It s time to ride! Dan Little Hey everyone, it has been a long winter but the trails are good and the 2018 riding season is here! 2018 is going be great year for the DMBA / YMBA. Our club is growing quickly and in response we have many events and activities planned. Also, true to our core values of building and maintaining trails, watch for details of upcoming trail builds and maintenance events. Please take the time to read through what we have planned and if you have questions please contact any one of our Directors (email addresses later in this note). See you out there, Dan Build, Ride, Respect DMBA Demo Festival - Volunteers Needed!!! Dennis Kavish Do you love bikes? want to be near the latest and greatest? spend part of a day rubbing elbows with the reps and manufacturers? Asking questions about what is coming or is here? Then volunteering is for you!! We offer minimal hours, all the above, free lunch and knowing you are helping out 1000 of your closest buddies check out the latest and greatest! Here is the link to the sign up: Click here to volunteer If there are any questions please send them to: dennis.kavish@durhammountainbiking.ca or john.fisher@durhammountainbiking.ca
DMBA Clinics Sam Woitzik 1) Skills Clinics This season we have partnered with Charlotte Batty from Minii Adventures to offer up a series of Mountain Bike Skills Clinics. The sessions will offer a range of different topics from beginner skills such as body positioning and trail etiquette to more intermediate skills such as bunny hopping, riding bridges and rock gardens. We are offering 5 different clinics in total with the hopes that we can provide our members with courses that meet a diversity of needs. The registration of these clinics has been extremely successful and as such, all clinics are full for the season. However, we are hoping to offer these clinics again next season. 2) Group Ride Leader Clinics This year we also offered up a comprehensive course on how to be a Group Ride Leader. Topics included Official Ride Levels, Emergency Plan when in the forest & What Ride Leaders need to consider pre, during and post ride. We had a good turnout with over 30 people attending the clinics and receiving their special DMBA Leader swag. Leaders who were unable to attend can request a copy of the DMBA Leader Handbook by emailing me at sam.woitzik@durhammountainbiking.com Group Rides Corrie Parton Monday Night Ladies Rides - started with a blast on May 14th with 60+ women in the forest! Rides will run every Monday evening (with the exception of Holiday Mondays) until the end of September. Keep your eyes to your DMBA email notification and our Facebook page for ride locations. Please contact ride leaders Meghan LeDez: meghan.ledez@durhammountainbiking.ca or Corrie Parton: corrie.parton@durhammountianbiking.ca for more information
Tuesday Night Family Rides - Will start on May 29th at 6:30pm ready-to-ride at Durham Forest. All ages and abilities welcome! Kids: please bring along your responsible adult to enjoy fun in the forest. Rides will run every Tuesday evening until August 28th and will continue if sunshine and season permits. Keep your eyes to DMBA email notifications and our Facebook page for ride locations. Please contact ride leader Corrie Parton: corrie.parton@durhammountianbiking.ca for more information Wednesday Night Club Rides We are looking for a few members to step up and organize these rides which typically have taken place through season on Wednesday nights at 6:30 pm beginning in the clearing next to the main parking lot in the Durham Regional Forest. Have a large group of freshly minted potential ride leaders to draw on thanks to the recent Ride Leaders Clinics. If you are interested in helping to post, organize, and lead this ride, please contact Dan Little: dan.little@durhammountainbiking.ca. Saturday Morning Beginners Welcome Ride This ride is intended for those riders who are new to mountain biking and/or new to the Durham Forest. The ride is typically about one to one and half hours depending on the group. The ride will be posted mid week on the DMBA website and Facebook. We meet in the clearing next to the main Durham Forest parking lot at 9:00 am. Our next ride of 2018 will be on Saturday, June 9th, weather permitting. If you have questions please contact Dan Little: dan.little@durhammountainbiking.ca.
York Happenings - Belinda Hosey & Andrew Szafranski After a massive cleanup Ravenshoe reopened on May 10, 2018 after logging operations. Thank you to those who have volunteered so far. YMBA will be having regular trail maintenance days to repair damage to Big Meany trail. Thursday group rides started in Ravenshoe on May 17, all abilities welcome! YMBA participated for our 5th year in the York Region Spring Forest Festival, which was a huge success. Next year we will be leading family rides in Hollidge Tract. Hope to see you out next year! Early April saw YMBA members Jonathan McCready and Andrew Szafranski meet with the TRCA to review mountain bike access plans in the Jefferson Forest. TRCA Biologists have concerns about human impact on the Jefferson Salamander within the forest. Initial plans show a significant reduction in the number of trails available to all users. The next step was a walk through with biologist to talk through possible solutions to maintain as much of the existing trail within the forest for all users. It would be highly recommended that all trail users observe areas off-limits to the general public and not to participate in any unauthorized trail work. Membership & Corporate Support Dan Little Membership: Wow, we are growing fast! Check out these numbers. The combination of population growth, an influx of families getting into riding, and the growing interest in riding are driving our membership to record levels. This growth in turn driving a strong demand for clinics, events, and more group rides. Also communicating with this growing membership base is a challenge for our web and communication tools. In 2018 it is a priority for the DMBA/YMBA to upgrade our website, CRM tools, and membership communication capability to keep up with the growth. DMBA / YMBA Membership - @ May 1st 2017 2018 % Chg. Individuals 502 716 42.6% Family Members 396 588 48.5% Total 898 1,304 45.2%
2018 Membership Survey: The 2018 Membership Survey is now complete and available for your review. Some top-line findings are: 38% of us will likely buy a bike in 2018 81% go to DMBA corporate partners for our purchases 31% own a fat bike 89% were aware of the winter grooming pilot in the Durham Forest 37% used the groomed trails this winter Click here to download the full report Corporate Support: Driven by our growing membership and the popularity of events such as the June 1 st Demo Festival, already in 2018, we have a record number of 25 Corporate partners and members. The next time you visit your favorite bike shop, brewery, or coffee shop, you will like see this decal in the in the window. Please take a moment to thank the business for their support of our community.
Trail Maintenance Dennis Kavish Mother Nature really tried her best this year to keep us off the trails until they were ready. Even a long winter and crazy wild wind storms could not keep the DMBA/LSRCA/TRCA crews from working hard to bring the trails back.
Welcome to our new DMBA/YMBA Directors: Joel Nicholls I have been a member of the club for years and helped out where ever I was asked; leading wed night rides, skills/ maintenance clinics, special events, trail building (particularly Dagmar). I ride bikes for fun and enjoy checking out new places to ride. I like it when Belinda gets us swag! Mark Bradley Mark has had a life long love for being outside, hiking, skiing, and mountain biking are where he is happiest. He is one of the founders of the Durham Shredders program, designed to get more families involved in the sport. Building trails, spending time on the trails, or teaching people who are new to sport make for his perfect day! Your DMBA / YMBA Board of Directors: Please feel free to contact any of us, any time. Dan Little - President: dan.little@durhammountainbiking.ca Dennis Kavish - Recording Secretary: dennis.kavish@durhammountainbiking.ca Renee van Dorsser - Treasurer: renee@durhammountainbiking.ca Samantha Woitzik - sam.woitzik@durhammountainbiking.ca Dave Jeffery - davej@durhammountainbiking.ca Corrie Parton - corrie.parton@durhammountainbiking.ca Belinda Hosey - York: belinda.hosey@durhammountainbiking.ca Joel Nicholls - joel.nicholls@durhammountainbiking.ca Mark Bradley - mark.bradley@durhammountainbiking.ca