We explore a community with both a multi-use Trail Association and a Mountain Bike Club. My guest is Daniel Cammiade of the Nature Trails Society in Victoria, British Columbia, located in the Southern end of Vancouver Island. We discuss whether an organization should identify as a Bike Club or a Trail Association, and how best to deal with a Land Manager that, simply put, isn’t interested in allowing mountain bike access.
Ep 56 – Adding Conservation to the Mandate: Interview w/ Laura Puckett Daniels
We hear from Laura Puckett Daniels, Deputy Director at the Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association in Crested Butte, CO. Laura shares with us how her Bike Club added conservation to their mandate and created the Crested Butte Conservation Corps. In addition, Laura tells us about their Women’s Work Force (WWF), a female focused trail day program and the effects it has had on the community and organization.
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Ep 55 – Are Mountain Bikers Really Conservationists?: Interview with Greig Gjerdalen
Greig Gjerdalen is faculty with the school of Outdoor Recreation Management at Capilano University in North Vancouver, BC, Canada. Greig is currently studying how mountain bikers interact with nature and he’s asking: “Is nature merely scenery and therefore more of a backdrop for outdoor recreation pursuits than the center of our relational immersion?” Grieg shares his research and some ideas on what Trail Associations can do to increase a riders relationship with their natural surroundings.
Ep 54 – Sharing The Trails: How Trail Associations Can Create Harmonious Multi-Use Trails
The original question for this episode was asked a year ago by Jennifer Deeks, Communications Officer of the Guelph Off Road Bicycling Association. We’ll hear some previously unheard audio from a number of past guests’ including, Mark Schmidt of Parks Canada, Drew Engelmann of Yamaha Bicycles and the Trail Stewards of San Diego, Tom Stuessy, Executive Director of the Vermont Mountain Bike Association and Bruce Alt, founder of the Central Arkansas Trail Alliance. In addition we’ll be hearing from Erik Hillard about his benicesayhi.org initiative.
Ep 53 – So You Want To Be a Trail Builder? w/ Guest Host Rocky Blondin of the FVMBA
The final episode of 2018 is hosted by Rocky Blondin, past guest and President of the Fraser Valley Mountain Bikers Association. Rocky has adapted his two part blog post called: “So You Want To Be a Trail Builder?”. He not only goes through his process of getting involved but also the many steps that someone new to trail building can take. For those of you who are already out there digging and advocating, I think you’ll enjoy a shared experience and perhaps this episode will be a “where to begin” for those looking to get more involved in their communities.
Ep 52 – Finding The Right Membership System: Interview with Dana Wacker
Membership is a crucial function of most trail associations, and there’s no shortage of services available on the internet. Dana Wacker is the Communications and Promotions Director at the Naniamo Mountain Bike Club and she breaks down a number of options out there, including the choice that her club has made, with TidyHQ. In addition we’ll hear from Thomas Schoen, Owner/Operator of First Journey Trails, and the chair of the Cariboo Mountain Bike Consortium. Thomas explains why his business is looking for female trail builders for 2019.
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Ep 51 – Events Roundup: 4 Guests, 4 Trail Associations & 4 Events
We hear from four different guests who each represented their Trail Association at a different event this fall. My guests are Laura Puckett Daniels of the Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association, Steve Sheldon of the Tri-Cities Off Road Cycling Association, Andy Cox of the HydroCut Trail Committee and Gunnar Carlson with the Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists. Each of my guests attended one of the following events, in order: THE Trail Summit in Fruita, CO, the Western Mountain Bike Advocacy Symposium in North Vancouver, BC, the Ontario Mountain Bike Summit in Brantford, ON and the 2018 MTB State Summit in Grand Rapids, MI.
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Ep 50 – The Greatest Hits and a Look Back on Where We’ve Been
The 50th Episode of Front Lines MTB is here to celebrate all the conversations from the first 49 Episodes. Guests include: Jay Darby, Christine Reid, Tara Llanes, Patrick Lucas, Carrie Karsgaard, Eric McKeegan, Ambreen Tareq, Joshua Rebennack, Bruce Martens, Thomas Schoen, Steve Sheldon, Hansi Johnson, Mike Greer, Calvin Jones, Hank Grey and Len Necefer. Stay tuned until the very end for a special announcement.
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Ep 49 – Advocates Turned Candidates: Panel Discussion of Municipal Election Candidates
October 20th in British Columbia was a municipal election for City Councillor and Mayoral positions. This election cycle saw a number of Trail Advocates on ballots from all over the province. We hear from three of them: Janis Neufeld from Nakusp, Stewart Spooner from Rossland and Jeff Cooke from Squamish. We also here from Cooper Quinn of the North Shore Mountain Bike Association about how groups can get engaged with elections, without compromising their charity or 501c3 status.
Ep 48 – Creating New Mountain Bike Communities: Interview with Patrick Kell of IMBA
The world is waking up to the benefits of Mountain Biking, and now communities are asking how they can become the next Mountain Bike town or destination. Caliente, Nevada is doing just that. With the local mine no longer operating, they’re looking to Mountain Biking as the reason to draw visitors into town. We’ll hear from Patrick Kell, Grants Manager at the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) about how things got started, what trails are currently built and what the potential could be for future trails.