Gary Sjoquist Mountain Bike Hall of Fame Inductee and Super Advocate for Mountain Biking (#74)

Trail EAffect Episode 74 with Gary Sjoquist Mountain Bike Advocate and Hall of Fame Member

• The Gary Sjoquist Back Story on how he found mountain biking
• Becoming and Advocate in Mountain Biking and Cycling in General
  • IMBA State Rep in the early 90’s
  • Contracting with the MN DNR for a bicycle conference
  • Could see that access might become an issue across different public agencies
  • Became a voice for Mountain Biking / published a newsletter called off-road rider
• Cuyuna evolving into the state of MN first recreation meeting in ’93 and traveling there in ‘95
  • Got local leaders attend meetings about mountain biking to educate land managers
  • North Central Mountain Bike Resource Group evolved into MORC
  • IMBA Trail Care Crew first showed up in 1996
  • Director of Dakota County Asked “What do Mountain Bikers Want at Lebanon Hills?”
  • Getting the right people and provide the right resources for them
• Encountering resistance to Mountain Biking in the 90’s
  • Gary – A Prisoner of Logic
  • Mountain Bikers do care about our natural resources
  • Stewardship has been critical for Mountain Bikers
• Famous Failure…
  • Hosting a Mountain Bike Advocacy Meeting at the race venue after a Mountain Bike Race and only 2 people showed up…
  • Racers and Advocacy or lack of
• The WORS Model VS the MNMTB Model
  • MNMTB as a Non-Profit, 2021 MNMTB gave back almost $52,000 to clubs that hosted race events
• Working with IMBA Early On
  • Gary is a unique advocate as he’s an advocate for both road and mountain bike access
  • IMBA Provided a lot of resources to local clubs
• Directional Trails and the important role they play in trail systems
  • Sight Lines not as necessary
  • Legacy of separate Trails in MN
  • Improves conflict management
  • Reduces the need for Maintenance on the trails
  • Riding the wrong way on trails is just misguided
  • Directional Trails can handle a lot more users
• Quality Bike Products (QBP) Bringing Gary on staff as an advocate at QBP
  • Lots of Freedom to work in the advocacy world
  • Helped Start Bikes Belong, which became People for Bikes
  • Additional Resources by befriending a member of congress
  • Traveling to Washington DC lobby for funding to build the first 23 miles at Cuyuna as a pilot project
  • Launching the MN Highschool League with the help of QBP
  • Needing to make sure that Cuyuna was built to the highest standard
  • Creating perimeters where the trail building company at Cuyuna had to demonstrate their qualifications as a quality trail building company to bid on the project
• Was there anyone else in a Role like Gary’s Role for any other companies?
• Being inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 2012
• Advice Gary has for communities in terms of facing resistance and changing the narrative
• Gary Being Thankful for “Being For Something” instead of against something, and something as bikes!
• How NICA and Highschool Mountain Bike Racing / has changed the future of Mountain Biking in a positive way
• The Economic Impact the NICA Races have brought to communities in MN
• What Gary Looks for in a Mountain Bike Community
  • A well thought out trail network
  • Signage that makes sense
  • Infrastructure around the trail network
  • Who’s the Club taking care of the trails
  • Accommodations for Mountain Bikers
• Closing Comments from Gary Sjoquist

Links:

Minnesota Cycling Association: https://minnesotacycling.org/

Quality Bicycle Products: https://www.qbp.com/

IMBA: https://www.imba.com/

People For Bikes: https://www.peopleforbikes.org/

Cuyuna: https://www.cuyuna.com/

Lebanon Hills: https://www.co.dakota.mn.us/parks/parksTrails/LebanonHills

Redhead Bike Park: https://www.mndiscoverycenter.com/visit/redhead-mountain-bike-park/

Biketown: https://freehubmag.com/biketown

This Podcast has been edited and produced by Evolution Trail Services

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Evolution Trail Services: www.evotrails.com

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