Ontario Trails News - Brantford Skills Park supports safer off road riding!

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Cycling club onside with bike skills park

Brant Cycling Club

Photo by Brian Shypula, Brant News

Brant Cycling Club members, from left, Coun. Rick Weaver, Loren Butler, Katie MacDonald and John Harker stand in Earl Haig Park, one of the potential sites for a bike skills park in Brantford.

Brant News

By Brian Shypula 

The Brant Cycling Club has a lot of wheels in motion.

In a little over one year since it was formed last April, the non-profit club has grown to about 50 members, expanded its weekly road and trail rides, started a kids mountain bike camp, got involved in holding a major fundraiser for mental health and taken on advocacy for the development of a skills bike park in Brantford.

City councillor Rick Weaver, the newly minted vice president of the Brant Cycling Club (BCC), is chairing the task force looking into building a skills bike park in one of three city parks: Earl Haig, Waterworks and Rivergreen.

“Other cities that have done these have found they’ve become a family attraction,” he said in a weekend interview.

Toronto’s bike skills park, visible from the Gardiner Expressway near Sunnyside Avenue, cost $500,000 to build.

“That’s kind of the Cadillac of bike parks,” Weaver said.

“A scaled-down version is what we want,” he added.

The specially designed park would help develop cycling skills in kids.

Weaver said features he would like to see included would be “jump lines” (a series of jumps and a “pump track” (a hilly, banked track that allows riders to maintain momentum without pedalling).

The park would also be suitable for skateboards and scooters.

More.............

Ontario Trails News - about cycling issues, Ontario Trail Activity and more!

MY "SICK" RIDE

Rediscovering cycling on my fab fold-up has led to much more than just getting around

BY MATT MERNAGH 

APRIL 8, 2015

 

7:57 PM

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R. Jeanette Martin

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My wee red folding bike elicits shouts of "Sick!" when I zip by a gaggle of high-schoolers awed by its white tires and petite frame. 

As I ride up Roncey, a driver slows to roll down his window and ask if it's for sale. But most inquiries are from fellow cyclists asking how it rides and where they can buy one. 

When I'm not around, a few people have gone so far as to see if they could steal it by breaking it in half. But most bike thieves seek whole folding bikes, not their parts, because of their customization.

Their super-funky style makes them like the bike version of a VW Beetle, and their history goes back to the 1900s, when they were designed for military use. 

Full article...

WHY A MINIMUM GRID?

A by-the-numbers guide to what it is and why it's necessary

APRIL 8, 2015

 

7:58 PM

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WHAT IT IS

A none-too-ambitious plan to build 100 kilometres of protected bike lanes on main streets and 100 kilometres of bike boulevards (which allow bikes to travel both directions on one-way streets) on residential streets by 2018.

WHY THE SHORTCUT?

Because at the current sorry rate it'll take 158 years to build the 495 kilometres of bike lanes promised in the 2001 Bike Plan. And that's despite the fact that bike ridership has grown by miles in recent years. We're not even a quarter of the way there, having built only 112 kilometres.

SAFETY

55% of Ontarians who say they want to cycle more.

73% Percentage of Torontonians who say lack of cycling infrastructure is stopping them from taking to two wheels as an everyday mode of transportation. 

CONVENIENCE

55% Percentage of all trips Torontonians make that are less than 7 kilometres, a distance that can easily be travelled by bike in less than half an hour.

CONGESTION

Streets aren't getting wider, and bikes take up way less space than cars and buses.

ENVIRONMENT 

Air pollution is killing us. 

1,300 Premature deaths every year in Toronto due to air pollution, according to Toronto Public Health.

HEALTH

2.5 Hours of physical activity Health Canada recommends per week.

AFFORDABILITY

$50,000 per kilometre

Cost of bike boulevards on residential streets (includes paint, signage and studies).

$125,000 per kilometre

Cost to retrofit existing bike lanes into protected lanes (includes bollards, signage and studies).

