2018 Trailforks Awards: Advocate of the Year Winners
Advocates of the Year Winners
Most of our awards recognize the brilliance of a particular widget or the achievements of athletes. This award is a bit of a departure. The Advocacy award is given out, instead, to the people and organizations who are actively investing in our sport and our trails.
We also depart from the usual PB awards story line by giving the prize to several parties--this time around, there is no cage match in which one nominee emerges victorious. Why not? Because it's nigh impossible to measure the value of one good deed or do-gooder against another. It's the reason you probably haven't witnessed a whole lot of brawls over whether Mahatma Gandhi was better than Mother Theresa or vice versa. Along those lines, we think all four of the award winners listed below deserve our recognition and thanks. So without further ado, here they are: Bitterroot Backcountry Cyclists. Stillwater Area Scholastic Cycling Advocates, Michigan Mountain Biking Association and the North Shore Mountain Bike Association.
Why they get the nod:
Centered around Hamilton, Montana this group has been heavily affected by trail loss due to Wilderness Study Areas and Proposed Wilderness. After losing more than 130 miles of trail, they, along with some local motorized recreation groups, filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service. Late this summer it was temporarily successful and allowed mountain bikes back onto the trails while a new travel plan was created. Unfortunately, these trails have since been closed to bikes and the Bitterroot Backcountry Cyclists continue to push back.
Why they get the nod:
This group started with a local NICA Team needing a closer place to ride. From that need, the Stillwater Area Scholastic Cycling Advocates was born and they've been developing and maintaining trails in often overlooked and forgotten plots of land. In addition to providing students with trails to train and race on, they’re also building a culture of stewardship in the riders of tomorrow.
Why they get the nod:
Grassroots advocacy is the backbone of mountain biking. But there’s only so much that a small local trail association can do, especially when it comes to lobbying state legislatures or big picture capacity. The state of Michigan has banded together under the MMBA and its 14 and growing chapters and clubs are getting additional support and resources. Following in the footsteps of Vermont, New Jersey and Washington State, they are showing the value of clubs and chapters working together. Other states and provinces should be paying attention.
Why they get the nod:
The NSMBA has always pushed the envelope of mountain biking. And now they’re making the sport of mountain biking more accessible to more people. Under construction right now is a new accessible trail on Mount Seymour that, when completed, will offer a fully aMTB friendly loop. In addition, the NSMBA released their Trails for All Statement and although it has received criticism from online commenters, it’s meant new and exciting partnerships for the Trail Association that will have a lasting effect on mountain biking for the future.
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But also the volunteer grant writers securing funding for our trails, the board members willing to sift through documents and sit through countless hours of municipal meetings to get out foot in the door to build the trails in the first place, the accountants that keep our organizations fiscally sound and qualified as non-profits, the attorneys willing to write out agreements and negotiate with municipalities and land owners, the fundraisers tap local businesses, nonprofits, etc to get the badly needed money to build and maintain our trails, and all the other administrative positions that go overlooked.
While none of these will ever be as exciting or sexy as throwing and shaping dirt, they still just as vitally important.
So thank you all!
Those people deserve a pat on the back or a pint as much as the front-line builders!
Of course it did. God forbid organizations do something has horrendous as trying to be inclusive and speak to people as they like to be spoken to. Truly the worst thing happening in the world right now.
I think it's worth mentioning that online shitlords are by far the minority. They make a lot of noise online because it's the only place where they can spout their garbage opinions in an anonymous setting and not get direct backlash.
Huge thanks to all the people who advocate and work on trails, you generally are some of the best humans on earth!
1) we're certainly committed to reducing the environmental impact of mountain biking, in many ways - obvious ones like minimizing trail impacts on surrounding habitat, as well as less obvious ones like figuring out soft-surface trail connections through the town trying to enable people to 'ride to the ride', instead of drive, and having trails near their place of residence,
2) recreational cyclists are also comfortable on bikes: which can mean they're easier to convince to commute via bike than people who aren't. So getting more people on bikes works towards reduced GHG goals - everything from pumptracks to get kids on bikes early, to the aforementioned soft surface connectors work towards reducing the carbon footprint.
