Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Latest Update
Lots going on in the next few weeks! There's a Crothers Woods trail day coming up, a build day for the long-neglected Bayview dirtjumps, and we're bringing you news about skills parks and trail access all over the City…

Crothers Woods Trail Maintenance Day – Saturday Oct. 1
Come and join staff from the Natural Environment Trails Program and IMBA on for a day of giving back to the trails in Crothers Woods. This event is open to everyone who would like to get their hands dirty and help out with on-going trail maintenance and management in the Don Valley. All tools and training will be provided. No experience necessary, just come prepared for outdoor working conditions. Trail construction, rock armouring and ecological restoration (planting) are all on the menu!

When: Saturday October 1st, anytime between 10AM and 4PM
Where: 27 Redway Rd (Loblaws trailhead)

For more details please visit the Trails Program website at www.toronto.ca/trails.
To register for the event please contact Scott at trails@toronto.ca or call 416 338 5053.

Rouge Valley Update
On Friday, Alastair (current TORBA President) attended a Rouge Park Alliance meeting in support of a presentation by IMBA Canada. As plans for the Rouge continue, we're very concerned that mountain biking should feature in the plans, and be both allowed and planned for. IMBA reps Jason and Lora made a solid, credible deputation, and it was important that both TORBA and the Durham Mountain Biking Association were present, as we represent the two MTB groups that border the Rouge on either side. We'll continue to advocate for mountain biking as this progresses. If you're a frequent Rouge rider and would like to be involved, we'd love to hear from you.

High Park
High Park got a lot of media coverage after a native group occupied and removed the dirt jump area earlier this year. That event created immediate pressure to create an authorized replacement venue somewhere in the area, and Graham (TORBA VP) has been actively following this issue, meeting with councillors and city staff. Currently an RFP has been awarded to Jay Hoots to build a replacement skills park in the Queensway and Parkside area. A public meeting will be taking place towards the end of October, and your involvement is needed because we need solid representation from the mountainbike community to push this forward. Please be prepared to come to the meeting - our next newsletter will have details of the time and place.

Bayview Dirtjumps Build Day - Sunday Oct. 2
Many mountainbikers will know of the dirtjumps in the Bayview and Finch area, which were neglected and fell into disrepair. Well, they're BACK! On October 2nd there's a build day to restore and revitalize the jumps. If you can't make it to the Crothers build, please come to this one. The city is using this day to gauge interest in the park, and this could lead to a complete overhaul/redesign in the spring. Call Jesse for further info: 647 835 8062.

When: Sunday October 2, 12PM onwards
Where: on Bayview just north of Finch

Bike Rodeo - Sunday Oct. 2
If you have kids, you might be interested in getting them out to the Fall Bicycle Rodeo, organized by the new Leaside GEARS bike shop and Toronto Police 53 Division. Participants will have their bicycle and helmet inspected. They will then move onto the rodeo component to be tested on their riding skills.  There will be basic instruction on safety, hand signals, a balancing challenge and a mini time trial to register top speeds on Laser radar.

The Toronto Police Mounted and K9 Units will be on hand to meet the public, and a vintage 1957 Chevy police car will also be on display. There will be gifts for the first 100 participants.

All participants are required to bring their own bicycle and a helmet. Youth will need to have a parent sign a waiver.

When: Sunday October 2, 11AM – 3PM
Where: GEARS is located at 109 Vanderhoof, one street south of Eglinton, just west of Brentcliffe.

MTB Fest 2012
Yup, we've started work on planning next year's MTB Fest, to make it bigger, better, more fun… but keeping the grass-roots flavour that everyone seemed to love this year. At this point we'd like your suggestions – and if you can spare some time to help out, that would be fantastic. Email us if you have any ideas or would like to volunteer.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Welcome to our new page!

Thanks for stopping by to learn more about TORBA and advocacy for mountain bikers in Toronto.
TORBA (the Toronto Off-Road Cycling Association) represents the interests of mountain bikers and other off-road cyclists in Toronto. It wasn’t long ago that we faced the possibility of trail closures in the Don Valley, due to conflict with other users and misunderstandings about mountain biking as a sustainable sport.

Today TORBA works with the City of Toronto's Department of Parks, Forestry and Recreation to improve the safety and enjoyment of off-road cyclists, particularly in the Don Valley. This has involved the creation of several kilometres of new, sustainable trail, the closure of erosion prone and sensitive areas, and new trail access and signage. TORBA has a large base of volunteers that are regularly involved in city run trail build days and our own garbage clean up days.

This is a great start to improving the experience of trail users, but we need your help continue this momentum.

We need increased support to fulfill some of our new initiatives. These include:

- A skills park in the Don Valley

- Increase the extent of the trails recognized by the City of Toronto

- Increased volunteer lead trail building and maintenance


All of these initiatives are well underway, but we need more support to make them happen effectively.

Keep coming back to our new page, it’ll soon have more information about upcoming dates and events. In the meantime:

Crothers Woods Trail Maintenance Day - Saturday October 1st

Come and join staff from the Natural Environment Trails Program and the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) Canada on Saturday October 1st for a day of giving back to the trails in Crothers Woods.
This event is open to everyone who would like to get their hands dirty and help out with on-going trail maintenance and management in the Don Valley. All tools and training will be provided. No experience necessary, just come prepared for outdoor working conditions anytime between 10:00am and 4:00pm.

For more details please visit the City of Toronto’s website www.toronto.ca/trails

To register for the event please contact trails@toronto.ca or call 416 338 5053.