Rotary Fitness Zone!

This is the surprise… I suck at holding back surprises but if you all behave and stay clear of the park when we close it we can promise you a super fun new section will arrive!

Chris Lamb is the man behind many of the best trails we love to shred in Whistler and last Summer he visited the park and got stoked on what we had planned. We were stoked just to have a guy like him build our slalom track!

So he has signed on to help future track development next Spring in www.freeridebc.com our local project of community love!

 

The amazing people of Rotary have also agreed to help fundraise and in return we will have Chris make the Rotary Fitness section the place to be!

 

Check out some of Chris’s work in these links:

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/30834/

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/30843/

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/31016/

Now, we have already built a large BMX inspired Pump Track at the park entrance but Chris is going to transform the tree'd section into a Disneyland of trails, natural and tight and fast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seasonal park closure folks!

We attempted to have the park cleaned and Soil Tac ready for the winter but we have sadly missed the window of opportunity!

 

The weather ahs not been the best and the park is absolutely un-ridable.

 

Please understand that it is for the safety of the parks jumps and tracks and of course for  yourself too.

 

Please refrain from jumping the fence because bluntly speaking every time you do you cost our society money that we are saving for future developments.  It is slimy and gross in there anyways, you are not missing much… trust  us!

 

Any park related questions please email us.

 

Next year we have a surprise for everyone so please help keep the wear and tear down to zero so we can show you what is cooking!!!

Weather Closure!

The park is open to public and free for all to use between dawn and dusk but some of you may have noticed the gate is closed from time to time.  This is for safety reasons and for the park general health too. The park can also be shut down at our discretion if some one has modified the course in anyway and we need to repair the damage but for the most part not a problem at all, the weather is to blame! 

 

When it rains heavily the jumps become  wet and slimy causing concern for safety as there is little to no traction at all, and when you ride the jumps or the pump track with or without proper tires you cause extreme damage to the surface.

 

Then when it all dries out we are left with heavily rutted tire tracks all over the park so we must close it down until it dries up! This drains our resources and partial course closures or the entire park needs to be closed for repair.

 

This Saturday we are holding a cleanup party, basically a modest day raking rocks and debris off the course so that we can prepare the site wit ha product called Soil Tac!  What Soil Tac does is penetrate the surface of the park about an inch thick making water bead off the surface almost making it into concrete. This will safe the park from heavy winter conditions and all of us can ride it safely!

We would have don't this before but the funds were simply not there to do so until now through very generous donations and community support!

 

Keep in mind this entire park has come to life through the endless hard work of a small group of people and as with every project of this size and the amazing growth we have had there are communication issues and lack of man hours  at times.   We will promise to have this blog updated every time the park is closed so you can check prior to driving or riding out.

 

Thanks a bunch and we hope to see you this Saturday!

Park Cleanup needed for Winter!!

We are ready to winterize the park but we need your help!

We need to,   -MUST- clean it next week to prepare it for a winterization treatment, machines are lined up and we will weather proof the jumps from nasty MR Winter!

Here is a link with more pictures of what the weather has been doing to the park!

Face book has been set up as well..:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=155517608119

 

 

****VOLUNTEERS NEEDED****

To Clean the ROCK from the Park!

North Saanich Bike Park, Mills Road

Saturday, October 24

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Before the park can be winterized for year-round use, there is some cleaning up to do.

Please bring your friends, your energy and a smile!

We need to know that you are coming as lunch will be provided.

Please rsvp to contact@freeridebc.com

Safety first! Be prepared for a short safety talk before the work starts.

You will also be required to sign a 'Volunteer Registration Form.'

*******************************************************

Jane Victoria King
Land: (250) 298-9367
Mobile: (250) 886-5652
janevictoriaking@yahoo.ca
Jane_Victoria on Twitter

Hope to see you there and remember RSVP is a must so that we know who is attending so we can supply refreshments!

HELMET CAMERA ACTION!

