ROB MURRAY: I’m speaking with Chad Holowatuk and Justin Deolivera of from the Canmore & Area Mountain Bike Association (CAMBA). How are you doing today? You’ve just had your Annual General Meeting and there were a couple of big announcements. Chad, what can you tell us about this big grant you’ve been awarded?

CHAD HOLOWATUK: We applied to the Alberta government for a community facility enhancement program grant. The purpose of this grant is to help fund a new trail that we put forward to the Kananaskis trails committee way back in 2018. It’s an Enduro free ride trail at the Canmore Nordic Centre. It’s a trail that we feel will be a destination trail, will fill a recreational need, and we were successful at getting that grant. We received roughly $58,000 and it’s a matching grant, so the fundraising activity we have been embarking on is aimed at matching that. We actually applied a few times; this was our third application. I think it was the charm of our new fundraising director, Jolene Gunn. I’m kind of attributing the success to her.

RM: You also announced some details about an event coming up. Justin, what is Pedal for Pints?

JUSTIN DEOLIVERA: Pedal for Pints is a social fundraiser that we’re going to be running throughout the summer and hopefully into the fall, in collaboration with Sheepdog Brewing, The Bike Shop in Calgary, and Old School Bus Ice Cream here in town. People will ride their bikes on a loop over on the north side of the Valley, the Montane Horseshoe, roughly a 30 kilometre loop. If they finish the loop they can go to Sheepdog and get a free pint. The idea is, along the loop, there are segments sponsored by local businesses and other organizations that will pledge a donation to go back to the trails. Every time someone rides one of these segments, a small amount is donated. There are some pretty amazing prizes for people that participate, a SRAM AXS Wireless Groupset, and a set of Race Face carbon wheels as the two grand prizes. These two items are very sought after at the moment, and those came courtesy of The Bike Shop so thanks to them. We really wanted to make this event as inclusive and accessible as possible, so it’s not just riders that can participate, it’s really open to all trail users like runners and hikers. There’s also a kids aspect to it. We’re running a kid’s scavenger hunt idea, and it’s all going to be digital so that it will be COVID friendly. They can go get an ice cream from the ice cream bus, so thanks to Old School Bus Ice Cream for that. We’ve created a shorter loop for riders with accessibility challenges, working with Rocky Mountain Adaptive.

RM: When does Pedal for Pints kick off?

JD: We’re officially launching it May 15th. We’re not sure how long it’s going to go right now. We’re thinking maybe September, but if weather permits we may run it longer

RM: When it opens up, how can people find out more info and sign up?

JD: The best way it’s just to go to our website.

RM: What can you tell us about this new group that you’re forming, Chad?

CH: CAMBA already has a few committees, and what we added for this season is a stakeholder and trails advisory committee. We are mountain bikers who advocate for trails, but in reality the majority of what we build and maintain is a shared use trail system. We feel that we have this efficient infrastructure that we also wanted to have other trail users benefit from. This committee will provide a venue for the other users to have a more active role in the projects we manage. We’re going to inviting organized clubs and land managers to participate. We already see a ton of support from a lot of these groups and we just kind of wanted to make it official, and give them a voice early on when we’re planning. We want to listen to the broader trail community, and we want to have that input early on so we can adjust and we can hopefully satisfy all trail users to some extent.

Filed under: CAMBA, Canmore