Don't Exhaust Your Welcome!

Recently I have been working on a new card to help promote our "Sound Advice" no excuses campaign. This initiative is all about educating riders about issues surrounding noise. Noise is currently one of the #1 issues for the off-road motorcycling community. As many of you may have noticed, mandatory sound testing has been occuring at trail rides and materials have been provided (along with the right tools for installation) to help riders lower the overall sound of their bikes. Our goal...to have all bikes under or at 94 decibels. Why is sound such a big deal? Well, i'm sure all of us have experienced a lawn mower being run a little too early in the morning or a neighbours loud music interupting our sleep or a nice dinner at home. Everyone perceives sound differently. For some, rock music might be enjoyable and others might prefer jazz. We all have to keep this in mind...especially when riding by residential areas or on shared multi-use trails. Remember: Loud is not more powerful. This issue is important because it directly relates to trail use and preserving our right to ride. The sound issue is an easy target and frequently used to close trails to motorized vehicles. Basically, less sound equals more ground.

Some interesting sound facts:
120 dBs is the sound threshold for pain and 125 dBs is where hearing damage occurs. The typical rock concert emits 120 dBs, a power mower 105 dBs and a french horn 10 feet away emits 97 dBs. The loudest sound in air is sonic boom which occurs at 194 dBs.

How is sound measured? The smallest audible sound (near total silence) is 0 dB. A sound 10 times more powerful is 10 dB, 100 times is 20 dB, 1,000 times is 30 dB. The difference between 94 dB and 100 dB would sound like having four 94 dB bikes running side by side!

Honda Volunteer Program...we want you!

The Ontario Trail Riders Federation has once again received funding from Honda to run our volunteer program. This year, we are hoping to expand our volunteer program to include a wider variety of incentives and reward both individuals and clubs who contribute greatly to the federations success. Volunteers, are in fact, needed everywhere. As you can see on our website, we currently require volunteers for the fitness study (http://www.oftr.ca/articles.php?id=1896) . The study is the second part of a pilot project which has already been encouraging for our sport with results that prove the overall health benefits of being an off-road rider...of course, you already knew that!! This project requires volunteers to commit to only one field and one lab testing date. However, we have a volunteer experience for many other areas of interest and time commitments....trail maintenance, ride events, written submissions..(you can even get volunteer hours just for attending a club meeting!). The most important part of all this is...in order to continue the Honda Volunteer Program and keep developing great incentives and rewards...we need you to log your volunteer hours. Currently, we are using an online registration system that you can find here: http://www.oftr.ca/articles.php?id=1822 .

OFTR Trail Signs!

Your club can collect volunteer hours helping the OFTR install new trail signs. These signs were developed to help show off-road motorcyclists where they can ride (especially on public property). The signs have already been posted by SCORRA to show riders where they can ride in Simcoe County. We want riders to know where they can go in areas such as crown land and municipal forests that do not have restrictive by-laws. The project will serve multiple purposes. One: to show riders where they can ride. Two: to collect information on your local clubs riding areas and develop paper maps for distribution Three: volunteer hours for the Honda Volunteer Program Four: The signs quite frankly just look fantastic. All your club has to do is determine where they require signs, request the right number of signs, log the volunteer hours for installation and most importantly: map the location of the signs for the development of our trail maps!! There are OFTR trail signs, arrows and stop signs all available at no charge to your club.
For more information go to: http://www.oftr.ca/articles.php?id=1823
Check out these volunteer pics from SCORRA in our new photo album: