Meet the New Trail Crew Maintenance Specialist
Southwest Utah has world class mountain biking. We know cuz we live here and ride, a lot. We also know that you are in the know as well. We see all the locals out pedaling, all the cars from out of town with bikes on the back and the swarms of NICA athletes rippin’ it up. The secret, if it ever was one, is out and everyone got the word.
Mountain biking by definition takes place on natural surface trails which is land management speak for dirt. The thing about dirt is that it isn’t permanent especially in a dry desert like ours. The more users, the more wear on the trails.
We started the Red Rock Trail Crew a couple of years ago with the sole purpose of maintaining the trails that we so love to ride. The riding opportunities in Southwest Utah are incredible, but they need to be maintained to ensure they stay incredible.
Up until now, the Trail Crew has consisted of a bunch of Red Rock Bicycle employees and local community members who understood this problem and were willing to donate their time, when possible, to work toward fixing and maintaining our trails. They have put in countless hours, way more than one can expect from volunteers and we are stoked with what they have been able to accomplish. Unfortunately, the task is a bit bigger than what a handful of passionate individuals can do in their spare time.
This is where Bill comes in.
We are super stoked to have Bill on board maintaining our trails. Many of you know him from his time in the Springdale area and probably have benefitted from a bunch of the work that he put into our trail system over the past couple of decades. For those of you don’t know him, he comes with an impressive resume. He worked at Zion Cycles for many years and has worked along side local trail building legend, Morgan Harris for almost as long.
As a small sample of the work he has done, he was one of the handful of people who spent several days finishing the construction on Dead Ringer. The BLM with their ACE Crew had built most of the trail leaving a section of very difficult work undone. Bill, and several others, went out and on their own time finished the trail. This including building a huge rock section that linked the two pieces of trail together. You’ve probably never even noticed this section because it was done so well that it has held ever since.
Having Bill on board means we have a full time, year-round, highly skilled and motivated individual dedicated to maintaining the trails in Washington and Iron County. If you are not grinning after reading that last sentence, you should be.
Bill will continue working on trails throughout the year and we’ll keep you updated on his progress. We would love to hear what you think about his work and the program in general. If you see something that needs some love, feel free to let us know here.
We need to thank our partners in this project.