For Mark and I, a trip to Oregon in 2016 was the epiphany to our understanding of trail advocacy and bureaucracy.

That year, we volunteered for Trans-Cascadia, a four-day blind enduro race, without really knowing what we were signing up for. There, beside a bonfire that burned as hot as the sun, we met the masterminds behind the adventure race: Nick Gibson, Tommy Magrath and Alex Gardner. With the help of hundreds of volunteer hours, these men spend the better part of their summers uncovering old, unutilized and decrepit trails, saving them from being swallowed by the forest. It turns out, this forgotten network of trails is bloody fun to ride bikes on. For the next two seasons, Mark and I made damn sure to block off a week in late September or early October to participate in Trans-Cascadia, volunteering again in 2017 and “racing” in 2018.

During our downtime at Trans-Cascadia, we learned about the trailbuilding and advocacy efforts in the state from Gibson and Adam Craig, a Giant Ambassador, trail advocate, Oregon resident and veritable badass on any kind of bike. We were shocked to learn of Oregon State’s no-net gains mandate on trails, which restricts new trailbuilding. It’s a very different outlook than our home province of British Columbia. This mandate is designed, in part, to encourage users to take care of the current trail stock, which in Oregon equates to thousands of miles of multi-use singletrack.

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