Sunday April 27 saw the Vedder Mountain Trails Association host the annual Vedder Mountain Trails clean up and trail maintenance day. VMTA representing the interests of Fraser Valley Mountain Bike Association, Back Country Horseman of BC, Vedder Running Club, Pacific Northwest Motorcycle Association, and Chilliwack Outdoor Club on Vedder Mountain coordinated the efforts of nearly 100 recreationists to revitalize the well used and well loved trail network.
Individuals from the various user groups lent more than 700 man-hours of volunteer labour to the effort. This yielded 5 metric tonnes of garbage and about 350 man-hours of trail maintenance to improve drainage, reduce the effects of erosion and to augment the sustainability of the trails.
There have been ongoing and disturbing incidences of illegal dumping that continues on Vedder Mountain. The ease of access and proximity to Chilliwack has made this popular recreation area an easy target for this illegal activity. “What is most disturbing about illegal dumping on Vedder Mountain is that the Bailey Road Landfill is only a five minute drive away and provides a legitimate and inexpensive means of disposal”, stated VMTA treasurer Mark Steinebach.
“While continued illegal dumping is discouraging, the enthusiasm and passion shown by the volunteers for this area is overwhelming”, said Steinebach. A broad range of support came from the community and government and this ensured a successful and effective outing. The local Ministry of Tourism, Sport and Arts recreation officer Mike Peters not only provided a large portion of the funding for the event, but also lent a hand with the clean up effort. The Chilliwack Lions Club provided lunch for the volunteers and Valley Tank and Container provided disposal services. Additional support came from the following: Vedder Mountain Trails Association, Fraser Valley Mountain Bike Association, Valley Veterinary Services, Jack’s Cycle, NSMB.com, Pinkbike.com, Norco Performance Bikes, Race face, McDonalds Restaurants (Vedder Crossing), Kona Bikes, Raceface, Specialized Bikes, Fox, Camelbak, Powerbar and the City of Chilliwack (Pitch-In Program).
VMTA Treasurer Mark Steinebach enjoying the sweet & newly buffed Dilemma Trail(photo by L. Steinebach)
FVMBA Rep Gerald Lankhorst removes a dangerous eyesore from our trails (photo by T.Hovde)
I’m sure many of you have seen Brock’s work. Several of his films are available on Broadband Sports; he was kind enough to put together a short film focusing on FVMBA-oriented trails that was shown at our last movie premier. And more recently, he’s released his latest effort: Peatspeed & Marshmellows.
Well, this latest production has been noticed far and wide, and recently, he was contacted by the good people over at Huckmonkey. Way to go Brock!!
Come on out to the AGM, for our yearly update of Club activities, election of officers, and general discussion. Now is the time to speak up on any issues you have on your mind, and to ask us about the trails, and give us direction.
You don’t need to be a member to attend.
Also – this is the preferred time to signup for another year of membership. If you’ve signed up in the last three months, just show up and fill in a new form and we’ll extend your membership to the end of 2008.
Sunday, OCTOBER 28, 2007
9:30 AM AT VEDDER MOUNTAIN
Please bring your shovels, rakes, picks and any buckets or wheelbarrows. The more people we can get out the more work we can get done so bring your parents.
Please do not bring your bike as there will be no where to put it while on the hill. Yes this will happen rain or shine.
FVMBA would like to thank all those that have helped out with the construction of a new, larger starting hill. An original expectation of 30 lok blocks and 2 days of labour turned out to be 50 blocks, 4 days, and 10 huge truckloads of topsoil.
Next up is a safety rail, and the construction of a bigger set to make the current big set look small.
We’re thinking of putting on another big jam this fall, so keep an eye out.
Well, the weather gods helped us out with clear skies. We had a great turnout, at least 30 people…some of whom even stayed after lunch and worked until 5. Skidder received some buffing, with the takeoffs of some jumps cribbed in and re-dirted. The new jump we built last time on Hidden pleasures also received some buffing. Further down the trail, we continued with Gerald’s re-route. Things are looking good! (although the dirt does need some time to settle in, so please don’t everybody go and run up there to ride it).
