As we continue our series on interviewing professional trail builders, we couldn’t be more excited about the response. When we tossed it out on social media a few weeks ago about whether anyone was interested in being interviewed, we had no idea the kind of response we’d get! It’s fun and educating to hear from professional trail builders worldwide. For this interview, we move the conversation from British Columbia, Canada, to Australia, where we hear from Garreth Paton of Iconic Trails.

Last fall, we posted an article by David Alden-St. Pierre called “Trail Builder Setups,” featuring how one creative trail builder modified a B.O.B. trailer to carry his tools into the backcountry. We’re now expanding on that article and creating a series showcasing how different trail builders take their equipment to work on projects. After that first article, many of you sent photos or tagged us in your posts showing your fun and creative setups. Now it’s time to take this to the next level and explore this topic more.

Yes, we’re a magazine. But can you have a mag without merch (merchandise, gear, etc)? First of all, the question you might be thinking is, “why?” Great question. I vowed to myself that as I build this magazine (and company) I will be as transparent as possible. There are a few specific reasons we’re rolling out our own gear and other offerings. What are they?

It’s not an overstatement that British Columbia is a Mecca and hotspot for mountain biking. With iconic places like the North Shore and Whistler (and many more), people travel from all over the world to ride and shred the loam. As we continue our Professional Builder Profile interview series, I am excited to introduce you to Patrick Podolski. Patrick has been digging and building on the North Shore for years. He now runs his own operation called Golden Dirt Trails.

I am excited to announce that the winners of our giveaway of the pre-release print edition of Volume 1, Issue 0, have been notified. It was quite a scene early this morning. We had a room full of math PhDs crunching numbers, creating algorithms, running different equations, and ensuring that we genuinely did randomly draw winners. Lots of white lab coats and pocket protectors. Ok, well, maybe not quite, but we did randomly draw 7 winners. These winners represented a blend of new people who signed up for our newsletter for a chance to win along with all of the current subscribers.

I am excited the announce a very limited run of our first print issue of Trail Builder Mag. As a matter of fact, there are only ten copies in existence. So what’s the deal?

This really is an experiment or trial. Why is that important? I’ve had numerous email exchanges, Zoom calls, in-person meetings, conversations via DM, and more about this magazine. One of the themes I keep repeating over and over is this … Trail Builder Magazine needs to be sustainable from day one. We already know of the volatility of the whole print magazine world. A common statement I hear is, “A print magazine? Now? Whew, that’s risky. But good luck!”

We’re two days away from the end of the year, and it has been a year! The details are fuzzy as I don’t recall the exact time and place I decided to start Trail Builder Mag, but it happened. February 25th was the fateful day I created @trailbuildermag and posted for the first time. That was the day after I bought the domain trailbuildermag.com and started building the website. It’d take several more weeks to get a website up and running. Simultaneously I began working on a business and marketing plan. In my mind, it was going to be a slow trickle of a release. You know, get my social media accounts set up, slowly build the website, and then begin seeing if I can grow a following.

I love origin stories. Most of us do. Early on, when Marvel started cranking out movies, it was all of the origin stories of the different characters, from Iron Man to Captain America and so on. We were swept away learning how these ordinary everyday people became superheroes. It’s their backstories that are compelling. This past year, as I’ve met with innumerable trail builders, this idea of origin stories keeps framing what I am hearing for me.

Every trail and trail system has a unique origin story.

Starting Trail Builder Magazine has allowed me to connect with many people around the world who spend their lives building, maintaining, and advocating for new trails. Whether they’re volunteers or build trails as a profession, there’s a shared love and passion for what trails mean for mountain biking. We know that trails are more than ribbons of dirt in the forest. For many communities, they are a potential symbol of hope in terms of economic development. I had the fortunate opportunity to connect with Greg Mazu, who started Singletrack Trails.

So much of our beloved sport (and mountain biking lifestyle) is Instagram-worthy. Social media and mountain biking are made for each other, whether talking about photos, videos, Tik Tok, YouTube, or more. Even trail building is very photogenic. Throughout our build season here in the Pacific Northwest, I spend a lot of weekends taking photos of volunteer trail builders. Shaping berms, fine-tuning a tabletop or cutting a new line make for great photos. Do you know what doesn’t? Meetings. Planning. Advocacy. You get it.