Hillsborough Mountain Bike Association

New signage

2012-01-18T00:32:00.006-04:00

As your out in the trails in Hillsborough you'll notice the new signs that we have just put up over the last couple weeks. These signs were put up in response to the increased presence of motorcycles and ATVs on the the hiking/biking trails, which has caused a serious safety concern to everyone using the trail system. In the future there will be more signs put up as well as one of the wider trails will be blocked off to ATV traffic. Hopefully this will make the trails more enjoyable and safer for everybody.

Please help out if you see anyone riding dirt bikes on trails with the "no dirt bike" signs or tampering with the signage by getting a picture or a licence plate number and let the village office or us know.

Thanks

2011-07-28T22:33:00.000-03:00

The trails are in good shape in spite of the amount of rain we have received in the last few months, although because of the rain it seems the trees and weeds on the side of the trails have started to cover the them over in the open areas and we will be trying to clear this up as time permits. Fallen trees still seem to be a problem and because of the time it takes for tree removal it has hampered our efforts to work on some of the older trails and clean them up and make them enjoyable and safe to ride again.

Everyone will be happy to know that the WRRA map has been started and the first draft is being gone over so the missed trails can be added, some of the trails that need work to be ridden safely will not be put on as usable trails until they are fixed. We are still thinking of ways to name/number the trail system and classify the trails for difficulty, signage will be a challege but once the map is finished it will be much easier to complete this task.

2011-06-13T23:25:00.002-03:00

Finally after a long wet spring the trails are ready to ride again.

We have had a couple clean up days as well as a build day in which we replaced a bridge that had been washed out during the spring thaw. The trails were littered with trees and branches this spring from the high winds we received over the last few months, but lucky most have been removed including the large trees blown down recently.

2011-02-23T18:15:00.003-04:00

For those who have never experienced Moncton Ride Guide (MRG) it is a web site that has been used by local riders for the past years to plan and organize events in a forum setting, unfortunately the site crashed while being worked on and MRG disappeared a couple months ago. Greg, a member of the HMBA and a long time MRG user has decided to bring back MRG and return it to it's former glory so that local riders will have a place to use once again to plan their activities and chat. The site includes forums for biking, winter sports, random posts and a new buy/sell section.

We hope everyone will check it out and sign up to once again make MRG the place "Where all great rides begin".

http://monctonrideguide.ca/

HMBA update

2011-02-01T22:35:00.003-04:00

It's hard to believe that another year is over and the HMBA is turning 1 year old. With the new biking season is just around the corner again plans are already in the works for another great year of riding and co-operation between our club and the Village of Hillsborough.
Last year started off well with a couple successful trail days followed by a great summer of riding, unfortunately the fall weather did not co-operate as well as we hoped and another trail day wasn't planned although the late fall and early winter riding turned out to be pretty good before the first large snow storm.
There has been a bunch of questions we've been ask and have found answers for to so we will share them with everyone:

The damage to the single track trail system cause by the first large storm was actually minimal considering the amount of rain we received. There were a couple bridges washed out, a few larger trees blown over, a lot of smaller branches/ trees(most of which were cleaned up) and many new exposed roots. The double tracks and roads took more damage consisting mainly of wash outs and a section of the railroad bed washed out.
There was also more trees blow down in the last wind storm, we haven't been over all the trails since the storm but the walking I have done I've noticed some very large trees blown down . I've been working with a local bike shop to get a builders backpack (http://www.dakine.com/sport-packs/bike/builders-pack/) to make it easier to carry the power saw in the trails to clean these up.
Unfortunately it looks like any trail days in the spring will be more clean up days and to repair storm damage, not doing the improvements that we had hope to some of the trails that have fallen into states of disrepair.
The trail signage is in the process of being done, both the village and Fitworks have said they would help provide signs. The local ATV club has also supplied me with signs to put up on the multi use trials that they are permitted to use.
The person the village hired to do the map of the WRRA is not going to do it, in turn the HMBA is now going to look after getting the map done of the trails. The village will help with the project and we have someone already lined up who can put the map together after we supply the gps tracks of the trails. The plan is to walk the trails over the winter so we can have a map ASAP, more details to follow.
The HMBA has submitted an IMBA trail crew visit application to have the trail crew come this summer to put on a trail building workshop. This visit will help us both with our planning of our trail system and proper building techniques.

