TCC Two heads northwest

IMBA Trail News
Volume 11, Number 5
November 1998

Trail Care Crew No.2, Ric Balfour and Holly Hill, recently swung through the great Pacific Northwest.

In late October they spent three days in Port Townsend, Washington. More than 20 mountain bikers came out to flag a new section of trail and reroute three problem areas to avoid excessively steep grades. A salmon barbeque followed. Thanks to the folks at PT Cyclery for their great hospitality.

Ric and Holly extended IMBA's international mission when they visited British Columbia October 29 through November 3. The project began in Victoria, where Ric and Holly led a two-day seminar entitled, "New Users... New Solutions... Integrating Mountain Biking into Trail Systems." Topics included discussions of trail design standards and techniques, working with land managers, motivating volunteers, and developing partnerships. The South Island Mountain Bicycling Society hosted the event. Thanks to Pat Wade and Henry Lee for their hard work in putting the conference together.

On Sunday, the Crew traveled to Vancouver to participate in a trail maintenance day with the North Shore Mountain Bicycling Association on Cypress Mountain.

After some land manager meetings on Monday, Ric and Holly presented a slide show at a wine and cheese gathering hosted by Cycling BC. IMBA greatly appreciates the work of Candace Shadley, program manager at Cycling BC, who helped to coordinate the entire BC Trail Care Crew visit. Candace commented, "We are really pleased to be able to benefit from the knowledge and experience of the Trail Care Crew. We are also especially excited about the way in which their visit has been a catalyst for increasing communication between the different cycling groups in our province."

On Tuesday, Ric and Holly performed a trail assessment with members of the Burnaby Mountain Bicycling Club, then headed back to their home in Oregon. Next stop: the National Trails Symposium in Tucson, Arizona.