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Gravity Logic and COP building a new park! - Calgary Alberta
April 26, 2008Published by bruleBuilding a Brand Spankin' New Bike Park in a Month at Canada Olympic Park: COP Hosts 1st Inaugural Volunteer Bike Park Trail Day
Canada Olympic Park (www.canadaolympicpark.ca), owned and operated by the Calgary Olympic Development Association in Calgary, is home to Southern Alberta's only gravity fed mountain bike park. Having served the bike communities of Southern Alberta and beyond as a venue for extensive mountain biking programs and regional, provincial and world level events, COP has been well known to mountain bikers as a bike park with a mish mash of stunts piled into a small geographical region ...until now. It has been clear to everyone over the years that COP needed a face lift. Our trail system was originally designed for cross country riders to climb up our west trees area and then ride down the east trees, which has resulted in a “spaghetti bowl” of a trail system. Over the past 10 years, enthusiastic trail crew members have worked to adapt to our size constraints by building a network of stunts sporadically around the west trees. While what existed was fun for most, we needed some help in building a brand new, flowy bike park that could once again stoke out the mountain bikers who call COP one of their shred spots.  Sad old coil  Eyesore in a pile on the side of the road To say it took a lot of time and hand wringing to finally get the go ahead to have Gravity Logic of Whistler Blackcomb and Crankworx fame (www.gravitylogic.ca) at COP would be a bit of an understatement. Once the approval came through, every stunt anyone has ever known to be a part of COP was torn out of our West Trees and Tom, Dave, Rob and Ryan of Gravity Logic were on site mapping out what will work out to be one very sick bike park for 2008. Construction has been moving along at a decent pace considering both the size of the project and the frustrating unreliability of Alberta weather in April (running machines in the snow is no fun!).  Ryan and Pro building the frame for the new coil Building a brand new bike park from the ground up is hard work and takes a lot of bodies! We've worked very hard over the last few weeks to get a lot of the grunt work done with clearing trails, ripping out old stunts and putting up new ones, but it is easily a job for a crew quadruple our size. That's were the Calgary biking community comes in. Want to get involved in trail building, get your hands dirty and have a free lunch (on CODA)? Head out to the Park for 9am-3pm on Saturday, May 3rd. You'll get a sneak peak of what we've got in store for the bike season and the opportunity to have a hand in making some history at Canada Olympic Park. Mountain bike season is upon us…Now pick up a shovel! Sarah Leishman CODA's Canada Olympic Park www.canadaolympicpark.ca |
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bayrak
(April 26, 2008 at 14:21)
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lookin good
looks great
cant wait till opening day to ride it!!
cant wait till opening day to ride it!!
so stoked for this year, unbelievable
i like seeing the preservitive on the post
And to wrap up the day ADHRA is presenting the Western Canadian premiere of F1RST in the Olympic theater at 7pm. Tickets are $10 at the door
Great to hear that COP is finally going to do something to fix the "spaghetti bowl" of trails up and to finally get some badly needed flow and not to mention money into there trail network. But does knowone else think its kind of funny that a bike park that you have to pay at to ride wants volunteers to build there trails for them? and then they are going to turn around and charge you to ride them. I have no problem volunteering to build and help maintain trails, but when they are going to turn around and charge me to ride osmthing that I built , something is wrong here..... and then at the end of the day they will premier a video but you have to pay 10 bucks to see, as if your time and sweat equity wasnt enough!!!
Give me negative props if you want I could care less, but a corporation is using you to build there trails so they can turn around and charge you to use them. Think about that for a minute. You dont see Whistler putting out requests for your average rider to come out and build there bike park for them.
And to all you that give me negative props, why dont youman up and tell me why you think its right for them to do this
Your point of Whistler not asking for advice is just stupid, Whistler/Blackcomb makes millions of dollars each winter season and even more during the bike season. Hard to copare two parks when one takes in millions more each year...
we don't see Whistler wanting volunteers to go out to build trails because they already have a trail network. COP is completely revamping all of their trails. that means getting rid of all the old ones and constructing an entire new network of trails...in just a few months. it takes a lot of manpower to redo a mountain in a few months, and i'll bet you COP doesn't have the money to pay everyone who wants to help. they need to then charge for anyone to ride the trails so they can hire a full-time trail crew and just keep the whole facility running. running a bike park takes money, ya know. it would be kinda hard to give everyone who works on the trails a discount or anything. someone could show up and rake for a day and want free access.
