ROB MURRAY: I’m speaking today with Chad Holowatuk and Justin Deoliveira from CAMBA, our local mountain bike association. I understand that a big donation was just made to CAMBA. What can you tell us about it?

CHAD HOLOWATUK: We just received a donation from the Rundle Mountain Cycling Club to put towards a project that we’ve been working on for the last number of years out at Quarry Lake Park with the Town of Canmore.

RM:  What’s the progress on that? Where are you guys at right now with that mountain bike trail in the area?

CH: The Town approached us, I think it was back in late 2016. The objective was to design trails to improve connectivity to surrounding mountain bike areas and create a network that was safe and sustainable, making efficient use of the terrain, to develop a sense of community, and also to offer an experience for riders of all ages and abilities. What we’ve been working on for the past couple of years has been phase one, which was a connector that goes from the Peaks of Grassi area and can get riders out to the Quarry Lake parking lot. This past season we had some delays with weather, but we ended up being able to get a lot of work done on phase two, which was skills development. That’s where Rundle Mountain Cycling Club has come in to help us complete that construction. As soon as the thaw happens that should be done, I’m hoping in June sometime. Yeah. So that’s where the money’s

RM: The money is going toward the second phase?

CH: That’s our plan. It’s kind of a skills area that would help their programs for skill development on a set of drops.

RM: What’s the purpose of doing this work in the Quarry Lake area?

CH: That area continues to have a network of trails that have been there for a number of years. It’s a pinch point where there’s a power line on one side and Spray Lakes Road on the other side. What the Town and we wanted to do was eliminate conflict in that area among user groups for one, and have a predictable trail system for cyclists to get them away from the dog walkers and the hikers that use that trail.

JUSTIN DEOLIVEIRA: Two of the things that have really surprised us about the trail is how much it’s been utilized. We run trail counters, and to our surprise ut’s actually been one of the most used trails in Canmore. The other thing that’s been a very pleasant surprise for us is the popularity of the trail among younger riders and kids. The youth have really embraced the trail. They’ve gone ahead and named the trail Fun Forest, which we think is an awesome name. I’m a father with two young kids and it’s the trail that my oldest son learned to ride on. I remember the first time he cleaned the trail top to bottom, he was completely hooked.

RM: What’s next for CAMBA?

CH: Our mandate is to build a vibrant trail system for all ages, abilities, and skill levels. We also have been working on another trail with the Town of Canmore around the powerhouse area and there’s just a little bit of finish work to be done on that. We have an application with Alberta Parks at the Nordic Centre to build an Enduro trail that would start at the parking lot and go down from there. That’s something that we have a few grants outstanding that we’re waiting to hear back from, and to help with the fundraising there will be a lot of exciting events happening this season that we’re just putting some finishing touches on in details. Justin’s been working really hard preparing those. And, of course, a lot of maintenance going on all over the Valley.

RM: Are you looking for members? Do you need trail building volunteers? Is there a place people can go to find out more about that?

CH: Membership time is now. We hit a very important milestone a few weeks ago where we hit 500 members. If you use Canmore and area trails, it’s a great way to give back. Everything that we receive goes into our maintenance and trail building programs. We’re all volunteer. We also have a corporate partnership program and all of that information is on our website. We already have a number of partners signed up.

JD: People who want to find out more can go to our website. They can just go to canva.ca all of her information is linked from there. We’re also pretty active on Facebook and Instagram.

Filed under: CAMBA, Canmore, Cycling, Mountain Bikes, Rundle Mountain Cycling Club