Trail EAffect

Toby Cortez / Bogue Chitto State Park / Mountain Biking in Louisiana 169

For Episode 169 Toby Cortez is our guest – Toby is one of the masterminds behind the mountain bike trails at Bogue Chitto State Park located in Louisiana. Toby drops a ton of knowledge on this episode, through some incredible stories about how Bogue Chitto came to be, cutting through the red tape that comes with making a trail system reality and what’s in stor...

Loam Pass with Rob Brown and Joey Foresta - 168

For episode 168 we’ve got Rob Brown and Joey Foresta – Co Founders of the Loam Pass. The Loam Pass is your North American Gravity Bike Park Pass, and its brand new for 2024. Rob and Joey Teamed up to create the Loam Pass, and it launched in March with 30 resorts and shuttle services, with additional locations cued up to land on the Loam Pass in the near future.

Tune in to learn more a...

Women in Trail Building at the 2024 Professional Trail Builders Association Sustainable Trail Conference 167

At the end of day one during the 2024 Professional Trail Builders Association Sustainable Trails Conference Martha Becton took over as host of the Trail EAffect Podcast. Martha brought Erin Amadon, Rebekah Morrisson, and Addie Clayton onto the show to have an open conversation about Women in Trail Building. A Huge Thank You ...

Hansi Johnson on the Rise of Upper Midwest Mountain Biking and more! 166

Hansi had a front row seat, and sometimes took control of the wheel when it comes to the rise of mountain biking in the Upper Midwest. He’s got some incredible stories, which set the stage for what we know as some of the best mountain bike and trail communities around.

Topics Include:

• The Driftless Region
• How Hansi got hooked up with IMBA
• Duluth, MN
• Cuyuna...

Preston York – Owner / Operator of FlowMotion Trail Builders 165

Preston brings a ton of machine and trail building knowledge to this conversation. Stay tuned all the way to the end, as Preston drops one of the wildest stories heard on Trail EAffect.

Topics Include:

• How Preston got into Mountain Biking
• Various career tracks that let Preston to Trail Building
• Preston on Rich Edwards
• Equipment and the various machines that Presto...

Mountain Biker and Trail Builder the Infamous Randy Spangler 164

Randy has done and seen more than most in the world of mountain biking and trail building. Randy shares some pretty epic stories from the road and from his hometown during this conversation.

Topics Include:

• How Randy got into mountain biking
• Working with Missy Giove at Walden’s Ridge during design
• The Drop In Mountain Bike TV Series
  • Riding in New Zealand
  ...

Gary Moore, Gil McCormick and Chris Winn – COMBA – Colorado Mountain Bike Association 163

We are back with a Non-Profit Trail Organization this week, featuring COMBA, The Colorado Mountain Bike Association. We have Gary Moore, the Executive Director for COMBA, Gil McCormick the Trails Program Director for COMBA, and Chris Winn the Communications and Marketing Manager for COMBA.

Topics Include:

• How these three got into mountain...

Dafydd Davis - A Pioneer in Trail Planning and Design, based out of Wales 162

Dafydd might be the most impactful mountain bike trail planners and designer period. His thoughtful approach to trail planning and design has resulted in trail experiences that were decades ahead of their time in Wales, which eventually spread throughout the world. You’d think the topics we discussed and Dafydd’s concepts were rather new, but he started ...

Sean Benish – Trail Builder Magazine / Loam Coffee 161

Episode 161 will be a bit different than most shows as this was a last-minute idea to hop on Zoom Call with Sean Benish. Sean is the person behind Trail Builder Magazine, Loam Coffee, and a whole lot more. I didn’t really have any topics for this conversation so we just went with what popped into our heads.

Trail EAffect Show Links:

Trail Builder Magazine:  https://www.tr...

Rocket Ramps with Henry and Janker Ted – Building Ramps, Trails and Community in New Mexico #160

Topics Covered in this show:

• The Rocket Ramp Formation
• The Trail Building Scene in New Mexico
• Janker Ted’s entry into Trail Building
  • Where Janker Built in MO
• The Goals of Rocket Ramps
• The evolution of Ramp Geometry / Ramps & Jumps in general
• Ramp / Jump Design / Radius
• The materials / construction of Rocket Ramps
• Rock...

