Grass Roots Trail Advocate here. I really wish I had the time and comfort level producing content and having a robust social media program. We've got the wonderful problem of having too many opportunities but have the age old problem of not having near enough advocates, builders, fundraisers and volunteers. Hopefully we get some social media savvy folks come along to fill the gaps while the rest of us are out in the woods and coaching for our fledgling NICA League here in Kentucky. If anyone has an easy button answer I'd be glad to hear it.
Daniel made some points in his article consistent with the problems you're having. It's harder to get people interesting in trail advocacy than it is products, tricks, or crashes. On social media, you're buried. We'll definitely talk about how we solved some of those problems, and what an organization with limited resources can do.
I loved the Year of the Trails 2023 campaign. I'm realizing that I need to turn to social media to promote a new long trail project based on John Muir's Walk to the Gulf. It would save a lot of tire rubber and shoe leather that I'm spending now getting word out on that project. I'll be taking diligent notes!
Well said, and great insight Daniel. I think about these things a lot, moreover I think about how we can identify root issues behind the lack of engagement regarding trail advocacy.
We all agree that mountain biking is fun. The learning, the doing, the enjoyment of progression.....the excitement of new and shiny bikes (and parts). These are things that bring us pleasure, and thus things we will engage with in MTB media.
Another big reason I hear from lots of folks is the enjoyment that the social aspect brings to their lives. I can't even begin to count the many times I've heard people cite this as a top reason they engage in the sport. This is evident in the number of group rides that are well attended.
In most of the cases above, little persuasion is needed to gain interest. These things are not advertised to have, nor perceived to carry negative associated baggage.
Historically, trail maintenance has carried a much different message. Often, trail advocacy has found itself sitting on top of a negative campaign platform. Well, negative verbiage at least. Commonly associated sayings such as "Trails don't build/maintain themselves" and "No dig, no ride", carry a very different tone. Regardless of positive intention, the language itself is negative.
"Group rides don't attend themselves", said no one ever, and for good reason.
I get that in the grand scheme this may seem relatively insignificant. However, I truly believe we need to change this mindset and approach if we're ever to increase the willingness of the public to get more involved, understand the importance of, and personally advocate for trails. While this is only a piece of the puzzle, it's one that can be easily be acted on by the people who carry the motivation for change. That's a huge leg up. An easy win that can ripple upwards.
For me personally, I love to do trail work. It taps into so many positive things. The chance to be outside, the ability to directly improve my enjoyment of trails, the satisfaction of immediately seeing the results of my effort, the opportunity to tap into that childhood enjoyment of playing in the dirt and creating. Perhaps the most surprising positive outcome for me is the social aspect, and the bonding that occurs with the people you build with. This circles back to all of the people who participate in MTB for the social aspect. It's a lot easier to carry a conversation while bench cutting next to your buddy than it is with your back to them 20' further down the trail.
As a more introverted person, social opportunities are not at the forefront of my daily needs. Yet still, the social aspect has proven to be something I cherish with trail work, and the more trail work I do, the more my passion for trail advocacy grows. My appreciation for what it takes, and what truly happens behind the scenes gets stronger with every day that I'm out there.
The more people are met with the opportunity to perceive the positives in the advocacy side of trails, the more likely they will participate, and potentially grow the popularity and engagement in what will ultimately benefit everyone.
Your point of changing the language really resonates with me. I look forward to continuing this discussion and applying lessons learned to the mountain biking community here in Chattanooga.
From a public economics perspective, trails are clear place where we have a ton of free riding going. They fit a near textbook case of a being a public good, meaning one that is non-rival, and non-excludable (although sometimes land mangers charge small user fees).
This is both where advocacy is necessary to help us to advocate for funding for trails, and access.
How could this happen? How can we improve funding?
I think we should have small and reasonable bike taxes that go to fund trails.
I think a portion of gasoline taxes should go to fund trails.
I think we should encourage local bike shops to set up "Donate to trails" buttons when people buy a bike.
I don't even mind parking fees or passes IF the $s go straight back into the trails.
Of course getting volunteers out is great, because somethings are better done with an army of volunteers instead of 2-5 pro trail builders.
You can do fun activities with raffles and donations (like we do at Disciples of Dirt in Eugene Oregon). But as a small local non profit, we still vastly underfund our trails and can benefit from better group coordination.
