Rides+Events

Travelling the country with the IMBA Trail Care Crew

It’s a long weekend and Chad and Deanne Lazaruk are relaxing in a tent cabin in Jasper National Park, reflecting on the past year. Working for the International Mountain Bicycling Association (Canada), A.K.A. IMBA, they were hired as this country’s first Trail Care Crew. The couple packed up and headed out on the road on June 1, 2010 to consult and teach trail building all over the country. Along the way, the two have built not just trails and communities, but a foundation for the future of mountain biking in Canada.

The professional trail builders first met in the Manitoba mountain bike scene just over a decade ago. “He used some cheesy pick-up line on me, saying he needed help organizing a mountain bike race,” laughs Deanne, remembering her first introduction to Chad. She agreed to help, and the two developed the mountain bike racing community in Manitoba together.

“Chad started building trails, mainly because we wanted new places to race,” she said. They continued to become more involved in racing, and both are now national level officials for cross-country and downhill racing.

Six years ago, they moved to Victoria and Chad started working in medical imaging. A few years later, Deanne enrolled in Capilano University’s Mountain Bike Operations program. At school, Deanne met Mark Schmidt and Lora Woolner, the principle players in IMBA’s expansion into Canada and instructors at Capilano. “When I graduated, I was hired by the B.C. Off-Road Motorcycle Association to lead trail crews on Vancouver Island,” said Deanne. “When I wrapped up the contract, we heard about the Trail Care Crew job and applied.”

The two were hired and told they were to hit the road on June 1, the same day they were to take ownership of their first house, in Victoria. “We bought the house before we got the job and never moved in,” said Chad. “Instead, we’ve rented it out. Since we never moved into the place, it doesn’t feel like we have a home to miss.”

The role of the Trail Care Crew is hard to define. Their experience in trail building is important, but it’s just the start. They help manage volunteers of almost any age, they work with organizations and clubs across the country and do what Chad calls “social espionage,” which he said is how the couple finds out who does what in each club they visit with.

Their main work days tend to cluster on or near the weekends, with visits lasting a minimum of three days, but often longer. “We find the longer visits help improve the program and offer more to the clients,” said Deanne. The Canadian Trail Care Crew operates differently than its counterparts in the U.S. Climate challenges mean the Canadian team generally has a few months off in the winter, while U.S. teams - of which there are two - head south to continue working during the coldest part of the year. “When we’re on the road, we’re always moving because there’s just one team in Canada and we’ve got an even bigger country to cover,” said Deanne.

While crews in the U.S. work primarily with volunteer groups and mountain bike clubs, the Canadian pair works closely with Parks Canada and the Trans Canada Trail, both of whom are key partners of the program. “We spend a large portion of our time working with Parks Canada,” said Chad. “Recently we spent two weeks in Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan, essentially doing trail consulting and design.” Saskatchewan wouldn’t rank highly as a destination for most mountain bikers, but according to Chad and Deanne, that could be a bit short sighted.

The two started their visit to Saskatchewan by consulting with Grasslands staff on design and construction of a new trail system. The crew spent time helping park staff hone their trail building technique and are confident there will be some great trails to ride there in the future. The work with Parks Canada complements the efforts of Mark Schmidt, who is now the National Trails Analyst for Parks Canada. Schmidt had previously helmed IMBA Canada and helped open the doors to the partnership that now exists between the two organizations. He is now developing a new set of trail standards for use in all of Canada’s national parks. “One set of standards needs to be applied differently with such varied conditions across the country,” said Chad. “That’s part of where we help, working with parks on a more local level, to help update how they work with trails.”

The key focus in IMBA’s work with Parks Canada centres around the visitor experience and product development. “Parks Canada is really changing how things are done,” said Deanne. “They’re embracing mountain biking by building new trails and revamping old ones.” These are big steps for a sport that has not always enjoyed such positive relationships with national parks systems. In the past, mountain biking has, at best, been treated with ambivalence, and sometimes worse, especially in the U.S. While this new relationship is a success for IMBA, whose mission is to create more riding opportunities, it’s also a success for Parks Canada. “It’s a big ship and it takes a long time to change directions,” said Chad. “They have environmental assessments that have to be done, but it means that they’re making decisions carefully, and that’s a great approach.”

The Trail Care Crew is also working closely with the Trans Canada Trail. “Parks Canada played a major role in developing the [Trail Care Crew] program here in Canada,” said Lora Woolner, Executive Director of IMBA Canada. “Parks Canada took the initiative to bring the Trans Canada Trail into the partnership.” The Trans Canada Trail has developed as a different sort of trail than a typical section of singletrack, but that has created some amazing opportunities to develop new ways of looking at trail development. IMBA teaches the method of a stacked loop trail system where trail networks are laid out with trails of different types, each strategically placed to create a complete trail ‘ecosystem’ with options for all types and levels of users.

In Thunder Bay, the Black Sheep Mountain Bike Club is starting to integrate their trail network with the Trans Canada Trail, using it as the main route to their trails. “We’re talking about the idea of trail communities, rather than just a single trail tread,” said Deanne.

With all these big projects on hand, you’d think the team would have no time for anything else, but when Chad and Deanne reflect on the last year and consider the 2011 season, it’s clear the club visits are some of their most inspiring work. “We’re not seeing the country,” said Chad. “We’re meeting the country.” With each club visit, the crew is typically hosted by local volunteers, leading to new friends being made every week. “You get really immersed with the locals and absorb the local knowledge,” said Deanne. “Home cooked meals are nice too,” said Chad.

Still, it’s hard to ignore that for the term of the contract which wraps up at the end of this season, Chad and Deanne won’t see much of their friends and family back home. Long days - sun up to sun down - make for long weeks, especially when just one day off every two or three weeks is not unusual.

“The most rewarding part of the job is when we get emails from the people we’ve visited,” said Deanne. “It’s great to hear about the enthusiasm carrying on after we leave. It means we’ve done it right. Even when we’re having a bad day, those emails are a real pick-me-up.” Chad finds his motivation in seeing people change how they view trails. “To see the light bulb go on, to see people understanding flow and getting it,” said Chad. “They spend a couple of days on it, and they get it.”

One of the most remarkable volunteers the crew has worked with was a three-year-old in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, who spent a day transplanting saplings from the trail tread. In Saskatchewan, parents brought out children as young as five to help with a build day. “Getting kids involved is fantastic. They want to do what the grownups are doing,” said Chad. The significance isn’t lost. “We’re seeing a whole new generation of trail stewards and if we keep building that base, trails in Canada will be in really good hands.”

For now, the pair is content to enjoy an evening with friends in Jasper. Tomorrow will be one of those precious days off and Chad and Deanne know exactly what’s on the schedule. “We’re going to ride.”

Think you’ve got what it takes? IMBA Canada will be putting out the call for a new Trail Care Crew later this year. For more information on this and the IMBA Canada program, visit imbacanada.com.

Dean Campbell lives and works in bike culture from a home base in Toronto.