Happy Trails aims to get riders back on track to being considerate, mindful users of the routes we all enjoy on two wheels.
Pete caught up with a man that wears many hats, Mr Sam Bowell, about what Happy Trails is all about and how you can get stuck in.
Photos by Tom B Photography.
How did Happy Trails come about?
I suppose the whole thing has been brewing for quite sometime now. I’ve been watching and waiting for things to come to a bit of a head around our trail networks, and I guess it has finally happened. The response to the HKT Podcast episode Davi and I did last year really highlighted a broader sense of concern and frustration amongst riders than I had imagined, and since then it has really stayed on the fringes of most discussions I am seeing/hearing.
So anyway, I recently bought some new surf equipment and in one of the packages came a ‘Surf Etiquette’ pamphlet. Just a little, simple thing; friendly in tone and easy on the eye, produced by the shop and (I guess) sent out in all of their mail order things. I put a copy of it on my Insta story, asking if we needed something similar for MTB (half joking to be honest) and people started responding to it.
Once of those people was Andy, a buddy of mine whom I met a good while ago when we were both doing Cytech training together. At the time he worked for Trek, but now he’s at Madison and back home north of the wall, enjoying the clean air and quiet trails of the Scottish wilderness; or that’s what I thought.
Over the last few months we have been conversing about the problems we share and also those which are more specific to our individual areas, so when I put that pamphlet out there he immediately hit on it and said “Think we could put something out there ourselves? ”A couple of weeks, some long video chats, multiple email/Whatsapp/Insta threads and another bod in the form of James later and here we are, pushing a whole new venture towards Happy Trails.
How many people make up Ride Happy Trails and what do they do?
Right now there’s myself, Andy and James. We all come from slightly different backgrounds and have different contacts, which really seems to have helped spread the workload and also stretch the reach of our potential influence.
Andy has many years within the industry under his belt and his current position at Madison as Senior Product Promoter helps keep him firmly in touch with bricks and mortar as well as the distribution side of things, both invaluable for getting feedback as well as point of sale distribution for our message.
James worked with Andy at Madison before moving to his current position at ADVNTR Media Group, where he heads up their creative team. Having worked with big brands and media teams as a design and branding guru, (I believe the Wideopenmag logo owes more than a little to the man?) he has been integral to the visual impact and marketability of the Happy Trails idea. I definitely feel like we’ve somewhat hijacked his life on this one a bit, so thanks a million for the real hard graft mate!
I am the manager at Rogate DH B1kepark but am also working towards better, more sustainable riding locally (hopefully nationally) through discussion with landowners/managers/users, and through education using our B1ke Mountain Bike Skills Instructor (MTBSI) programme. Instructing private clients, school and kids ‘ShredSchool’ groups, and building up a network of new instructors to introduce better riding practice and a better understanding of how we interact with our riding environments. This gives me the perfect platform to discuss directly with our user-base the Happy Trails message, and also to introduce it to other venues and land managers.
Why now?
Things have been slowly changing out on the trails for several years now, but this last 12 months has seen a huge influx of new users and a lot of the unspoken rules of etiquette have definitely gotten lost in the wind. The amount of dispute and confrontation has risen dramatically and we are starting to see loss of trail (much of it which has been without issue for decades until now) as a result.
Happy Trails is about trying to reintroduce these values through positive reinforcement and education rather than increasing the amount of negativity and separation between outdoors user groups.
How do you go about finding the right people to help fly the flag for Happy Trails?
Anyone who enjoys outdoors spaces and wants to help further both their’s, and more importantly other people’s enjoyment of them, is the right person.
Really this is a movement that we want to grow not based upon our abilities to push the agenda, but because the people we are trying to represent and fight for believe in it, want it and can live by it.
What are your plans going forward?
The sky’s the limit right?
Our aim is to be as representative of the riding community as possible; across regions, skill and participation level, and to always show that we can be not just responsible, but proactive in the preservation of our great outdoors.
We hope to be able to work with as many brands, media outlets, shops, trail centres, bikeparks and riders as possible in order to provide a unified and nationally understood approach to the furtherance of our sport in a way which we can all be proud.
It’s not about us as individuals and we are mad keen to get everyone involved who feels they are a part of the community, it’s the only way it can work.
Are you going to team up with any other similar organisations?
It’s been real cool to converse with so many different people, from different groups and different areas, about these same issues over the last few months, so I’m properly excited about the opportunities that may arise and the results we can achieve.
There’s obvious crossover with groups such as Trash Free Trails as well as a whole bunch of trail organisations and advocacy groups, so hopefully we will be able to join together and punch out the messages that will benefit all of us.
Where next for Happy Trails? How do you plan to go about getting extra helpers etc. etc.?
We’ve started at the easiest and most obvious place, Instagram. We welcome any discussion and real-world experience related to any of our posts through there, and ultimately hope that the community can come together and build itself around that. There are also some pretty big conversations around some hefty social media projects, but it’s far too early to talk about any of these just yet.
Besides the social media aspect we will be using our personal strengths to engage with as many people as possible; from face-face discussion, to old-skool printed flyers and POS materials, strategic ‘advertising’ and media hounding (well done for taking the first bite Wideopenmag).
Hopefully things will spread organically and rather than feeling lectured to and pressured, riders will feel that they want to be involved.
Anybody to thank at this point in the journey? Long suffering spouses/parents/friends?
Everyone who has reached out and supported us so far! It has been amazingly touching to get the level of response that we have and there have been more than a few fanboy moments for all of us. Thanks everyone!
On my part I have to thank my wife for consistently putting up with me and my never-ending, ever-increasing list of new jobs and projects which keep me from doing helpful things like DIY. Also anyone who has taken the time to listen to my thoughts and get involved, it makes all the difference, truly.
All of us have put an insane amount of our lives into the world of MTB and there’s no doubt that all of our families and friends have had to put up with more than their fair share of 2-wheeled gibberish at some point, so they all deserve their moment in the light and a wee pat on the back for being there for us. Cheers everyone.
