{"id":70716,"date":"2019-07-22T12:06:37","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T19:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=70716"},"modified":"2023-06-14T12:00:23","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T19:00:23","slug":"the-hometown-hero-for-mountain-bike-trails-in-wilmot-wisconsin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/cycle\/the-hometown-hero-for-mountain-bike-trails-in-wilmot-wisconsin","title":{"rendered":"The Hometown Hero for Mountain Bike Trails in Wilmot, Wisconsin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI\u2019ve been living in a mosquito net fixing culverts all week,\u201d said J.T. Robinson over speakerphone through the aforementioned mesh headwear. \u201cBut I get to leave early today to meet some volunteers to work on mountain bike trails at <\/span>Silver Lake<\/span><\/a>.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Robinson was unceremoniously digging through mud, managing trail erosion and dodging West Nile in the barely perceptible rolling hills around his hometown of Wilmot, Wisconsin. Erosion management isn\u2019t glamorous, and Robinson wasn\u2019t artfully crafting some shreddable berm or lofty tabletop. He was up to his ankles in grimy runoff stacking rocks so water from an intermittent stream flowed neatly through a corrugated pipe. <\/span><\/p>\n

Not so long ago, trails greater than this one lured Robinson from his Midwestern hometown to bigger mountains out West, following a path well-trod by skiers, raft guides, climbers and many other outdoor enthusiasts. Yet, after a dozen years living in Utah and adventuring some of the planet\u2019s most iconic mountain ranges, Robinson found his way back to the topographic doldrums of youth in 2018. He dreams of transforming Wilmot, Wisconsin, into a mountain bike destination, like Fruita, Colorado, or Bentonville, Arkansas. But it takes a lot more than digging a couple new trails in the woods to create the next fat-tire hot spot. Doing so requires cultivating an ardent, interconnected community centered around mountain biking while building the infrastructure to support a vibrant local economy. Put that way, battling a few thousand mosquitos sounds like the easy part.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a natural born rambler, which has taken me to all corners of the world, but Wisconsin will always be my home,\u201d said Robinson. \u201cI realized the greatest gift I can bring back to the place that\u2019s given so much to me and my family is a vision for a sustainable future, one based on outdoor recreation.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

In Utah, Robinson was a professional skier and guide. He went to Weber State for college and was too enamored with the landscape to leave. He\u2019s had epic adventures through Alaskan peaks, Japanese volcanoes and the Austrian Alps\u2014big mountains compared to Wilmot\u2019s ski hill with a paltry 200 vertical feet. During all that wandering, however, Robinson noticed the best trails aren\u2019t always the ones with the most vertical. <\/span><\/p>\n

Southeast Wisconsin is home to plenty of densely forested, rolling terrain for punchy climbs and descents like Robinson had encountered at <\/span>Phil\u2019s Trail in Bend, Oregon, <\/span>or at <\/span>Phil\u2019s World Trail in Cortez, Colorado<\/span>. With ample moisture in the dirt making for a great building and riding surface, Robinson figured motivated trailbuilders could eke every last nuance out of the available landscape. Until recently, though, there weren\u2019t any mountain bike trails to speak of, let alone a group of locals devoted enough to donate a rainy afternoon working on them.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Rider: J.T. Robinson | Photo Credit: Kyle Weiher<\/p><\/div>\n

