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Spring has sprung in Sault Ste. Marie and the snow is almost gone from the trails!

Lots of people have been busy getting the trails in shape for the season.  Trees have been cleared from most trails but ride with caution.  The trails are in typical early season condition which is to say that they need to raked/blown when the snow melt is complete and there are a few sticks lying in wait for your derailleur.

Pinder – all trees cleared, normal leaves and small branches on trail surface, snow patches persisting mainly at the beginning of the trail (persevere past #2 for better conditions)

Red Pine – trees cleared from Wolf Tree, Jakalmon, Cliff Hanger, Meadow, Daisy Dude, Giro, Big Bird, Sesame Street, Foxtrot, Tricky Bit.  There is a tree down across Penny Lane and the west end of Magic Forest.  Rabbit Run, Holiday and Umaface all have significant numbers of trees to be be cleared.  The cleared sections have the normal leaves and small branches on trail surface, Very few snow patches.

Crystal – trees cleared from Large Marge, Flow, Switch, Wave and Ridge Run.  Tree clearing work was happening on the beginning of the Crystal today and I will be able to update on the status later this week. 

 

Hello everyone.  The Cycling Club executive hopes you are healthy and doing well as we all wrestle with the impacts of COVID-19 in our community.  Our top priority is keeping our community safe and healthy.

Unfortunately, that means we will be unable to proceed with a number of spring activities that we all look forward to…Kids Shredding Singletrack (regular and Farm Team editions), road rides, gravel rides and Trails Fest. 

We will be monitoring the situation and looking for opportunities over the summer and fall to return to hosting events.  We will try to re-schedule the Urban Trail Adventure Ride and the Great Batchawana Adventure Ride if the conditions allow.  We will also look to host some KSS events over the summer (our fingers are crossed for a return of the full programs in September).

Thank you for your support and understanding.  Ride bikes (at a safe distance) and be happy!

 

Despite our best efforts, trail conditions can change over time.  Changes can necessitate some maintenance actions like improving drainage, re-contouring the trail surface or removing fallen trees.  However, there are times when the best course of action might be to put the trail in a different place.  This was the situation for the southern end of Stickman Drive.

In the spring, the bottom end of Stickman descended into a seasonal pool of water and after about 10 meters, emerged out the other side.  This is fabulous habitat for spring peepers and salamanders, but less so for mountain bikes.

So the club scouted the area to determine if there was a drier, less sensitive route to connect to the ski trail at the end of Stickman.  A potential new alignment was flagged and mapped that avoided the areas prone to spring ponding.  A proposal was presented to the landowner for the realignment and permission was granted for the work.

Clearing of the new route happened in August.

After the new section was ride-able, the old alignment needed to be made unride-able.  Work happened over the weekend to naturalize the old trail.  Trees, ferns and logs appeared where there had been none before!

The old alignment has been reclaimed for the frogs and salamanders, and the new alignment will develop in to perfect mountain biking habitat.

KSS is Expanding!  We’re creating a Farm Team to complement and grow the KSS group.

Have you got a trail rider looking for riding opportunities, but they are not quite old enough for Kids Shredding Singletrack?  Well we’re going to try something new this fall to meet that need.

KSS is expanding to provide trail riding opportunities for 7 to 10 year old’s.  (This is in addition to the 11-16 year old group that rides on Wednesdays.)  Farm Team riders will need to be comfortable riding the trails and able to ride at least 2 km on trails (e.g., 2 laps of the Kinsmen Adventure Trail).

• When:Tuesday September 17 –  October 8th (4 weeks), 6:00-7:00pm
• Where:Kinsmen Park/Hiawatha (behind the ice cream shop)

A typical session will include a brief discussion and demonstration of a skill or technique, then we will divide into groups to ride the trails.  We will stop at features where they can practice and develop their skills.  The focus will be on fun, but there will also be some learning going on!

Parents are welcome to ride along and, depending on the number of participants, might be asked to perform a “sweeper” role, trailing one of the groups and assisting the instructor/leader as needed.

To participate, your child will need to:

• be a member of the Sault Cycling Club ($15 for youths, $70 for a family membership), register here: Join our Club
• have access to a mountain bike in good repair
• wear a helmet
• be comfortable riding trails using a two-wheeled bicycle (no training wheels or balance bikes)
• Kids will need to be fit and motivated enough to ride between 2 and 5 km of single track trail in an outing

The focus will be on introducing the kids to fun and safe mountain biking.

If you are interested in having your child participate, please complete the KSS Registration Form and the KSS Bike Check Form (yes we need both forms, even if you have participated in a previous SCC program).   Send these to Peter@SaultCyclingClub.ca by September 15, 2019.

If you have questions send me an email:  Peter@SaultCyclingClub.ca