Our local trail has a Facebook group with 16k members. We get hundreds of racers to support us through our fundraiser races. But for monthly trail work days we are lucky to get 5 to 10 people show up. I find money is relatively easy to get from people. But spare time is hardest thing to get people to donate. Hard to convince people to give up just one ride a year to help build trails. Most mountain bikers are fine with others doing all the work. So we use their money and build what we like. We are doing more social media, email subscribed newsletters etc to try to make more connections with the riding public but after a year it hasn’t increased volunteer turnout.
I’m interested in the specifics of how to take action to get more trails built. What does it look like? Who do you approach and how do you approach them? What does it cost to build and maintain a trail/system? That might be excellent content for this platform as opposed to YT.
We're looking closely at comments exactly like yours to gauge what to post in the future. You can expect a lot more trail advocacy articles and discussions.
There's a link to Freehub Magazine in the article describing the process for Berm Park. Don't focus too much on the "start by having one of the world's most popular YT channels"-bit, though. I'd say the interesting parts are how financing was secured from various funds and how local government was involved. You can build any trail system on a mountain made of money.
Absolutely - it's all about using the resources you have. You certainly don't need a YouTube channel to make it all happen. We're working on a project right now with an elementary school that's fundraising money and applying for grants that fit the project to put in a bike path for kids to use during PE.
Mainstream media attention like Seth giving a Ted talk could go a long way. Trail development, in large part, is significantly evolving from volunteer built to professionally designed, engineered, & built trails. Much of this is the trend of government agencies wanting the liability coverage as more public entities are funding natural surface trail development. Government didn’t always build ball fields, courts, & skate parks, but they do today because demand was made apparent as citizens got involved. Here in the Orlando area I’m finding it almost impossible to find MTB’ers willing to get involved in working with government agencies. Some people don’t have the patience & simply want stick to volunteering at work days where there’s immediate gratification, which is critical, but it’s not advocated for more trails, better trails, & more diversity in riding experiences.
I’m most interested in the advocacy discussions & sharing of ideas & insights, particularly in the areas of getting kids off screens & on bikes, followed by trails close home. After all, we need to build an infrastructure of trails, paved & natural surface, with bike optimized features that will keep the kids interested & challenge them with opportunities for progression. These need to be in the urban & suburban areas where we can pedal to. Most parks & greenways can have natural surface trails with optional & progressive features built alongside & just off of the paved trails. Paved trails are great & necessary but they are infrastructure & the draw that the natural surface trails are for most cyclists, especially MTB’ers, gravel, & BMX’ers.
BUILD IT & THEY WILL COME! This approach will grow the sport. Most people strolling down a paved greenway aren’t going to, on their own & without some form of exposure, pack up their hybrid or big box bike into their car & drive to a local mtb trailhead & go try MTB’ing. But, if we build natural surface trails alongside that same greenway & add some features to expose the masses to MTB’ing by placing a few rollers, a small berm, 2x12 secured on the ground as a skinny, a tabletop, small drop, etc… then place trail counters to capture useage figures to support advocacy efforts. This has to grow the interest & participation. My county has agreed in concept to this type of a test pilot along an area of two of our 5 greenways here in the Orlando area. I believe this will work on multiple fronts. This exposure offers a casual rider on a greenway to sample MTB’ing in a non-threatening way to something they most like would have never tried.
Half of our children don’t ride bikes. Thirty-five percent don’t know how to ride a 2-wheeler. Parents of young kids grew up with video games & started the trend where many of the kids never learned to ride a bike, wasn’t interested in getting their license on their birthday because mommy & daddy drove them 3 blocks to their friends house. Where’s the freedom & sense of adventure? Most kids by about 2nd grade are too embarrassed to try & learn or ride with training wheels so it’s almost too late. I’ve been able to get an All Kids Bike program funded at my wife’s school so every kindergartener learns to ride in PE class using the 24 balance bike & helmets, plus coaches training & curriculum.
How do we create a place (which I hope is here) & format for interested people wanting to help but that don’t know what to do, or are frustrated with bureaucracy or lack of support from other like minded folks that may be in there area could connect & support one another. Can this become that epicenter of connection & support? I believe it can, so I hope it will. I’ve watched Seth grow from his dropper review & drama the trail dog to entrepreneur to the father, family man, advocate & philanthropist that he’s become & that’s awesome to see. It’s even more awesome that he’s opened up enough of his life to allow us to follow along as he seeks ways to use his incredible platform to give back & help the cycling community & those future cyclists. Thank you Seth for being you!
