Ride Burns President, Patti Dube, was present at Feb. 18 council meeting. She presented the newly rebranded Ride Burns—formerly known as Burns Lake Mountain Biking Association (BLMBA)—one year and three years plans.
Dube shared that as part of this year’s agenda, the group hoped to roll out a few new projects, as long as they can access funding.
“So our new plan… if we ever get funding… is an uptrack,” said Dube. “We applied to the BC Rural Dividend last year, but it got sidelined. An uptrack is a way for people to get off the road… bike up the road… so they can actually bike up a nice easy trail to get to the downhill trails,” she said.
The plan for the group is to build the uptrack, really, for safety purposes, she said. Every year, the hundreds of people visiting the mountain biking trails that Ride Burns maintains, put themselves in jeopardy, riding up the main road to the top of the mountain to get to the biking trails. People in vehicles are often driving up and down that road, too, and that’s where the danger lies.
Not only that, but biking on the main road is just plain hard, she said. It can be extremely hot with so little tree cover along the road, and the condition of the road itself can be gruelling.
The idea is to have an easier path altogether, and one that siphons off into other bike trails at various spots along the way. It could branch off before reaching the top trail, so less keen bicyclists can take a shorter trail.
The BC Rural Dividend fund was the main source of funding Ride Burns previously accessed, but in more recent years it was put on hold by the province, said Dube, because it was allocated to needy families and communities where lumber mills were being shut down. She doesn’t dispute that need—she just hopes for another source to help Ride Burns continue with the work they do.
Another item on the list from Tuesday was the revamping of the When Pigs Fly trail. The name comes from the sarcasm shared at the time the group named it. Ride Burns members didn’t think it would become the world-class destination it has. But the high traffic it’s seen now means it needs an overhaul.
Two other items mentioned in Dube’s operating plan, presented Tuesday, are that Ride Burns wants to build a trail going from town to some of the other trails; And they want to bring in better wheelchair accessibility around Kager Lake, as well.
Now that the plan is presented, Dube said she will spend the weekend looking for funding sources.
Trail season opens in April, but this is, of course, dependant on snow cover, and the damage the pine beetle has done this year, she added.
The full Ride Burns three year plan is available on the town council meeting agenda website.