And an edit to my post, if you check the WBP site they are now asking for trail volunteers!
i believe the budget for the park this year was 150,000 $$
BUT dont forget, Lumber, paying to build it, machine rentals, tools, screws nails and ontop of that the food for the free lunch, None of that stuff is cheap. and at the amount they are using to re build an ENTIRE park is a large number. they have not only the west trees to build but our trials park, DJ's, Down Hill, West and east trees and keep them maintained over the entire summer and into the fall.
If your so concerned about why there being "cheap" and not paying for your efforts i would appreciate if you stopped biking because you should need to be getting paid to help out the biking community and allowing us a better facility to do so.
If your so concerned about why there being "cheap" and not paying for your efforts i would appreciate if you stopped biking because you should need to be getting paid to help out the biking community and allowing us a better facility to do so.
sorry you shouldnt need to be getting paid*
exactly,its just like expectng someone to pay you for building trails in the forest near your house or w/e...its pointless to wanna be payed to help a place like this to build the trails,i like building trails so i wouldnt wanna be payed to help.
Actually its not at all like that. COP is a business that will make money off these trails that they want volunteers to build. Knowone makes any money off of your labour when you go and build trails in your own forests They are there for everyone to enjoy for free. Pretty big difference there.
Of course they will make money but they have to make money to keep the place open. IF IT WASNT OPEN WE COULDNT RIDE
SO WHO CARES IF THEY AKE MONEY. ITS VOULENTEERING. THAT MEANS IF YOU DONT WANNA GO THEN DONT.
i dont see why your stressing so hard on how there gonna make money from it.
the more they make the better because that give us more oppertunity to build better stuff the next year and keep the sport progressing
SO WHO CARES IF THEY AKE MONEY. ITS VOULENTEERING. THAT MEANS IF YOU DONT WANNA GO THEN DONT.
i dont see why your stressing so hard on how there gonna make money from it.
the more they make the better because that give us more oppertunity to build better stuff the next year and keep the sport progressing
who gives a fuk if you have to pay at the gate 5buks, trails dont build themselves and if people didnt front up and pik up a shovel every no and again trails would go to the shitta. as for trails in the bus that you dont have to pay for, what you think trail fairys just come along and build that shit too. no its the average joe blow rida who wants something to ride. i bet your one of those guys who NEVER picks up a shovel to help out you just EXPECT to ride when you show up!!! prove me wrong, wheres your epic trails????????
I think CODA and COP are a non-profit organization. That means they run a pretty tight budget and sometimes the only way to get this done is with volunteers. That's why it ok for them to get volunteers to help build some of the trails they will eventual pay to ride on. Your lift ticket goes to pay for the summer students running the lifts, the electricity to run the chairlift and the people who keep everything running smoothly among other things.
I doubt it would hurt anyone to grab a shovel and help out this weekend. Your time could be better spent volunteering then complaining on Pinkbike.
I doubt it would hurt anyone to grab a shovel and help out this weekend. Your time could be better spent volunteering then complaining on Pinkbike.
yo bigjohnson, im preety sure that you won`t be building anything. volunteers will just be doing grub work like clearing tree`s and picking up sticks and moving bush around to clear space.
Do you really think that they want random people to be building the feauters at COP? of course not, they have hired pro`s for that, its just that they want the volunteers to do the dirty work.
Do you really think that they want random people to be building the feauters at COP? of course not, they have hired pro`s for that, its just that they want the volunteers to do the dirty work.
who cares dude, the more people the better! hell i just wanna get outside doing something that relates to biking in any way! ive been cooped up inside my house pretty much hibernating getting my bike ready for opening and im ready to head and build. The more that we can do grub work or actually building is still doing work to help our biking community here!
Props to everyone who shows up!
Props to everyone who shows up!
