I Need Help
Feb 25th 2008
I’m one of those people who has a hard time asking for help, but I’ve got a project I can’t do alone.
I’m working on riding all the great trails in North America and compiling information about them so other people can do the same. I’m going to create one big resource so that no matter where you’re going — for work or play or whatever else — you can find a good trail to ride.
This is no small endeavor, as I’m sure you can imagine. Here’s what you can do to help:
1. Give me trail suggestions. It’s impossible to know everything about the mountain biking opportunities in this country, and researching trails in every state (plus Canada!) is a huge undertaking. So if you’ve ridden an awesome trail on vacation or you used to live somewhere with great riding, please let me know. Any recommendations you have for restaurants and lodging would be much appreciated as well.
2. Give me sponsorship advice. I can’t do this for free, unfortunately, and trying to finance it is another big job. But the beauty of it is that I’ll be on roads, at trailheads and in cities all over America: there must be companies that would like their name to be seen. If you know one of those companies, or are one of those companies — or you have some other great fundraising ideas — let me know!
Thank you so much. And if I can help you with something, let me know. As one of my riding friends just told me today: We mountain bikers need to hook each other up whenever possible.
6 Comments »
lidarman on 03 Mar 2008 at 12:48 pm #
That is very ambitious Marty. Are you going to ride them and then write your own description for all the trails or combine your own data with links to other site (for example utahmountainbiking.com).
The ideal interface I was looking into was doing a wiki-type database/interface with google earth mapping, downloadable gps tracks, lists of lodging, camping, eating near the trail. The interface would be user editable and funded by ads from the restaurants and lodging in the area. Someone on mtbr started a similar project and I thought it could really flourish if enough people submitted trail data.
marty on 04 Mar 2008 at 2:43 pm #
Hey Rich,
Maybe you and I and the other mtbr person should team up! Your interface plan is awesome. It proves you have a great deal more internet savvy than I do right now.
I would LOVE to ride all these trails myself, but that might just be a lurid fantasy. I guess I figured I’d get started and see how far I could take it. Maybe a bunch of different riders could contribute.
John bevans on 24 Jun 2008 at 3:20 pm #
I can help fer sure on this. It would just require a me taking a few more notes when rising these places and getting something back to you. Standard criteria forms would be ideal to capture the common stuff: Trail head description, directions. GPS (coordinates is a possibility) hotels, food, bike shops etc.. Maybe we could sit down and chat and come up with a standard list you would want to capture for each trail to ensure you get as much useful information
marty on 25 Jun 2008 at 4:13 pm #
Rad, John. I’d love to hear where you’re thinking of going. Let’s have lunch soon!
Russ Willacker on 26 Feb 2010 at 8:52 am #
Marty–
I just read your blog post. I’m packing up all my stuff and moving to Boulder in 2 weeks, and am trying to get involved in the mountain bike community (hopefully one day designing, engineering), and I’d be interested in helping any way I can. I don’t know exactly what you need help with (aside from the financing), but I have lots of engineering, graphic design, and photography experience that I’d be happy to throw your way if you need it.
I also come from the west coast (yes, it is a coast) of Michigan and can offer you a whole bunch of trail recommendations from my area.
Let me know if there’s something I can get involved with.
I also see that this was posted about 2 years ago…..I have no idea if this project is even still alive. Give me a shout on my email if you want to chat.
Russ
marty on 26 Feb 2010 at 3:58 pm #
Hey Russ,
Welcome. While progress is slow, I’m still working on this!
I have yet to get the money to do anything huge, but I keep chipping away at it. I’ll keep you in the loop! Cheers.