Mountain bike trails and bikepacking routes can create opportunities for rural communities. Long-term success, however, depends on earning the support of the people who already call those places home.

A decade ago, Gallup, New Mexico wasn’t exactly known as a trail town. It was a rural hub on the edge of the Navajo Nation, surrounded by wide desert, mesas, and sandstone formations, but not much in the way of tourism buzz.

Then came the High Desert Trail System, a volunteer-built network of singletrack that began attracting riders from across the region.