Another Year on the Road - A Retrospective from Trail Care Crew #2

Canada

TCC2 prepares for an epic ride with host Steve Johnson (not pictured) from the top of Coliseum Peak, near Nordegg, Alberta, Canada.

The helicopter's engine revved back up to full speed and the pilot took the ship over the edge of the precipice, disappearing for good. We were left with only our mountain bikes and a mysterious trail that snaked through the cliffs of Coliseum Peak. It felt strange, not having a warm up climb or a little spin to make sure our legs were ready, but after a few pedal strokes our hesitation was lost. The lure of fresh single track cast away all doubts and our thoughts turned to cleaning those first big drop-offs. It felt so good, surrendering to the pull of the trail, feeling much like the helicopter pilot as we dove through the cliffs. The trail got even better, contouring, rolling and swooping along the ridgeline high above the trees. We dropped into the forest laughing, hooting and hollering, partly from shear bliss but also to give the grizzly bears some warning. Our guide was Pastor Steve Johnson, manager of the Frontier Lodge. Steve, Doug and their families introduce teenagers to a cleaner lifestyle through an appreciation of nature. Kids are encouraged to participate in hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, skiing, rock and ice climbing, bringing them closer to nature. It was Sunday and we had just sat in on Steve's sermon at the 150-year old church in the ghost town of Nordegg, Alberta. Now we were trying to keep up with the Pastor as he flew through the rocks on his full suspension rig... just another day in western Canada!

Doug and Steve invited us to Alberta to give a slide presentation on sustainable multi-use trails, exciting trail systems and mountain biking success stories from around the world. As the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew, we bring user groups together in cooperation with different land agencies to improve trails. We work with local mountain bike clubs, designing lasting trails and we give land managers insight about cyclist's specific needs. Don Livingston is the land manager for the area surrounding Nordegg, He's the senior ranger in charge of thousands of acres in the municipal district and he also owns FatBoyz, the local mountain bike shop. So in this town we were preaching to the choir, as Don already feels there is a need for more singletrack. Globally, land managers have seen a huge increase in the number of users on current trails and can barely keep up with maintenance for them. Lack of funds and manpower can dissuade land managers from developing new trails.

One of the Trail Care Crews' most valuable functions - meeting with land managers to promote trail opportunities for mountain biking.

Since 1988, IMBA has spent five-million dollars on keeping trails open, one-million volunteer hours have gone into improving trails and we have created 5,000 miles of new trail! The Trail Care Crews teach several trail building schools a year, showing enthusiasts how to design trails that only get better with time. Like most land managers, Don had to find creative ways of getting new trails built and one of his resources is the nearby Shunda Creek Young Offender Centre. Directors from the YOC attended our trail seminar, learning how to maximize their efforts spent on restoring and constructing trails. Rangers and trail crew leaders from the Alberta Environment also attended. This year alone, TCC2 talked with over 600 land managers from eight different nations and worked alongside them in almost every state west of the Mississippi. We have worked with about 2000 individuals and members from 100 different mountain bike clubs. When several forces join together, truly amazing results can happen.

Some of our favorite trail systems in the west include Fruita, St. George, Boulder City and Downieville. These are some of the most technically challenging, exciting and diverse trail systems in the U.S. None of them happened overnight. The best examples all took years of mountain bikers working with land managers and other user groups. The local club in Durango, Trails 2000, formed in the late 1980's and since then has created 70 miles of new single-track. T-2000 is also responsible for stewardship and maintenance of over 250 miles of trails! The population of Durango is 20,000 and 10% of whom are club members. This summer we helped out on a mid-week afternoon trail project and 45 people turned out. Mountain bikers, runners, equestrians, dog walkers, even the district attorney came to build trail! We ran into Ed Zink (owner of the Mountain Bike Specialist) this fall and he said they had finished the new trail. Durango now has another eight miles of single-track. More importantly, Trails 2000 is directly involved with the sculpting of the La Plata County Master Plan. A great example of a mountain bike club providing solutions for a county faced with increasing growth.

