The Tumbler Ridge Mountain Bike Association (TRMBA) is hoping to start attracting mountain bike tourists to Tumbler Ridge with a new series of trails being developed on the ridge east of town.
At the end of June, a crew from Axis Mountain Technical arrived in Tumbler Ridge to begin work on the heart of the trail system, an easy 1.9 km trail that switchbacks up the ridge, allowing riders to climb the progressively steeper ridge and access a series of trails from there.
By the end of the summer, they hope to be finished the up trail, as well as a handful of blue rated downhill trails, for a total of 3.5 km of new trails.
While the crew is currently only able to work in the morning, before the heat of the day and the unseasonably dry woods push the fire danger up too high, they’ve already begun to make serious progress up the hill.
The project include two mini excavators to cut and shape the trail, then a group of workers with hand tools to put the finishing touches on the trail.
This is not Tumbler Ridge’s first mountain bike specific trail. Nine years ago, then-municipal councillor Chris Leggett—with the tacit blessings of the District—pushed in a mountain bike trail down by Mesa Place.
However, Leggett—a talented mountain biker—built a series of progressive jumps that were outside the skill of most riders and so the trail languished after Leggett left town to take on a position in Pouce Coupe.
That trail is scheduled to be revitalized and reworked this year so that any skill level of biker can do it. There’s also plans in the works for a bike playground through the trees of Pioneer Loop, connected to TRMBA’s paved pump track, which was completed two years ago.
According to president Jane Butters, the TRMBA has a focus on “establishing mountain biking infrastructure in Tumbler Ridge for the community, region, and beyond to help grow tourism, economic diversity and sustainability and of course for the enjoyment of our community.”
She says Tumbler Ridge has the perfect geology here for mountain biking. “Lots of rolling hills with great grades for biking.”
Over the weekend, she and Curtis Miedzinski—former town councillor and TRMBA volunteer—were married. (Yay!) She points out that he moved to Tumbler Ridge to help get biking established. “He pinpointed Tumbler Ridge in BC as the perfect place to get biking development going. Mountain biking is largely untapped in the Northeast and the tourism potential and resulting benefits are astronomical for our businesses, residents and region.”
While most of the trails around town are multi-use and open to mountain biking, anyone who has tried to ride these trails will have noticed that the defining feature are all the roots and rocks. “Our priority is to focus on establishing downhill trails that are primarily machine built flow trails,” says Butters. “These trails will be much different from the cross-country style of hiking trails that WNMS has worked so hard to develop and maintain over the years.”
Construction will continue over the summer, with a grand opening probably happening in fall.
For the latest updates on trail construction, follow TRMBA on Facebook.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