This was randomly found on the internet and shows some cool footage of the advanced lines and the pump track!

 

Check it out!

 

And in other news…  Donations have been pouring in!

 

Huge thanks for all the support, Riders Cycles, Russ Hayes Sidney/ Victoria and to the overwhelming support from the Deep Cove Market who held a silent auction which raised over $4000 grand!  I believe some bikes from Brentwood Cycles were included too, I missed the event but huge thanks goes out to all the bike shops and to Deep cove!

Sidney Rotary club has extended a helping hand and will be assisting us in fundraising too, very excited about this they know how to make things happen and we are glad they view our park as a worthy cause!

So we now have over $10,000 in the bank, roughly $10,000 has already been spent in the initial phases but the main goal now is water source and proper soil to make the final push!

 

Kyle Marshall local pro DH racer is off to race for Canada in the Worlds held in Australia. I think he took off today actually so best of luck Kyle!  Kyle was in the park practicing rhythm and cornering yesterday, it was cool to see him mingle with the kids and answering questions.

This is Kyle on a bad day at the Worlds in Monte Saint Anne

 

Here is Kyle on a good day!!

Good luck in Australia Kyle and thanks to everyone for their help!

Family time in the park!

Our Guest Rider Kaylee shows us how to ride the track in style.. Ding Ding dropping in!

 

The most important thing to get across about the North Saanich Freeride Park is that the kid section it is not just for kids!

 

On the adult side of things, one of the parks volunteers Kyle Marshall just won the Canadian Nationals last week and his mom Jane just sent us this email…

“At present, Kyle's sitting in the number one spot in the World for his age according to the UCI rankings.

Pretty cool.

See ya soon.

Jane”

So big talent can come from these parks, congratulations Kyle!! Number one rank!!

Taa Daaa!~

BEFORE...

AND AFTER!!!

We are 80 percent complete in all phases!!



Go and enjoy this park on June 16th, it encompasses every skill and fitness level and has been 100 percent built on peoples passion to introduce to you what biking really is and how it can benefit your life. Sounds cheesy but it is true, get in there and enjoy it and a huge thanks to all the volunteers and all of the donations to the Friends of North Saanich Freeride Society!

So June 16th we expect to be 100 percent open in all the new phases only leaving the Pro line and the much anticipated dual slalom course to be built which pending donations of material and funding for completion!

Remember riding this park before the opening date JUNE 16TH is illegal and will result in further delays in the parks opening. Please respect this and wait until it is ready, we have worked very hard to acheive thsi and it would be a shame to have it closed due to a few people who decide to jump the fence.

Other than that get ready for a fun summer!

PARK RE-OPENING JUNE 16TH

Due to construction efforts the park has been temporarily closed until the 16th of June!

We appreciate your patience and apologise for any inconvenience but in the end it will be worth it when all the phases come to life!

Please refrain from hopping the fence and riding the park, just one more week and we can all go in and ride a fresh course!

Intermediate Section 80% complete!

Intermediate phase is coming along great!  We all have farmer tans and dust in our teeth but it is better than doing this in the winter with no machines!

Again this is just a teaser to wet the whistle! When the full intermediate line is done I will do a video walk through and make sense of it all.

Below is a shot from early last week when we roughed out the track, it has been dialed in and refined since then and we are pretty stoked to show it off soon!

The tracked skidder that Scansa donated is a gift from the gods. Without the proper tools it would be near impossible to shape the course as fast and accurate as we have and the weather is perfect.

 

So big thanks to Scansa for stepping in and donating 50 plus truckloads of material and their Bobcat to help shape the jumps!

 

 

I do not know if anyone has hired a Bobcat these days let alone ordered 50 Dumptruck loads of material to their house but it is not as cheap as one would think! Truck after truck kept rolling in filling our field with material!  Donations like this are what makes it all worth while after years of struggling by to open this park.

