670 Collective Mountain Bike Club Season in Review
In the southeast corner of Alberta, a vibrant mountain bike scene has emerged within the last decade through efforts of the 670 Collective Mountain Bike Club. With trails through rolling hills of waving grasses, rugged and harsh badlands, and a cool and shady coniferous oasis, there is a landscape for everyone here.
This riding season has seen the largest increase in trails in the lifetime of the organization, with major builds occurring in both the Cypress Hills and the river valley immediately west of Medicine Hat. World class trails by world class builders now await both locals and travelers alike.
Ski Hill (Hidden Valley/Canadiana) -Alexa Appell
The Cypress Hills saw a massive expansion into the Hidden Valley Ski Hill area over the summer, going from a single blue flow trail built in the late fall of 2020, to a challenging climb, two green flow trails, an additional blue flow trail, four black technical trails, and a black jump/flow trail. There was also a new green connector built from the bottom of the ski hill back to the existing trails near the town. This expands upon the existing network of beginner loops, long climbs and fast, technical downhills found within the park already.
Mitt Nibbler -Phil Rogers
In 2021, the City of Medicine Hat embarked on a substantial building project across the river from their existing Mr Burnside green trail for 2021. A local trail building company was employed to focus on beginner and intermediate trail construction in the Gas City Campground and Echodale areas on the west edge of the city. The existing paved paths in both areas serve as quick climbs to get back to the fun and, since those paths cross over some of the trails, make the area ideal for beginners who only are able to manage half laps so they don’t tire out. Additionally, the Echo Dale trail, Coal Burner, is the region’s only Adaptive Mountain Bike Trail, built wide and mellow enough for anyone to experience.
Echo Dale Trail Building -Western Trail Fabricators
Many volunteer hours were put into the Redcliff location, completing the loop of Gravedigger and Dirt Nap in the Cemetery area, with steep grassed slopes interrupted by protruding badlands. Redcliff also required some sudden and necessary maintenance as it experienced due to a slump over Death Valley and the need for bridge replacement on DMZ, but thanks to a carpenter club member it was fixed up with a very unique and sturdy bridge.
New Bridge on DMZ -Tom Shaw
But trails aren’t all that the 670 does. After a hiatus for the pandemic in 2020, the Battle Creek Showdown roared back into Elkwater on the last weekend of August, selling out in less than 24 hours. More spots were opened which immediately sold out again. When all was said and done, 150 riders participated in this 4 hour timed event taking the racers on a challenging climb and a fun and flowy downhill over some of the brand new trails in the park. And the race isn’t all; There was a festival atmosphere in the air, with a meal, a local artisan, not-for-profits, and bags of corn on the cob for prizes.
The Los brothers at Battle Creek Showdown -Ken Wou
Locally made MTB mugs -Ginette Brinkman
For 2022, we hope to be back to the normalcy of group rides (among many other things!). Thankfully through all of this we have been able to still bump into one another while emptying our wallets in our local bike shops, Gravity Sports and Cyclepath or having a coffee or baked goods from The Station Coffee Company. Thanks to all our sponsors and our members for making this past year superb as always.
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