IMBA Trail Care Crews have lent their expertise to the management of the new Government Canyon Natural Area, near San Antonio, TX.

Texas

Has anyone ever watched their hometown get bigger? Looking on, as pristine meadows, lush valleys, rolling hills or forest groves get plowed under for shopping centers and housing developments. Now imagine an entire state that is 98% privately owned, with only two percent of it available as public lands for recreation. Welcome to Texas. Kyle and Hank Cunningham own the Helotes Bicycle Shop outside of San Antonio. They have watched their diverse hill country shrink as developers make money. A nearby ranch had two unique oasis canyons that meander through the property. This rare canyon country is a sacred place, home for thousands of bird, plant and wildlife species. When the ranch came up for sale, they knew all too well what might befall it. So, Kyle quit her job and formed the Government Canyon Coalition. She brought several entities together and in 1991 they got the property off the auction block. By 1993, the Trust for Public Lands led negotiations with the Edwards Aquifer Authority, Texas Wildlife and Parks, and the City of San Antonio among others and they acquired the ranch. By 1999, this little ranch became known as the Government Canyon State Natural Area and it has grown to nearly 7,000 acres! On National Trails Day in '99 we led a small army of 70 people, representing just about every user group under the sun, transforming an existing ranch road into a twisty, free flowing singletrack. There are 40 more miles of multi-use trails proposed, keeping in mind that the wildlife and habitat come first. The GCSNA is now one of the largest semi-urban natural areas in the country and the people of San Antonio have more public land... all because of one mountain biker!

TCC2 helped locals develop a new trail at the Comunidad Ajusco outside sprawling Mexico City, Mexico.

Mexico

With a population of 28-million, Mexico City holds the dubious honor of largest city in the world and it is devouring small towns and villages as it expands. Mexico City is nestled in a high basin surrounded by forest peaks. The forests became land grants known as Ajidos and are owned by simple community farmers. Even though the Ajidos are protected, the boundaries are moving further up the hillside as squatters, developers and loggers move in. Balam, a Mexican non-profit organization (the name is Spanish for Jaguar) is working with the government and the Ajidotados (farmers) to promote land conservation and sustainable micro-industry through eco-tourism and outdoor recreation, including multi-use trails. Last year IMBA got involved and brought Antonio from Balam, and members from the San Nicholas Ajidos to our home office in Colorado. They were shown exciting trails in Jefferson County Open Space, Keystone Resort and Crested Butte. Our friends from Mexico were amazed at the number of people enjoying these trails. They brought back trail tips from IMBA and implemented them at San Nicholas and the Ajusco Parques. This spring we visited Balam at San Nicolas and the Ajusco south of Mexico City. 45 landowners, trail enthusiasts, timber authorities, downhill and cross-country riders participated in our four-day trail building school. We looked at park challenges in both places and helped with a new trail at the Ajusco. At San Nicolas, tension between downhill shuttlers, landowners and timber managers was flaring. The true friction went beyond the surface, as it had to do with deep historical social issues. The mountain bikers represented wealthy aristocrats, the land managers were regarded as poor peasants and the foresters viewed as untouchable government officials. None of the groups had ever tried crossing the skirmish lines. We brought them together for numerous hikes, finding a common interest in their love for nature and finding adjustments in trail design which could accommodate everyone's needs. Our visit, combined with these new trail systems will help save 25,000 acres of forest and Balam plans to spread these ideals to seven other communities, rescuing a rough total of 65,000 acres from the jaws of Mexico City!

TCC2 met with and exchanged trailbuilding techniques new and old (really old!) with Welsh mountain biker and trailbuilder extraordinaire Dafydd Davis.

