Another North Bay gem was revealed Saturday at the grand opening of the Three Towers Trail Network, the first officially sanctioned mountain bike trail in the city.
Countless volunteer hours by members of the North Bay Mountain Bike Association (NBMBA) made the 5 km trail network a reality, from the design work to trail flagging and mapping to carving out the trail by hand on the property located at the very end of Tower Drive at the top of Airport Hill.
An agreement is in place with the City of North Bay for a small parcel of land at the trailhead while the main trail section is built on Crown land.
“We worked with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry to get all of the ducks in a row and the land use agreement and all of the assessments to do this right,” said Connie Hergott, program director, noting the association and board of directors was formed in August 2019.
The North Bay-Mattawa Conservation Authority (NBMCA)has been involved with the North Bay Mountain Bike Association since its inception.
“The Conservation Authority has a lot of other trails that mountain bikers do use in the community. So it is a good tie-in with what we do,” said NBMCA’S Paula Loranger.
“We were involved a little bit in the beginning in the planning stages just to make sure they were being developed accordingly. I think the Mountain Bike Association had a real good handle on developing the trails. It is really great to have a designated trail just for mountain bikers. Most of our trails are multi-use, which is great as well, but it is nice to have one dedicated to the mountain bikers.”
“We’re excited today to highlight the trails as a key recreational destination for local residents and visitors alike,” stated Mike Ward, board president and lead trail builder/designer.
“It is no secret to everyone here that North Bay is a recreational paradise.”
Ward went on to say, “The one thing we were missing before we started the Mountain Bike Association was a properly sanctioned mountain bike trail network, built to an international standard.”
“I’m using all the international standards that are recommended by the International Mountain Bike Association,” Ward added.
“We have centralized parking and the easier trails close by with the harder trails further away. You jump on the easier trails immediately from the parking lot without having to climb an escarpment or a large trail. So just the accessibility factor and the fun and flowing nature of the trails, we really want to promote that and get people using them. “
The focus now is on next season and expanding the trails which will be a driving force for tourism and future events.
“Obviously we’re at the end of the summer riding season but we’re really excited and hopefully next spring we’ll get people out enjoying the trails and using it as a primary bike destination,” Ward stated.
Extolling the virtues of the trail network was City Councillor and Chair of the North Bay Mattawa Conservation Authority, Dave Mendicino who credited the volunteers for their hard work in seeing the project through.
“These trails are such a gem here in the City of North Bay. The City of North Bay is certainly very committed to active transportation networks and we have so many of them in the city and this is just another one that we can add,” Mendicino pointed out during the grand opening in his capacity as chair of the North Bay-Mattawa Conservation Authority.
Mendicino underscored the added benefit of having a new trail system as an added attraction when promoting the city as a tourist destination.
“We have been in discussions with Ontario Cycling and they have an eye on what we’re doing here. Once we get up and running, they’re going to want to bring events here,” stated Mendicino.
“When we’re trying to attract people to come and move here, these are the kind of things post-pandemic that people are looking for, active transportation, getting out and getting active.”
The property has a special significance to the area.
“I think this is an amazing piece of North Bay and a lot of people surprisingly don’t know that this is the site of the historical Widdifield Fire Tower which was also featured in a Canadian television show the Forest Rangers. And Mary Kennedy was the last woman to staff the fire tower here before it was decomissioned,” shared Hergott.
“We took a lot of the forest firefighter language and have named our trails after it. We really tried to capture the historical significance of this property.”
The design offers something for every level of rider from technical tracks to Fast and Slowly with some berms. There are some “amazing rock slab features” and of course easy beginner stretches.
Plans are already in the works to more than double the current 5 km trail system over the next four years.
“Our trails are all built by hand, manually, so we hope to essentially add one 1 km in the spring and 1 km in the fall over the next four years,” explained the club president.
“So hopefully we’ll get around 13 km over the next four years. It is single track trails in remote areas so machinery doesn’t really help what we’re doing. The most support we could ever get is funding for some manual labour.”
The association is closing in on 300 paid memberships.
“We knew we would take off,” Hergott said with pride.
“Our growth has been astonishing and we are really, really excited about the support we’re getting.”
Some of those supporters attended Saturday’s grand opening where the traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony was replaced with the cutting of bike chains using bolt cutters, at the entrance to the trail.
People brought their bikes and helmets to take advantage of the opportunity to go for a spin.
In the crowd, a group of riders were anxious to get out on the trails and play.
Alyssa Travers has been mountain biking for 18 years, and when asked what keeps her coming back, the answer was simple,” I love just being in the bush and the feeling of going fast and slow and these new trails are great.”
Association member, Naomi Allen laughingly said she looks forward to “playing bikes.”
“I think I’ve been at it (mountain biking) for seven years now. I enjoy spending time with the ladies and having that comradery. And I enjoy the trail therapy,” she laughed.
“It clears your mind. You can’t think about anything else when you’re playing bikes on a trail.”
Connie Hergott has been biking for four years. She was amazed to find out just how many people in the city enjoy the sport.
“I was very surprised and also just very empowered especially for the women’s movement that’s happening. Even the men say there are more women now playing bikes than men. And I couldn’t agree more.”
Michelle Travers has been biking off and on for the past 20 years, but more so in the past 2-3 years.
“We helped with some of the trail build. I think it is great to have a designated area for biking in the city. There is a lot of trails throughout the city that are being destroyed or taken down for development, so this is a nice sustainable piece of land that we will have hopefully for many years to come,” Travers went on to say it has become somewhat of a family activity.
“My husband also bikes and my kids do too off and on, they’re teenagers so when they want to. I think it is a great thing for the community, a great place for families to come especially during COVID. A lot of new people are getting into biking because it is one of the few things we could do safely.”
Members Samantha and Travis Murphy brought their three young children to the official opening.
Their son six-year-old Thorren Murphy flew around the trails.
“We love biking because we find it is the perfect outdoor activity for our entire family to participate in,” said Samantha who is fairly new to the sport.
“We like it because it is something we can do together and something we can do to really enjoy Northern Ontario and all it has to offer. I like it.”
There are different membership options available from youth starting at $15 for a season, to corporate memberships, although a membership is not required to ride the trails, but it does help with costs.
“We don’t have the right to mandate membership for use of these trails, however, we reach out to the community and say this is what we do, we build trails, we run programs if you want to support us. If you want to use these trails regularly please support our organization,” said Ward.
“Those funds are essential for us to keep moving forward,” added Hergott.
The association is always looking for corporate support for building materials and to be able to hold more events.
“Our membership year is coming to an end, so please renew. Visit our website to do all of that.”
Children’s programs will be a large part of next season.
“We’re going to have biking education and skill development programs for kids next summer. We had to postpone it this summer because of COVID. But we’ve had a women’s clinic here, we brought professional coaches in,” explained Hergott.
“Mountain biking is hugely popular. It is a growing sport and it is going to be such a great economic driver in our community.”
Recent poor weather means the end to the season.
“We’ll probably close our trails after today,” said Ward.
“ I wouldn’t encourage anyone to bike on these kinds of conditions at this point in the year when the ground is fully saturated and muddy, we usually wait for things to dry out. So, today is really a day to promote the Spring. You can bike in any weather conditions but usually mountain bikers like drier more solid terrain.”
It will be a spring, summer, and fall facility from May 1 to mid to late October.