Christine Robinson, J.T.\u2019s adventure partner and wife, was similarly enchanted with the postcard-quality outdoor lifestyle of living in the Wasatch. But she felt compelled to bring aspects of her adopted lifestyle back to her roots. \u201cWhen we started thinking about kids, we\u2019re saying, \u2018It takes a village.\u2019 And what better village than the one where we\u2019re from?\u201d said Christine. \u201cWe had to leave to chase the lifestyle we wanted, and hopefully our kids won\u2019t have to. We have the chance to be part of the change we want to see.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2017, before moving back to Wisconsin full time, Robinson spent a portion of the summer living with his parents while clearing land he and Christine had purchased so they could eventually build a home. Robinson had worked hard to establish a viable outdoor guiding career in Utah, which he\u2019d initially hoped to parlay into an analogous business in Wisconsin, taking people hiking, biking and paddle boarding in the area. While conducting a bit of exploratory research, he stumbled across a Facebook group for the pioneering volunteer organization\u2014now called the Kenosha Area Mountain Bike Association (<\/span>KAMBA<\/span><\/a>)\u2014which had painstakingly built a few miles of singletrack mountain bike trails at Silver Lake Park. Needing an escape from lumberjacking in the oppressive Midwestern humidity, Robinson grabbed his bike and went to check out the trails for himself. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI rode the whole trail system that day. There might not have been much mileage, but the trails were flowy and fast, and I was just completely fired up to be ripping through the woods,\u201d he said. Sweaty and excited to be riding such great trails in his hometown, Robinson made his way back to the trailhead. There, he recognized two leaders in the volunteer trail-building community, Amy Andrews-Paylietner and her husband, Tom, from a photo on the website. \u201cI was practically shouting at these people I\u2019d never met,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2018You made it possible for me to move home!\u2019 To have access to even just a couple trails changes everything, and I knew there was opportunity for so much more.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Andrews-Paylietners introduced Robinson to Matt Collins, the Kenosha County Parks Director. \u201cI think I startled him a little bit with how enthusiastic I was,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cI jumped right in with these ambitious ideas: trail builders, guiding permits, marketing and website promotion. Matt was supportive, but he was like \u2018Whoa, slow down. We need to walk before we can run.\u2019\u201d In Kenosha all these things needed to be built from the ground up, which takes time. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a gem of a park system here, but it\u2019s always a work in progress,\u201d Collins said. \u201cJ.T. had a lot of energy and excitement. His mindset as an industry professional who\u2019d seen trail systems all over the world got me thinking about how he could help us gear our efforts toward having long-lasting impact.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Robinson got to work volunteering with KAMBA and building the <\/span>Heartland Outdoor Adventure website<\/span><\/a> to establish an online presence. \u201cWithout good access to information you can\u2019t foster growth, so I started there,\u201d said Robinson. He relied on his experience from living out West\u2014where the outdoor-obsessed population is steeped in the language and culture of mountain sports\u2014to bring an authentic voice and credibility to the website promoting Kenosha\u2019s little-known outdoor assets.<\/span><\/p>\n

Robinson was still periodically traveling for guiding work and mulling what his professional life would look like back in Wisconsin. \u201cI was guiding a trip in Japan when I got a call from Matt Collins,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cFrom all the way across the globe he tells me about a new position to manage all the trail systems and new trail projects within Kenosha County and asked if I was interested in the job.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJ.T. really opened our eyes to how to strategically map out priorities,\u201d Collins said. \u201cHe was looking at trail maintenance and development from a holistic perspective, whereas before we  were really so focused on it from an operations standpoint.\u201d Robinson jumped at the chance to finally pair his ample energy with some tangible resources. Guiding is one way to introduce individuals to the outdoors, but as trails coordinator Robinson would help outline what the future of outdoor recreation would mean to the entire community.   <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d like to be the envy of our region when it comes to recreational opportunities,\u201d said Kenosha County Executive Jim Kreuser. \u201c<\/span>We put an emphasis on things like trail systems and parks because we know they play a big part when companies decide where to locate and people choose where to live.\u201d<\/span> Robinson will travel to Bentonville in October for an IMBA Trail Lab conference to learn from the experts, but he already has his work cut out for him at home this summer.  <\/span><\/p>\n