Thanks very much to everyone who came out to help! If you were there, please send me your email address.
Thanks to Jack's Cycle in Chilliwack for providing lunch for our hungry volunteers! Thanks to Wentings' Cycle in Mission for “trail bucks”!
Next big trail day is April 21 on McKee peak (Ledgeview) in Abbotsford, sponsored by Abbotsford's newest bike shop, The Bike Brewery! See you all there!
On Sunday March 25, we’ll be having our first “official” trail maintenance day of 2007. The fine folks at Jack’s Cycle will be providing all the volunteers with free pizza lunch in exchange for all their hard work. We will be continuing the fine work started on Hidden Pleasures.
We’ll be meeting at Jack’s Cycle, located at 45735 Thomas Rd, Vedder Crossing in Chilliwack (beside McDonalds) at 9:30 and then heading over to Vedder shortly thereafter. Don’t worry if your vehicle is not capable of the drive up Vedder, we’ve got lots of trucks and arranging a ride up is no problem!
This past weekend saw a lot of love put back into the trails at Vedder Mountain in Chilliwack. We had a great turnout of volunteers, 6 on Saturday and 14 on Sunday! Some great work was done on “Hidden Pleasures” to re-route the beginning section of the trail. It is now a lot more fun, and more importantly, much more sustainable. Much was done in the way of drainage and grade reversals to keep water from running down the trail, and we’re quite happy with the result. Work is ongoing further down the trail, if you’re interested in helping send us an email at ride@fvmba.com. Thanks to everyone who came out!
Posted on 25th September 2006 / Category: Chilliwack / Author:Steve
Saturday, Sept 30th
-Open house @ Noon <---updated!!
-Dirt Jump Jam @ 2:00
Come on out to the official grand opening of the Chilliwack Dirt Jump park. We'll have BBQ hot dogs, give away Swag from local Bike shops, hopefully some celebrity riders, and most importantly dirt jumps to ride!!
Posted on 17th September 2006 / Category: Chilliwack / Author:Steve
(Update at bottom)
If you’re familiar with Chilliwack dirt jumps, you’ll recall that they were flattened a few months ago, much to the disappointment of all local DJers.
Since then, FVMBA has been working with the city of Chilliwack with the goal of creating a sanctioned set of new DJs. Result: The city has provided machinery, dirt, labour and land for a NEW set of jumps.
Construction started this weekend; more finishing is needed, and more jumps will be built - but it’s a start!
We plan on having a formal opening in a couple weeks, but in the mean time….
The dj park is done!! Featuring a new pump track and a Small BMX track for the little kids, it even has two tabled little djs for the little guys. There is also a rhythm section taking riders back to the starting area.
Already the kids are coming in droves, and most are local; this speaks volumes for the local scene, you just know these guys are gonna rip it up. We are going to decide which weekend for a opening day celebration jam, but probably 2-3 weeks from now.
City will be bringing more garbage cans, a water stand pipe is coming; hopefully with a shed for the tools.
City parks manager was smiling this week as were all the kids and parents.
Come spring we will be bringing a machine to rework it again.
The only set giving up problems is the big set, we may have to put a dropin or pave a runway. But with the water I am sure one weekend the guys will have at her and figure it out.
Already the area has had a couple of really fun things added, like a quarter pipe out of dirt and a couple of sweet transfer lines between the jumps. More communities need to look at the ease it took to make something which has had such a great buyin by the locals, and is becoming a destination to the kids to go and rip it up.
Gary Harder says: A big THANK YOU to Abbotsford's
DR. Phil Shaw and family
for their generous donation to FVMBA.
It's actions like this that really inspire us .
From all ...
Doug says: Much of what we refer to as 'Big Sumas' is actually a FVRD Regional Park, so no motors are allowed in any case. If ...
Tom says: If you rode your dirt bike on mountain bike trails...I'd think you were a jerk. What takes us months to build you can destroy in ...
ktm says: i was just kidding, i don't ride mtn bike trails on sumas was just wondering what you would think if i did. i live on ...
Gary Harder says: If what your asking is
is it ok to ride the mtn bike trails like TK and others on a dirt bike on Sumas ok ...
