HIMBA 2011 Annual Report

INTRODUCTION

Over the last year HIMBA members have been very busy with a number of trail building, race organizing, and kids activity projects as well as our usual map and T shirt fund-raising.
In 2011 HIMBA undertook 4 major trail building projects and continued to work on the pump track at Joe King park. In total HIMBA volunteers put over 380 man hours and 36 hours of machine time into the trail network.  In addition to the trail building projects HIMBA volunteers organized two mountain bike races and 8 kids after-school cycling days.

 

HIMBA TRAIL BUILDING PROJECTS

Devils Kitchen/Four Dead Aliens intersection Upgrade 
Time: 30 man-hours

The Project:
The trailbed at  the intersection between The Way, Devils Kitchen and Four Dead Aliens was very awkward to navigate on a bike as the trail was in the ravine bottom and prone to erosion.

Work Done:
50 metres of new trail was built from scratch to move the Four Dead Aliens trailbed out of the ravine bottom and placed it on the side hill. In doing so we also created a new set of intersections for Devils Kitchen and The Way. The new trail was all cut-bank with some dry-stacked rock retaining walls.
This work was done in collaboration with Yana Pethick, the Parks Maintenance Contractor. It was the first time that a HIMBA initiated project was done under his supervision and while the process was not without its issues, we all learned about the collaborative process and are excited about the possibility of future collaborations.
No Horses Upgrades 
Time: 60 man-hours    Resources: two cedar box culverts

The Project:
Over the years No-Horses has evolved into one of the Island’s most popular trails. It is unique in that it runs in and out of a seasonal creak bed, and while this makes for exiting riding it does create water-crossing problems with each dip. As well, in the past a couple of well-intended upgrades were undertaken that has since proven to be unsustainable or to interfere with the flow of the original trail.

 

Work Done:
Over the past year we have been working to upgrade all of the water crossings on No Horses. We have been systematically replacing old style wet crossings with bridges, box culverts and French Drains. This year we placed two new box culverts, re-graded several sections to encourage sheet-flow of water and conducted a major rework of one of the corners that had been previously modified in what turned out to be an undesirable manner.
One of the box culverts placed was of an experimental nature: instead of being assembled from cedar planks we found a cedar log that had been hollowed out into a “U” shaped channel. We were curious to see if this type of culvert could work as there are many of these types of cedar logs on the ground out in the wood. As of the time of writing the log culvert has been in use for seven months and continues to perform well.

 

Beaverslide Restoration
Time: 8 hours of machine time & 32 man-hours

The Project:
Beaver slide was originally a logging road that was re-opened by Leigh Cross in 1978 with a team of Percheron Horses. As he had no problem with traction, when he had to make a decision about routing he chose to go straight up the hillside. This routing survived for 30 years but in the last decade the fall-line nature of the trail led to erosion cased by usage and water running down the trailbed. The past five years have seen particularly rapid erosion that left portions of the trial unusable.

Work Done:
After consultations with the parks contractor Yana Pethick, it was decided that a completely new section of trail should be build that was away from the water flow and that allowed for a sustainable trail slope. A dry ridge to the right of the old trailbed was located and a route pin flagged.  The pin flagging process worked particular well as it allowed the proposed route to be demarcated by a small group as time permitted and then reviewed over a period of several days by other interested parties as they had time to get to the site. The variety of points of view and subsequent fine-tuning of the route resulted in a very well received trail that is well suited to all forms of traffic and skill levels.

The Beaver Slide restoration also provided a chance to test the use of a small tracked Yanmar excavator in the trail-building process. This Machine has a 36 inch blade and small hoe. The resulting trail is 36 inches wide when fresh but on Hornby we expect that in a year or two the trail will narrow to the ridden/walked width of about 18 inches do to the rapid growth of mosses and other ground covers.
We observed that the machine could do a tremendous amount of work and with a skilled operator at the controls the resulting trailbed retained many of the natural contours that make for interesting trail riding. From an efficiency point of view, the excavator was invaluable; As a group HIMBA is able to raise significant funds and we are always searching for the best way to turn those funds into trails. As our volunteer man-hours are limited we found that putting funds toward machine time was one of the best ways to use our financial and volunteer resources to create trails.