Sweeeeeeeeeet! I am super stoked for COP this year, this is great news!
me and my freinds are hopfully going down there this summer only 3 hours away...
its gunna be friggin sick i think it opens may 10
it does, but I have a feeling there may be a small delay because the weather has been not ggod for building, witch is to bad, I am so stoked to go opening day
if not the 10th they are planning for the 17th, which is good, give them time to make sure everything is prime and everything gets dry. along that it gives me time to finish off my bike haha 
i'm stoked it opens may 17th instead of the 10 cuase if they do open on the tenth all the trails would be muddy and shit and evrybody would come make huge ruts and f*ck the trails up at least it i'll be prime by the 17th
bigjohnson i would rather help out COP and go and do some dirty work so i have a cheap, good, flowy park to ride instead of old COP, it was weak.... and ye you dont see whistler doing it cause whistler already has overcome the money obstacle in there very very very sucsesfull career, COP hasnt so suck it up and go build your ass of until it's done, it isn't just going to build it self you know...
Building is building. People who don't want to pay for trail access just don't. They go to a mountain and build or ride or both. I support trail access of all kinds, sponsored or not. Look at areas like Vancouver Island which has municipalities and real estate buying land and removing trails for houses and golf courses.
Ride.
Ride.
sweet i cant wait to go this summer
dude its about time that they did some serious work on that hill, so happy though cuz its my closest hill
bigjohnson, how the hell do you think that putting volunteer time in justifies them giving you free lift tickets. They are just wanting to get the biking community exited about there new park! I doubt they are trying to exploit us by are volunteer work.
And your point of whistler is irrelevant, COP is a local bike park, and just because whistla hasnt, doesnt meen what COP is doing is wrong.
Your the one useing the park, why not try to benefit it, and the people that use it?
And your point of whistler is irrelevant, COP is a local bike park, and just because whistla hasnt, doesnt meen what COP is doing is wrong.
Your the one useing the park, why not try to benefit it, and the people that use it?
You may want to read my posts a gain as knowhere did I mention anything about getting free lift tickets.
No, you said "its kind of funny that a bike park that you have to pay at to ride wants volunteers to build there trails for them? And then they are going to turn around and charge you to ride them" What are you inferring? If you don’t think its right to help out the re-construct of the trails, and have to pay, then you are saying you want free lift tickets. If not then what are you claiming?
My point is that since they charge people to ride the hill they shouldnt be looking for there customers to do the work of building it for them. You somehow drew up the conclusion that i want free lift tickets but cant figure out the whole point of what i am tryign to say in what I originally posted? I am not looking for anything for free I dont know where your getting that from.
I am with you...what's up with asking for volunteers then charging for lift tickets. They want it both ways.
If people want to go out an do grunt work for free that's up to them. But this seems like a totally sketchy deal.
I volunteered on a ski hill before and I got a free season's pass. Fair deal.
If people want to go out an do grunt work for free that's up to them. But this seems like a totally sketchy deal.
I volunteered on a ski hill before and I got a free season's pass. Fair deal.
read my post. the park making money allows the sport to progress. it give them more money to continue building the park. the more money they make the more they trust the park will make money, the more they trust it the more they will do to the park to make it better to make more money, its just what happens the more money they make the better for us because they will make a better park if they can make more money from it.
ummm last time i checked the term "volunteer" means you work for free. If they were paying then they would not be asking for volunteers. i live 6 hours away and if i lived 3 hours closer i'd be in line willing to help build even though i have never rode there b4.i do plan on riding there once or twice in the near future.
Thank god, Hope to see all you there on may 3rd!
im gunna be there for sure.
its gunna be so grand this year.
its gunna be so grand this year.
Any one know if the downhill course is being remade?
u guys are so lucky in there to have mountainbiking almost on the level of an Olympic Sport... thats so cool
I'm still going to moose mountain, i can't stand COP, the trail maintance guys are aweful there, there is always too many people, and moose mountain in my opinion is much better. Yes it is great that they are bringing in some guys who acually know how to build a trail but i still prefer a place like moose mountain.
hey just wondering does anyone know what will happen with the dh coarse cause it needs some work to dont get me wrong its fun but change is good
I HOPE THAT THEY BUILD ONE CONTINUOUS TRAIL FOR A CHANGE, INSTED
OF ALL OF THOSE LITTLE STUNTS THAT JUST SPLIT OFF INTO THREE
OTHER REALLY SHORT STUNTS AND SO ON.
OF ALL OF THOSE LITTLE STUNTS THAT JUST SPLIT OFF INTO THREE
OTHER REALLY SHORT STUNTS AND SO ON.
i think they r that might have been what they ment br "flowy trails"
[BCONTINUING OFF OF MY OTHER COMMENT THEY REALLY NEED SOME FLOWWWW
im goin to help out, i dunno bout everyone else but sounds like good times
and a free lunch =D
and a free lunch =D
I like it.
