The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of travel, which has left my email inbox and DMs bursting at the seams and unanswered (apologies!!!). First, I ventured to eastern Oregon to cover another story about a bike park at a ski resort. It was three days of riding, exploring, and meeting many amazing people on and off the trail (article coming soon). After returning to Portland, I hopped on a plane bound for Arizona and the RezDuro enduro race on Navajo land in the northeastern part of the state. I returned to Portland late last Sunday night, only to step back into the classroom teaching as my semester began. I’m a little over a week removed from RezDuro, and I can’t shake it from my mind. It was special. Let me tell you why …

By now, you’ve seen or heard about our user survey. Many of you have already filled it out. Thank you. The results of this survey represent essential data for us moving forward as a magazine. You see, we want to make informed decisions to serve you better. To better serve you we want and need to more clearly understand who you are. That’s why the survey matters.

The journey from discovering the versatility of a concrete placer to designing and bringing to life the Champions Mattock has been an incredible adventure. Through research, prototyping, and collaboration with Up.Bike, and valuable feedback from trail builders, this tool has evolved into the Terracotta, a beautifully crafted and lightweight companion for trail champions and trail enthusiasts alike. With its multifunctional design and the convenience of eliminating the constant tool swapping, maintaining trails has become more efficient and enjoyable. The Terracotta stands as a testament to the passion and dedication of trail champions and serves as a powerful tool to ensure the preservation and enhancement of our beloved trails for future generations to enjoy.

Years ago, I remember being introduced to the term “BHAG” while reading some of Jim Collins’ business books. BHAG stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal. The idea behind it is to set challenging goals since they will push us farther than we could do if we didn’t have them. We might swap out that phrase today and say something like, “Go big or go home.” The question we wrestle with is, do we have a BHAG? Or, more aptly put in the context of Trail Builder Magazine, do you have a trail-building BHAG? What about building a 5,000-mile mountain bike trail?

My favorite podcast (by far) is the Trail EAffect podcast, hosted by Josh Blum. During the week, I hit up the local bike park in Portland for lunch laps. It’s a 20-minute pedal from home. What do I do? I listen to a Trail EAffect episode each time (I have a lot of earlier episodes I’m catching up on). If you haven’t listened yet, hold on because you’re going to want to start. Why? It’s all about trail building. Yep, that’s it. I couldn’t be more excited to feature Josh as we do a little Q&A for you to learn more about the voice behind the podcast

Wyoming Pathways is a statewide nonprofit in Wyoming that aims to improve active transportation and recreational trail opportunities. They have worked for eleven years to help make communities more bikeable and walkable, and building trails on public lands has been a big part of this work.

In their line of work are three “must-haves” for getting trails built on public lands in Wyoming: funds, a qualified builder, and land manager cooperation. Having funds and a qualified builder is something that you either have or don’t, but building or mending a relationship with a land manager takes nurturing, understanding, and time.

I’m excited to share an interview with Mario Bescós of TRACKS BikeParks in Spain. While there are similarities with the challenges of trail building worldwide, each place is also unique with its history, culture, and regulations. I trust you’ll find this interview encouraging and inspiring. Let’s do this!

It’s been two weeks since we released our first print issue. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect, and I worked hard to temper my enthusiasm and expectations. Many of you know any time you start something from scratch, it takes a while to get going. It’s been a year and a half building toward this day since I published the website and created our social media accounts back in February 2022. I was always aiming for this day with eager anticipation, and I couldn’t be more blown away (we’re already almost sold out of Issue 1). In the midst of working on Issue 2 and growing our online content, I wanted to take this moment to pause and catch you up on some exciting things here.

As snow continues to melt higher up in the mountains over the past few months, bike parks have begun opening one by one. That included the Timberline Bike Park this past weekend that sits perched on the side of Mt Hood here in Oregon. Since I missed opening day last year, I knew I had to be there this year.

Mountain biking in Europe is booming; there are huge good initiatives. But, similar to any other project or initiative in the USA, we must deal with regulations and rules across different countries. It is tough to find a common standard to work with. Things are progressing well, but slowly and with tons of bureaucracy involved and lots of opposition from authorities that don’t understand the treasure they have in their forests in the form of trails.