Join us today for an insightful episode featuring Ian Lowe, the Executive Director of the Squamish Off Road Cycling Association (SORCA). For over 20 years, Ian has been a driving force in the mountain biking community, bringing his extensive background in leadership, management, and community volunteering to the forefront.
Ian's passion for mountain biking and his vibrant community spirit have made him a well-known figure, known for his creative race costumes and commitment to making racing inclusive and fun. In this episode, we delve into Ian's journey into mountain biking, exploring some of his challenges and triumphs along the way.
We also discuss:
Navigating the challenges and injuries associated with mountain biking
Mental tricks for big days in the saddle
The development of SORCA and its impact on the local mountain biking community
Advocacy and collaboration efforts with the Squamish Nation
The importance of respecting land ownership and sustainable trail building
The economic impact of mountain biking and its future prospects
How SORCA membership dollars are utilized to support the community
Ian's book recommendation (which I now second), 21 Things You May Not Know About The Indian Act can be found via this link.
You can buy a SORCA Membership or support the trails via a donation at Sorca.ca
Listen here or by searching for ‘Grit with Wisdom’ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube, or over on my website, and you can follow me on Instagram @the_mind_mountain
Happy trails - Jake Johnstone
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
Jake Johnstone: Today on the podcast. I'm lucky enough to be sitting down here in Squamish with Ian Lowe. Ian is a passionate mountain biker and an all around amazing community member. Many of you may recognize Ian as the executive director of the Squamish Off Road Cycling Association, or SORCA, a role he has worked tirelessly since e [00:01:00] 2022.
Coming from a diverse background in leadership and management roles, As well as a bunch of experience working with community organizations, non profit boards, and the tourism sector. Ian really embodies the community spirit that SORCA represents. Known locally for his impressive race day costumes and his ability to make racing fun and inclusive.
I'm excited to dig into the mindset behind all of this great work. Ian, welcome to the podcast. I didn't realize that you had done your research as
Ian Lowe: well as you had. Well, I
Jake Johnstone: hope I
Ian Lowe: didn't miss
Jake Johnstone: anything. Is there anything you want to add? No, no.
Ian Lowe: Um, yeah, that
Jake Johnstone: was, that
Ian Lowe: was good.
Jake Johnstone: That was good. Fantastic, man. Well, we just had a great lap out here in Squamish checking out some of the new work on man boobs and LOA.
Uh, excited to, dive into some of the topics we're talking about there. Perhaps, yeah, for those that haven't met you out on the trails already, it'd be cool just to start, uh, with learning a little bit about where you grew up and when mountain bikes first came into your life. [00:02:00] Um, yeah, so I grew up in
Ian Lowe: Toronto.
Um, I'd never been or seen a mountain, uh, but I always knew I wanted to live and be around mountains and the ocean. So I. Uh, ended up coming to UBC, uh, went to school at UBC, had done a little bit of mountain biking, just what little there is around Toronto, Don Valley and stuff like that. Uh, but it was at my time at UBC where I really fell in love with mountain biking.
If you can call it that on the endowment lands, uh, didn't have access to a vehicle. So getting into the North shore, going to Squamish was generally off limits. Um, and then after graduating university, Don Valley. end up coming to Whistler and I guess that's where really the passion of mountain biking and the realization of what mountain biking was all about that I, yeah, really fell for the sport and really for many years I'd say it kind of defined my, my community and, um, yeah, [00:03:00] I, I still fondly remember the first loony race that I came down from Whistler.
And it was on tracks from hell early in the season. And the reason that trail is called tracks from hell is it was literally, it was a hike a bike and you would literally have to jump from track to track through the trail. And if you ever missed a track, you were literally landing in six inches or more of mud.
And, um, this is just what you did in a loony race and it was very addicting. And so, yeah, I fell in love with it. Um, Did my first test of metal, um, shortly thereafter. And that's when I saw the community Stoke get behind the test of metal. And for those that haven't rode the test of metal. Like every neighbor came out on the lawn and they had watering guns and they had sound systems and you were riding through the community.
It wasn't just riding the trails of Squamish, you were riding the community and it was the coolest thing and that came at the beginning of the race and it came at the [00:04:00] end and you couldn't ask for two better points for it. So it was a thousand person point to port race around Squamish would sell out in about three minutes and that's when I knew that Squamish was going to be home and So, flash forward to today, and, uh, my wife and I have, uh, raised our two daughters here, one that's in university, one that's in grade eight, and, yeah, so both the mountain biking and, kind of, life were, were very much integrated, um, so I guess, I'll, I'll keep going into how it got, kind of, led into SORCA world.
Yeah,
Jake Johnstone: sure.
Ian Lowe: Um, so unfortunately I, I, I had some knee problems, um, ended up having to get a knee replacement and was told that I couldn't really bike anymore. So, um, kind of went through a bit of a challenge that a lot of cyclists go through, that when that sport is taken away from you, that is your identity.
So, um, I had a little bit of a challenge with that, then jumped back into kind of the, I realized that [00:05:00] racing was not the only way to be involved in this sport, and I was, uh, I got onto the so, and board of directors in. 2005, I guess. And I was race director for six years and that was super fun. I loved every bit of that.
We had a great team. It was all, um, the, the, this, at that point, Soka was very small and, um, yeah, it was, it was definitely a, a highlight and kind of seeing that organizational kind of side of Soca was very enlightening for me. And, um. Yeah. So I did that until my second daughter was born, and then it was just too much to handle.
And um, and then took a little bit of a step away from Soca, uh, until probably 2017 when my daughter was old enough to then want to race, uh, in the cincos at the time. Right. So, started racing those cincos and that kind of got me back into the fray of Soca. And then I'm probably telling you too much now.
And then in 20 20, 20 21, the. The [00:06:00] uh, the executive director position was, was posted and um, I felt that it was, it was a little bit of um, a position that I was qualified for and that I was very interested in and I had a lot of passion for and I was lucky enough to get that position in 20, 2022, January or 2022.
Jake Johnstone: Ah,
Ian Lowe: that's fantastic. Yeah.
Jake Johnstone: You just made my job very easy. That's way too much information. No, it's great to get that whole kind of zoomed out 40 foot perspective. Yeah. Awesome. Um, so like, yeah, curious, like right back at the start there, when you first moved out west studying at UBC, you were studying human kinetics, sport leisure management, right?
Um, first mountain biking experiences out there. Like, what do you remember? What kind of a bike were you riding? What was the terrain like? Uh, I
Ian Lowe: think my first bike out there was a GT Karakorum. Um, I then, I think I upgraded to, I was with Rocky Mountain for a few [00:07:00] years. I think I had the element, the altitude, um, and Downwind Lands was very XC.
Yep. Um, and it was very, very wet. Um, the nice thing was the worst weather was when the least chance that you get caught on the hiking trails. So we used to just. Um, literally right outside of our house was the endowment lands. So we would be biking all the time and my housemates and I love the sport and love just getting as muddy as can be.
