There are few things more rewarding than building something that makes people happy. Typically “building” for me is digital: roadmaps & requirements become code, data & pixels, but I’ve done a few things with sticks & bricks over the years and the process isn’t all that different. The outcome, though, can be something else entirely.
During the pandemic, my job at Wayfair went remote and I moved to a small college town (which is a great life hack). We have world class athletic facilities, libraries and art galleries, but despite having a topography similar to Vermont, we have relatively little in outdoor adventure recreation. Coming from British Columbia, where the whole province seems to revolve around adventure sports, I was a bit perplexed as to why our mountains didn’t have, for example, mountain bike trails.
The local cycling community was interested in having trails, but assumed that landowners were against it. Unfazed, a group of us walked three potential areas, and approached the landowners to get their take. Turns out owners were looking for ways to activate their land, so the assumptions were wrong. We formed “Purple Valley Trails” and signed a contract with two big owners: Williamstown and Williams College, giving us access to ~600 acres and 1,000 vertical feet. Lots of trail networks struggle for years to get past this phase, but we got it done in a few months.
With the intent of starting small and learning as we go, we began with a volunteer build that cost about $0. The trail was called “Proof of Concept”, short but fun enough that we got people out riding bikes. From there we built “Learning Curves” which was more ambitious. When building trails, much like building anything else, you start with users, design the features they need, build and ship. It can even be iterative, when we found that sections of our trails were too steep or didn’t flow well, we just fixed them...like a bug.
People started taking notice and stepping up to do more than just dig, so we formed a working board of directors. Lewis brought boundless energy and connections, Ellie, her expertise in recreation planning, Marc handled the money, Tim Carr the community plan & connections & Tim Goggins brought fundraising chops. Although we started with modest goals, we suddenly had the horsepower to do something substantial.
Together we applied for and won over $300k in grants and a similar amount in donations. We worked with IMBA on a Master plan. Adjacent landowners provided us access to even more area and vertical. We moved beyond a few volunteers with a mattock and hired the best professional builders in the region: Backslope and Sinuosity. As of this fall we have over 5 miles of super fun mountain bike trails open to the public, and another 4 miles lined up for the spring.
Since opening hundreds of people have recorded Strava rides at Purple Valley , and the parking lot has become a hub for the community. People are getting together for adventures, making friends and enjoying the outdoors. Happy days.
image George Watts
The trails were certainly a big side project, but we squeezed one more thing onto the roadmap: the town skatepark was falling to pieces. I ran a survey to gauge interest in rebuilding the park, results were super strong so we went after it. The process here was different from the trails, the bulk of the funding came from the Town rather than grants, so that meant getting up in front of the select board, committees, and speaking at Town meeting. It was a three year process to build the momentum we needed to unlock funding.
image berkshireeagle
We hired Grindline skateparks, an OG firm from the early days of DIY parks in Oregon, and designed a 10,000 square foot park for Williamstown. Unsurprisingly, parks are often built by advanced skaters who over-index on advanced features. We instead wanted to build a park that accommodated all levels from absolute beginner through expert. It was a lot to fit into 10,000 square feet, but we designed transitions from 2’ to 8’, and it’s working for everyone from kids learning their first rock to fakie to people boosting a backside boneless on the extension.
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For the grand opening we were able to shut down the street and throw a block party with food, DJs & general good vibes. Hundreds of people from the community came out to celebrate. Since then, it’s been slammed every day both by local kids and people traveling in from out of town.
Film Dan Callahan
The happiest moments in life come from beyond the screen. It might be easier to move bits & bytes than sticks & bricks, but the reality we occupy is constructed of the latter. Shipping software that solves a problem for millions of users is amazing, but so is creating a track in the woods that brings joy to the kids in the community.
If you work in product, I encourage you to try your hand at building in the physical world…you might be surprised how well the skills translate, and how much you get back in return.
More info: purplevalleytrails.org | williamstownskatepark.org
Huge thank you to the people who came together to make these projects happen: Dan Gura, Lewis Collins, Marc Mandel, Tim Carr, Tim Goggins, Hugh Powell, Charlotte & Dan Callahan, Justin Maruco, Ted Carey, Stephanie Boyd, Craig Clough, Jason Dohaney, Ben Sosne & others!
