At the Annual Presidents Council Conference at the
Ganaraska Forest Centre PHOTO BY jEFF MORGAN
OFTR Trail Rider During the dull days of winter I find it a
healthy practice to make a gratitude list; I try to look at what I have and compare it to others. It’s not a ‘better than’ list, more of a ‘stop com- plaining’ list that helps me look at all the advan- tages I have. Watching the 6:00 news helps. I sometimes watch the news or read a newspa- per and see how long it takes to come across a positive item. Advocating for the rights of ORMs can be
frustrating and really ruin some of your days if you do it for a living. On the other hand, we have to really take a look at what we have avail- able here in Ontario and possibly even be grate- ful for what we have. With few exceptions, you will likely be able to
ride where you ride now for the rest of your life and if where you ride is not on crown land, you may have to ride elsewhere one day but you will always have a trail somewhere in Ontario to ride. That is not the case in some other coun- tries. The ISDE was cut short one day due to a car bomb. There are nine more places to ride listed on
the OFTR website than there were four years ago and there are more events in Ontario for riders and racers than most other states and provinces. There is a unified voice for ORMs in Ontario
that is recognized by most municipal and provincial governments. That is not the case in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland. We have 1500 more people investing in ORM
than we had five years ago. Ten million dollars worth of trail improve-
ments were completed in 2010 and most of them allow ORMs. We are now a bona fide activity in the eyes
of medicine. I am grateful that I live in Ontario and will be
able to ride my motorcycle on a trail here for the rest of my life. **** The OFTR AGM will be held on Jan. 8 at
11:00am at the Toronto Motorcycle Supershow at the International Centre, 6900 Airport Rd, Malton, ON. **** In November club executives, media and in-
dustry representatives from all parts of the province attended our Annual Presidents Coun- cil Conference at the Ganaraska Forest Centre hosted by the board and staff of the OFTR. These sessions involve setting our goals and objectives for the upcoming years using infor- mation provided by the OFTR and the results of our member survey. The survey comments were 23 pages long and as usual provided an interesting array of suggestions. Attendees were split into teams and given
topics to discuss and then presented sugges- tions and solutions to the OFTR board and staff. We are currently summarizing all the notes in order to produce our 2011-2013 strategic plan. We think this is the best way to remain ‘mem- ber driven’ and accountable to our members. We set goals and then try to achieve them. We measure ourselves and adjust. Sound is still a hot topic and we will be look-
ing at ways to further reduce the effect of our sport on the general public. Lower levels and different testing methods were discussed. There is no valid reason for noisy motorcycles and street testing is just around the bend. Sustainability will be a priority in 2011 and
we may have to increase our member fees in 2012 if we can’t attract more members. Mem- bership growth, industry support and govern- ment investment are on the radar. Product Development in 2011 will see new
strategies for publishing maps and we have a feasibility study underway at Trent University
into managed trail systems similar to West Vir- ginia and Pennsylvania. We are learning from this process that these things take time but do progress and may one day be a reality. Partnerships and Committees will be re-
viewed in 2011. For the past five years the OFTR has been willing to sit on any board or committee that involved trails. As a newly reac- tivated organization since 2005 we felt it was important to meet everyone involved in trails and get to know everyone. Our travel expenses are quite large so we will need to carefully con- sider our partnerships and committee partici- pation in regards to advancing our mandate and vision or improving our financial position. Each will be reviewed on a cost to benefit basis. We may look at a redesigned website de-
pending on the cost and get more involved in social networking. We now have a Facebook and Twitter account. Video will be part of this strategy. Tech tips and rider tips as well as news may soon be available from the OFTR. Last year’s sales tell us we like stickers so
we have added one more to the cart and are looking at extra large ones for trailers and cars. Stickers help our brand when they are seen in non-ORM situations. **** It is time to renew your OFTR membership
for 2011. If you haven’t joined a club yet, please look around and do so. Clubs are impor- tant and do all the heavy lifting when it comes to trails and we now have four municipal agree- ments. Consider a land use fund donation or even a
bequest to the OFTR in your will. Trail riding will be important to future generations and we need to think about trail riding 100 years from now. **** Now go make your list and remember that you are probably better off than somebody…
42 HOLIDAY BUYER’S GUIDE 2010
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48