There are hundreds of kilometres of illegal mountain bike trails in Gatineau Park, and the National Capital Commission wants to do something about it.
Surprisingly, that doesn’t mean a crackdown on outlaw mountain bikers, but rather a meeting with the cycling community to try to find a middle ground on the issue.
I got in touch with the NCC manager responsible for the trails in the park and, based on what he said, Gatineau Park could even become a mountain biking paradise again.
According to recreational services manager Steve McLaughlin, there are more illegal trails in the park than official ones: Mountain bikers, hikers and geo cachers have cut roughly 200 km of trail through the woods over the years. That compares to just 180 km of official trails, most of which are off-limits to mountain bikes in any case.
For years, the NCC has dealt with these issues through enforcement: Catch the outlaw bikers and fine them.
But McLaughlin wants to bring in a new approach.
“The NCC has been a dinosaur for years,” he said over the phone Friday. “But if we don’t work with the (mountain bike) community they’re just going to create their own trails.”
He said some of the illegal trails the NCC has found in the park are spectacular — the result of many hours of labour by whoever created them — but he bemoans the fact that the builders never tried to work with the NCC.
“There’s places we can do this,” he said.
McLaughlin hopes the NCC can work together with the mountain bike community to decide what they need and then figure out where they can build the trails without harming the park’s ecology.
He points to Banff, Alberta, where there were similar conflicts until officials sat down with the mountain bikers, figured out what they needed, and created trails in a less ecologically sensitive area.
McLaughlin’s new to his position, but he knows what he’s talking about: He’s a long-time mountain biker who used to compete as a downhiller in Japan.
The biggest challenge he’s going to face, in my opinion, is the lack of cohesion in the mountain bike community. Most people go biking on their own or with a couple buddies, and don’t belong to a club or an organization, so it’s hard to imagine any decision taken at the meeting will be respected by everyone.
But one thing mountain biking does have is an advocacy organization called the International Mountain Bike Association and its local branch, the Ottawa Mountain Bike Association. Both are going to be at the meeting. IMBA carries a lot of weight because it has official ties with Parks Canada.
One immediate outcome McLaughlin hopes to get from the meeting is more volunteers for a 2 km trail that’s being built as a pilot project. The trail starts at the Chelsea picnic area and, according to McLaughlin, needs a lot of work.
I remember riding in the park back in the late ’80s and it was awesome — tons of challenging trails and not too many other people using them. But the growing popularity of the sport led to conflicts on the trails, and it wasn’t long before mountain bikers were restricted to a few main trails and Camp Fortune.
It would be great to see the park turned back into the mountain biking Mecca it once was.
The meeting is Monday at 6:30 p.m. at Relais Plein Air on Cite des Jeunes Blvd.
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Kris Westwood
Kris Westwood is a former Canadian national team cyclist who has competed at major games and cycling events around the world. He continues to cycle for fun, and works as the 24 Hours editor at the Ottawa Sun.
For a picture of one of those “spectacular” trails see http://guidegatineau.ca/news/2010/05/28/ncc-mountain-biker-meeting/
This is great news!
The reason people are building their own trails is that the urban sprawl is destroying all the existing trails around the city! Take Kanata Lakes trails for example! A large part of the trail system will be turned into 3000 over-sized homes!
and Currently the Terry Fox extension is cutting right through some of the trail connections.
Another reason people build their own trails is that the NCC doesn’t offer any challenging trails for avid mountain bikers. instead we are stuck riding on flat, groomed and overly wide trails which are also overly used by hikers and dog walkers.
Like it or not, Mountain biking is growing exponentially and the City/NCC will need to find a way to accommodate all these riders! Either stop the Urban sprawling or open affordable dedicated MTB parks!
I was wondering why the Gatineau Parkway is only closed to cyclists from 9:00 – 11:00 on Sunday?
Your average rider can’t ride from the park entrance to Champlain lookout and back in that time. Why aren’t the hours the same as with their other parkways? This would increase the use of the closure and reduce conflicts with cyclists.