And, um, yeah, just, it was, it was pure pain and suffering and that's what the sport's all about. So I did my first race that, that year in the endowment lands. That was a humbling experience like anyone's first race, but you kind of, you know, Start feeling that the pain of cycle racing. So yeah, yeah
Jake Johnstone: And feeling yeah,
Ian Lowe: like what was it that
Jake Johnstone: first really drew you into racing?
uh
Ian Lowe: I think there's that quality I forget what the what are those characters called in star wars that go zip through the trees
Jake Johnstone: That's a big star. [00:08:00] Okay,
Ian Lowe: whatever that vehicle is called in star wars. That's still the sensation I get uh today that you are literally Like any sport, you're just harnessing nature.
Um, I do a lot of paddling and, and downwind races and it's that same thing. You're just trying to harness nature and it's pretty amazing that you can travel through the forest at the speeds we do on a mountain bike just by that one little sliver of dirt. And it's, it's a, it's an amazing high and we're in nature and we're doing this in the kind of environment that we live in.
And Yeah. Uh, I, I've certainly got the mountain bike stoke. There's no choice about it. So yeah,
Jake Johnstone: totally. Yeah. I love that explanation of it. Awesome. And I'm curious, you talk lots about really loving mountain bike culture just as much as you love racing. Like what is it that you love most about the culture here in Squamish?
Um,
Ian Lowe: wow.I, I've been fortunate enough through kind of travelling around with my daughter's racing that I get to [00:09:00] talk about, um, Squamish and not only see it through our lens of living here. And I'll be in France, I'll be in Quebec or I'll be somewhere overseas and people will ask me, they'll be like, well, why, why is mountain biking so big in this town?
And it's. I mean, I attribute it to a lot of little pieces that have all kind of pieced together, like test of metal, as much as you may not even know what that is or a lot of the younger generation don't know what that is. It created that culture and culture is often how things are rooted and things like the test of metal, things like the pedal to the metal.
That's still going today. It's a, it's a grade three to grade six, grade seven race series. And I still not found another community in the world that offers bike racing at the grade three level. Like it is crazy. And you look through who's raced in those pedal to the metals and it's like Jackson Goldstone and Miranda and like all these world cup racers, you know, [00:10:00] started in this tiny little level.
So it's like, and I've, I've, other people have explained it to me that in certain communities, the cool kid plays hockey or the cool kid pays baseball. Well in this town, it's like, A lot of kids want to go steer into the world of mountain biking. Um, so I think that's, that's the culture and I think what's healthy in this community that's not just about the racing, it's also about the community behind it.
Um, whether you're a World Cup racer or you're just a, an avid weekender. It's a pretty healthy and friendly community, and I think a lot of that stems with the founders of SORCA and just the approach that they took on racing. It was never hyper competitive. It was just, hey, let's go out for a hard ride, and then let's come back and have beers and and barbecue at someone's house.
Yeah, epic. So, and that's kind of continued through today, [00:11:00] really. We just do that on a bigger scale with our single rides and socials. Every
Jake Johnstone: Wednesday. That's right. And so, yeah. That's fantastic to see that that hasn't been diluted or left behind as SORCA has grown.
Ian Lowe: Yeah, I mean, one, I do get some of the, some people say that, It's not the same anymore now that you're not having it in a backyard, but there's not many backyards in our community that can accommodate 300 plus riders.
So we've, we, we have officially outgrown the backyard, um, aspect of it. Um, which is a shame, but then again, our, our hosts, um, our Cinco and social hosts do a phenomenal job of still kind of creating that vibe, whether that through music or DJs or competitions or the food that they offer, the beer that they offer.
That's pretty phenomenal. Totally.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah. I don't think I've been anywhere else in the world where you can spend the evening
Ian Lowe: racing and get a beer. Let's get this straight. Okay. You're paying 5. Yeah. Okay. True. That's [00:12:00] 6. 68 after the admin fee. But you're paying 6. 68. You're getting a timed three stage Enduro.
Then you're getting, um, Beer, at least one, sometimes more beer, and then a meal out of it. Pretty darn good deal.
Jake Johnstone: Totally.
Ian Lowe: So
Jake Johnstone: yes, they are fun events. So you've been a busy guy, uh, over the last couple of years, and just this year we were chatting about it on our ride, we've seen SORCA kind of get to the end of a bunch of big projects that you've been working on behind the scenes for many, many years.
Um, I'm curious, yeah, what's one of the projects or the things that you and the team have accomplished this year that you're most proud of?
Ian Lowe: Um,
Jake Johnstone: yeah.
Ian Lowe: I mean, I guess the, the, the two big projects that, um, have recently come to some degree of end point is the skills park and the pseudo lot.
Um, so, uh, just. To kind of go back a little bit before I talk about those particular projects. So both of those were started before my time. Um, [00:13:00] it was, how the structure of SORCA work is important to explain at this point in time. So the 34 ish hundred, 33, 400 ish members elect a board of directors. So the board of directors job is to decide the strategy, uh, of the organization.
Um, The strategy of the organization, so that's our, our, our, our board, um, board's role, is then implemented by, um, a, a group of, there's five different committees that we have, and then staff, myself being one of them, um, are, basically implement those strategies. So, um, so two of the strategic things that I walked into in 2022 were, a, Uh, redeveloping the skills park that was originally built in 2014.
Um, on a shoestring budget [00:14:00] and it had deteriorated to the point that it was, um, not being used very much and had a lot of opportunity. The other one was the problem with Garibaldi Park Road and people needing to park on the road, the danger of that road. That's actually a highway. Um, it's under government by the Ministry of Highways.
Um, so to expand that parking lot. So, um, some legwork had been done on various files. Um, I think the parking lot one like we talked about earlier is an interesting one because literally, Um, the board of directors led by Jeff Norman, uh, kind of was working on that file since 2018 or 2019. It was five years in the making.
And then once everything was kind of ready to go, it only took us five weeks to actually deliver that product. And, um, the catalyst, because it did get sped up near the end and the catalyst for that was that that road is how, um, the barrier construction vehicles are going to be. Um, [00:15:00] getting in and out of the barrier construction over the next four years, as well as it was going to be the first community forest harvesting operation out in the, in the Checkeye Basin.
So all of a sudden with all those, we were like, yep, let's go, let's do this now. And yeah, it, it, uh, I think we delivered a pretty cool product there. We've taken the parking capacity from 20 to 110. And I rode down the other day and the parking lot was at about 85 percent capacity and there was not a single car at that really dangerous, uh, corner.
So, um, I think that's, um, for now it's addressed the capacity.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah.
Ian Lowe: Um, I think there'll be some challenges and then going to the skills park. Um, yeah, there was a lot of delays in that particular project. It, it was, we didn't have, um, the funding to make everything go quickly. We had to ask a lot of favors of the community.
We had to loss, get a lot of [00:16:00] grants, uh, in order, um. Anyways, we were able to overcome most of those kind of financial challenges last year, and then we lost our window to pave the pump track in October of last year. Ended up having to wait until May of this year. But yeah, since it opened, was it May 30th?