Using the new material and bobcat Kyle Michell has made quick progress shaping everything with his bucket getting creative making this section fun for even the pros!

The end of the intermediate is going to be a huge hit- popularity wise- ending in two pyramid options that hip into a large bowl. A rider needs options for his/her skill level and we wanted the park to not be intimidating so we have made the Intermediate fun and ride able by a pro biker but safe enough to roll over in a test run.

 

  The left side of the 3-line intermediate section can be rolled over safely with no skill level needed to jump a bicycle. As you get used to the feeling and flow of the table top you can try out the center jump where you can try catching a bit of air and so on until you wish to try  the outside line that has table tops with small gaps in between the landing and the jumps lip. If you do not make it there is just a small gap and you will safely land on the jumps back side.

 

This section will be separated from the advanced intermediate section by a 12 ft road as is the children's area from the intermediate as seen in the very first picture.  So it is going to a pretty cool park you just have to trust us and when the intermediate sections are complete we will move to the advanced pro section and we will do some test runs to show you the flow.

Mark Mathews keeping the jumps nice and wet in one of first scorching days of the summer!

 

So keep your eyes peeled for more updates!

Park development in full swing!

With the generous donations received over the past several months we have begun full development of the park!

Wow! Huge, Huge thanks to everyone involved and to the generous donation of Material and equipment from Scansa Construction and a very handy 40ft shipping container from Viking Air!

Donations have rolled in as well at an impressive speed.

So before the photo’s lets pay some over due respect:

To Date the Friends of North Saanich Society has received:

$5000 from the Victoria Foundation

$3000 from Victorian Epicure

$5000 from Dave Smith Professional Components

$2000 from Judy & Fraser Smith of the Smith Maneuver

$1000 from the Bevan Ave Dental Clinic

$500 from Cedar Grove Yachts

Along with $1000 worth of fuel from CO-OP GAS

And there is not enough room to even name all of the equipment we have been leant including experienced operators from

Martman Excavating / G&E Equipment

Michell excavating

John Plant Excavating – Bike parks neighbor too!

Dave Aylard of Brackenhurst Farms – Bulldozing guru!

Jim Dunlop – for lending us his bobcat for phase 1!

Classic Towing for dropping off our toys / machines!

Other business's have donated incalculable man hours in never ending efforts to have this day come!

http://www.blogger.com/www.straitlinecomponents.com Huge thanks to Denis Paquette, the man who keeps this all on track!

North Saanich Municipality Overly cooperative and supportive of this park for the community. Huge thanks for all the help from Cliff Halliday and Peter Chandler who have been there meeting after meeting year after year.

The entire committee of Friends of North Saanich will be listed shortly in a following post as we are still organizing and seeking some smart people to fill spots on the board of directors. Main goal at the moment is ironically a Volunteer Coordinator is needed!

Any interest please do contact Denis Paquette 812-3262

Now the fun part! Randoms from the past week focusing on the beginner and intermediate sections formed and shaped by Kyle Michell and Mark Mathews! !

So.. first thing we did was scrape the field and form our berms for the kid sections!

Ps. still looking for a Volunteer Coordinator!

We do need a new fence in the park but it would be for keeping kids out during construction! These deer are fearless and calm around us as we dig!

As I filmed this two wild rabbits were playing at my feet, oddly peaceful for an area so urban.

Michel Excavating brought in their big machine to reform the old Pro Ramp into a cool new dual slalom feature!

Kyle Michell rarely needs to leave his machine!

Mathews forming a hip jump!

Massive 40 ft container from Viking!

Final inspection on the new Pro Line location by local residents!

New Free Ride Site

Time to check out the new Free Ride Website, we are still adding new info, but lots of images from the unofficial opening are available to see thanks to some quick camera action.

Freeride BC in the news!

This news event actually happened over a week ago but I was awaiting footage to post up but better late than never!

A lot has been happening behind the scenes as usual but if feels like we have finally gone public in stating that the park is open, come in and ride.

