$1000 giveaway to volunteers

Luke Van Barneveld of Raider Mechanical has donated $1000 to be given away to volunteers. Every time you come out to a trail maintenance day between Oct 6 2024 and the 2025 Route of All Evil Fun Ride (Date TBD, usually mid/end Jun), you’ll get an entry into the draw. One $500 and two $250 prizes will be awarded. If you do work outside of a Trail Day it must be substantial (at least 2 hours per person) and not just cut a couple of dead falls. Contact Rick Green, Ryan Thom or Clay Walker before you start the work and have before and after pics of the work done. BMMC directors and Trail Committee members will not participate in the contest.

Nov 24th trail maintenance day

Next Trail Maintenance Day is Nov 24th. We always need volunteers for the trail maintenance days and highly encourage riders to come out and help. Trail days are typically the last Sunday of each month. We meet in the staging area around 9:30, organize into groups and then head out for around 10am. Everybody who shows up gets a free ‘trail crew’ t-shirt. We always try to have a giveaway – sometimes gift cards from local motorcycle shops, sometimes tires, tools etc. When possible, we try to have coffee and donuts for all the volunteers. We rarely ride in to do trail work – we typically drive and hike in. Many locations will require a truck to get to. If you don’t have a 4×4/truck, you can always leave the car in staging and hop in with somebody else. Come prepared with proper clothing and footwear – the club will provide all the tools necessary.

2025 BMMC Memberships on sale now

You can purchase your 2025 club membership from the store: https://bluemountainmotorcycleclub.com/store/  If you’re not a 2024 member, if you purchase now, you’ll get a membership for the remainder of 2024, plus all of 2025.

Your membership dollars go directly to shovels in the ground. While this is extremely important, we need volunteers to man those shovels. Less than 20% of riders purchase memberships. Further less than 2% of riders come out to volunteer. This leaves a huge burden on a small percentage of the ridership to advocate, attend meetings, organize events, manage the finances, maintain the website, and keep up the required trail work, install the signs, kiosks, etc.

AGM in December

The club’s AGM (where officers and directors are elected, club business is discussed etc.) will be held on Dec 5^th at Ricky’s Country Restaurant (#101  20110 Lougheed Highway Maple Ridge). 6:30 pm start, appetizers provided by the club.

Monthly club meetings

The first Thursday of each month the club holds a meeting to discuss club business. All are welcome. It’s typically the first Thursday of each month, held at Ricky’s Country Restaurant in Maple Ridge starting at 6:30. Usually we take a break in the summer (Jul/Aug).

Material donations

We’re almost always looking for donations of materials like expanded metal (steel or Aluminum) for bridges etc. Also, ramps (steel or aluminum) for bridges and ramps over root steps etc. Other materials that you can donate, please contact the club to find out if they are needed/useful. We have a reasonable supply of buckets but will need more before the winter is over. Please contact a club rep to check if the material you have to donate can be used by the club.

Damage in staging from donuts

Please refrain from doing donuts, burnouts etc. in the staging area, both on your bike in in your vehicle – as tempting as it is, a lot of $ was put into the topping in the parking area and donuts just destroy that work.

Damage from recent heavy rains and wind

Recent heavy rains and wind have caused damage in various places. One place of note is on the power lines road where a significant part of the roadway has washed away. In one section, the washout is about 12 feet deep. The club has put up some flagging tape to make it more visible and the woodlot has been contacted about getting it repaired. There are washouts in other areas as well.

There has been a significant number of trees that have blown down from the wind. It’s recommended that you carry a handsaw (‘Silky’) with you to clear any smaller trees/branches. Report to the club any larger trees that are down and/or trees that would be a risk to remove.

Repairs to trails from last year’s logging

We’re still working with RSTBC (Rec Sites and Trails BC) and the loggers to repair and re-open trails that were damaged or closed because of the extensive logging in 2023. We’re continue to work with RSTBC and the loggers to get these repairs done, so those trails can be repaired and re-opened. Work to reopen shotgun is underway by woodlot staff, and we are anticipating a spring reopening for that trail. A budget has been developed for ground worn repairs to Ryan187 and has been put out to tender, with contract awarding anticipated in the next month. Repairs will likely take place early 2025. This is being funded by RSTBC as part of the complaint resolution process from aggressive harvesting.

Kids riding loop

The club is in the very early stage of discussions with the City of Maple Ridge about establishing an area that can be used as a kid’s riding loop. Al Willard is spearheading this potential project – contact him with questions or to help support the project.

Ryan 187 repairs

Ryan 187 is currently closed to get some repairs done. These repairs were funded through RSTBC from a fund that is contributed to by the woodlots when they harvest. The re-establishment of this trail that was done by the woodlot requires additional drainage and hardening to make it sustainable. The repair contract was awarded to One-Trac Contracting.

Winter trail closures

Ridge, EP, KCCK, West Dr Dementos and Possum Lodge have been closed for the winter. All the trails take a beating in the wet winter, but these trails in particular receive more damage than others. We realize that this further reduces the number of trails that are open, but is a necessary evil to preserve the trails as much as possible. Once the trails affected by the 2023 woodlot operations are repaired and re-opened, the impact of the annual winter closures will have less impact. They will all re-open in the spring, timing dependant on the weather.

Thank you to our volunteers and paid members

As we head into fall/winter, please have a read over the wet weather guide (Wet Weather riding guide on the main page of the website: https://bluemountainmotorcycleclub.com/ ) and familiarize yourself with it. The choices made by riders during the wet season affect how many trails can reopen in the spring. Thank you to those that bought memberships or came out to volunteer in 2024. If you did both, know you were part of the solution! If you didn’t, ask yourself why not? Come on out and help build the legacy that is Blue Mountain.

YouTube channel

Check out the club’s YouTube channel. We’re always working on putting up more content – currently there’s the 2023 and 2024 ROAE videos and several trail work videos: https://www.youtube.com/@BlueMountainMotorcycleClub