One of Canada's biggest mountain biking festivals has arrived in Ontario for the first time

It's time to dust off your bike and strap on your helmet: one of Canada's largest mountain biking festivals is being held in Ontario for the first time. 

The Crankworx Summer Series Canada begins Thursday and features a series of competitions where expert riders can show off their tricks. Organizers are also offering a variety of trails for beginners to get their feet wet (in the mud). 

Many local Ontarians say the event gives seasoned riders the chance to showcase their work.

"When I started riding ... we didn't have any slopestyle events or anything," said Toronto resident Keon O'Brien, who started mountain biking after visiting the Joyride 150 Indoor Bike Park in Markham as a teen. 

The 20-year-old has been training for six years, often attending riding events in British Columbia. 

"I have a lot of family coming out to this event," said O'Brien, who will perform at a slopestyle course on Saturday. 

"It's super cool to have events back home with the hometown crowd."

The Summer Series program began in 2020 with the goal of helping Canadian athletes grow. It's modelled after the Crankworx World Tour, which takes place annually in Australia, Austria, New Zealand, and Whistler, B.C. 

Christopher Coppitts, the project manager of Crankworx Summer Series Canada, said Ontario has always been on the team's radar as a host province. 

"Ontario has a rich history producing some of the actual best slopestyle athletes, just with smaller hills," he said. 

"That has some of them focusing their efforts more toward the trick and slopestyle discipline."

Resort built three new courses for the festival 

The festival is being held at Horseshoe Resort, located near Horseshoe Valley and Penetanguishene roads in Barrie.

The resort said it built courses for three main events, including an air downhill track for large jumps, a dual slalom course and a track where riders race head-to-head.

There will also be a slopestyle course where athletes perform tricks in front of a panel of judges. 

"It's really cool to bring slopestyle and Crankworx back to the province I grew up in," said Uxbridge, Ont. resident Brayden Barrett-Hay, who helped design the slopestyle event. 

"I'll just be hanging out, riding the course with everybody in the event and sort of helping them to figure out the lines and how to ride it."

Festival will draw 5,000 people, resort estimates

Barrett-Hay said mountain biking is quickly gaining popularity in the province, in part thanks to social media videos showcasing the accessibility of the sport. 

"I think it's just more and more people looking for just really fun sports that are outdoors and like pushing their bodies physically, and it's just kind of progressing," said Barrett-Hay.

Horseshoe Resort's general manager Jonathan Reid said while the venue would previously close in the summer season, the resort started offering lift access for mountain biking in 2009. In the past several years, he says the resort has seen a spike in the number of people taking advantage of that service. 

Horseshoe Resort isn't the only one. With mountain biking gaining momentum, ski resorts worldwide have shifted gears to cater to the sport during warm months. 

"All the major resorts are taking bikes up their chair lifts, and people are biking down trails that have been created through the forest," said Reid.

Reid expects the festival to attract up to 5,000 people, helping support local tourism. 

"Having these numbers of people coming out to the property ... they all stop in local communities and spend money and whatnot, and it's great for local employment as well," he said.