Shaw cable was on hand to profile the North Saanich Freeride Park and those behind it.

First some insight full words from a few of Victoria's very own Olympic athletes!

Silver medalist and 3 time world champion mountain biker, Alison Sydor!

"Having myself been involved in the establishment of a number of initiatives to help get young people on mountain bikes in this province, Ive seen how the sport is not only fun and healthy for kids, but has also the power to change the lives of many young people who’s high energy levels when left unchallenged and unchanelled had become problematic."

"For it’s relative cost over a recreation facility such as a pool or an ice rink, a facility such as the North Sannich freeride park offers great bang for the buck in terms of giving the kids and other residents a place to get out for a healthy activity in a park that will be up to date and in touch with the demands of the mountain bike free ride and bmx enthusiasts."

One more...

Catharine Pendrel, Canadian World Cup Champion and 4th in the 08 Beijing Olympics.
"I am writing to you as a BC Olympian and in support of the North Saanich Bike Park (NSBP). I believe this park is an amazing opportunity to help kids, as well as adults, get active and learn new skills. Like myself, many kids are not drawn to school sports, but sport can still be a powerful influence in their lives. The NSBP provides an alternative to school sports in an environment that can be easily coached and supervised.

As athletes and leaders it is our responsibility to provide forums for kids to become involved in sport, and support to those willing to create sport opportunities for others. I believe the North Saanich Bike Park is an excellent resource that will benefit the lives of North Saanich residents as well as surrounding communities. "



So I will post the full interview once I get it but for now please be happy with a few few mini clips of the day.

First up is Mark Mathews, original founder of the park more than 5 years ago:



Then the parks poster boy Drew Mitchell, Canada's current National Champion and part of the reason we are building a park of this sort, where can a athlete train to help represent it's own nation? A park like this is needed where athletes can train and the kids can aspire to train to be just like them in the same location!




They Interviewed Kyle Michell as well but I never caught his interview on film as I started to laugh at the awkwardness of a camera right in your face but he did a good job explaining the park design concepts.

Kyle builds parks professionally around the world for the UCI. If you watched the Beijing Olympics this summer the BMX track was his handy work and we have him working on this track until completion



Once the crew did the interviews they wanted a test run of the track so KYLE, Mark, Drew and little Kyle did some laps.




The cool thing about this park is that after 5 years of work we are finally starting to fund raise! Sounds backwards but with the help of so many local business's and loyal people we have achieved this much with out a cent requested. Now the goal is to raise just enough money to keep Kyle here as last year we lost him a lot with conflicting work schedules as he flew around building tracks.

By late spring we plan to have in our own backyard a world class training track for everyone, child and pro and us out of shape types!!

Alyson Sydor
Here are some random shots of the day!




So again thanks for every ones help, we have achieved more than most parks could dream of on elbow grease and community support, lets get this park open by late Spring and throw a competition!

Time to get in Shape!

This is me and yes I am wheezing in pain. I just finished hiking my bike up a cliff face and I admit I am out of shape!



Good thing we are building a Fitness track littered with jumps and flow to get me in shape!

I was on Pinkbike today and Katrina Strand our local ripper from Whistler listed a Training program.

Check it out!
SPRING FITNESS TRAINING PROGRAM PART 1!

Cold weather is good for the lungs!

"The very fact that this track exists is a very good sign for the future of bike parks on the south island. Municipalities are afraid of the unknown and this park will set a precedent for this kind of bike facility in our neck of the woods. It will make it easier for future bike-parks to be built, because land-managers will be able to see on paper that this sort of facility is viable. For this reason alone, the park deserves the support of all the riders, and parents of young riders, in the greater Victoria area."

Kind words from Riders Cycle their crew hit up the park on the weekend for some fun in the sun!

Check it out the full story here on their Blog and props to Mitch Thacker for the photo's : NORTH SAANICH PUMP TRACK