More mountain biking in national parks

2010-12-26T15:42:00.002-04:00

Likely most of you haven't been following what's been going on with IMBA and Parks Canada but this is worth a quick read.
http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/progs/np-pn/dav-vag/dav-vag01.aspx
The long and the short of it is that Parks Canada will be improving their trail system and opening up more trails for mountain bikers to use, this will include real single track and not just gravel paths.
You can also help out by filling out the Parks Canada survey to tell them what type of riding you like and where you would like to see it.
http://app.fluidsurveys.com/surveys/wnsc/cycling-1/

2010-10-15T00:24:00.002-03:00

The HMBA's first annual Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day was a huge success. It was a great day to take the kids out on the trail and a good time was had by all.
Thanks to all who came out to participate and a special thanks to Fitworks for helping out with the prizes.
Hope to see everyone again next year.

Take a kid mountain biking day in Hillsborough

2010-09-11T12:59:00.005-03:00

The HMBA will be participating in IMBA's 'Take a kid mountain biking day', this is a program to introduce kids to the sport of mountain biking and give them a chance to see the local trails. The event is usually held on the first Saturday of October( the 2nd this year) but due to some local events we will be holding it on the morning of October 9 from 10:30-12:00 at the main entrance of the White Rock Recreation Area. There will be a bike ride according to age and ability, prizes and food. This will be a free event to all who wish to participate and will be open to everyone, HMBA members an non-members alike. Please contact us if you are interested in participating.

Earl

2010-09-05T14:59:00.005-03:00

Everyone will be happy to know that the effects of hurricane Earl were minimal and the trail system is still in great shape. There where some branches and trees blown down, so it would be wise to keep a look out for things on the trails.

IMBA Trail School in Fundy, NB

2010-08-05T00:10:00.003-03:00

IMBA is putting on a trail school at the Alma activity centre on Friday, August 13 and is open to anyone interested. Click on the link for all the details.
http://www.imba.com/civicrm/event/info?id=42&reset=1

Sugarloaf videos

2010-07-19T23:53:00.003-03:00

Anyone who hasn't had a chance to go to Sugarloaf to try the bike park here is a taste of what your missing. http://vimeo.com/12750234

Sugarloaf bike park opens July 18

2010-06-14T21:58:00.006-03:00

Sugarloaf bike park in Campbellton, N.B. is opening again for 2010 and is better than ever.
The Gravity Logic team has return this spring to preform there magic and to get Sugarloaf ready for another season of riding. With many of the trails being improved and new sections being built this will make for some exciting riding.
With 9 lift access trails and 25km of cross country trails ,there is something for everyone.
http://www.sugarloafpark.ca/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=110&Itemid=135

Moncton Ride guide

2010-05-30T22:46:00.003-03:00

Riding season is in full swing so don't forget to check out http://monctonrideguide.com/ for upcoming rides and to post your own.

May 15 trail day

2010-05-17T23:08:00.006-03:00

What started off as a day with cloudy skies

and drizzle turned out to be a great day of building, BBQing and biking.

The task chosen for the for the day was to repair the the trail known as "The Cut". Over the last few years this trail has taken a heavy beating and was in need of major repairs.

When the trail was originally built it ran through a stand of spruce and fir trees, but a couple years after being built the wood was harvested and the trail then took a turn for the worse. With no trees to soak up the water and a couple of very wet summers the trail soon turned muddy and the enjoyment of using the trail was starting to fade.Now after a successful day of trail work "The Cut" is in great shape again and ready for riding this summer.