You make a lot of good points - especially that people often lack the patience to get involved with some of the processes that are required to make larger scale advocacy happen.
You're here - this is the place (and hopefully, eventually, just one of many). We're all about helping others understand what's involved in creating more opportunities, getting more people on bikes, and providing perspectives and connections that can help foster healthier communities. This is what we want to do. Thanks for caring and for joining us in this adventure!
The message to the MTB’er audience needs to be a different message from what needs to go out to non-MTB’ers, especially elected officials.
MTB’ers need to make themselves known & to understand that they can expect more from cities & counties. Trails are more cost effective & more family friendly means of improving quality of life for the residents. Making the case that trails drive tourism & economic development only work in certain circumstances while other communities it’s more about quality of life for their residents. Either way, it’s not about selling government staff as much as it is about selling elected officials.
I’ve gotten myself on various boards & committees to help position myself to best educate & advocate for cycling infrastructure, but I get burned out without others to brainstorm & strategize with to foster that drive. Groups like Knoxville & Bentonville have assembled in an organization structure to function like a company versus a casual volunteer group. Tell me how to help.
Dan recently reminded me about this very fact. I was bemoaning the upcoming closure of some trails at one of my favorite riding spots, when Dan reminded me how LUCKY we are to have really good trails. The balancing act of keeping MTB trail access involves compromise. Give in one area to get in another, or sometimes just giving up a popular trail, to maintain access. I was recently reminded of how lucky we are, when Pinkbike released its Top 10 Trails of 2023. We ARE lucky to have this (and other) trails at one of my favorite riding spots: https://www.trailforks.com/trails/boundary-line-261932/
The guys at Greenstone Trailcraft really did an awesome job on this trail.
Amazing article and I’m stoked that y’all are talking about it. I hope that through your wide reach we can educate the broader mountain biking community about trail advocacy/stewardship and gently rekindle the “no dig/no ride” ethos within the community for those that were stewardship curious.
And maybe we can educate the broader industry about giving back. That said, huge shout out to Fox Factory for their Trail Trust grant program (https://trailtrust.com/).
Some thoughts:
What about an article about companies that do have grant programs? This will help volunteer mountain biking orgs find money for trail advocacy and stewardship. It would also give those companies some good press and maybe incentivize others to start programs.
What about a series of article that highlights different groups doing advocacy?
We hope the same - it all needs to be talked about more. And, yes, Trail Trust is an amazing program!
Your thoughts are right in line with what we're going to be doing - there will be a lot more of this including articles from different people doing advocacy work.
The company I work for allows employees to “volunteer” for programs during the work day a few times a year and I’ve been trying to organize a trail cleanup day or something similar that is hands on, but I’ve had no luck getting responses from my local trail organizations.
Any suggestions on how to get involved? Is it pretty normal for responsiveness to be hit or miss when trying to volunteer.
I'll echo what Seth said and add that it can be difficult for local trail organizations to facilitate simple volunteer opportunities, and even respond at times, as disappointing as that is. Often times they're volunteer run and doing the best they can to get what work they can done and communications etc. can fall by the wayside.
That's great that you want to use your days to help your local trail. The people answering messages for small trail organizations are generally volunteers with limited time. Often times, it's the norm to have designated work days in order to sync up with insurance and trail access. Our local SORBA chapter posts these days to Instagram and Facebook, but it can vary for others. If you do need to get in touch with someone, find out what social media platform they post to (if any) and reach out through there. What organization is it?
I’ve reached out to the DTE Trail organization in the past couple years and MMBA. Incidentally enough, I just double checked my email and DTE trail org got back to me last week and I missed it 😅.
Your point about volunteers with full time jobs answering the email accounts makes a lot of sense to me though. I didn’t think about the insurance aspect either and a group trail day might be more of what I need to look for.
In the response from DTE trail org, they mentioned checking fb for trail days, but also some specific opportunities, so it looks like we’re on our way to volunteering after all!