Shea Farrell of Flowride Concepts - Trail Building / Community Building #159

Topics Covered in this show:

• How Shea got into Trail Planning, Design and Building
• Common Themes of selling Bike Parks and Mountain Bike Infrastructure as a public amenity
• Mountain Biking at Resorts / Gravity Bike Parks
• Building in Anniston, AL / Duluth, MN and the Cottage Grove Bike Park
• Bike Parks – IMBA’s Guide to New School Trails
• Creating Visual G...

Dovetail Trail Consulting with Quinn Brett and Joe Stone – Adaptive Recreation #158

Topics Covered in this show:

• Universal Trail Design – Sustainable Trail Design
• The difference of accessibility and usability
• Differences in adaptive equipment
• Adaptive Trail Assessment at Walden’s Ridge in Chattanooga, TN
  • Details on the trails at Walden’s Ridge
• Other locations assessed
  • Bend, OR
• Signage and information that ...

TrailBot – The Trail Conditions Resource for when and where to use trails #157

Topics Covered in this show:

• How Trail Bot came to be
• How Trail Conditions are Updated
• What is a widget – How to link conditions to various locations
• Reception from municipalities is for TrailBot
• Who makes the trail conditions updates
• The subjective nature of trail conditions especially how this changes from region to region or even trail to trail
• Ho...

McGill Trail Fabrications #156

Topics Covered in this show:

• Where the name McGill comes from
• How the McGill’s came together
• The Riveter – North Carolina
• Wintering in the Carolina’s
• Building at Walden’s Ridge in Chattanooga, TN
• Building in Frisco, Co – Purpose build trails
  • How Aftermath came to be
• Directional Trails
• Idaho Springs – Virginia Canyon Bike Park
  • Argo Mine
  • COMBA
  • Trek Trails / Trek Foundation Support

Tony Boone – Legendary Trail Designer & Builder / Aruba MTB Project #155

Topics Covered in this show:

• Tony Boone on Jane Goodall
• 2023 Professional Trail Builder Association Lifetime Achievement Award
• Trail Builders Worldwide
• Tony Sponsoring companies into the PTBA
• The explosion of Trail Building and Trail Use since 2020
• Measuring the GDP of Outdoor Recreation
• Aruba MTB Project
  • The Mountain Bike Experience in Aruba
  ...

Sean Leader of Southern Gravity – Downhill Bike Parks / Downhill Racing / And more #154

Topics Covered in this show:

• Southern Gravity
• Catching up since Episode 43 the original Sean Leader / Windrock Episode
• People moving to the area for Windrock Bike Park
• Sean’s view on Gravity Based Bike Parks
• New Shuttle Based Bike Parks
• Shuttle Trucks / Trailers and how bike parks can function without Chairlifts
• Efficiencies of Shuttle Truck...

Chris Skogen – Industry vs Community and a whole lot more! #153

Topics Covered in this show:

• Chris’s Wheels
• Lemon’s to Lemonade
• Yes, is the answer, what is the question?
• Almanzo 100
  • The value of a hand written note
  • The beginnings
  • Creating Space for Human Beings to look in the mirror
  • Moving the needle socially
  • Not about bikes
• Industry VS Community
  • Comparison
• Trek – Win the Season 365
• Stepping away from Grav...

Copper Harbor Trails Club – Giving Tuesday with Adam Yeoman and Nathan Miller

Topics Covered in this show:

• What is Copper Harbor as a community
• Giving Tuesday 2023 – What was raised for funding
  • Partnership with the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation
• Partnership with SRAM for 5 years – Matching Donations ($500K Per year)
• Trail that was built in 2023 with donations
  • East Bluff Bike Park Trails
  • Keweenaw Point ...

Max Penny of Howler Bike Park in Branson, MO #151

Topics Covered in this show:

• Max’s Backstory
• Howler Bike Co.
• The state of mountain biking in Missouri
• The Stats at Howler Bike Park
• The Phases of Howler Bike Park
• The Howler Family
• How Max and his family settled on the location of Howler Bike Park
• The Build at Howler Bike Park
  • Companies / Builders that helped build the Trails at Howler
  • Dirt Tek Trails
  • Reserve Concepts
  • Backya...