As a follow up to last episode where all three guests were staff of their local organizations, we’re going to dive into the topic of Paid Employees. Sara Gress, Executive Director with the Wood River Trails Coalition and Ernest Saeger, Executive Director for the Vail Valley Mountain Trails Alliance join us for another episode. In addition, we’re joined by long time friend of the podcast, Susie Murphy, the Executive Director for the San Diego Mountain Biking Association and Cory Sutela, the current President for the Medicine Wheel Trail Advocates in Colorado Springs; the later organization is currently looking at hiring their first paid employee.
Continue reading “Ep 64 – Panel Discussion on Trail Association Paid Staff”
We hear from three Executive Directors from three different trail organizations: Christine Reid of the North Shore Mountain Bike Association in North Vancouver, BC, Ernest Saeger of the Vail Valley Mountain Trails Alliance is Colorado and Sara Gress of the Wood River Trails Coalition in Sun Valley Idaho. The later two groups have recently rebranded from Mountain Bike organizations into more all encompassing Trail Organizations. We discuss the reasons, advantages and possible disadvantages of the switch and most importantly, we talk about the conversation your group should be having.
In celebration of the 2nd Annual Women’s Mountain Bike Day on May 4th and Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 12th we hear from three mountain bike moms. Skii Fleeton of the San Diego Bike Coalition, Jules Gujer: NICA Coach in the Minnesota League and Kim Bradley: President of the Southeastern Connecticut Chapter of the New England Mountain Bike Association: discuss motherhood, advocacy and mountain biking.
This episode we hear from a panel of guests about the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association, better known as SORBA. Guests include the SORBA Executive Director from Greenville, South Carolina: Tom Sauret, SORBA Executive Committee President and former President of the Northwest NC MTB Alliance Chapter, from Boone, South Carolina: Paul Stahlschmidt and finally, SORBA Associate Director for Elijay, Georgia: Terry Palmeri.
Brennan Morrow is a Board Member of the Central Oregon Trail Alliance (COTA) and Madras Chapter Rep. Brennan is sharing COTA’s User Profiles; essentially characters they’ve created to help predict community engagement for programs, events or initiatives they roll out. Commonly used by Website and App Developers to ensure optimal User Interface (UI) experiences.
Wrapping up our 5-Part series on Conservation, we hear from Phil Waidner, Program Manager of Camps and the Teen Trail Corps at the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, otherwise known as NICA. Phil shares the past, present and future of the Teen Trail Corps and offers some great inspiration for those looking to start a similar program for Youth or Adults alike.
At the beginning of January 2019, the “Outside/In” Podcast released an episode called “Rake And Ride”. It tells the story of the impact of illegal or unsanctioned trails, and the interaction between the mountain bikers who created them, the officials who manage them and the users who find themselves on it by plan or misfortune. Host of the Outside/In Podcast, Sam Evans-Brown joins me to discuss the episode, the response he got and his thoughts as a mountain biker in New Hampshire.
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.
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.
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.