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Riders in Ontario,
This will be a long one, helmets on!
I hope everyone had a great couple of weeks since we last spoke. This spring has been a bit of a double-edged sword with the weather providing some great riding days, but also some challenges to our beloved trails. Forest fires have been raging across the country and some of our favorite riding areas here in Ontario have been impacted. I paid attention to the Calabogie fires, as they are in my backyard, and was very impressed with the maturity displayed by the dirt bike community. Social media was alive with updates with BMA and other Calabogie based riding groups highlighting the precautions riders should take and what areas to stay away from. Hopefully the rain experienced in recent days will help mitigate the threat to our riding areas and everyone stays safe out on the trails.
The Haliburton Trail Riders had their spring BBQ at Somerville Forest Tract in Kinmount this past weekend. The weather was perfect and they experienced a great turnout with many riders showing up to enjoy the trails and meet the HTR board and fellow club members. I personally love the idea of a BBQ to leverage the social aspect of riding and it provides a great opportunity to bring a club together.
BMA also hosted their annual Ladies Ride and Social and it looked like a great time at Limerick Forest. If you have not already, I encourage you to check out the BMA Facebook page to see the group photo of all the harcore riders that showed up for this great event. I lost count at over 100 people registered, outstanding!
The Sudbury Trail & Adventure Riders Association also hosted their annual Wolf Mountain DS ride. I never wanted a DS so badly. Another BBQ and another great day of riding. One of our newest clubs doing great things way up north.
Check out the OFTR YouTube, Facebook and Instagram pages to see our recently released educational and safety video series. Hopefully you recognize the main character in the videos and we hope you enjoy the content. These videos have now been shared as far as Australia by a trail organization from “down under”. This was funded by a grant that was secured by our outstanding OFTR General Manager Lisa, who constantly searches for ways to bring value to the membership. These videos were a lot of fun and we hope to cover many more topics in the future.
What is the OFTR up to other than making Hollywood content you ask? Well as always the OFTR board of directors continues to work on your behalf. Our recently introduced Club and Trails Committee has had its initial meeting. This committee was designed to elicit feedback and to provide a mechanism for monthly touch points with the membership. The committee is meant to have representation from every club in the federation and all topics are open for discussion. I am excited to see where it goes and what value it provides for the clubs and membership in general. No pressure Art!
The OFTR Board of Directors is currently working on professional development training on the topics of Diversity and Inclusion, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, Fostering a Culture of Respect Training, Workplace Violence and Harassment, Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation, and Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation. All with the view of continuing to develop professionally and represent the membership with our best foot forward. Our currency must be our credibility when dealing with different levels of government and property owners, and we are working hard to establish the OFTR as a world class not-for-profit organization that can do the good work on your behalf to the best of our abilities.
Insurance costs seem to be increasing as different municipalities are requesting more and more liability coverage before signing agreements that enable access to trail systems. We are working very hard to negotiate where possible while securing our beloved riding areas. Thank you to all the riders that join every year ensuring the OFTR and clubs are able to continue securing riding areas for all of us to enjoy. None of it would be possible without the members.
Without getting into the exact details, our membership numbers for 2023 are healthy and just shy of 5000 members with close to 700 kids, how amazing is that! The sport is alive and healthy and although it may represent a slight decline in memberships from last year, the numbers during the COVID years will be hard to replicate again. Please continue to get the word out to your friends and family, the incredible growth of our support is thanks to all of you!
We are working on different initiatives all the time. With a philosophy that good isn’t good enough, we are always trying to improve the membership experience. Whether it's the RideOFTR app, website, social media, relationships with clubs and other partners, status of trails, insurance, strategic communications or anything else, we are constantly trying to improve. We know that none of those things are perfect, but we endeavour to always make it better. I could not be more proud to serve with the volunteers and staff here at the OFTR. Everyone just wants to see the sport thrive and grow.
Remember, as a famous OFTR actor once said, check your helmet, if it's over 5 years old go get yourself a new one!
Keep the knobbies in the dirt!
Rob
OFTR safety video series:
Helmet Safety
Trail Etiquette
Proper Placement of Plates
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