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