And all trail's are good. You can't say, "naw these trails are the best."
I mean have you ridden even half of the thousands of trails through out Alberta and BC. or even just the Many (being more then two) mountains in Alberta?
COP is gonna rock this year. Progression always takes help from the bike community. You're lift ticket bairly covers maintnance and Running the lift.
And all trail's are good. You can't say, "naw these trails are the best."
I mean have you ridden even half of the thousands of trails through out Alberta and BC. or even just the Many (being more then two) mountains in Alberta?
COP is gonna rock this year. Progression always takes help from the bike community. You're lift ticket bairly covers maintnance and Running the lift.
The main point is: Gravity Logic is building the trails - COP will have a new trail crew taught by GL. COP hopefully will continue with the GL directives on maintenance/upkeep. As for flow, GL is all about flow and rider distribution.
As for the Volunteer aspect - always a tough call - seems as though "bigjohnson" is getting hammered on for a realistic comment about a business.
As for the Volunteer aspect - always a tough call - seems as though "bigjohnson" is getting hammered on for a realistic comment about a business.
I was out at COP to check out the new trails. Wow. I also talked to the guys from Whistler who are building them. We talked about trying to find volunteers to come out and help and the nagative responce. People feel they pay to use the hill so they shouldn't have to volunteer to build and maintain it. Well thats true enough, however, in order to have the types of runs the COP riders expect it takes skill and manpower. Oh did I mention Calgary has neither of those two. Many great things were built by the hard work and dedication of volunteers. BMX tracks were built up by its volunteer riders who still had to pay to use the track. To do the rebuild it takes money, some of that money comes from season passes. As of Sunday 27, COP still hasn't even sold a thousand passes. Seems to me there are alot of riders out there who want everything from the sport but give little back to it. Even the pro riders grab a shovel when needed. I never hear them whine about it. Remember this is not Whistler its a small local hill in the city.If we all help out to build it up now, with any luck we can atract the skilled people we need and keep COP a great place to ride.
evrybody just ignor bigjhonson's comment thats his opinion and it's f*cking stupid by the way, but don't get all pissed at him just don't think anything of it but i must say perhaps bigjhonson should look up the meaning of the word volenteer cause it's not like c.o.p is saying get out here and help or u can't ride our trails thier saying if u have nothing better to do and WANT to help build than feel free to do so i know for a fact he won't be there so who gives a flying f*ck. f*ck him he can stay at home and wack off the entire day for all i care so just ignor him and help if u want to on saturday
And your age is...... 12?
ooooo haha very funny try three years older than that i'll do the math for u probably cause u can't i'm 15 and what does that have anything to do with this? just caue i'm younger and smarter than u dosn't make ny comment stupid if anythig it's more valid than urs
Smarter then me eh? You cant even spell or form complete sentences. Your comment has nothing to do with COP as it's a personnal attack on me, which makes it far less valid then anything I have so far posted regarding this. I am done with this now.
Ya, I think this got a little out of control. Everybody has such a boner for this season to start, and I think it all got misdirected into something I'm going to call "Big Johnson Rage". It's a technical term, there'll be a question and answer session after the slideshow.
But don't get me wrong, I think it's rather pointless to question the motivations of people who are building trails for us and don't have enough bodies to get it done in time. And based on the amount of Big Johnson Rage in this forum, I'm going to put forth the radical idea that we all have some extra time and energy to volunteer on Saturday.
In closing: peace in the Middle East, DJs and BJs for all.
P.S. Can we at least agree to join forces and laugh at road bikes? Those guys kill me.
But don't get me wrong, I think it's rather pointless to question the motivations of people who are building trails for us and don't have enough bodies to get it done in time. And based on the amount of Big Johnson Rage in this forum, I'm going to put forth the radical idea that we all have some extra time and energy to volunteer on Saturday.
In closing: peace in the Middle East, DJs and BJs for all.
