Trailblazing Pan-European Mountain Bike Project Gathers Momentum

Need for courses and further education confirmed through academic research

The project consortium involved in the DIRTT project (Developing Inter-European Resources for Trail Building Training) delivered its first research results. Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) conducted an MTB trail sector survey, followed by a consumer survey.

The trail sector survey was aimed at trail building companies, the forestry sector, tourism professionals and other stakeholders involved in the planning, design, construction, maintenance, and management of MTB trails. The research highlighted the skill gaps currently present in the sector and that there is a wide range of training needs across all stages of trail development and management, with construction and maintenance topics highlighted as the highest priority.

The majority of stakeholders who took part in the survey agreed that there is a strong demand for training that is currently not available. Employers indicated that is difficult to recruit skilled / competent employees and that Introducing certified training in the sector would be of significant benefit and increase the quality and sustainability of mountain bike trails.

Key themes for the training requirements of the industry included but were not limited to, trail sustainability, safety, drainage, working with different soil types and documentation. The needs of volunteers were very similar although their needs were mostly focussed on building good trails utilising hand tools rather than machinery.

To ensure future training programmes and trail guidelines are also tailored to the kind of experience mountain bikers seek nowadays, ENU conducted a second survey targeted at the end consumer, the rider. The results of this survey help the consortium partners to understand trail user objectives and preferences. It also gives better insights in the kind of trail characteristics and features mountain bikers like to see on various types of trails. A distinction is also made between rider ability and which trail characteristics they felt would allow them to progress.

Trail riding was the most popular single discipline, selected by 76% of respondents. Enduro was the next most popular choice, selected by 63% of respondents. This result also reflected in the type of trails respondents ride most frequently. Most mountain bikers ride either easier or more difficult singletrack trails with connection to nature, descents, optional lines, and surface quality being ranked consistently high among all trail types. The research also showed that the majority of the respondents (90%) would like to progress their riding ability but that a significant proportion of riders (37%) indicated having insufficient access to trails suitable to facilitate their skills progression. Many participants (65%) indicated riding purpose-built trails was important or very important to them

When asked about people’s motivation to ride a mountain bike, most mentioned reasons have not changed that much compared to earlier studies. Exercise, connection to nature, play, challenge, and escape (solitude) made it into the top 5. Mountain bikers feel connected to nature and would like to protect nature with many putting environmental concern above trail quality in most areas. However, this is not always reflected in the actions or expectations of respondents where some education may be required to align their intentions with their actions.

Both reports will be used in the next stage of the project where the partners will develop an educational framework which will form the basis of all future DIRTT courses. The first course from the DIRTT Project, one of the requirements of the current EU Erasmus+ funding, is a Level 5 EQF (European Qualification Framework) a 900 hour college course on mountain bike trail building.