05/21/2026
🚨 SMH Trail Update: Keeping the Challenge, Adding Options 🚴‍♂️
Let’s talk trail ratings out at the South March Highlands (SMH). For well over a decade, many of our classic SMH loops have ridden much punchier than their signs suggest. A core part of OMBA’s mission is to utilize IMBA standards wherever possible, and these standards are built into many of our agreements with landowners that allow us to build and maintain trails on their properties. These agreements are ultimately what give us access to ride on their land.
For those unfamiliar, IMBA stands for the International Mountain Bicycling Association, a non-profit organization that creates the widely accepted guidelines used globally for trail difficulty and sustainable trail building.
đź“Ź The Golden Rule: How Trails Are Rated
A common misconception is that a rating reflects the average feel of a trail. Under IMBA rules, a trail's difficulty is determined by its single most difficult unavoidable feature. Even if a trail is 90% intermediate rolling singletrack, a single mandatory, high-consequence feature means the entire trail must carry a higher rating.
🟦 What exactly defines an intermediate "Blue" trail at SMH?
To legally keep a Blue Square rating, a trail has strict physical limits. It cannot contain:
âž” Unavoidable obstacles: (like drops, rock faces, or ledges) taller than 8 inches.
âž” Narrow or high-consequence bridges: (IMBA requires intermediate decks to be at least 24 inches wide and built closer to the ground).
âž” Extreme rock gardens, technical climbs, or steep descents: that exceed intermediate grades and require advanced trials/bike-handling skills to clean.
If a trail forces every single rider through features tougher than this with zero options to bypass them, it cannot carry a Blue sign.
🛠️ How we are balancing the tech you love with these required rules:
➔ Preserving the Tech (Wherever Possible): Our goal is to keep the hard lines intact. If you want the challenge, it’s still there. We are not dumbing down the trails.
âž” First Signage Updates to Expect: We are starting by fixing inaccurate signs to match the actual dirt.
└── ➔ Pete's Wicked Trail (PWT) is being redesignated from Blue to Black due to several unavoidable black-level features and technical rock lines.
└── ➔ Porcupine is shifting from Green to Blue to accurately reflect its actual difficulty.
âž” Installing Ride-Arounds: For SMH trails that are designated to remain intermediate, we are actively building bypasses around mandatory, over-spec features.
└── ➔ Rockhopper North (up to North Dogsled): We are currently installing ride-arounds on unavoidable features to keep this classic zone intermediate-friendly.
└── ➔ Pete's Wicked Trail (PWT): We will also be installing bypasses around the double-black features on this loop to keep the trail as a manageable, true Black-diamond line.
âž” Restoring Green Lines: We are investing the dirt and sweat to address erosion and bring key beginner zones back to their intended, smooth Green standards.
└── ➔ K2: We are resurfacing where the dump material is surfacing down to the bridge.
└── ➔ BearTree: We are resurfacing over the heavily rooted sections to smooth out the tread. This ensures beginners, families, and adaptive riders have dedicated, predictable loops to ride without getting caught off guard by erosion.
🎯 The Bottom Line
If you want the hard lines, they'll still be there. If others need a way through, now they have it. Keeping our trails accurately rated is how we keep the city happy and secure our official trail access for years to come.
Watch for the new signage and fresh dirt options rolling out soon! 🪵🛠️
đź’¬ Have questions about specific trail features or want to join a trail maintenance day? Visit us at https://ottawamba.org/smh-trail-work-days/ or drop a constructive comment below!