Yeah, it was May 30th. Uh, so our soft open is May 30th, and we are ecstatic on how the community is using that space. It's, it's been so cool to see. We anticipated the average age to be about 11, 12, and I'll guess it's like under 9. Right. The average age in there. So many run bikers, like that is gonna just deliver this, or it's gonna be this next wave of incredible riders being developed in our town because of how The pump track and the dirt jumps and the little skill zone there.
So
Jake Johnstone: totally yeah It's kind of a path for progression before we're ready to get onto the trails Yeah, or as adults when we need to spend a little bit more time perhaps Off the trails working on some of [00:17:00] those foundation skills I'd
Ian Lowe: love to tell stories but a quick story. We were in there the other day just uh doing some little bit of maintenance And at the same time out of the both entrances Um, this kind of hipster dude on his cruiser bike came in there, um, wearing like hipster clothing.
And then this other guy came in on his like 15, 000 dialed in Enduro bike. And they jumped into the, the, the pump track at the same time. And it was just so cool to see. It doesn't matter what, if you're riding a hundred dollar, uh, Canadian tire bike, or if you've just got some pimping Enduro bike, everyone has the same smiles coming out of that pump track.
And Anyways, I love that story. Yeah, we're pretty stoked with, uh,
Jake Johnstone: that, that product. So fantastic, man. Yeah, definitely recommend everyone in Squamish or anyone that's passing through goes down and checks out the new skills back there at Brennan park. So yeah, lots of, lots of really positive things. And obviously there's all the, the trails that have been built, rebuilt, maintained, uh, at the same time as well.
[00:18:00] How many, how many people are on the SORCA trail career this season?
Ian Lowe: Yeah, so this year right now we have six plus our trail crew manager They're not all full time But in our budget this year, we have just over 6, 000 hours That's paid going into the the trails Which is which is really cool a lot of that is Or a portion of that is funded through the District of Squamish.
We have a four year grant agreement with them You Um, and that really helps, uh, contribute towards, uh, that trail work, um, which we're very grateful of. The
Jake Johnstone: district is is recognizing kind of the economic benefit. Yeah, I can bring.
Ian Lowe: Yeah, absolutely. Um, that was a four year agreement that started in 2019. Um, so this one, our last year of that agreement this year.
Um, but yes, without that, we would not have as many paid staff as we have, which is, which is great [00:19:00] and how that works. Because that's, I think, a little bit of a veil of history for some people. Um, is that So, again, the board sets the strategy, committees, uh, support with kind of the, the actual working piece of it.
So, between AJ, our trail crew, um, a manager and lead builder, uh, he, with, um, some help from myself, we create an annual operating plan. And, uh, how, so people say, well, how on earth do you decide to do work on this trail versus this trail? Because there's so many trails out there, so, um, AJ's created this hierarchy of, of needs when it comes to trails.
And, first of all, we have partnership agreements. We have, like, 11 different partnership agreements with private landowners, RecSites Parks, District Squamish. Um, And a lot of those have requirements in them. So that's a portion of the, of the annual operating plan. Uh, popularity of the [00:20:00] trail is certainly a big piece of it.
Um, how easy it is to access is a big piece of it. Um, Uh, it's not only popularity by number, but popularity by ranking. We also work that into the matrix, and that spits out then our, and then obviously the current condition. Um, so we put all this into, uh, basically a spreadsheet, and that spits out the ones that we should be paying the most attention to, and then that creates, uh, our operating plan that then gets approved by the Trials Committee, and, and the, the Board of Directors, and then that's ours to implement as far as the, the staff to implement that through the year.
Fantastic. Yeah, that's really cool. Sorry, . No, no. And then, and then I guess the other piece of that Yeah. It's a really smart approach. Well, it, it, it, um, yeah, it's, that was the, that was the board's kind of strategic direction on, on trail maintenance. Uh, 'cause it had to be done with some science. It couldn't just all be art.
Um, I guess otherwise it can be clouded by judgment of like, Hey, I really love Pseudos. [00:21:00] That's right. Spend hundred hours on that. Yeah. Or I mean, we could probably interview all 3,400. members and Every one of them would have a different spot to work on in the trail network And it would just be too hard to kind of just go after kind of work orders Yeah, and then what we do also with the the trail crew work is what we supplement Some of the actual projects with our dig days.
So we this year we have 14 dig days planned 7 in the kind of spring You chunk and then seven in the fall chunk, and we take most of the summer off because it's too dry to do a lot of trail crew dig day work. And then those, those actual digs work in conjunction with our annual operating plan. Um, uh, so they work on the trails that our crew is also working on.
So the, the basically volunteers get to see what we're, what we're doing. They can contribute to that. It adds up to another 2, [00:22:00] 500 hours is what our dig days contribute to the trail network. So
Jake Johnstone: yeah, they're a fantastic way, yeah, to get involved. And I was amazed at how much I learned coming along. I thought I was just going to be picking up rocks.
Cause you were at the Coho one, weren't you?
Ian Lowe: Uh, last year. Was that the one that I,
Jake Johnstone: I don't think I've been to a Koho the other ones. One on N Trails, I remember. But, uh, uh, yeah, AJ and the team do such a fantastic job at explaining, like, why we're doing what we're doing and, like, how a trail actually gets built.
It's amazing, I guess, on both sides of the coin, how fast you can build a section of trail with 20 people. Right. But also sometimes how long one section of a trail. Yeah. Yeah, you might be just fixing one corner in a whole day.
Ian Lowe: Yeah, like, uh, yeah, and AJ certainly, um, I appreciate his philosophy that if, if we're going to go in, if our trail crew is going in and fixing a corner, it's going to be fixed.
So we don't have to go back in five years or even 10 years. Like some of the armoring work [00:23:00] that we've done in entrails and even two stroke and, and other, like we're, we're moving rocks in there that are never going to move again. They're like 2000 pound rocks, um, to create a really durable structure. Um, that we won't have to touch again.
Um, so as much as they sometimes takes a lot of work for one little area, we also know that we're not going to have to go back to that little area for several, several years. Um, which is, which is pretty cool. And I guess one thing I do also want to give a shout out to is, um, the work that SORCA Trail Crew and even the Dig Days is, is, is still doing.
Like, let's just call it, like, uh, an iceberg. That's the stuff that is above water. And all the things that are underneath are those volunteer builders that are out there. Like, there is some incredible volunteer builders in this community. We just rode two trails today that were [00:24:00] done by volunteer builders.
Yeah.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah,
Ian Lowe: it's funny you were saying you get emails thanking you for sorting the work. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, no, no, no, that was, don't thank me, thank this guy. Yeah. Um, so yeah, we, we're very blessed in this town to have the volunteer builders that we do that, um, especially the ones that are, are getting the, the correct permits.
They're, they're open dialogue with SORCA all the way along. Uh, they're following, they, they get some compensation from SORCA with our volunteer builder. Um, policy, um, so that pays for certain materials and costs that they have while they're doing their maintenance or their, their build. Um, so it's, it's, um, yeah, it's, it's a, it's a neat, um, it calls from other communities, it's like, how do you get all these volunteers to get out there and we've never, We've never needed to encourage volunteers.
It's like, that's just part of that culture that I speak about. Yeah. Which is really neat to have in this community.
