Sometimes we get questions along the lines of “what have you done for me lately?” In fact we’ve even had people not renew their membership because they felt we were not really doing all that much. We try to keep everyone up to date throughout the year, but sometimes the big picture of all that we accomplish is missed when you only get it piecemeal. So with out further ado, here is the list of what the DMBA did in 2008.

Membership:

• Increased our membership from 40 to 100 regular members. The more members we have the more political clout we have, and the more influence we’ll have with land owners. Renew for 2009 and sign up your riding friends if they aren’t already members.
• All the local shops are corporate members. This includes shops in both the Durham and York Regions.

Trail Work:

• Led a volunteer trail build on the Glen Major property on behalf of the TRCA. This was the only major volunteer trail project the TRCA did on their property in 2008.
• Put a proposal to the LSRCA (managers of Durham Forest). The proposal was well received and we’ve been moving forward on the details this year. We’re hoping to see results “on the ground” in 2009. The proposal included:
  • map and inventory the single track trails in Durham Forest,
  • repair damage to existing trails caused by periodic logging operations,
  • build new single track in the Forest to repair, rehabilitate and rationalize the trail network.
• Applied to IMBA for an IMBA/Subaru Trail Care Crew visit in 2009.

Advocacy:

• Organized and hosted the “Meet the Other Guy” meeting with the TRCA. This allowed the mountain biking community to interact directly with the decision makers at the TRCA.
• Established a relationship with the FlyGurlz Durham Chapter. This year they helped us quite a bit with Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day, but they are interested in lending a hand with any trail work that we do.

Riding:

• Held our second annual pancake breakfast on the May 2-4 weekend. It was a bit cold this year, so the turn out was not as great as the previous year.
• Debuted the DMBA Jersey. Our first run of 20 jerseys sold out, we’re taking orders for more for next season.
• Regular Wednesday night and Saturday morning weekly group rides, we would have anywhere from 5-20 riders regularly.
• Regular Sunday morning “Intro to Mountain Biking” lessons were a success. We taught 10 beginners this year, and are looking to expand the program for next year.
• Inaugural DMBA Epic. Tom lead a 70+km ride through Glen Major and Durham Forest. Have you got the legs to keep up in 2009?
• First annual DMBA Summer Picnic.
• Road trips to Buckwallow (twice), 3 Stage, Blue Mountain, Ravenshoe, Ray’s Indoor Bike Park
• Entered a number of DMBA teams in the Summer and Fall Epic 8 hour events. Our teams had a lot of fun, and some did quite well, one even won their division.
• Hosted our second annual Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day. The turn out this year was 144 kids up from 80 last year.