P.S. Can we at least agree to join forces and laugh at road bikes? Those guys kill me.
ya ok big jhonson and calling me tewlve has something to do with c.o.p right lol ur a f*cking retard i'm not evn gonna waste my time just stop b*tching and go volunteer or don't i don't give a f*ck just STFU
i'll be there, may 3rd, 9am. any help is good help guys, especially when we have very few places available to ride in southern alberta due to all the park regulations and wildnerness groups that have shut down our trails in the past. i trek out to whistler a few times every summer and if COP is putting forth the effort to get the minds here that have done what they have there, to give us just a piece of that action ... saddle up!
my only style requests on the new trails to be borrowed from whistler are:
- dirt merchant
- crab apple hits
- schleyer
- freight train, and of course
- A-line baby
give us a little moto emotion!!!
see u saturday,
coup
my only style requests on the new trails to be borrowed from whistler are:
- dirt merchant
- crab apple hits
- schleyer
- freight train, and of course
- A-line baby
give us a little moto emotion!!!
see u saturday,
coup
Take out bankers hall and I will personally kill you
unless they build some sick gnar berms on it and make it a faster funner run but i like the lack of jumps on it, super fun to ride. personally one of my favorite trails
I too love Banker's Hall, a great trail with some good flow that is never used. I love riding that trail.
They're not doing much to Bankers hall because they like the flow of it. The only chances will be as you enter the run, there will be a trail that swings down along the bank for beginners and low intermediate riders. They will improve the flow and it sounds like it will be great.
what is 'bankers hall'?
super flowy singletrack run in east trees
ACTUALLY THE VIDEO PREMIER IS BEING PUT ON BY THE ALBERTA DOWNHILL RACING (ADHRA). It has nothing to do with COP, we booked our event a month ago before then made the trail day announcement. We're a non-profit association raising money to improve the DH race, 4x, and dual slalom scene in Alberta, and we feel that putting on fun movie premiers for the new downhill movies helps get you guys stoked on the sport! We only use the COP theatre because we get it at a reduced rental rate, and you guys know where it is, so that's the only way we're able to make it happen. We're hoping to break even on this event or even make a few bucks to help reduce costs on our other stuff this season, and we're offering a cheap package deal for $40 that includes movie admission, a copy of the film on DVD, and an ADHRA tshirt. You basically get a free tshirt is how we worked it out! Email adhra@shaw.ca with your tshirt size to reserve yours, there's a limited number available but hopefully we can accomodate everyone.
Whoops, that's supposed to say the Alberta Downhill Racing Association, typo!
Sidenote - if you volunteer with COP you can earn a free seasons pass after a certain number of hours. Generally, it's being a coach's assistant/tailgunner for 2 weeks of summer bike camps Monday to Friday, 9-4pm. I doubt anyone will be interested in that unless you can't score a real summer job, because a COP pass is only $160 and you could earn that in half the time at an actual job. Just FYI anyways, since it was mentioned above that volunteers should get to ride for free. This is a one-time trail day thing, so it's doubtful it could count towards those hours but you could always check with guest services on that one.
BUILD ANOTHER NEAR HALIFAX OR IN NOVA SCOTIA ATLEAST
I wish rabbit were like this
FOR ANYONE PLANNIG TO ATTEND Apparently there is a 16+ age cap. i really hope they let me n i turn 16 5 days after the build hahaha
No age cap, guys...you just have to bring a letter from your folks if you're under 16 (get them to write that they're cool with you helping on a scrap of paper and you're good to go!). It's going to be a good day and a sweet chance to check out the huge amount of work that's been done already and get your hands dirty. Meet on the deck of the lodge at 9 (or check the COP website in a day or two for the low down on the updated Park Report).
WHO CARES IF THEY PAY YOU OR NOT JUST GO HELP FOR THE SAKE OF HELPING AND ADDING A LITTLE TO BETTER THE TRAILS YOU WILL BE RIDING!!!!!!
Seriously!? Are you "tiny johnson" complainers for real!? I would have gladly PAID COP if they would have let me work on the trails for free last year—the trail crew sure as hell wasn't doing anything, and the place was literally falling apart.
This will be the best thing to happen to the Calgary scene since COP added the high speed quad, and I promise you I will be the first guy in the volunteer line on Saturday. We're not working for free boys, we're getting paid in killer trails. You can't put a price on that.
This will be the best thing to happen to the Calgary scene since COP added the high speed quad, and I promise you I will be the first guy in the volunteer line on Saturday. We're not working for free boys, we're getting paid in killer trails. You can't put a price on that.
woot woot cop here i come
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