Jake Johnstone: And I guess that [00:25:00] culture grew from guys and girls getting out and building trails because they wanted to build trails. Yeah. Before SORCA existed. Yeah. So, okay, so
Ian Lowe: here I go again. Uh, but, um, so yeah, you think about SORCA, 32 years old and there was not a paid employee until 2015.
2015 I think it was that we had our first paid employee. So for the for the majority of SORCA's life. It was 100 percent volunteer and people say to me today. It's like Well, do you have a working board or do you have a governing board? And it's like well, we have a governing board However, we have a very much a working committee.
So our our board of directors are all involved in committees. They're all Boots on the ground. They are, they are doing work and we would not be able to do what we are doing today without their input and without the community's input because it's, um, yeah, the volunteer, that kind of stuff happening below that tip of the iceberg is really what's [00:26:00] driving this organization.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah. That's a really cool way of envisioning the community. And it's like you say, with the projects that we see on Instagram, wow, we've got a new parking lot this year. That took five months to build, but below the ice is the five years of work you guys all did behind the scenes. Yeah. Getting that going.
Hello
everyone, and thanks for listening. If you're enjoying the podcast, don't forget to give it a like, give it a subscribe. And if you'd like to know more about my journey in mountain biking and my background as a mountain bike coach, check out episode number 29, where I dive a little bit deeper into that.
Now let's get right back to the podcast.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah. What's been one of the biggest challenges you've faced so far [00:27:00] since, uh, yeah. Since being the executive.
Ian Lowe: Yeah. I think. Uh, as I was saying on our ride, I think coming into the job because I've been involved with SORCA for 20 years and been a director for six years, um, flash forward to 2022, I thought when I was coming into the job that I knew about 75 to 80 percent of what SORCA was involved with.
And after six months, I would probably say that that was about 25%. And, and I think some of the Really big files that we may not do a great job of communicating is the advocacy work that we do and how time consuming that advocacy work is. I mean, one little example or one of the files is the work that we've been doing with, um, Matthews West and the Skohomish Sea and Sky Development, [00:28:00] which is a The proponents of the cheekye lands, but also the debris barrier.
So, um, we, we know that that implementation of that debris barrier is affecting a small area of our trail network. And so, um, we've had an open dialogue with, with, uh, those, uh, with that developer. And they've been very receptive to, uh, emit trail mitigation plan. So that was, like. two years, year and a half in development that they've now signed off on and now that that Project is just about to kind of start We now have some funding for the next few years to kind of build the trails in that area better than before that barrier went in so I mean, that's, that's one file and there's countless files that are like that, that are all happening behind the scene.
And I, I, I think going back to your question, one of the biggest challenges, um, [00:29:00] I think that's part of the SORCA that not that many people know. And we, we, we started Local Dirt in 2021 and that's that, that, uh, kind of twice annual little publication of just kind of sharing everything that SORCA does. But admittingly, I guess that 10 percent of our membership probably read that because we have weekly newsletters, we have social media posts and stories every day.
There's a lot coming out of SORCA and everyone's bombarded by information. Um, but we, we, we have tried to kind of create a platform to tell that story. Because it's, I think it's really important for members to know that this is where their dollars are going. It's, it's majority is going into the trails, uh, and the trail network.
But even the things I talk about in advocacy eventually get passed to the trails and benefiting the trails. So. Totally. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know if that answers your [00:30:00] question. It
Jake Johnstone: does, yeah. I can only imagine, like, obviously, uh, having to deal with permits and stuff for the coaching I do. I can only imagine how many emails and how many phone calls.
I just, how many different people, uh, you have to speak to in order to see good results in the five and ten years time. Yeah, well, our town's changing, like, that's
Ian Lowe: the thing, right? I, it's interesting that I was involved with SORCO when, uh, We were a very grassroots organization, and it was super fun to be part of.
Don't get me wrong. I was a volunteer. Cliff Miller was a great president, but I mean, it was, it was pretty loose organization. I mean, the, the, the, the, the adage at that point in time was we were, uh, a drinking club with a riding problem and, um, And there was a reason for that. Like we had a lot of parties and, but it was a great organization to, for a cultural piece, but it had, it had to morph and we still have a lot of fun, but we also need to be very professional.
And when we were talking to, uh, [00:31:00] when we were talking to ministers of kind of key files, um, on a regular basis, like, There has to be, um, that's where I think paid staff do benefit this because we can't be asking volunteers to be doing this only on their free time. We need to have some degree of, of staff, um, investing into this.
Kind of lost my train of thought there, but
Jake Johnstone: yeah, no, that's some really cool insight. And yeah, I wanted to ask you like another, uh, organization that you're working with really closely is the Squamish
Ian Lowe: Nation.
Jake Johnstone: And I'm curious, yeah, what does that look like in terms of SORCA accessing and using all of these wonderful lands?
And I also wanted to ask, what can we all do as regular mountain bikers getting out here and recreating, yeah, on the unceded lands of the Squamish Nation?
Ian Lowe: Yeah, so I guess, um, I guess if you were to ask me what are some of your biggest surprises with this role? I think, to me, the One of my biggest surprises, one of my biggest learnings is that learning journey [00:32:00] that I've kind of gone down.
Um, walking into this role, I knew very little about the Squamish Nation. I had been, uh, through the Squamish Lillooet Cultural Centre in Whistler and my days in Whistler had a little bit of, um, a knowledge base. But coming into this role, knowing how closely that, uh, my predecessor and the, and the board, boards before me had worked together.
really closely with Squamish Nation. Um, the, the agreement, the MOU with the Squamish Nation, just to be candid, was, was agreed upon prior to my, um, coming on board. But it was, it was kind of my then responsibility to, to educate myself on really bringing myself up to speed. And it's been a really, it's almost, it's almost like outside of work, but I, I have really enjoyed this challenge.
Um, and I, by no means, I, Am I there at all yet? And, um, and I look forward to kind [00:33:00] of that continued education. And, and this is now getting a little bit personal, but I'm almost mad at the school system that I was, that I was born with and, and went through regular school system, went through university. And the fact that I didn't just knew very little, um, about that.
And here I am, I just turned 50 this year and I'm like in my late forties, I'm relearning. What I wasn't taught, um, by kind of a system, systemic problem that we had in Canada. It's kind of a weird position to be in. I can relate
Jake Johnstone: there. I feel a similar way about everything I wasn't taught about the local Indigenous population where I'm from in Australia.
Right. And it's shocking, isn't it? When we're learning this stuff for the first time as adults. Yeah. It really is like the foundation of, you know, The land that we live on and we play on.
Ian Lowe: And it's like re it's like, okay, I've got to get rid of all these memories and actually put this knowledge in. That's actually like, like bonafide knowledge, not, not this [00:34:00] kind of false information that I was, that I was given.
So, so kind of now taking that into the context of Squamish. Um, so yes, um, a few of the things that SORCA got involved with again, prior to my time that I've I've very much enjoyed kind of fostering its development. Um, so the Squamish Nation Youth Mountain Bike Program that's now a team. Uh, so Matthew Van Oostam leads that program.
