there is a donation box.  And every year, a sum of money is accumulated from folks wanting to contribute to our efforts in making "bikehinton" great.

Since it's installation in 2013, over $850 have been contributed via this donation box!!

Well, Anonymous Contributors:  THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!

We're stoked that you are enjoying the park and our trails and have contributed to it's continued success!!  We hope you keep coming and enjoying our playground!  And don't forget to sign in our log book!

- HMBA

Bike Park TLC

The Hinton Bike Park is getting a good round of maintenance and buffing - thanks to the great work done by the crew of Hoots Inc., with some help by HMBA volunteers during our work bees.  Check our event calendar for the next one!

With a lot of rain in the forecast, PLEASE stay out of the park, especially in areas that have been buffed up. These areas need to have a chance to settle, compact and harden.

If a section is taped off with flagging tape - this means STAY OUT. By using features when they are not ready, you will be destroying all the hard work put into it! (which costs $$$).

Hoots Inc. are onsite for 3 weeks of solid bike park maintenance, buffing and a new feature - stay tuned!

Dirt Jumps

Business Time

Midway Pump Track

Maintenance Night at the Bike Park

Maintenance night at the Bike Park was a big success! A total of 16 volunteers came out: 5 were RBC staff and 3 were under 12! :)  THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS! - YOU ROCK!!!

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Big thanks to the Hoots Inc. crew for all their assistance and direction! A lot got accomplished!

And a really BIG Thank You to the RBC Staff for selecting to support the HMBA again this year. Because they volunteered their personal time, RBC will now donate $1,000 to the HMBA.

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Pine Beetle Control

Update from West Fraser Mills Ltd.

The HMBA has been in touch with West Fraser regarding the Mountain Pine Beetle work being done near Hinton.  They have a huge undertaking ahead of them and have begun work already.  They will have approximately 1500 trees to fall in the HMBA trails area - both in Jacks Trail System and Happy Creek Trail System.  The trees will not be burnt, but they will be felled, limbed and peeled.

The results will be very noticeable, especially on the Bighorn trail and a few other trails that have a large number of trees infected by the beetles.

Infested tree

Popcorn-like pitch tubes created by the beetles.

Key messages from West Fraser

• Crews will be walking into most locations as quading would only get them so far. Some may even be biking in.
• Crews will not be quading on our trails and if they do, it will only be to cross them.
• Before falling trees, they will use signs and have staff along affected trails to advise users to avoid walking or riding the trail where the work will be happening.  Users will be advised both at the entrance and exit points of the trail.
• Limbs will be pulled away from the trails and all peeling's and limbs, cones etc will be raked off the trails.
• Trees will be fallen away from trails as much as possible to help avoid any damages to the trails themselves.
• Any stumps within 5m of the trail will be rounded off.
• The trees, once fallen and peeled, will be bucked to small lengths and left in the bush away from the trails.
• The work needs to be complete by June 15th.  This means it will be an intense activity and will have some impact on accessing some trails but it will be short term.

Contact

If for some reason you run into any issues from crew members or just the public at large, you may contact Hal Jackson at 780-865-8741 and point him in the direction of the issue.

Please note that similar pine beetle control is being done within town limits, but under a different contractor.  Their methods may differ.  Contact the Town of Hinton if you have any concerns of the beetle control work being done within town limits.

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Parking Lot Addition

The Hinton Bike Park now has a designated parking "stall".  There are many times when the parking lot is full: during Sprockids sessions, special events, or just a busy sunny day!   The bike park is accessed by the Town Trail system, but may prove challenging to some visitors.  Having a designated parking spot will help visitors who require such a stall won't have to turn away when the parking lot is otherwise full.

Thank you to Hinton Sprockids, Darryl and Tim Trahan for the materials and installation!!

Rok'on HMBA!

The Hinton Mountain Bike Association recently acquired a new essential tool to help with year-round maintenance of the Hinton Bike Park and trail systems.  The Rokon Trail-Breaker is a powerful yet versatile multi-terrain vehicle that will allow our trail maintenance volunteers to access all our trails.  It can also be used during the winter and has proven to be an awesome trail-grooming tool on it's own!

Expect to see HMBA's grooming volunteers on both the Rokon and the winter sled out grooming many of our trails this winter!

Rok'on HMBA!

Gulley Trail Resurfaced

On the weekend of September 17th,  Gulley Trail had some very rooty sections and other problem areas re-surfaced with 3/8" sand.  

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This section of Gulley Trail extends from the Town of Hinton trail behind Reimer Drive, to the north entrance of Stinger, at the Hinton Bike Park.

Mike Langford, Area Manager for AFD Petroleum, lent HMBA a skid steer for the job.  Bill Heir spent over 22 hours transporting the sand from the Hinton Bike Park parking lot all the way to Gulley Trail, spreading the sand on the sections that needed the most attention.

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Huge thanks to Mike at AFD Petroleum!!!!

A big shout out to Audrey, Keith, Maureen, and Bill for volunteering some time for the final touches!!  The result looks awesome!!

Great Day for a Work Bee!

Work Bee Report

The day went really well - counting all the little kids, we had 25 volunteers.  Members from the following families all chipped in today: Guthrie, Pratt, Trahan, Kadatz, McVey, Cherry, Myles, Beauchamp, Harper/Heir and a few other young folks.  THANK YOU!!!

We won't kid you, it was a ton of work!  We only took about a 40 minute lunch break and worked 10 am to about 3:30 pm.  Not much standing around.  And if you look at it, you can hardly tell we were there.  We all realize there is still so much to do to bring the park up to the level we want, especially in Flow Master, but we had a good start today.  One of the best things is the realization by everyone there of the work needed and the effort involved.  Those attending will spread the word and help again themselves.  Mike drove his skid steer until the dirt was gone, which was an incredible help - wheelbarrows would not have cut it.

Lots of BIG THANKS to give at the Bike Park Maintenance day today:

• Dallas Lambe and Motion Canada for the donation of 10 Silky trail saws and 4 Mcleod Tools!
• Mike Langford and AFD Petroleum for the use of the skid steer and expert operating services!
• Boston Pizza for donating 7 pizzas for our hungry volunteers!
• Bill and Maureen for their major contributions to the Park this year, coordinating the new solar security light at the parking lot this week and a super secret, super exciting trail maintenance tool to be announced soon.
• All the volunteers who sacrificed a beautiful weekend day to come out and make the Hinton Bike Park safer and more enjoyable to others!

Bike Park Work Bee: Notice of Temporary Closures

Temporary Closures

The Hinton Bike Park will have some sections temporarily closed during our Fall Work Bee.  The two main areas will be the Dirt Jumps and Flow Master (circled red on map below).  Other areas may also be closed, depending on work being done elsewhere within the park.

Hinton Bike Park Work Bee

When: Sunday, September 25th from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm.

The time has come to repair our bike park back to its once loved state. All the help is needed. Rider or not, anyone is wanted. More people the better our amazing park will be. The clean up will be September 25th from 10:00 am - 3:00 pm. Hope to see some friendly faces there. Remember to bring gloves, a water bottle, light snacks, and an eagerness to do some dirty work.   Let us know if you are able to help out!  

Click here to let us know you will volunteer for the work bee!

Fall Work Bee - Volunteer Interest

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The Dirt Jumps and Flow Master (circled in red) will be the two main areas closed during the work bee on Sunday, September 25th.  Other areas may be temporarily closed as well.