Grass Roots Trail Advocate here. I really wish I had the time and comfort level producing content and having a robust social media program. We've got the wonderful problem of having too many opportunities but have the age old problem of not having near enough advocates, builders, fundraisers and volunteers. Hopefully we get some social media savvy folks come along to fill the gaps while the rest of us are out in the woods and coaching for our fledgling NICA League here in Kentucky. If anyone has an easy button answer I'd be glad to hear it.
Daniel made some points in his article consistent with the problems you're having. It's harder to get people interesting in trail advocacy than it is products, tricks, or crashes. On social media, you're buried. We'll definitely talk about how we solved some of those problems, and what an organization with limited resources can do.
I loved the Year of the Trails 2023 campaign. I'm realizing that I need to turn to social media to promote a new long trail project based on John Muir's Walk to the Gulf. It would save a lot of tire rubber and shoe leather that I'm spending now getting word out on that project. I'll be taking diligent notes!
Well said, and great insight Daniel. I think about these things a lot, moreover I think about how we can identify root issues behind the lack of engagement regarding trail advocacy.
We all agree that mountain biking is fun. The learning, the doing, the enjoyment of progression.....the excitement of new and shiny bikes (and parts). These are things that bring us pleasure, and thus things we will engage with in MTB media.
Another big reason I hear from lots of folks is the enjoyment that the social aspect brings to their lives. I can't even begin to count the many times I've heard people cite this as a top reason they engage in the sport. This is evident in the number of group rides that are well attended.
In most of the cases above, little persuasion is needed to gain interest. These things are not advertised to have, nor perceived to carry negative associated baggage.
Historically, trail maintenance has carried a much different message. Often, trail advocacy has found itself sitting on top of a negative campaign platform. Well, negative verbiage at least. Commonly associated sayings such as "Trails don't build/maintain themselves" and "No dig, no ride", carry a very different tone. Regardless of positive intention, the language itself is negative.
"Group rides don't attend themselves", said no one ever, and for good reason.
I get that in the grand scheme this may seem relatively insignificant. However, I truly believe we need to change this mindset and approach if we're ever to increase the willingness of the public to get more involved, understand the importance of, and personally advocate for trails. While this is only a piece of the puzzle, it's one that can be easily be acted on by the people who carry the motivation for change. That's a huge leg up. An easy win that can ripple upwards.
For me personally, I love to do trail work. It taps into so many positive things. The chance to be outside, the ability to directly improve my enjoyment of trails, the satisfaction of immediately seeing the results of my effort, the opportunity to tap into that childhood enjoyment of playing in the dirt and creating. Perhaps the most surprising positive outcome for me is the social aspect, and the bonding that occurs with the people you build with. This circles back to all of the people who participate in MTB for the social aspect. It's a lot easier to carry a conversation while bench cutting next to your buddy than it is with your back to them 20' further down the trail.
As a more introverted person, social opportunities are not at the forefront of my daily needs. Yet still, the social aspect has proven to be something I cherish with trail work, and the more trail work I do, the more my passion for trail advocacy grows. My appreciation for what it takes, and what truly happens behind the scenes gets stronger with every day that I'm out there.
The more people are met with the opportunity to perceive the positives in the advocacy side of trails, the more likely they will participate, and potentially grow the popularity and engagement in what will ultimately benefit everyone.
So well said.
Your point of changing the language really resonates with me. I look forward to continuing this discussion and applying lessons learned to the mountain biking community here in Chattanooga.
From a public economics perspective, trails are clear place where we have a ton of free riding going. They fit a near textbook case of a being a public good, meaning one that is non-rival, and non-excludable (although sometimes land mangers charge small user fees).
This is both where advocacy is necessary to help us to advocate for funding for trails, and access.
How could this happen? How can we improve funding?
I think we should have small and reasonable bike taxes that go to fund trails.
I think a portion of gasoline taxes should go to fund trails.
I think we should encourage local bike shops to set up "Donate to trails" buttons when people buy a bike.
I don't even mind parking fees or passes IF the $s go straight back into the trails.
Of course getting volunteers out is great, because somethings are better done with an army of volunteers instead of 2-5 pro trail builders.
You can do fun activities with raffles and donations (like we do at Disciples of Dirt in Eugene Oregon). But as a small local non profit, we still vastly underfund our trails and can benefit from better group coordination.