And, um, that in itself has been really, uh, special to kind of be part of. Um, just cause I now have kind of, you know, Seeing some of these kids grow up and get seeing their stoke on mountain biking get to see the videos that they're then putting out And attending that we'd recently just had a dig day and kind of meeting the parents and and it's it's I've called there was there was one particular day that we were up in Darwin's lot We did a little welcoming circle [00:35:00] and it was it was It was one of those moments that I was like, ah, this is just right.
And it was one of those highlight moments for me, um, that particular year. And it was, uh, really nice to be part of and kind of feeling part of that, that, that, uh, community. Um, and then I, I, I recently had another special moment that I was invited to, to come to canoe practice with the Squamish Nation team.
And being that I'm a paddler, uh, getting into some of these Cedar, uh, dugout, um, uh, racing canoes. It was so cool. Yeah. And like the little single one was like so tippy. They all expected that I was going to go in and be in the six person. Anyways, total side, total sidebar stories. But, um, In a cool
Jake Johnstone: way though, the mountain biking has helped connect to all these through the work with the Squamish Nation
Ian Lowe: yeah. Yeah. And. And so I mean, it's really interesting because a lot of these kids wouldn't be recreating on [00:36:00] their own territorial lands if it wasn't for mountain biking. And that's what I just find so incredible is like, and this is just a small little subset of, of, of youth. But. Um, we're already seeing that some of the older kids are then now acting as mentors for this next wave, and this will just simply start to grow,
Jake Johnstone: and it's
Ian Lowe: really, really cool, and like, to think about all these special places that they, that they used as hunting grounds, um, and, uh, like, natural gardens out there, um, and now these youth are going through these, these, these zones, um, that they wouldn't, you know, most likely be exposed to without mountain bikes.
Um, so yeah, it's been, it's been really cool. And I think, I think that to your other question, okay, what, what can I do? Um, I mean the one very easy read that I, that I read, I think last [00:37:00] year or the year before is the 21 things about the Indian Act that, that, that you don't know, or I don't remember exactly what the title is, but, um, It is fascinating to then, that's what we should have been learning in school.
And that puts the context of these conversations, um, in a whole new light. And it starts to make sense. Um, and it's a, it's like a 200 page read, really simple to understand. And it's like, wow, it totally opens up your mind. And I recommend anyone to, to read that. Um, I would, on a very simple note, um, the other one that I, I like to ensure people know is like, um, Sloth Alam, synth, is how you actually pronounce the climb trail.
Fantastic. Um, and how I, how I, how I, uh, remember how to pronounce that is like sloth, because you feel like a sloth [00:38:00] when you're going up, but it's sloth. And then Alam, which is like, but it's with an M at the end of it. And then Saint with this, like the word Saint and eighth put together. So Slotholom Sainth.
And if we could just be calling that parking lot by Stl'lhalem Sintl' or the climb trail Slotholom Sainth and lot legacy or the climb trail, that would be so respectful for the Squamish nation and our relationship with that. It also happens to be, from all my references from the Squamish Nation, a very tough word to pronounce.
So, so it's okay if we mess it up a little bit. So we're rolling it together. Yeah, yeah.
Jake Johnstone: Fantastic, thank you for mentioning that. I'll test you right now. Slath alum sainth. No, Slath alum sainth. Slath alum sainth. Yes. Awesome, second time lucky. Slath alum sainth, yes. Yeah, that is a good one, and that is one I should know as well.
Yeah,
Ian Lowe: and it's, uh, and, so I think, I think that's the little thing, it's like, if, if we can all remember just a few [00:39:00] key phrases or key words, I think that shows so much respect, um, to the Squamish Nation, that will, that, um, yeah, that we appreciate being able to recreate it on their lands. Um, I think it's also interesting to note on that context, is that not only are there different languages, territorial lands with, within the, our riding area, but there is like the colonial version of freehold lands that they have large parcels within our network.
And one of those large parcels is where Free the Speedos and Recycle go, that is a hotbed for Um, non permitted builds as of late, and I think we need to be very cognizant of that. I wish there was a better means of showing a map with all the different landowners in this town, but when we put Rogue Trails on private parcels of land, all that advocacy work that we often do behind the scenes [00:40:00] gets lost.
And it gets shot down or it makes those discussions so much harder. And, um, and most of the old landowners that we deal with are very receptive. So if we did it the right way, we would then have an established trail on their land. But when we do it the wrong way, it then takes back all those conversations that we've been trying to foster for years.
So, yeah, it sounds like we're definitely better to ask for permission. Yeah. Rather than go the other way about it. Yeah, or just even educate yourselves on, uh, on the parcels of land. Yeah, who's land
Jake Johnstone: are we building trails on? Yeah, exactly. Awesome. We're gonna change gears a little bit here and talk about mindset for riding.
Okay. Um, so I know you've, or you're known for doing some big missions out of the bike. Can you tell me about one of your most challenging yet most epic days on the bike?
Oh my god.
Ian Lowe: Well, I, I mean, when I was doing a lot of cross country riding, [00:41:00] I, I still think to this day that the biggest climb that can be done anywhere in the sea to sky is starting in town and biking to the top. to, uh, the shark spin on Brohm and it's, um, almost all rideable. There's a few, um, pretty sketchy bits up there, but, um, there's, there's one particular one that got to the top and I forgot, like I lost track of time and I had to hit, I think I had to get down in, I don't know what it was, probably like an hour or something like that.
So ended up, um, Jumping out of, uh, at Cat Lake, and then I knew that you could do a river crossing through the Checkeye River to get then over to, um, Dead End Loop, and then Bushwack to get to Dead End Loop, and then up, rock and roll, and then down to where I lived on Perth, actually right here. Um, so, um, Uh, yeah, ended up, ended up doing that, [00:42:00] uh, river crossing and yeah, it was, it was a big day, but uh, this is
Jake Johnstone: just a solo adventure.
No, no, I think I had one other person with me. I had
Ian Lowe: to ditch them at the top because they didn't want to do the river crossing. Um, but yeah, it was, it was a good one. Yeah.
Jake Johnstone: Fantastic. And it's definitely, it's what I'd describe as type two fun. I don't know if you'd agree with that. Do you have any tough moments out there on the bike when you're really battling mentally on days like that?
Ian Lowe: Um, yeah, I think probably my biggest mental battle, I did a race in Kamloops one year and like 20 minutes into like a three hour race, I went down really hard and I ended up having like one gear Slashed my entire leg and yeah, I ended up finishing in like four hours, but it was, it was really, really big battle with myself and my bike and, but I just, I wanted Stave Lake I'll never forget that fricking race.
Um, but yeah, that was, that was a tough day for me, but what's some
Jake Johnstone: of the things [00:43:00] that are going through your mind
Ian Lowe: thinking about quitting at all? Oh yeah. Um, but as you get further and further, that, that particular race is one giant loop. So. Basically the best place to quit would have been right at the beginning because then I could get back, but, so the further you get into it, the further away you are from the start, and then once you kind of get to that crux, well you might as well keep going, so.