 

Genuine Draft Restoration 
Time: 8 hours of machine

time & 60 man-hours

The Project:
Genuine Draft trail was built in 1991 to allow the Cross Country racecourse for the Hornby Island Mountain Bike Festival to begin and end in Strachan valley. It runs from an old irrigation pond on the Cross Farm to Beaver Slide trail. As it passes through private land it was left fallow after the racing activities shut down in 2001. This year HIMBA decided to present a bike race and after permission was obtained from the landowners it was decided to revive Genuine Draft trail. 

Work Done:
As the trail passed through private land it presented an opportunity to test some of our theories about side-hill trail construction using the Yanmar tracked excavator.  We felt that the earth moving ability of the Yanmar would allow us to make a wide, well graded trailbed on steep side-hill terrain without using any wooden berm supports, and was the best use of our available cash and limited volunteer time. The new trail followed about half of the old route with one major diversion to avoid an unsustainable slope. The total length of trail built is about 2 kilometers and the excavator proved to be invaluable in the process as it allowed us to make a proper width trailbed with 100% mineral soil, a key factor in trail sustainability. We are confident that the new trailbed will prove to be very resilient. The trail was completed in record time and has proven to be an excellent walking and jogging route as well as a joy to ride.

 

Joe King Park Pump Track
Time: 20 hours of machine time & 200 man hours

The Project:
A pump track is a continuous loop that can be ridden on a bike without pedaling. Tracks consist of a series of rolling bumps (rollers) and banked corners (berms) that allow the rider to gain momentum and reach speeds of up to 20mph. Basic pump tracks are an oval shape with a berm at each end and rollers in between to make the straights. More advanced pump tracks will be irregular shapes with lots of different lines and sections with several berms in a row or even rollers that can be jumped over.  

Work Done:
The HIMBA initiated pump track at Joe King Park is currently made up of two interconnected loops totaling about 400 meters of track. Our goal was to create a safe and easily accessible cycling practice area for all cyclists but with an emphasis on younger riders. After 200 + hours of time the pump track is now in use by many riders and is being hailed as a welcome addition to the islands recreation options.

OTHER HIMBA  ACTIVITIES

In addition to HIMBA’s trail building activities in 2011 we also organized a couple of races and a weekly spring kids trail riding group.

Chris and Brad’s No Horses Shootout 
This was a low key fun race with no entry fee or prizing, just a fun morning of 18 cyclist hanging out and racing a two minute course down Chris and Brad’s & No Horses trails. A good time was had by all.

Hornby Spring Classic
The Hornby Spring Classic was a fully sanctioned and insured two day event consisting of a cross-country race, downhill race and kids event. The XC race saw 150 participants racing one, two or three laps on a 14 kilometer course and the DH had 46 participants tackling a six kilometer course. The kids race was very well received with over twenty kids in four categories taking on a one kilometer loop. The participants at the Hornby Spring Classic were extremely happy with the event with many saying that it had been the highlight of their 2011 racing season.

Spring Kids Rides
This activity consisted of HIMBA members Yana Pethick and Tig Cross conducting weekly after school trail rides on Wednesday afternoons for groups of 5 to 9 year-old children. The rides were usually about 6 to 10 kilometers long and took advantage of Hornby’s numerous kid friendly mountain trails as well as the road-side trail network. The rides were well attended, often consisting of between four and eight kids. The highlight was the group making it to the top of Mt. Geoffrey and then dividing up into two groups for the descent. One group took an easier route down and the other more advanced group rode some of the faster more technical trails. A total of eight rides were undertaken with good times and no injuries.

SUMMARY

2011 was a very good year for HIMBA, we feel that we made some important contributions to the trail network in the form of trail work and continued to support cycling culture through our HIMBA sponsored events. We look forward to continuing to support Hornby Island’s bicycling community in 2012
and beyond.