At the NSMBA, we're beginning to work with HUB Cycling (a great group focused on urban and commuter cycling route advocacy), as we have a huge amount of potential overlap, goals, and resources we can share.
Certainly recreational cycling isn't carbon neutral, and is nothing but a luxury. But its all tied together.
And we're seeing the effects of global warming on the trails, and have had management discussions about how to best approach it; but at a very local level.
Outside the NSMBA, i also sit on the Outdoor Rec Council of BC where we to talk and think about this a bit more.
Maybe I'm weird, but I've never felt the need to walk around with a "I'm hetero' sign stuck to my bike, especially while riding my f*cking bike.
Does this group advocate everyone notifying everyone else of their sexual orientation, or whether they 'identify' as either male, female, or a Duck-Billed Platypus when they enter their trail system?
All of the above is not the LAST thing on my mind when I ride, it isn't even in the same stratosphere as my mind when I ride.
I'm of the opinion when riding my bike that if you're also on the trails riding YOUR bike-I don't care whether you're male, female, or a fricken circus bear- you have the same right to be there as I do. NOTHING else matters, or should be BROUGHT INTO THE FuGGiN EQUATION.
Is that too much to ask?
Having done a bit of mtb in Italy and Austria, I would be really interested to see articles about what the rest of the world is achieving in terms of advocacy and trail access.
In Italy, tourist shuttle companies were shuttling the shit out of fall line trails that looked like no one worked on.
In Austria, we either rode Park or down hiking trails (once) to the chagrin of locals and had a farmer shake his fist and take photos.
What’s the rest of the world doing???!
I used to be on the committee of a local MTB club until the start of this year but resigned after I left the district...and TBH we were flat out looking after trail and managing a race series and had no time for advocacy of any sort...
The late great Christopher Hitchens wrote an eye opening slap in the face truth filled book a while back:
slate.com/news-and-politics/2003/10/the-fanatic-fraudulent-mother-teresa.html
[runs for door]
You personally may not agree with that persons building style or agenda. If someone puts a shovel to the trail there intentions are genuine. They want to give back to the sport.
What I will never condone is the dismantling of some ones labor because an individual or group deems it un safe or does not fit there personal values.
Coincidence? Is this a sanctioned E bike trail?
Please correct me if I'm wrong!
. It's a touchy subject E bikes. As E bikes are also considered a vehicle to help disabled enjoy the sport.
I guess one needs a politically correct way to group disabled people that wish to enjoy mountain biking.
Mind you the disabled folk don't want to be labeled at all.
Would be awesome to see some people ripping down this trail on a quad MTB.
aMTB =/= eMTB.
The NSMBA has an 'Ebike Policy', which addresses some of this?
docs.google.com/document/d/1QUQ9GCKRr0q14uA1RzmfYmbBRNaRfoQ6eUkmXrTXnA4/edit#heading=h.gjdgxs
Long and the short of it, we fully support aMTB access. Currently, RST BC, an arm of FLNRO-RD, recognizes that aMTBs may utilize an electric motor (and as the person who helped pull the aMTB and rider pictured up Mountain Highway with a tie-down, I support this!), and define aMTB's as having three or four wheels. We'd generally align with this policy.
The pictured aMTB rider will be the first to tell you he doesn't want "adaptive trails" to be thought of as green - he wants double black aMTB trails! Which really just means making sure some trails are wide enough to fit the bike, have appropriate corner radii, and being careful with grades. He rips - he's already broken that bike several times and had to have it re-welded with big gussets.
Remember the early days of the Shore when nothing was built to take punishment yet people were pushing it? That's where we're at with aMTBs, and its rad!
Read the NSMBA stance on E bikes.
Thank you ! It's tuff to step up and make a decision where you stand on E bikes as bike shops would enjoy the new monies generated.
E bikes are great for commuting on pavement.
Thanks Cooper for the clarification.