New singletrack development is underway beneath the dense forest canopies and along lakeside meadows at <\/span>KD<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Petrifying Springs<\/span><\/a> Parks, which means Robinson is out battling the rain, the humidity and the bugs while flagging trees, tamping down dirt and stacking rocks to keep those vital erosion control measures up to spec. Kenosha County recently entered a 50-year land-use agreement with the University of Wisconsin Parkside to manage and build trails on 139 acres owned by the university. Long before tools are scheduled to hit the dirt, Robinson\u2019s been putting in the hours behind a desk, poring over maps to outline what the area\u2019s going to look like. Though much of the initial work has been focused on improving and maintaining existing trail, Kenosha County leadership has set a goal of increasing their network to 60 or 70 miles of mountain bike singletrack within a couple years. <\/span><\/p>\n

The county funds new trail projects\u2014an investment Kreuser, Collins and Robinson are confident will pay off with a boost to the local economy\u2014and has partnered with <\/span>Great Lakes Trailbuilders<\/span><\/a> to undertake some of the heavy lifting. Robinson\u2014a firm proponent of the \u201cno dig, no ride\u201d ethos to building a mountain bike community\u2014regularly recruits volunteers and organizes community dig days online through KAMBA and Heartland Outdoor Adventure. Whether alongside professional trailbuilders or volunteers, Robinson is out there, shovel in hand. \u201cJ.T. puts his head down and gets dirty every day,\u201d Collins said. \u201cWe really value his administrative knowledge, but he brings a physicality to the job and the ability to lead a group of folks.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I grew up, the outdoor scene in Wisconsin was just hunt, camp and fish. We\u2019re providing an avenue for people to get in touch with nature in a way they haven\u2019t had access to before,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cI want to see a bike on the back of every car, and I know how much hard work it\u2019s going to take to get there. If we can get the community engaged, we\u2019ll see the whole area lighting up with trail systems.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At a community meeting about trail expansion opportunities in late spring, a man in his sixties who\u2019d recently retired from a career in teaching approached Robinson to tell him how excited he was to pick up mountain biking at his rather advanced age. \u201cHe kept going on and on about how great his resting heart rate is because he\u2019s out on the trails every day,\u201d Robinson said with a chuckle. The interaction exemplifies what Robinson\u2019s found most rewarding throughout this transition back home: the lifestyle improvement he\u2019s witnessed for people in Kenosha County.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I miss certain things about living out West. You can\u2019t compete with the landscape,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cBut this place is so special to me and my family. My wife and I were raised here, and our families live here. I\u2019m so grateful to be able to do my part in building my hometown into a place we can share with our kids, and they can experience this outdoor life, lived in harmony with nature, family and friends. It\u2019s a gift that\u2019s not lost on me.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI\u2019ve been living in a mosquito net fixing culverts all week,\u201d said J.T. Robinson over speakerphone through the aforementioned mesh headwear. \u201cBut I get to leave early today to meet some volunteers to work on mountain bike trails at Silver Lake.\u201d  Robinson was unceremoniously digging through mud, managing trail erosion and dodging West Nile in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":70995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1127,727,408],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-70716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cycle","tag-cycling","tag-latest-posts","tag-wisconsin"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/cycle\/the-hometown-hero-for-mountain-bike-trails-in-wilmot-wisconsin","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"The Hometown Hero for Mountain Bike Trails in Wilmot, Wisconsin","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/cycle\/the-hometown-hero-for-mountain-bike-trails-in-wilmot-wisconsin","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/cycle\/the-hometown-hero-for-mountain-bike-trails-in-wilmot-wisconsin"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/07\/walking-out-of-woods.-JT-Robinson.-Bristol-Woods-WI.-VI.jpeg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/07\/walking-out-of-woods.-JT-Robinson.-Bristol-Woods-WI.-VI.jpeg?fit=2279%2C1606"},"articleSection":"Cycle","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Flandreau"}],"creator":["Michelle Flandreau"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["cycling","latest posts","wisconsin"],"dateCreated":"2019-07-22T19:06:37Z","datePublished":"2019-07-22T19:06:37Z","dateModified":"2023-06-14T19:00:23Z"},"rendered":"