Thanks for visiting our website -- we hope you find some things of interest and learn more about what mountain biking in the Bow Valley in Rocky Mountains of Canada is all about. We want to provide you with sound information about the sport we love and area we love to ride in. It is a remarkable part of the Rocky Mountains and we hope you get the opportunity to ride here some day if you live far away and if you live nearby, well we know you love the riding here!
If you find things on the site that you think need updating or correcting we'd appreciate an e-mail from you. We want the site to be current and accurate. Any contributions you have that you think we may want to post on the site are welcome as well. Should we think your contribution has merit we will feature it on this site. Send it to us at info@bvmba.org.
This past summer the Banff Lake Louise Tourism Bureau came to us and asked us to help them make a video that would promote mountain biking in Banff National Park. We had a lot of fun helping them make this little promo that is featured on YouTube. Naturally we couldn't take them into the best riding areas but we sure showed them how beautiful the riding is here. Have a look for yourself by clicking on this link.
This site will not be maintained regularly now until the spring of 2008 unless really important items come to our attention.
A PDF Trails Map of the Canmore area trails has been recently added to our "brochures and maps" page. There have been a number of improvements and additions to the trails in Canmore the past year or two. The riding in Canmore is really excellent and the trails are usually not very busy at all! We think the trails here are undiscovered gems in many respects. Signage can still be an issue in some areas but the province has added more signs this summer and more are to follow. In order to round out our maps for the Bow Valley we are hoping to get a copy of the map being developed for the Canmore Nordic Centre trails when it is available.
Have a great winter of skiing and other winter activities and we look forward to having you visit this site next year. E-mails to our site will be monitored throughout the winter.
A big congratulations for an awesome addition to the mountain bike scene in Canmore goes out to all the folks involved in making two new bike skills parks there. In particular Jamie Carpenter, from the Town Of Canmore, deserves a big pat on the back for the some three years of planning and organizing he put into these projects. The design work and building was done by well known bike park designer Jay Hoots from North Vancouver. Support work and volunteer recruiting was led by the Rundle Mountain Cycling Club (RMCC). We would also especially like to thank the generous assistance of these 50 or more volunteers who helped the building team – volunteers rock!! The Town of Canmore and a grant from the province provided most of the $65,000 – that was needed to build the parks. The RMCC and the Town ofCanmore will do clean up and maintenance work on the park as it is required. The MillenniumPark bike park and the Benchlands Trail bike park have been designed, to a large extent, to cater for the beginner to intermediate level user. Features within the parks help promote the steady progressive development of skills and have been a really popular attraction even before they were completely finished. Those of us who are so passionate about mountain biking are thrilled to see the mountain biking infrastructure in Canmore ramping up year by year. Canmore really has a lot to offer to cyclists now and these parks help round out the experience that can be had for locals and visitors.
Photo courtesy of Craig Douce -- Rocky Mountain Outlook Here is a photo of Jay testing out some of the stunts they just finished.
For a little closer looks at the parks and for some more photos click on the "Canmore Bike Parks" button. October 20, 2008
The Moraine Lake Highline Trail is now effectively closed for the season. Parks Canada is doing Firesmart tree clearing and other work in the Moraine Lake Lodge area and has closed the road as well as the Highline Trail in the interests of public safety.
The Bow Valley Mountain Bike Alliance congratulates Parks Canada for the trail changes done this summer to improve safety and trail user conflict concerns at the Hoodoo parking lot area on the Tunnel Mountain bench. Mountain bikers have been given a sweet new piece of singletrack to route them around this area. In addition Parks Canada has added the sign above to help direct and orient all trail users. This sign is a great example of what the future of signage on the bench could look like.
A special thanks to BVMBA volunteers who took time on a sunny fall weekend to scope out the planned new trail system for the Tunnel Mountain bench area. As you can see the working conditions were as good as it gets!!
What's Happening There?
As part of a three year long study looking to improve the trails in the Banff Townsite area, there was a recommendation to consolidate and enhance trail opportunities for all trail users in this area. The plan, in a nutshell, is to keep people out of some wildlife-sensitive areas and concentrate their activities on a well thought out trail system.
This past summer the BVMBA did GPS mapping of the main trails on the bench with a view to decommissioning a number of the informal trails and identifying the trails that will appeal to the majority of trail users be they equestrians, trail runners, hikers, strollers or mountain bikers. The resulting trails will keep people from going into areas that have been identified as important habitat for wildlife.
The Alliance is spearheading the initiatives here in conjunction with other trail users and Parks Canada. The "work" crew above rode the proposed Tunnel Bench Loop trail (still to be officially named) to discuss and review options for minor trail re-orientation, possible signage, safety concerns, experience enhancements, trail maintenance, etc.
A very big THANK YOU goes out to Eric Harvie, Doug Topp and Doug Eastcott, from the BVMBA, and to Don Gorrie and Mike Murtha from Parks Canada. These concerned people have really helped push forward the plans for this project.
October 19, 2008
Parks Canada Website
Parks Canada has made their excellent brochure Mountain Biking andCyclingGuide for Banff National Park available on their Banff National Park website. There are also a number of messages about mountain biking in the park that are worth reading. Maps of the trails are also available from this site both for viewing and for printing. Check it out at :
Have a look around our site and enjoy your time riding our great trails here in Banff and Canmore -- some of the most beautiful country you will ever see!!
The BVMBA -- promoting sustainable socially and environmentally responsible mountain biking in the Bow Valley and Banff National Park since 1997.
