Trail Heroes: Lars Romig of Sedona
I set out to launch a magazine and create a media platform to celebrate and elevate trail building. Early on, I came up with this statement, "We believe that trail builders, the unsung heroes, are integral to mountain biking." While this includes everyone who builds and maintains trails, I especially had volunteers in mind. That's why I am starting a new series to celebrate you.
I'm calling it Trail Heroes.
Yes, everyone involved in trail building is truly a hero. Whether you're running a for-profit company, leading a trail stewardship non-profit, working in government, teaching in academia, or creating products for the trail-building industry, you are a hero for what you do. We need you. At the same time, the vast majority of trail building work and maintenance actually falls on the broad shoulders of volunteers. You know, those who dig for free. You're a special kind of hero.
Last week, I naively tossed out on social media a statement that we're looking for recommendations for volunteer trail builders who we could interview for this series. While I already had a few interviews lined up and completed, I did not anticipate the overwhelming response. You care! As I mentioned yesterday on social media, I'm still digging through the deluge of emails, comments, and DMs. Let's just say there's enough interest and response that we seemingly have interviews to conduct for infinity. Thank you!!!
To kick off this series, I tapped Lars Romig, who lives, rides, digs, and adventures in one of the most iconic mountain bike destinations: Sedona. I've actually known Lars for several years now. When I launched Loam Coffee, he was one of our regular customers early on, ordering a 5lb bag of coffee each month. I know he's been active in the trail-building community in Sedona and throughout the Verde Valley. Let's jump into this ...
Sean: How long have you been involved in trail building?
Lars: I guess you could say I’ve been involved with trail building since I was 14. When I was a kid, we all used to dig to build dirt jumps for BMX bikes. As I transitioned to mountain biking around 20, I started to get more involved in trying to get the type of trail experience that I wanted, which led me to get involved with the Verde Valley Cyclists Coalition. At this point, I didn’t know much about what I was doing. I was just slowly figuring out the ins and outs of advocacy and building relationships.
Sean: What has your level of involvement been? (any formal leadership roles?)
Lars: I would say heavily involved. It started simple, but as this grew I started to see a bigger picture of what could happen in the Verde Valley and Sedona. At first, I just brought my ideas to the board and tried to execute some of those ideas with their support. This then led to my joining the board and eventually becoming president of the Coalition for five years. This was a heavy lift that brought a lot of goals to fruition but also resulted in some burnout and some positive growth with the failures. Since then, I’ve retained my role as a board member and lead of the mountain bike committee.
Sean: How or why did you start?
Lars: I started because I wanted to see certain types of experiences for mountain biking. At the time, I was very much enticed by downhill racing and having somewhere to ride my bike on Mingus Mountain when I lived in Jerome. It started selflessly but now I feel I see a much larger picture to accomplish for the broader area that supports two-wheeled travel in a wide spectrum of experiences.
Sean: What are some unique challenges for trail building in your area?
Lars: We have very unique terrain, which is a blessing and a curse. It can be hard to get through certain areas because of rock features, bands, faults, etc., but you can also create some amazing control points to utilize for the trail, which gives the unique features we have on Sedona trails. Another big challenge we have is the large number of hikers coming to visit Sedona and the greater Verde Valley. It becomes hard to get user dispersion and maintain a good experience with so many people coming. Our trails are also very erosive, which, with water, wind, and heavy use, make for trail treads that morph constantly.
Sean: What are one or two success stories that you're most proud of?
Lars: The first success story that I’m proud of is bringing the community together. We adopted many of the user-built trails, like Hiline, Hangover, and Hogs of Sedona, and were able to maintain and enhance the unique nature of those trails as they were brought onto the Forest Service system. The enhancement portion is also continually evolving. This process also cemented the importance of building good relationships within the community.
The second, I’m not sure if I should say, but it seems like it’s over or on the finish line at this point. The upcoming Hardline trail in Sedona is an advanced-level trail very similar to Hiline, Hangover, or Hogs, which has some very unique rock features and will be very exciting to build.
Sean: Favorite tool?
Lars: Anything that helps me move and manipulate big rocks. Digging bar, rock nets, rock saws, chisels, hammers, brute strength.
Sean: What bike are you currently riding?
Lars: Specialized Enduro, Stumpy EVO, Epic 8 EVO.
Sean: What is your favorite kind of trail to ride on?
Lars: Steep rock slabs connected by well-built dirt singletrack.
Sean: What are some of the biggest changes in trail building and mountain biking you've witnessed over the past 5-10 years?
Lars: Tons more bike optimization in trails and land managers that are very supportive of it.
So many more people on bikes. Blessing and a curse from a trail builder’s standpoint. You put trail out there with a certain vision on how it will be ridden but then those masses ride very different than your intent which morphs trails to a significant extent sometimes.
E-bikes which were very taboo and still are a bit. Love them or hate them, I see huge opportunities for the public with them now. I was a skeptic for some time myself. I don’t ride one as they are not legal here. Still, there are considerable opportunities to make efficient and fun transportation/recreation around town and get people out of cars compared to regular bikes.
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That concludes our interview. If you have a story to tell, drop me an email.
Interviewer: Sean Benesh Photos: Supplied by Lars Romig. Photos by Edward Dennis and Nate Hills
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sean Benesh
Sean is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Trail Builder Mag. He is also the Communications Director for the Northwest Trail Alliance in Portland, Oregon. While in grad school, he worked as a mountain biking guide in Southern Arizona. Sean also spends time in the classroom as a digital media instructor at Warner Pacific University.