The parkways in Gatineau Park are closed to cars on Sundays starting at 6am. The section sometimes called the north loop (P8 to the base of Dunlop) stays closed until 1pm.
The reason most of the rest of the parkways in Gatineau Park reopen to car traffic at 11am is so the tea room at the Mackenzie King estate can be accessed.
I always wondered why people can’t access the tea room from Kingsmere road.
How many years will it take for people to figure out from reams of information out there that you can’t work with mountain bikers — you only end up working for them. Bikers, hikers and wildlife conflicts still occur. Mountain bikers need to be treated like skiers and snowboarders. Without strict containment you just end up with a bigger mess, as mountain bikers will still disobey rules, go off trail and still build more illegal trails. You only end up rewarding their bad behaviour with all that compliance toward mountain bikers preceived entitlement.l When will people ever learn? Mountain bikes need to be contained to a private recreational resort, park, bike ranch, etc. Mountain bike trails on public land ruin it for the rest of us who look for peace and solitude. Mountain bikers and their loose dogs in tow disrupt and frighten the wildlife. Conflicts continue. But people have been so flogged by the mountain bike lobby and industry spin on “benign” bikes, most people wimp out and let the mountain bikers take over the woods. The media glorifies what would be hated if mountain bikers were motorized. Guess what — electric mountain bikes are the silent version of motorized dirt bikes. Give them an inch…
Mocra what planet is it that you inhabit? It sure as hell isn’t the one that the national capital region is in. Go anywhere in the world but Marin County USA & mountainbikes (MTB) are accepted as viable recreation.
Contrast that w/ NCC controlled land where MTB have been unfairly treated since minimum 1990 while foot traffic can legally go off trail (orienteering, some hiking groups, maybe even yourself). You complain about your solitude being ruined but what you really mean is that before MTB came about was that you had this land to yourself & you would really just keep it that way.
When was the last time you did any work on a trail system? MTbers the world over have built thru volunteer efforts some of the best trail systems around. The NCC is just so far behind the times they are a joke.
Reaching out to MTBers, is that what the NCC is doing? Funny before they found the trails that a bunch of teenagers built they couldn’t care less. Me thinks the real reason is fear of liability issues. Now that is the NCC I know & love.
What Ian said ! Mocra – you are an !diot !!!
Has anyone heard if Steve McLaughlin is still with the NCC? Also – has anyone checked out the stretch of trail near Chelsea Picnic area that the NCC and OMBA has closed off and reconditioned yet?
If what we can see from the road is any indication, this trail rehab is more of the same. Gravel, gravel and more gravel….
Mocra isn’t the idiot. You guys are.
I personally have seen many MTB’rs screwing up a hiker’s day. Not everyone is civil and MTBr’s are actually 80% testosterone soaked zipperheads. I have stayed behind twice in my life to help a hiker that had been plowed by mountain bikers.
And I’ll show you hikers who beat their wives. There are assholes in all groups, yep even yours and mine. The days of kids riding being the majority are gone. Most people riding now are 30,40,50+ with families.
If you focus just on a dislike of other others you let the NCC get away with a real shit job on any appearance of proper trailbuiding, maintainence and management. Grow up and see who the real enemy is here.
Hi,
well I’m guess I’m one of those 80% stereotypical zipperheads, I’m a 40 something year old female who’s been riding and racing around Ontario for the past 24 years, oh and usually with a dog in tow, and I’ve yet to hit or get the one finger salute from a hiker. I just moved to Ottawa and I can’t beleive how few trails there are for the mountain biking community, No wonder Gatineau is full of illegal trails, there isn’t a whole lot of choice and most of us don’t want to be on boring double track for novices. I’ve always been a big advocate of MTB trail associations and I think that working with the NCC to get a huge outdoor recreational group’s needs met in the park is the way to go. Sign me up for the the OMBA negotiating committee! I even agree ( and most mountain bikers would) with the trail closures until mid May so that the trails can dry up and damage is minimized.