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Volunteer finds therapy in outdoor work

Steve Law offers his time to help Huncity Mountain Bike Club, Nordics and other outdoor groups
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Huncity president Steve Law doing some work on the bike trails this month at the Lower Climb and Punishment trail. (Photo submitted)

When Steve Law got involved in the Huncity Mountain Bike Club, the trails were few and far between.

Riders could access the ski trails across the road from the Heritage site at 108 Mile Ranch, but compared to Williams Lake and Quesnel, “we were kind of like the fledgling in 100 Mile,” he said. It was sometime in the 1990s when Law took up the cause, joining the Cariboo Mountain Bike Consortium to promote regional mountain biking and build more trails.

“It was really quite selfish because I wanted places to ride,” said Law, 59, who is president of the Huncity club. “My wife and I ride extensively. When we go somewhere, we’re going to try and go somewhere to bike.”

Over the years, the Huncity Mountain Bike Club evolved to include more routes and machine-built jump trails at 99 Mile on Ainsworth Road. Recently, the club has worked to enhance existing trails and create new ones, such as the Hustle and Flow, a jump trail built by professional mountain biker James Doerfling. Its design means both children and adults can attempt to jump off various pieces of terrain.

The work on the trails in 100 Mile House has started to pay off, especially during COVID-19: Up to 3,500 people signed up to bike the local mountain bike trails last year, marking the club’s busiest season yet.

“All of a sudden a tremendous amount of people are out recreating. It’s just gone crazy because people can’t do other things,” Law said, adding it’s difficult to even buy a new bike these days.

“It’s getting to be more well known that we have trails here, particularly the machine-built jump trail - it attracted a lot of people here.”

A longtime road cyclist and triathlete, Law grew up in Quebec, moving to 100 Mile with his family when he was 17. An outdoor enthusiast and professional forester by trade, he is happiest outdoors, seeing it as a form of therapy. Besides Huncity, he has volunteered with the 100 Mile Nordics and Cariboo marathon and found himself thrust into work - both paid and unpaid - on the Gold Rush Snowmobile Trail.

READ MORE: Huncity aims to promote tourism with fat bike tour

The 500-kilometre goldrush trail aims to link the communities from Clinton to Barkerville with stops along the way to shop, eat food or rest.

“The reality is since I mountain bike and cross country ski and downhill ski and snowmobile, it’s a natural fit for me to be involved,” said Law, who is also a member of the 100 Mile Snowmobile Club. “It’s like a mental health thing. What’s better than being outside and making mountain bike trails or walking in the forest? There’s no better therapy as far as I’m concerned.”

As a longtime volunteer, Law said he tends to be the “talking head” for some of the organizations. He is also the name on grant applications. It’s the same as anything, he said, where most volunteers are retired and it sometimes falls to a small core of people to take on the main tasks.

“It gets to be too much for some people to try and do all this stuff,” he said.

However, he said there are always those who love it enough to keep working on the trails. Some mountain bikers will text or call him if they find a mud hole and drain or make other repairs, while social media has made it easier to put the call out for help when they need it.

Law hopes to keep the momentum going and draw more people to the club - not only to ride but to help.

“They’re out there - they love to ride and they want to make it the best way possible,” he said. “I have some really great volunteers.”



kelly.sinoski@100milefreepress.net

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