Jake Johnstone: Reminds me of that Buddhist saying, once begin, better finish. That's right,
Ian Lowe: that's right. Um, maybe not the best thing that I did for my body, but. Were you glad you finished? I was very glad that I finished,
Jake Johnstone: yes, of course. Fantastic. So, yeah, I guess when you're in some of those moments, perhaps it doesn't have to be to that extreme, just out on a regular Sufferfest.
Is there any tools that you've kind of picked up along the way or learned along the years that will help you with some of those challenging moments?
Ian Lowe: The power of distraction, for sure. Um, yeah, what I was, I always, I always find, um, I did a little bit of road racing, or a little bit of road biking, I should [00:44:00] say.
And at road biking, there's less able thinking. Ability for distraction and I find that you you feel more tired when you're road biking because of that whereas when I'm mountain biking those little moments like that Star Wars character going through the trees and you're getting your mind off of how fatigued you are and just having that kind of sensation of traveling through trees and you forget about it.
And so I think finding those little moments of distraction and it's kind of a parenting style of mine too, the power of distraction. But, um, but yeah, I think those are really, really important for kind of getting through those, those hard moments.
Jake Johnstone: That's awesome, man. And we are all just big kids, hey, which I think is right.
Fantastic. I know, you know, here in Squamish we're chatting a little bit about the nature of our terrain, often being quite difficult, quite challenging, steep and chunky. [00:45:00] There can be kind of, well, I guess one side of the coin is progression is awesome, and we do have kind of endless progression here in our backyard.
Do you ever get sucked into that idea of, of kind of one upmanship, or wanting to constantly up the bar, or up your level of riding? Right.
Ian Lowe: yeah, I don't, I don't really get that pressure and I think it's because I, I grew up at a time in mountain biking where, um, like jumping was not a critical skill set, um, in the sport cause it just didn't exist. It was tech trails. I'm very comfortable in tech trails, um, take me to like a big jump trail and I feel like a fish out of water, um, and it's, so I see good jumpers as an incredible cool skill set that looks so easy, but I also know that it's, it's not me.
Um, and, um, I, I, I laugh at the irony of this because I just hurt myself [00:46:00] on BVOD, um, It has a little bit of that one on my ship, that particular ride. Right. Um, uh, shout out to, to Brian Riser, who's raised $40,000 for, uh, searcher Rescue through that event for 25 years. So , but really fading into that community culture.
Yeah, and I mean, there's, and. I mean, there's a little bit of that oneupmanship and I, I, I didn't actually injure myself on a feature. It was just after a feature, but, um, but um, yeah, I, I don't really get a sense of that. And maybe it's just because I'm old now and, and more mature that I, um,
Jake Johnstone: that's right. I wonder like when you started, you obviously heavily involved in cross country racing in, was it more so a speed thing or a competition thing rather than doing a new feature for Instagram like it might be now?
Totally.
Ian Lowe: Yeah. Good point. I mean, it was, it was all about total speed, right? So at the end of the. At the end of the race, it didn't matter how fast you went off that one drop or that one whatever feature, it was your time at the end. Right. Um, [00:47:00] generally the, the people that were riding a lot in Squamish had pretty decent technical skills in XC races and still do today.
Um, so, um, yeah, it was, it was, it was a fun little period of time for me, but, um, um, yeah, I think. It was never kind of that bravado. I never kind of got that with, with riding. Yeah, that's awesome. So.
Jake Johnstone: Great. What's, what's been one of your biggest challenges on the bike over the years? Jumping. Jumping, okay.
Yeah, yeah.
Ian Lowe: Well, I mean, I guess a big, um, yeah, after I had my knee surgery, so I have an artificial right knee. I, I. I can't bike as much anymore. So it was, it was again, going back to the community. Um, like when I had my knee problems, um, both bike shops at the time, Tantalus and Corsa, they bent over backwards.
Like they built me this custom crank on the right side. They built me this [00:48:00] custom shoe that had the clip coming out of basically the center of my shoe. Like they did everything to get me back up and rolling. And it was, it was so cool. And, uh, It's those little moments that you're very grateful of. Um, I actually was, I tried to, um, I was training for several months just with my left leg.
And I actually did a bike race with just my left leg and they support, they both job supported me through kind of creating a straddle on my down tube for my right leg. And so it was a weird period of time, but again, it was like that love and that passion for, for keeping. People on trails. Um, that was, that's
Jake Johnstone: amazing.
Yeah. And I know, yeah, often like coming back from an injury or a setback surgery like this can be incredibly tough mentally because we've lost that thing we love, but often we're also riding at a level that perhaps wasn't the level we're riding at beforehand. How did you navigate that?
Ian Lowe: Uh, I think, um, I think I never got [00:49:00] that because I've never owned a cross country bike again.
Right. Um, so that was when it was like, oh, this is great. Cross country is great. It's not the only form of this sport, you can just get an all mountain bike and just have fun. And you can still go fast downhill and you can chill going uphill. So I think that's where, that's where I kind of turned into just kind of a typical rider and just
Jake Johnstone: enjoying the descents.
It sounds like a really smart time to pivot kind of like those outcomes or what you're actually riding for. Yeah. In line with your injury. Like, let's just have fun with what I can ride right now.
Ian Lowe: Yeah. And, but to your point, I, I have never skied again and that's why I never skied again because skiing was a, was another passion and in my mind, I would want to be doing the same things I was doing when I was 30, if I went and skied tomorrow and I know that that would be the dumbest thing ever.
So I've chosen not to ever Alpine ski. And.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah. What would you tell yourself if you were forced to go out and do a day of skiing? [00:50:00] Like, how would you keep yourself in one piece?
Ian Lowe: Well, this is, okay, so I did lie because on my mom's 80th birthday, she wanted me to ski with her at Whistler Blackcomb so I came out of retirement and, um, with the two of us skied for a day and it was, actually, that's not true.
Sorry, my 80th birthday for my mom, And then my, my daughter, when she was 16, I'd never taken her downhill skiing. She'd only cross country skied her whole life. Right. And I thought it would be a fun science experiment to literally go to the top of Cyprus, never giving her a lesson and saying go. So those two days that I've come out of retirement to ski, um, for family members only.
And both of those days I took it easy. Okay. So. Yeah, yeah. And I had
Jake Johnstone: a blast both days. Yep. So kind of shifting the focus again to be like having fun with family, rather than going as fast as you can. Yeah, and just, yeah, good times. Awesome. Yeah, shifting back [00:51:00] to the racing, I'm curious, you know, we just went for a fun ride there, down some stuff that we're both pretty comfortable on.
How does or how did your mindset shift when all of a sudden you were getting in between the tape you were doing a race?
Ian Lowe: It's
Jake Johnstone: so long ago,
Ian Lowe: Nick, it's
Jake Johnstone: too I'm too old, it's literally, it's so long ago. I can't even like You've done some, some local fun races in recent years, right? Uh,
Ian Lowe: I have, but, but yeah, I don't consider those to be I mean, if you're not training, it's hard to call it racing. Um, so now it's just, I'll just go in a race.