Europe

The seed of modern-day mountain biking got its start in California and Colorado and has thrived all over the world. Last winter we tasted the fruits of mountain biking in five nations of Western Europe. TCC2 was invited to teach at trailbuilding seminars in France, Wales and Scotland. In Wales, we met Dafydd Davis an avid surfer, climber and mountain biker. Dafydd works his magic in a park known as Coed y Brenin (The Land of the Kings). A few years ago, Dafydd convinced the Forestry Commission that bringing recreation into the area could boost the economy while preserving the woods. The problem is that Wales gets about 150 inches of rain a year! Earlier attempts at trails in the area were perpetually soggy. Dafydd borrowed craftsmanship from the ancient kings, laying rock in three different methods to armor the trails. Coed y Brenin now has over 20 miles of armored trails. These paths are bombproof, can be ridden during any conditions and most of all they're fun! Challenging trails have large boulder problems laid in the tread which offer technical thrill without steep, erosion-prone grades. Coed y Brenin is now known as the 'Moab' of the UK and since it's creation, hotels, restaurants, pubs and shops are packed with customers. The success of Coed y Brenin has nurtured the plan for additional mountain bike parks all over the U.K. We met the Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development who was ecstatic about mountain biking's effect. Dafydd had one more trick up his sleeve, taking us on a 4000-year old single-track! It was a mesmerizing experience, crossing over a mountain pass on that ancient stone passageway!

California

TCC2 leads volunteer trailworkers from local mountain bike clubs in Chino Hills, CA.

Western Canada has few user conflicts, except of course for the grizzly bears. Other places aren't so lucky, especially near big cities where people have experienced huge growth surges. Trails get congested, or eroded and trail users start pointing fingers at each other. Erosion can almost always be an indicator of poor trail design. This spring we spent a few weeks in Southern California, Marin County and the San Francisco Bay-area. We worked in many parks that confined mountain bikes to steep fire roads. These roads had extreme grades that are prone to erosion, regardless of the type of users. Fire roads are also wide, smooth and fast. Experienced mountain bikers desire the thrill of narrow, rocky or twisty single-track. Typical average speeds on the Olympic cross-country single-track course were only 12 mph. To get that same thrill on a fire road, speeds can be pushed well over 45 mph. Hence, user conflicts! Jefferson County Open Space, west of Denver, Colorado, has over 150 miles of multi-use trails, spread out in 12 parks. Annual user numbers are over 1.5 million, and the most popular trail gets about 2,500 people on a busy Saturday. There is little conflict because trails are rocky and twisty with good site lines, yet wide enough for users to pass. The speeds are reasonable and the technical challenge is high, thanks to singletrack!

The sweet singletrack of California is protected by a few individuals and local clubs. Heroes like Jim Hasenauer, Max Jones, Jim Jacobsen and California IMBA rep Jim Haagenshmidt are devoted to our trails in the northern part of the state. IMBA affiliate clubs like TRAILS 4 ALL, CORBA, SDMBA, SBMBTV, SCMB SHARE and THE WARRIORS SOCIETY are only some of the clubs we were privileged to visit this spring in the south. California is gorgeous state, with some of the best singletrack in the world.

Summary

There are 13.1 million single-track riders in the U.S. and IMBA has about 32,000 individual members. We have 400 affiliate clubs and these are the folks hunkered down in the trenches giving it there all. Mountain bikers tend to be an independent breed, but getting involved gives us a voice. Joining a local club or IMBA ensures your views will be expressed and your voice will be heard (as it was in January, 2001 when IMBA and mountain bikers succeeded in getting the Bureau of Land Management to manage mountain bikes separately from motorized Off-Highway Vehicles in the BLM's new national management plan). Doing a little trailwork with your local club shows land managers how devoted we are to those trails. Every week we give trail assessments, do trail work or teach lasting ways to restore trails. We are always happy to see new faces lending a hand on the trails they love. We'll be back next year and hope to see you out there. Happy Trails!

Thank you,
Joey Klein TCC2