The trails are in good shape in spite of the amount of rain we have received in the last few months, although because of the rain it seems the trees and weeds on the side of the trails have started to cover the them over in the open areas and we will be trying to clear this up as time permits. Fallen trees still seem to be a problem and because of the time it takes for tree removal it has hampered our efforts to work on some of the older trails and clean them up and make them enjoyable and safe to ride again.

Everyone will be happy to know that the WRRA map has been started and the first draft is being gone over so the missed trails can be added, some of the trails that need work to be ridden safely will not be put on as usable trails until they are fixed. We are still thinking of ways to name/number the trail system and classify the trails for difficulty, signage will be a challege but once the map is finished it will be much easier to complete this task.

Finally after a long wet spring the trails are ready to ride again.

We have had a couple clean up days as well as a build day in which we replaced a bridge that had been washed out during the spring thaw. The trails were littered with trees and branches this spring from the high winds we received over the last few months, but lucky most have been removed including the large trees blown down recently.

For those who have never experienced Moncton Ride Guide (MRG) it is a web site that has been used by local riders for the past years to plan and organize events in a forum setting, unfortunately the site crashed while being worked on and MRG disappeared a couple months ago. Greg, a member of the HMBA and a long time MRG user has decided to bring back MRG and return it to it's former glory so that local riders will have a place to use once again to plan their activities and chat. The site includes forums for biking, winter sports, random posts and a new buy/sell section.

We hope everyone will check it out and sign up to once again make MRG the place "Where all great rides begin".

http://monctonrideguide.ca/

HMBA update

It's hard to believe that another year is over and the HMBA is turning 1 year old. With the new biking season is just around the corner again plans are already in the works for another great year of riding and co-operation between our club and the Village of Hillsborough.
Last year started off well with a couple successful trail days followed by a great summer of riding, unfortunately the fall weather did not co-operate as well as we hoped and another trail day wasn't planned although the late fall and early winter riding turned out to be pretty good before the first large snow storm.
There has been a bunch of questions we've been ask and have found answers for to so we will share them with everyone:

• The damage to the single track trail system cause by the first large storm was actually minimal considering the amount of rain we received. There were a couple bridges washed out, a few larger trees blown over, a lot of smaller branches/ trees(most of which were cleaned up) and many new exposed roots. The double tracks and roads took more damage consisting mainly of wash outs and a section of the railroad bed washed out.
• There was also more trees blow down in the last wind storm, we haven't been over all the trails since the storm but the walking I have done I've noticed some very large trees blown down . I've been working with a local bike shop to get a builders backpack (http://www.dakine.com/sport-packs/bike/builders-pack/) to make it easier to carry the power saw in the trails to clean these up.
• Unfortunately it looks like any trail days in the spring will be more clean up days and to repair storm damage, not doing the improvements that we had hope to some of the trails that have fallen into states of disrepair.
• The trail signage is in the process of being done, both the village and Fitworks have said they would help provide signs. The local ATV club has also supplied me with signs to put up on the multi use trials that they are permitted to use.
• The person the village hired to do the map of the WRRA is not going to do it, in turn the HMBA is now going to look after getting the map done of the trails. The village will help with the project and we have someone already lined up who can put the map together after we supply the gps tracks of the trails. The plan is to walk the trails over the winter so we can have a map ASAP, more details to follow.
• The HMBA has submitted an IMBA trail crew visit application to have the trail crew come this summer to put on a trail building workshop. This visit will help us both with our planning of our trail system and proper building techniques.