And do you
Jake Johnstone: find some stuff shifts on unconsciously? Like I'm not a competitive racer. I don't think I ever will be. Sometimes I still find myself getting caught up all of a sudden when I'm in that race environment and not ride it as well as I might, if I'm just out for a fun lap.
Ian Lowe: Yeah. I mean, absolutely.
Anytime a competitive person is against the clock, they're taking different risks. And I find even now, although I [00:52:00] say that I don't race, I mean, of course, every ride I go on, I'm trying to get a PB on Strava. So I'm racing. Like we're all the guilty of it. Like we're, it's, it's kind of funny, right? Because I think there's a lot of kind of masters athletes that, um, They, they're kind of obsessed with Strava, right?
And it's not trying to get the KOM or anything. It's trying to get your PB. Um, and I think it's kind of cool, but it's also, um, not always healthy because you do take some undue risks and often, um, we're, we're riding out there by ourselves. Um, People don't realize in our zone, in our, in our riding network, how many areas are out of cell reception.
Um, even LOA that we did today is almost all out of cell reception. And so people need to kind of think about these things, even when they're going after kind of Strava segments. Um, so yeah, I, I, I guess to your point, although I'm not racing anymore, I'm still, [00:53:00] Trying to race against my own self on certain situations.
Jake Johnstone: Well, I hope we didn't bring down your monthly average today. No, sorry. No, that's great. How do you keep that risk in check? I know I experience this kind of concept of risk creep where over time I get so familiar with taking different risks Right. that I forget how dangerous or how fast I'm going, how hard the trail is that I'm riding.
Ian Lowe: I think the odd fall or the odd, um, Uh, almost fall, really kind of put it in check.
Jake Johnstone: Yeah. Sometimes life has a good way of reminding us
Ian Lowe: to get
Jake Johnstone: back into the present.
Ian Lowe: I think even, um, again, being that I'm a little bit older now than the average rider in Squamish, I see peers that are getting injured. I've got injured and there's, I mean, I think you have to know, um, know your limits, play within it.
And I think you, I think everyone has to keep reminding themselves of that and, um, [00:54:00] and I think it can be, uh, can be done as a safe sport. So
Jake Johnstone: yeah. Yeah. I agree with that. Often hear this, this idea of like, Oh, if you're a mountain biking, you've got to learn how to crash. Do you just, just subscribe to that? I guess the other side of the coin is like learning how not to crash.
Right. Which side of the coin do you side yourself with? I think it's learning
Ian Lowe: to crash. Um, yeah, okay. Yeah, and I, I, whatever, like everyone else, we've all had some good stumbles in our life, and I think our bodies do learn how to crash. Um, and yeah, I mean, I still crash. Um, and, but I, I think there is, there is definitely a skill set.
To know how to crash. Yeah. How, how do you crash? Some of that comes from experience, right? I don't, I don't know. I mean, none of it's, I think it's now reflect, uh, re reflex, reflex refl. Yeah. That does it. And, and not kind of consciously, um, oh, I gotta use this technique of role. Yeah. That's it.
That's why I like to ask this question. Yeah.
Ian Lowe: I mean, I, I think as [00:55:00] any kind of active person, we still trip and fall all the time, and I think that's important that we just. Kind of are staying active and, and those, those take those. As my mom always said, if you don't learn, you don't crash. If you don't crash, you don't learn.
And
Jake Johnstone: kind of like anything in life, hey, if we don't take those little failures along the way, those little risks, we're not going to learn anything. And I guess perhaps learning to be an active dynamic mountain biker helps build that, that athlete within us so that if we do take a fall, we haven't seen coming, we've perhaps can.
Yeah.
Ian Lowe: And I think other sports help kind of. Build the muscles that help support when you kind of go off script on mountain biking. Like a lot of athletes in Squamish, we do multiple sports. And I think those, those help with those, those times that it's like, uh oh, bike's no longer under me. I've got to deploy a different strategy here.
Jake Johnstone: So, yeah, I like that analogy. Yeah. Awesome man, and these days if you do have a little crash or a little [00:56:00] tumble, is there anything you'll tell yourself right away to kind of avoid it building up to be perhaps something bigger than it needs to be in your head? Don't tell my wife.
Ian Lowe: No, I think like at 25 when you'd have a crash it would take you a second or two to kind of shake it off, whereas at 50 when you have a crash it takes a day or two to shake it off.
And, um, yeah, so that's, that's where I'm at right now.
Jake Johnstone: Right. So try to, try to reflect on that. Hey, what happened? Yeah. How can we avoid more of these? Totally. Yeah. Awesome, man. That's some great lived wisdom. I love it. Oh, grit with wisdom. There you go. Totally. Yeah. That's awesome. Um, I've got a question here from one of our followers on Instagram.
Bit of a funny one. You can guess who it was. How did learning about the term Smoko change your view on lunch breaks?
Ian Lowe: So, yes. [00:57:00] That's right. The last podcast that I did was with Simon. There we go. I never realized that. Yes, he was dressed as Santa Claus. And, and, uh, yes, he introduced me to the word smoko. And it's now a joke amongst my family. Um, so, yes. I, I, yes. I
Jake Johnstone: don't even know how to answer that question. That's okay. We got a laugh.
That's awesome. Speaking of costumes, something else I wanted to ask you before we wrap up here. You're known for some of your out there eye catching race costumes. Can you describe one of your favorite costumes over the years? Oh my god.
Ian Lowe: oh, uh, well I think just because my memory is short now that I'm so old.
Um, uh, yes, two weekends ago I was I was supporting some friends that were doing a silly event, um, and they had to ride their road bikes through the canyon, and, um, I had [00:58:00] a full onesie, uh, unitard on, um, yellow, um, and, um, That you could not see my face at all. And I could barely see out of this thing. And I stood at the side of the highway and I then just decided that I was one of those, like, a warning signs, and the honks and the laughs that I got, um, were pretty darn funny.
So that's it. It's the most recent one, and yeah, I, I loved when I was racing, um, just to be able to really enthusiastic, uh, cheering. It always drove me. Uh, I remember this one race that it was in the middle of nowhere and this guy was, had a drum kit and they're just pounding on their drum as we were racing.
And it was the coolest thing ever. And anyways, so I've, I've got myself in with a group of friends that just love to kind of go all out when it comes to cheering. So yeah,
Jake Johnstone: that's amazing. Yeah. I used to play the drums and I don't know how long [00:59:00] it takes to cut one of those. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah.
Fantastic, man. Good to start wrapping things up here. Um, kind of last big question here is who's someone that you look up to in the mountain biking world? Uh,
Ian Lowe: yeah, I mean, I, um, Prior to his passing, Dave was obviously someone that, um, that I respected a lot. And that was, that was obviously tough when Dave passed.
And I think why I respect, why I respected that is that he had, he had had a career, a very successful career, had a passion for mountain biking. Um, he also was always super enthusiastic about getting youth involved in, in the sport. and, and was an exceptional trail builder. And then when, uh, prior to me joining, when he came under the SORCA fray, he had a great way of kind of balancing [01:00:00] the, um, the conversations with, uh, kind of rogue builders.
