In recent years, mountain biking has been so popular that centers have had to adapt, from parking to trails.
This enthusiasm for mountain biking should continue over the next few months, and the reasons for it abound:
Centers adapt
Last season, the five main centers in the Quebec region that form the Quebec Bike Alliance (Sentiers du Moulin, Massif de Charlevoix, Vallée Bras-du-Nord, Empire 47 and Mont-Sainte-Anne) together recorded 450,000 mountain biking visits, including 120,800 at Empire 47.
The increase in traffic in recent years has forced this center, which offers 66 km of trails, to “quickly develop more trails, so as not to be in single file”, underlines Mr. Déry. And a second parking lot was created 1.8 km from the mountain.
As at Mont-Sainte-Anne, more patrollers are now on the trails and signage has been improved. We are also raising awareness, whether it is about the paths to take according to the experience of the cyclists, the behavior to adopt on the trails or the condition of the bikes which can sometimes be in poor condition, explains Mr. Lemerise. .
In fact, more injuries occurred in 2020, but fortunately, “people are less and less reluctant to take training,” says Mr. Déry.
Increased ridership also influences trail maintenance, says Lemerise. It also creates a larger ecological footprint, especially because of the balance that must be struck between “welcoming a lot of cyclists and preserving the biodiversity of the forests”, he says.
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