If you've got a bicycle, you may want to take advantage of Weyburn's Mountain Bike Trails. And, if you didn't know the trails existed, you may also not be aware that the Weyburn Mountain Bikers Club members are instrumental in the trails being prepared for use.

The club is hoping this year they will see more people out there on the 2.4 kilometres of rugged terrain, ideal for the mountain bikes.

"There's already a lot of fun stuff to ride out there, but we've got big plans for this year, and the more people we have working, the faster those plans will become a reality," noted Treasurer Mike Manko-Bauche with the Weyburn Mountain Bikers. 

The trails are located south of River Park, near Heritage Village.

"They sort of connect with the walking path down there, but we're trying to optimize the downhill there and put in some interesting features like berms and stuff so people can kind of try some basic mountain biking skills, or if you don't have a mountain bike, anybody can kind of handle it."

For those who don't know, "a berm is just a kind of a bank that lets you take a corner a little bit faster, you can kind of lean into your turn without skidding out on the dirt or the grass".

"Anybody with any skills can ride them," encouraged Manko-Bauche. "You'll really test your skills, I suppose, but anybody can ride them if you're going at a comfortable pace. There's no no tricks and nothing too crazy out there. If you go fast then you can kind of test your skills." 

He said they'll be putting up some signage soon enough, and they have posted maps on their group's Facebook page.  

Just like any organization worth having, volunteers are always needed.

"We could probably use volunteers all year. We do work regularly on the trails, but the more people we have, the faster we'll get more trails, basically," he noted. "We've got lots of plans we'd like to lay down. All kinds of trails and if there's just a couple of us working, those plans won't happen for a couple of years, and if we get a bunch of people out there, it'll happen a lot quicker." 

Group president Dave Hodgkin sits on the City of Weyburn's Parks Board and he presents ideas for new trails, told Manko-Bauche.

"They'll come out and look at what we kind of hoped to do and give us the go ahead, and they give us a couple trails at a time, and then we get working and we go back to them when we got another idea. It mostly involves like mowing grass or weed whipping, and digging berms," he explained. "We're not in the mountains, so we don't have to move rocks or trees or dig around trees or anything. It's pretty simple work, it's just a matter of having the people that get out there to do it." 

While the City of Weyburn's crews have helped out a few times with mowing the grassy areas, the trails are mainly dirt. And, of course, they're there for everyone to use.

"I know the running groups use it for running, and I know there's people walking out there and through the winter we could see all kind of tracks," he shared. "Even the animals are using our trails."

Manko-Bauche noted the group does get together for trail rides 'from time to time', but for the most part people are going out on their own to enjoy them.

"I've only been biking really for the past year, and I get a little more skill out there, so I just go down as fast as I can, and my tongue is probably hanging out of my mouth, and I'm just flying down like a dog in the car window, you know?" 

Anyone hoping to get involved, or who may have questions about the group or the trails, can contact Mike via text or call 306-520-7059, or message them via Facebook or Instagram.

"If we get enough people together, we can put together a work bee and have some fun out there building trails."

He added he has started a bike club at St. Michael School, where he works as a teacher.

"So if nothing else we have a couple of Grade Sixes out there running around," he chuckled.

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