To our amazing community of bikers, builders, runners, hikers and everyone in between:

We are here to support you during this difficult time. And in turn, we hope to continue to have your support too.

With the B.C. government declaring a provincial state of emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we realize difficult decisions and restrictive measures are being implemented every day. In order to ensure we reduce the burden on our healthcare system and protect our most vulnerable populations, we all must do our part heed that call.

We’ve recently had to make our own sacrifices – however small in comparison – to ensure we are complying with all emergency orders, including the cancellation of the Vedder Mountain Classic. We’re gutted, but we’re also implementing other measures to keep our community safe, such as:

• Cancelling/postponing all social rides, races, clinics, workshops, and trail days;
• Encouraging/maintaining a social distance of 2m / 6.5ft between each individual;
• Requesting that group sizes remain small and limited to those you’ve already contacted; and,
• No on-site tool sharing between builders as the virus may live up to 3 days on certain surfaces.

By no means do we want to discourage people from playing outdoors, particularly in a time of great uncertainty, as we understand that regular exercise and access to nature provides a wide range of benefits to our overall well-being. We simply ask that you do so responsibly and with due care for your own health and safety, as well as for those around you.

In addition to the precautions listed above, we ask that you make conservative choices and stick to familiar trails. As you are likely aware, our hospitals will not have the capacity to deal with easily avoidable injuries and it would be unfair to place the burden on our search and rescue volunteers when we should be doing our part to lighten the load. Now is not the time to be testing your limits in sport or outdoor recreation. In other words, use your BCLC GameSense: Know your limit, play within it.

If you feel the need to get outside and have a desire to learn and/or help with trail maintenance, we would love for you to connect with us directly. With many urban public spaces closing to prevent the rapid spread of the virus, many of us are returning to the great outdoors where the trails are open and free to use. However, the vast majority of trail development and maintenance is done by volunteers. As a result, we will do our best to accommodate you and get you set up with your own set of tools to use for trail building and maintenance efforts for our collective benefit.

The FVMBA as a volunteer, non-profit organization manages a complex trail network system containing upwards of 600km of trail throughout the Fraser Valley. We are able to do so only through the support of our members, trail builders, volunteers, sponsors, and our community partners, including other trail user groups, local businesses, government agencies, and First Nations whose land we recreate on.

We want to take this time to thank you all for your continued support and want to extend our sincere gratitude to every person working tirelessly to ensure people remain safe and healthy. Happy trails.

Sincerely,

Julie Henderson
President | FVMBA
Race Director | Vedder Mountain Classic

Along with the rest of us at the Fraser Valley Mountain Bikers Association (FVMBA)