UK Trails Project - Update July 2024

Our Dave is currently knee deep in data as he is in the drafting process of preparing the 'Your Trail' Report.

To gather the information to start this process he visited 16 venues across the UK and met with almost 400 mountain bikers, trail builders and land managers to establish the key themes to explore.

Then working with Edinburgh Napier University, expanded on these themes by creating three separate online surveys to gain a more detailed insight into the points raised by each stakeholder group with the surveys circulated targeting riders, trail builders, land managers.

Project Manager Dave and Napier Lead Dr. Tom Campbell are currently analysing over 2000 responses to the surveys to create a solid evidence base to guide future work and form the basis of the Report.

Dave is also now conducting many interviews with key stakeholders in the sport from all 4 home nations and these interviews will be analysed to provide further evidence on where future work should be directed.

By listening to all stakeholders and employing an evidence-based approach, the project will be able to bring all stakeholders with them to recommend the actions required to have the biggest impact for each home nation.

Results of the survey and interviews, and details of the work packages for the second phase of the Project will be presented in the “Right Trail, Right Place, Right Time, Right People” report, launched at the Scottish Mountain Bike Conference 2024, taking place on the 7th to 9th November at the Macdonald Cardrona Hotel, in the Tweed Valley.

The Boss and our Dave had a proper ‘pinch me’ moment earlier this year when they travelled from Bentonville to Chicago to visit SRAM MTB HQ. The invite was extended through the monthly UK Trails Project update calls with Rob Cappucci, who is the SRAM USA Director of Advocacy and Industry Partnerships and Alex Rafferty who is the Global MTB Communications Manager for SRAM.

The Boss was invited to brief them on the work of DMBinS, its set up, core aims and its partners. They were then joined by Clint Weber, VP Sales Operations and New Business Growth, and Dave was able to provide an update in his role as Project Manager for the UKTP, focusing on the current UK wide survey, emerging themes and next steps. The group discussed how the project moves to deliver the 'Your Trail' Report findings to help improve the trail network across the UK.