Missouri mountain bikers craft, ride first mountain bike feature on National Mall

For the first time in history, mountain bikers are riding on a handmade, wooden structure on the National Mall in Washington D.C. The structure and live demonstrations are a part of the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which, also for the first time, is focused on the Ozarks.

The temporary wooden structure was built by Seth Gebel, owner of Backyard Trail Builds based in St. Louis. Gebel build the structure on-site five days before the festival began. A few times every day during the 10-day festival, Gebel and St. Louis mountain bike trail advocate Dave Schulz ride on the structure for hundreds of tourists who are visiting the festival.

Established in 1967, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival began this year on June 28 and concludes Sunday. The festival features live demonstrations like Gebel and Schulz's, workshops, performances and narrative sessions, all for free.

The wooden structure on the National Mall is 100-feet long. When riding for demonstrations, Gebel or Schulz start out in a 55-foot tractor trailer, before riding out and jumping over a gap in the structure. After successfully landing, there are a few S-curves they ride through before jumping off at the end, Gebel said.

Through Backyard Trail Builds, Gebel has constructed wooden mountain bike structures all across the country, including in California, Colorado and North Carolina. He also built most of the wooden structures at Howler Bike Park in Walnut Shade, just 39 miles south of Springfield.

Backyard Trail Builds began as a YouTube channel in 2017, where Gebel shared videos of himself working on his own backyard mountain bike structures. During the pandemic, his videos gained more traction and Gebel decided to pursue mountain bike trail and feature construction full time.

Before construction on a mountain bike structure begins, Gebel designs a virtual 3-D model rendering on his computer. Traditionally, Gebel said he spends about two months constructing a structure that he has been given free reign to design, as he's known for his large, complex structures. Working with the Smithsonian to create a temporary structure that met National Park Service regulations was a bit different.

"It's the National Mall, so there's a lot of regulations," Gebel said. "You can't be within 25 feet of a tree and there are certain grates in the middle of the place, there's grass that can't be touched. I really had to design this thing more so with all that mind, versus what's going to be the coolest, what's going to be the craziest thing I could make."

Despite the regulations, Gebel said constructing a structure on the National Mall was "truly insane."

"You're ... constructing this thing that normally you're doing out in the middle of the woods with nobody around and you look back up and you're like, 'Oh, there's the Capitol or oh, there's the Washington Monument right there,'" Gebel said. "It's insane."

While Gebel managed the construction portion of the display, Schulz serves as the educator for folks interested in learning more about implementing mountain biking into their communities. Schulz told the News-Leader it has been humbling talking about mountain biking in the Ozarks at the festival.

Schulz is the co-organizer of GORC Gravity, a branch of the nonprofit Gateway Off-Road Cyclists, established in 1998. The Gravity branch was formed in 2019 to "identify, consult and connect towns and counties to sustainable, environmentally viable and economically beneficial trails and mountain bike parks," the GORC Gravity website states.

Since 2019, GORC Gravity has completed about $7 million in projects, establishing six parks in Missouri and Arkansas, Schulz said. The organization is managed entirely be volunteers and works on a $0 budget, working solely from grants, private donations and government funding.

Schulz works with city government leadership teams, like city councils, mayors and aldermen, to outline the benefits of mountain biking trails or parks in their communities.

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There is a common misconception that the construction of mountain bike parks can be detrimental to a natural environment, Schulz said, but GORC Gravity work in conjunction with the naturally-established landscape.

"I look for environmentally-challenged areas, something that was something else prior, so like surface mines, logging areas, maybe a park that isn't a park anymore," Schulz said. "Then we go in and we rehabilitate that and make it decent for the community."

Lasting legacy of Walton Family Foundation's efforts

Both Gebel and Schulz, who began mountain biking in high school, said in comparison to other states, Missouri always seemed to lack interesting, difficult trail features for riders.

Much of the inspiration they pull for construction concepts and pitching to local governments comes from the Walton Family Foundation in Arkansas, used as a model for mountain bike initiatives throughout the country.

Tom and Stewart Walton, grandsons of Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, have been expanding Arkansas' mountain bike trails for 14 years. In 2009, construction of the Razorback Regional Greenway was completed, the first of many of the foundation's trail projects. Located in northwest Arkansas, the 37-mile Razorback Regional Greenway connects Bentonville and Fayetteville.

Since 2009, the Walton Family Foundation has donated over $70 million to mountain bike trails throughout Arkansas, putting the state on the map for mountain bike enthusiasts, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Between 2015 and 2019, the foundation helped add 181 miles of natural-surface trails and 35 miles of multi-used paths in Arkansas, according to the Walton Family Foundation Northwest Arkansas Trail Usage report for 2019.

"A lot of the Ozarks community lost their foundation, they lost their industry or whatever was the dominant thing that brought (people there)," Schulz said. "We figured out, through cycling, it's the least expensive investment with the highest rate of return regarding a public project."

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In 2019 alone, the Arkansas trail system experienced an average of 203 cyclists and 175 pedestrian per day on weekdays and 376 cyclists and 203 pedestrian per day on weekends, according to the Northwest Arkansas Trail Usage report for 2019. Though some of these numbers represent Ozarks natives, many also represent tourists, visiting the state because of its trail reputation.

Countless other demonstrations of techniques and art forms unique to the Ozarks will be ongoing through the festival. A full festival schedule is available on the Smithsonian Folklife Festival website at festival.si.edu/schedule. Many of the programs are livestreamed so folks at home can tune in, even if they aren't in Washington D.C.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: St. Louis mountain biker crafts first bike feature on National Mall