Some may think of trail people, mountain bikers in particular, as a bunch of dirt worshiping mystics. We may be a fun bunch but we’re far from the “extreme sports” junkies that everyone thinks. Trails, and trail people, are becoming an increasingly important part of attractive communities. Well built trails are fun, safe, approachable, and a perfect way for families to get off the sidelines and enjoy being outside together in a healthy and affordable way.
TrailSpring was founded in 2012 with the sole purpose of benefitting the local community, and economy, by building sweet single track trail. What is that? It’s the trailiest trail you can think of. Not pavement, not cobbles. Dirt. Just good ole DIRT (maybe with a few wooden wall rides and rollers here and there).
TrailSpring believes, indeed it’s motto is, “The Dirt Connects Us All”. In mundane ways, certainly, but in social and environmental ways as well. Whether one walks, runs, mountain bikes, or goes birding or backpacking, trails show us a deeper part of who we are and where we live. The illusive “flow state” one achieves through balance sports such as biking, skiing, and skating, unlocks the child in us all; promoting good health, longevity, and bonds between our fellow trail-goers. Trails attract visitors, they help retain students and they provide fitness and recreation opportunities that make our communities more attractive for job recruiting and business attraction. We think of parks as green space, accessible wilderness that’s not “the great outdoors” but the CLOSE outdoors. In the words of Edward Abbey, “Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.”
TrailSpring believes, indeed it’s motto is, “The Dirt Connects Us All”.
Missouri was proud to be named in 2014 as a top trails state. TrailSpring is doing it’s part in Southwest Missouri (that’s the Ozarks folks) to build trail in and around Springfield, MO on both public and private land, sometime by ourselves and sometimes through public-private partnerships (the best kind!). Aside from all the boring bureaucratic stuff like regional trail assessment studies and grants, TrailSpring is proud to have built Two Rivers Bike Park.
Two Rivers Bike Park is a professionally designed and built single track trail facility sporting over 8 miles of single track (with 8 more miles AND a disc golf course being completed between March and August 2015). Two Rivers receives over 20,000 visitors a year, has enlarged it’s parking lot twice and is a completely privately funded owned and FREE park, open to the public 365 days a year. There are beginner trails, a skills loop to hone your skills on, 4 downhill flow trails, and two rivers… to play in or calm your spirits (or your kids) after a hard ride.
This Labor Day Weekend, and every one after, TrailSpring will present the annual Singletrack Mind Trails Festival. 3 days of camping, music, races, clinics, and general granfaloonery designed to primarily restore us all, if momentarily, to childhood and raise money for the operations of this free, and rad, modern park. Come join us.
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