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.
Ep 47 – We’re Back! Check In On Some Past Topics & Guests
After our summer hiatus we’re back with some follow up on some past topics and joined by a few guests. First we’ll hear about the Vermont Outdoor Innovation Coalition from Tom Stuessy, Executive Director of the Vermont Mountain Bike Association. Following that, we’ll get an update from Lance Pysher of the Bitterroot Backcountry Cyclists on their lawsuit against the US Forest Service. And finally, we’ll hear from Tony Ferlisi Executive Director for Mountain Bike the Tetons and his experience representing Mountain Bike stakeholders on the Wyoming Public Lands Initiative committee.
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Ep 46 – Details About Two Upcoming Events You’ll Want To Check Out
This episode we explore two upcoming events. The first is the 2018 MTB State Summit in Grand Rapids, Michigan; hosted by the Vermont Mountain Bike Association, Michigan Mountain Bike Association and the Jersey Off Road Bicycle Association. Tom Stuessy of VMBA and Melissa Werkman of MMBA join me. And second, Jay Darby of IMBA Canada and Christine Reid of the North Shore Mountain Bike Association share details about the Western Mountain Bike Advocacy Symposium, in North Vancouver, BC. Both events are sure to be great and if you can make the trip to either, they’ll be well worth it.
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