2022 Year in Review & Plans for 2023
As we sit here, buried in snow, we wanted to take some to reflect on the 2022 riding season and share some updates and future plans with our valued members. A reminder to sign up with OFTR for 2023, don’t forget to select the HTR as your club!
Volunteers
Our volunteers really came out in full force last year and we are incredibly appreciative for all their hard work and support! We intend to roll out a more formalized volunteer resource tool so we can communicate and work more effectively with the hopes of building an even stronger community of volunteers. Stay tuned and THANK YOU!
Trails
We managed to get an early start in 2022 to some much needed trail maintenance thanks to the hard work of our friends at Happy Trails Construction which was funded by our club and the OFTR. Not including the free sweat and labour of our amazing volunteers we invested nearly $20,000!
Rehabilitated three wet areas on the north side of Somerville Forest (culverts, aggregate and heavy equipment)
Trail remediation in the 5 points south of Salmon Lake Rd (culverts and heavy equipment)
Plus countless hours of our incredible volunteers doing general trail maintenance throughout the season
Events
Somerville Bikes & Burgers
Talk about bad timing! Our 2022 inaugural members-only spring BBQ was the day of the derecho! Despite the severe turn of weather later in the day we had a great turnout and fortunately made the most of it beforehand. It was great to meet fellow members and discuss the season’s upcoming trail rides and amazing two-wheeled trips outside of the province. For the few who stuck it out to the end, was it ever a ride! Mark your calendars for the 2023 Somerville Bike & Burgers on May 27th.
Soggy Boot Trail Ride
We brought the Boot back to its roots, and it was a huge success! With over 100 riders and some overnight camping at the start location, it really made for a fun-filled weekend. The bonus guided ride on Saturday was a great addition and will likely be a mainstay for this event in the future. Sunday’s ride was tough, but fun! There were big smiles at lunch thanks to the delicious food served out by our board members and volunteers. Big thanks to Husqvarna and GP bikes for the swag giveaways. We received a ton of positive feedback from riders and are looking forward to hosting an even better Boot in 2023 – save the date July 8th-9th!
Member-Only Guided Rides
Our Tory Hill ride last June didn’t end up happening as we’d hoped but we did get out a few times with smaller groups to explore some trails and help new members familiarize themselves with our riding area. We will be continuing with this initiative in 2023 so keep an eye out for details!
AGM
Our AGM has been scheduled for March 23rd. Open to active members only, so please be sure to sign up with OFTR and select the HTR as your club! More communication will be sent out about this in due time. Meanwhile please drop us a line with a short bio if you are keen to join the board.
Club Promotion
We started 2022 with a fresh new logo and ran to the presses to print new shirts and jerseys. Each of our members should have received an HTR bike sticker in their OFTR welcome pack last year as well. Drop us a line if you’d like to buy some swag or catch us at the next event! We will be building on our image and visibility this year and have a few things in the works to get us more exposure in the community. Engaging with key stakeholders is a priority, and we will continue to advocate for our sport and look for new ways to promote our image in our community.
Community Service
We are proud sponsors of the Central Food Network trailer which is used to stock our local food banks, food programs and help other food services with bulk donations. Keep an eye out for the trailer in the community – snap a pic and tag us on social media for a chance to win a HTR t-shirt!
We joined forces with the Paudash Trail Blazers and other friends in the community and helped clean up debris and fallen trees left over from the derecho at the Shadow Lake Centre camp to make sure it was ready to be enjoyed by the year’s special needs campers.
We had an awesome float at the Wilberforce Santa Claus Parade, however a small design flaw with the bubble machine made it look like Santa was passing gas on a Husky (rather than blowing smoke)! That same weekend our president, Mark Ayles, showed up as Santa in support of the Central Food Networks “Fill the OPP Cruiser” drive, also in Wilberforce.
Our members always contribute in massive ways to the Corduroy Enduro® and this year was no exception – what a record breaking and nail biting weekend! Did you know most of the test sections are either owned, arrowed or supported with check crews by our members?
Copyright (C) 2023 Haliburton Trail Riders. All rights reserved.