Our local trail has a Facebook group with 16k members. We get hundreds of racers to support us through our fundraiser races. But for monthly trail work days we are lucky to get 5 to 10 people show up. I find money is relatively easy to get from people. But spare time is hardest thing to get people to donate. Hard to convince people to give up just one ride a year to help build trails. Most mountain bikers are fine with others doing all the work. So we use their money and build what we like. We are doing more social media, email subscribed newsletters etc to try to make more connections with the riding public but after a year it hasn’t increased volunteer turnout.
I’m interested in the specifics of how to take action to get more trails built. What does it look like? Who do you approach and how do you approach them? What does it cost to build and maintain a trail/system? That might be excellent content for this platform as opposed to YT.
We're looking closely at comments exactly like yours to gauge what to post in the future. You can expect a lot more trail advocacy articles and discussions.
Thanks for using your time to engage with us on here. It’s appreciated.
There's a link to Freehub Magazine in the article describing the process for Berm Park. Don't focus too much on the "start by having one of the world's most popular YT channels"-bit, though. I'd say the interesting parts are how financing was secured from various funds and how local government was involved. You can build any trail system on a mountain made of money.
Absolutely - it's all about using the resources you have. You certainly don't need a YouTube channel to make it all happen. We're working on a project right now with an elementary school that's fundraising money and applying for grants that fit the project to put in a bike path for kids to use during PE.
Mainstream media attention like Seth giving a Ted talk could go a long way. Trail development, in large part, is significantly evolving from volunteer built to professionally designed, engineered, & built trails. Much of this is the trend of government agencies wanting the liability coverage as more public entities are funding natural surface trail development. Government didn’t always build ball fields, courts, & skate parks, but they do today because demand was made apparent as citizens got involved. Here in the Orlando area I’m finding it almost impossible to find MTB’ers willing to get involved in working with government agencies. Some people don’t have the patience & simply want stick to volunteering at work days where there’s immediate gratification, which is critical, but it’s not advocated for more trails, better trails, & more diversity in riding experiences.
I’m most interested in the advocacy discussions & sharing of ideas & insights, particularly in the areas of getting kids off screens & on bikes, followed by trails close home. After all, we need to build an infrastructure of trails, paved & natural surface, with bike optimized features that will keep the kids interested & challenge them with opportunities for progression. These need to be in the urban & suburban areas where we can pedal to. Most parks & greenways can have natural surface trails with optional & progressive features built alongside & just off of the paved trails. Paved trails are great & necessary but they are infrastructure & the draw that the natural surface trails are for most cyclists, especially MTB’ers, gravel, & BMX’ers.
BUILD IT & THEY WILL COME! This approach will grow the sport. Most people strolling down a paved greenway aren’t going to, on their own & without some form of exposure, pack up their hybrid or big box bike into their car & drive to a local mtb trailhead & go try MTB’ing. But, if we build natural surface trails alongside that same greenway & add some features to expose the masses to MTB’ing by placing a few rollers, a small berm, 2x12 secured on the ground as a skinny, a tabletop, small drop, etc… then place trail counters to capture useage figures to support advocacy efforts. This has to grow the interest & participation. My county has agreed in concept to this type of a test pilot along an area of two of our 5 greenways here in the Orlando area. I believe this will work on multiple fronts. This exposure offers a casual rider on a greenway to sample MTB’ing in a non-threatening way to something they most like would have never tried.
Half of our children don’t ride bikes. Thirty-five percent don’t know how to ride a 2-wheeler. Parents of young kids grew up with video games & started the trend where many of the kids never learned to ride a bike, wasn’t interested in getting their license on their birthday because mommy & daddy drove them 3 blocks to their friends house. Where’s the freedom & sense of adventure? Most kids by about 2nd grade are too embarrassed to try & learn or ride with training wheels so it’s almost too late. I’ve been able to get an All Kids Bike program funded at my wife’s school so every kindergartener learns to ride in PE class using the 24 balance bike & helmets, plus coaches training & curriculum.
