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!