A loop registration process

This note and some registration documents came in from Joanne Thomson regarding the Gatineau Park A loop: 

As you are probably aware the unofficial A-Loop race will now be a more formally organized event (Gatineau Challenge - Défi de la Gatineau) in order that the group may ride without "breaking the law" up in the Park.  As Rob Orange has explained at the recent races, RWR has obtained an event permit from the NCC and the insurance coverage from the OCA in order to continue this event formally for the "A" riders only.  

In order to make sure everything is covered we require a one time season/series registration by the riders.  I will be out next Tuesday night to collect registrations and the fee from riders but I would like to ask you to please pass these forms onto your team members who would be participating in this so they can print them and fill them out in advance to save time.

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NCC mountain biker meeting report by Mike Abraham

Updated on Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 9:09AM by admin

image courtesy Gatineau Park NewsMike Abraham submits this note regarding the NCC mountain biker meeting:

Matt Surch and I attended the NCC “mountain biker meeting” May 31 along with about 30 or so other interested stakeholders.  This meeting was initially directed to the BMX community and related to the bike jumps that are located in the area of Relais Plein Air.  There were about a dozen youngsters from that community present at the meeting.  As word about the meeting spread, the scope expanded to include mountain bikers (DH and CX).  Also present were representatives from some Gatineau bike shops, the relais plein air mtb club and Skinouk as well as the president of OMBA.

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cycling in the news

click to visit websiteA few interesting bike-related articles appeared in the local newspapers recently.

First, Kris Westwood's The SpokesMan blog did a great feature on unauthorized trails in the Gatineau Park in the blog post NCC to meet outlaw mountain bikers ‘half way’:

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.

It will be interesting to see how the issue of trail access is handled by the NCC in the coming weeks and months. Be sure to check out the SpokesMan blog regularly for more cycling related issues and thoughts by Kris.

On the asphalt side, Tom Spears over at the Citizen brings up a contentious issue in Bike safety: Hug the curb or take the lane? He investigates whether taking the lane is always the safest option for cyclists riding in traffic.