$72,140,000 per kilometre

Repairs to the elevated section of the Gardiner Expressways over 10 years.

SUPPORTABILITY

25 out of 44 City councillors on record as supporting the Minimum Grid during the election

HOW YOU CAN SHOW SUPPORT?

Buy a T-shirt; tie a yellow Minimum Grid ribbon on your ride; join Cycle Toronto; use the hashtag #MinimumGrid.

Tags

 Bike Special 2015

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Ontario Trails News - News on fatbikes, from Trailhead North

Join Us at Trailhead North

From Trailhead North

The organizers of Trailhead North are pleased to announce a significant outcome expected from the two day symposium on trails taking place in Thunder Bay, April 17, 18 2015.

A fat bike etiquette. Fat bikes are those larger tire all season all terrain human powered bicycles that are emerging as a winter riding option for road cyclists and mountain bikers in the winter.

The Ontario Trails Council, the provincial trails association and co-organizer of the symposium was approached by the cycling community to come up with guidelines on use of fat bikes on trails.

"Fatbikes are becoming more and more popular, there are many cross country and other types of trails that fatbikers can use, but that aren;t necessarily designed for their use - we want to work with the FB community to develop and etiquette for users so they can expect and respect other users on trails," states Patrick Connor Executive Director of Ontario Trails Council.

Co-organizer, Kirsten Spence of Quercwood Consulting, adds, "Multi-use trails often have complicated numbers of people using a variety of equipment to do their recreation. This means bicycles now with fatbikes, snowmobiles, cross-country, snowshoers, winter hikers etc. So having an etiquette will educate all users what to expect and how to interact safely on recreational trails."

Through the Trailhead North development process the event has secured support from various groups and organizations. These included the City of Thunder Bay, The Active transportation Committee in the City, The Kinghorn Rail Trail, Trans Canada Trail through Path of the Paddle, City of Marathon Economic development - all of these groups want groups like OTC and Trailhead North to produce outcomes from meetings.

The creation of a fatbike committee will be such an outcome and should produce a guideline before the summer is out in time for the next riding season.

With a membership of over 200 organizations that stretches all over Ontario, including Trans Canada Trail, Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs, and over 80,000 km of trails the OTC will carry this northern fatbike etiquette to all other Ontario trail communities.

Trailhead North is taking place April 17, 18 at the Nor'wester Best Western. More information can be found at trailheadnorth.com

Ontario Trails News - Orillia looks at cycling tourism and find your favorite Ontario Trail!

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Mar 15, 2015 | Vote0   0

Orillia eyes cycling tourism

Orillia eyes cycling tourism

File photo

“Orillia has amazing trails,” but needs to develop cycling tourism, Brendan Matheson, of Cycle Simcoe, told Orillia council this week.

Orillia Today

By Frank Matys 

Orillia holds untapped potential as a destination for cyclists and a share of the substantial dollars they bring to communities, council heard this week.

“Orillia has amazing trails,” said Brendan Matheson, of Cycle Simcoe. “They have an amazing network, but they have a great opportunity to develop the tourism aspect, for sure.”

Cycle Simcoe is a tourism initiative that aims to steer two-wheeled enthusiasts onto area trails and into local communities.

It is a countywide strategy involving the Barrie/Simcoe Cycling Club, Tourism Simcoe County and Oro-Medonte Township, where the project was initially tested.

“The goal is to make cycling more safe, more memorable and more fun, county-wide,” Matheson told Orillia council during a presentation.

The cycle-centric group recently produced a map identifying safe cycling routes in the Lake Country region, which includes Orillia.

“Then we sign those routes to make sure everybody knows where they are going,” Matheson said. “The next part is to develop a safety and education campaign to make sure that everybody is riding safe out there.”

Cycling tourism is a lucrative enterprise that brings in more than $390 million annually in Ontario, Matheson added.

More........http://www.simcoe.com/news-story/5476298-orillia-eyes-cycling-tourism/