A great time was had by all and being able to top it off with food and a ride to try out the new trail work was a perfect way to end the day

Thanks to all who showed up to helped.

Thursday, May 6 evening ride

2010-05-01T10:41:00.000-03:00

Meeting at the trailhead by the golf course at around 6:30.

Trail day

2010-04-18T23:12:00.001-03:00

It was good to be back on the trails so early in the year to get ready for another season of great mountain biking in the WRRA. This turned out to be a very successful day working on the trails and alot was accomlished.

We focused our work on two sections of trail, one being a trail that had been all but forgotten by mountain bikers since it had fallen into such a state of disrepair. This trail is now back up and running after rebuilding two bridges and performing extensive repairs to get it back into shape once again. Thanks to all who showed up on such short notice and helped out.

Green Snake ride

2010-04-12T21:11:00.000-03:00

With the sun shining and chilly temperatures we started off the riding season with a trip to the Green Snake trail. For those who haven't been there before Green snake is a multi use trail located off School street in Alma, N.B. This trail offers great mountain biking and hiking and the long climb up the trail is well worth the exciting ride back to the bottom for mountain bikers. Even though a trail with so much climbing this early in the season may have been a challenge, I think we can all say it was great to get back onto the trails again for the first group ride of the year.

You can check out the video of the ride that Andrew shot here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12NTTVkqews

Spring Already?

2010-04-04T23:16:00.000-03:00

I think to every ones surprise spring has started early and even more surprisingly has decided to stick around for the foreseeable future. This has given us the opportunity to get out and have an early start on some trail work and also to begin to plan for the spring maintenance day. With it still being early spring and snow still in the woods we haven't set a date yet,but will inform everyone when we do.
We have already decided on some projects that need to be done and are working towards having materials ready to complete them by trail day(s). We are going to focus on smaller projects and basic maintenance that needs to be done instead of the bigger projects that will require the ground to dry out more.
If anyone knows of a problem that needs to be addressed or has an idea of what they would like to see worked on during trail day let us know.

Introducing the Hillsborough Mountain Bike Association

2010-03-28T16:55:00.000-03:00

The Hillsborough Mountain Bike Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting mountain biking, trail building, protecting land access and the maintenance of trails on which mountain bikers ride. We support the conservation of open spaces and we are committed to educating off-road cyclists to ride sensitively and responsibly in order to protect the natural environment and the experience of other trail users.

Our goal is to promote all aspects of mountain biking while creating a sustainable trail system to be used by all outdoor enthusiasts.

The HMBA, with approval from Village of Hillsborough(VOH), will now be looking after the mountain bike trail system in Hillsborough and will be working with the VOH to improve the tail system in the White Rock Recreation Area (the Quarries) for both mountain bikers as well as other trail users. The trail system will now be managed by the VOH and the HMBA and a plan will be made up for the restoration and maintenance of the trail system. The work will commence as soon as weather permits and will included the marking of some of the trails in the lower quarries, an addition of a map at the trailhead and as well as signage, the replacement of 2 bridges, repair of the main parking lot, the repair of an older trail to make a new biking\ walking trail, blocking off of some roads to prevent motorized traffic on the trail system and the repair of the single track mountain bike trails. Hopefully these improvements and future improvements will make the WRRA more enjoyable for everyone and will insure the quarries stay open for all to use.

We are a member club of IMBA Canada. The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) is a non-profit educational association whose mission is to create, enhance and preserve great trail experiences for mountain bikers worldwide.
Since 1988, IMBA has been bringing out the best in mountain biking by encouraging low-impact riding, volunteer trail work participation, cooperation among different trail user groups, grassroots advocacy and innovative trail management solutions.
IMBA's worldwide network includes 32,000 individual members, over 450 bicycle clubs, more than 130 corporate partners and about 200 bicycle retailers in over 40 countries.