How do we create a place (which I hope is here) & format for interested people wanting to help but that don’t know what to do, or are frustrated with bureaucracy or lack of support from other like minded folks that may be in there area could connect & support one another. Can this become that epicenter of connection & support? I believe it can, so I hope it will. I’ve watched Seth grow from his dropper review & drama the trail dog to entrepreneur to the father, family man, advocate & philanthropist that he’s become & that’s awesome to see. It’s even more awesome that he’s opened up enough of his life to allow us to follow along as he seeks ways to use his incredible platform to give back & help the cycling community & those future cyclists. Thank you Seth for being you!
You make a lot of good points - especially that people often lack the patience to get involved with some of the processes that are required to make larger scale advocacy happen.
You're here - this is the place (and hopefully, eventually, just one of many). We're all about helping others understand what's involved in creating more opportunities, getting more people on bikes, and providing perspectives and connections that can help foster healthier communities. This is what we want to do. Thanks for caring and for joining us in this adventure!
The message to the MTB’er audience needs to be a different message from what needs to go out to non-MTB’ers, especially elected officials.
MTB’ers need to make themselves known & to understand that they can expect more from cities & counties. Trails are more cost effective & more family friendly means of improving quality of life for the residents. Making the case that trails drive tourism & economic development only work in certain circumstances while other communities it’s more about quality of life for their residents. Either way, it’s not about selling government staff as much as it is about selling elected officials.
I’ve gotten myself on various boards & committees to help position myself to best educate & advocate for cycling infrastructure, but I get burned out without others to brainstorm & strategize with to foster that drive. Groups like Knoxville & Bentonville have assembled in an organization structure to function like a company versus a casual volunteer group. Tell me how to help.
Dan recently reminded me about this very fact. I was bemoaning the upcoming closure of some trails at one of my favorite riding spots, when Dan reminded me how LUCKY we are to have really good trails. The balancing act of keeping MTB trail access involves compromise. Give in one area to get in another, or sometimes just giving up a popular trail, to maintain access. I was recently reminded of how lucky we are, when Pinkbike released its Top 10 Trails of 2023. We ARE lucky to have this (and other) trails at one of my favorite riding spots: https://www.trailforks.com/trails/boundary-line-261932/
The guys at Greenstone Trailcraft really did an awesome job on this trail.
Amazing article and I’m stoked that y’all are talking about it. I hope that through your wide reach we can educate the broader mountain biking community about trail advocacy/stewardship and gently rekindle the “no dig/no ride” ethos within the community for those that were stewardship curious.
And maybe we can educate the broader industry about giving back. That said, huge shout out to Fox Factory for their Trail Trust grant program (https://trailtrust.com/).
Some thoughts:
What about an article about companies that do have grant programs? This will help volunteer mountain biking orgs find money for trail advocacy and stewardship. It would also give those companies some good press and maybe incentivize others to start programs.
What about a series of article that highlights different groups doing advocacy?
We hope the same - it all needs to be talked about more. And, yes, Trail Trust is an amazing program!
Your thoughts are right in line with what we're going to be doing - there will be a lot more of this including articles from different people doing advocacy work.
The company I work for allows employees to “volunteer” for programs during the work day a few times a year and I’ve been trying to organize a trail cleanup day or something similar that is hands on, but I’ve had no luck getting responses from my local trail organizations.
Any suggestions on how to get involved? Is it pretty normal for responsiveness to be hit or miss when trying to volunteer.
I'll echo what Seth said and add that it can be difficult for local trail organizations to facilitate simple volunteer opportunities, and even respond at times, as disappointing as that is. Often times they're volunteer run and doing the best they can to get what work they can done and communications etc. can fall by the wayside.
That's great that you want to use your days to help your local trail. The people answering messages for small trail organizations are generally volunteers with limited time. Often times, it's the norm to have designated work days in order to sync up with insurance and trail access. Our local SORBA chapter posts these days to Instagram and Facebook, but it can vary for others. If you do need to get in touch with someone, find out what social media platform they post to (if any) and reach out through there. What organization is it?
I’ve reached out to the DTE Trail organization in the past couple years and MMBA. Incidentally enough, I just double checked my email and DTE trail org got back to me last week and I missed it 😅.
Your point about volunteers with full time jobs answering the email accounts makes a lot of sense to me though. I didn’t think about the insurance aspect either and a group trail day might be more of what I need to look for.
In the response from DTE trail org, they mentioned checking fb for trail days, but also some specific opportunities, so it looks like we’re on our way to volunteering after all!
Glad to hear you got it sorted!