Toronto, ON:  Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew Focuses on Urban Trail System

Mountain bikers and others rally to improve trails in Crothers' Woods.

More than 300 cyclists line up in front of City Hall for a pancake breakfast sponsored by Toronto Bike Week.
Mayor David Miller addresses the crowd of cyclists, urging them to make every week 'Bike Week'.
Members of the Ontario Provincial Police patrol the city by mountain bike.
The Toronto Cycling Ambassadors learn about trail maintenance in Crothers' Woods.
Volunteers from the newly-formed Don Valley Trail Users Club and the Task Force to Bring Back the Don participated in an IMBA Trailbuilding School.
The main focus of the weekend's trailwork was to re-route a severely eroded section of fall-line trail onto a more sustainable contour alignment.
Once the new contour trail was completed, the old section had to be closed down.
Not only did the volunteers learn how to build sweet singletrack, they also learned the ancient art of rock armoring. In this case, the rock was used to improve an existing water crossing.
After the IMBA Crew left, members of the Don Valley Trail Users Club returned to install a cedar bridge on the new trail.

Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew leaders and Ontario natives Lora Woolner and Mark Schmidt visited the capital city of Ontario in the spring of 2004 to participate in Toronto Bike Week and lead an IMBA Trailbuilding School.

The IMBA Crew joined forces with the City of Toronto and the Don Valley Trail Users Club to improve the sustainability of a section of trail in Crothers' Woods. Many of the trails in this area were created by visitors years ago and were never properly designed or constructed. Often, the trails are located on the fall-line and suffer from erosion. This, compounded by increased trail use in recent years, has resulted in visible water-based and user-accelerated erosion. The solution: create a contour trail that meets the needs of the users, and keeps erosion to a minimum.

To further extend IMBA's work in Canada, IMBA is opening an office this summer near Toronto. Located in the town of Collingwood, the office is staffed by Mark and Lora. Both are three-year veterans of the award-winning Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew and are widely respected for their trailbuilding and advocacy knowledge. Contact them at .

To read more about the Trail Care Crew's visit to Toronto, and to see more about the trail re-routing process, please visit: http://www.toronto.ca/don/trails.htm