And then, um, obviously within SORCA, everything is permitted building. So yeah, he, he is certainly, um, someone that early on, um, Um, he was not just, he was a colleague. He was someone that I looked up to. So
Jake Johnstone: yeah. Yeah. What a fantastic community member. His legacy really lives on, doesn't it? In the heart and soul of our community and our trails out there as well.
Awesome. We've talked about all kinds of different things over the last hour or so. What's, what's the biggest thing or one takeaway you'd hope listeners remember from this conversation?
Ian Lowe: Yeah, I think so. If it was a different person that got the ED role, and I was out there, and I was contemplating if I was buying a membership or not, like, seriously, it's, the things that SORCA gets involved in, and whether that's staff, or the committee members, or the board of directors, or trying to [01:01:00] corral the kind of massive pool of, of volunteers, like, honestly, the 60, or the 120 for a family membership, It is incredible what horsepower is coming out of that.
And I know that right now me saying that feels like it's a little bit of bias, but I'm also a community member and I also know what is being offered by this incredible board of directors and, um, and the work that's being done. And I, I sure I would love that everybody that's riding the trails in Squamish Squamish.
Should be a member. Yeah,
Jake Johnstone: that's fantastic. It's been really cool to get some more insight into like where those membership dollars go and to learn, yeah, the incredible value that comes out of like 60 each. I think you can't buy anything for your bike that's 60. Yeah. Yeah. And like most well spent money.
Yeah.
Ian Lowe: And there's, yeah, on top of the, the, the advocacy and the events and all the programming that we do, [01:02:00] there's like, you know, Even the discounts themselves. We actually have a member to this day who's not a mountain biker in town But they buy enough Alice and Brohm (ice cream) that they buy a SORCA membership every year because it pays off the 10 percent off that you get at Alice in Brougham.
Anyways, it's just like, okay, whatever. That's
Jake Johnstone: fantastic. Yeah, whatever works for them.
so as we wrap things up here, is there any industry partners or community partners that you'd like to mention?
Ian Lowe: Um, yeah, so as much as we couldn't do what we do today without volunteers and our board of directors, we also could not ever do what we do without kind of, so our three big sources of funding are our memberships.
Uh, grants, which I've named the District of Skamish. We've also got a handful of annual grants that we apply for that enable us to do what we do, and then sponsorships and donors. So, um, our sponsorships and donors basically comes in a few different [01:03:00] forms. It's the APRE hosts that do all that amazing kind of APRE dinner and drinks.
So those are almost exclusively local, um, businesses. Then we have all of our tiered sponsors that are, you'll see them on our newsletter footer, and then they're all on our website. And these are businesses that just want to be involved with SORCA. And, um, and they, they, they respect that, um, this, this community that, that SORCA has helped kind of foster.
They want to make sure that this has longevity. Um, I think just on the, the kind of overall kind of financial piece of SORCA it is certainly this kind of long term sustainable funding is something that we're working with various levels of government right now to figure out because bike orgs in general, um, are kind of, um, very underfunded, uh, within the province, considering the kind of economic benefit that they deliver.
And we're, we're, we've done our economic impact study [01:04:00] that we did last year, and, and proven how much benefit comes out of that. Um, and other bike orgs are doing that across the province. Um, and there is, does, does seem, there does seem to be some interest at the kind of provincial level to kind of change this model a little bit.
And I think If that if and when that does change, um, I think the capability of what sort of it can be involved in is going to be expanding. And we're really looking forward to that opportunity. So,
Jake Johnstone: yeah, fantastic. It's cool to get a window into that world as well. I'm curious, like, obviously, with that economic impact study, you've probably compared what mountain biking is a sport receives from the provincial government and what other sports say, like soccer and hockey and traditional.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, is it? Incredibly
Ian Lowe: skewed. Um, yeah, it is, uh, because the, the problem with mountain, well, the problem, it's also the benefit with mountain biking is it's on public lands. It's free, so there's no user fees. Um, but because of that, there's also no funding. So [01:05:00] we don't, we don't get any, uh, funding from the provincial government unless we apply for, for one-off grants.
Um. And that's something that's being worked on right now and, and yeah, even amongst the kind of district funding, we, we are very grateful of the funding that we get from the district, but we also, we don't have operating costs like, um, the softball fields have or the skating rink has or the swimming pool has, um, that all have considerable operating costs.
Um, And really that amount of funds that they give to us help offset some of our operating costs for that trail network. And I think that's a narrative that we'd like to be able to educate a lot more people on, is that these trails, every trail that's built, The building part is only the, the little bit of fit, it's the ongoing operating and maintenance that, that really has the dramatic impact, uh, because we want trails to last 20, 30 years and they [01:06:00] take a lot of work, um, to, to keep maintaining trails, depending how they're built originally, but also, uh, the terrain that they're on and all the other variables.
So, uh, we can't forget about that kind of, that post build. Kind of phase on how much that costs Um,
Jake Johnstone: yeah, so I guess we give birth to a new trail for the community That's an asset that brings people to the community and provides economic benefit But it also is this liability this thing that we've got to pay to maintain.
Ian Lowe: Yeah Yeah, like so the economic benefits that we established last year 26 million dollars is what the tourism That's our visitors spend in squamish, uh on that six month riding cycle So We don't know what the full year is because we only had the funds to do the study for a six month period so May to October and twenty six million dollars and that's just visitor spending and we know that resident spending is generally 1.
5 to 2 times whatever visitor spending is so mountain biking contributes a lot of dollars into this [01:07:00] economy and and I think we have to protect that let alone just keeping that level where we are right now and Hey, we can enhance it if we have additional funds to make sure the trails are being maintained more.
But yeah, I think, I think there's such an untapped resource that we could be really making this a big number in the future. So for a
Jake Johnstone: bunch of dirt bags, we're spending an awful lot of money. That's right. Yes. That's a really cool insight. Thank you. For everyone listening that would like to go and buy a SORCA membership, or perhaps purchase a trail pass, where can they find SORCA online?
Ian Lowe: SORCA. ca. And if you're only visiting the town, like, I get it, you're riding here once, just go to SORCA. ca, donate now, whatever. Whatever you're happy doing. 5 bucks, 25 bucks, 30 bucks. And, yes, we respect that you don't need to buy a membership if you're just coming into town for a couple days, but a little donation goes a long way, because we leverage those funds.
Yeah, generally like every dollar that's given to SORCA goes to about [01:08:00] four dollars into the trails through grants and all the other things that we can then Magnify out of that that money. So
Jake Johnstone: Fantastic, man. Yeah, we'll put some links in the show notes as well. Thanks so much for taking the time to come for a ride today Awesome.
Ian Lowe: What's up guys? Just one more thing before you hit the trails. If you enjoyed this podcast, please be sure to subscribe and don't be a stranger. I'd love to hear from you about any topics or any particular episodes that you enjoyed and even about any guests that you'd like to hear me have on the show in the future.
You can find me on Instagram at the underscore mind underscore mountain. This podcast, mountain biking, and mindset are all things that are very close to my heart. So I feel super grateful to be able to share these conversations with you. So much love to you all for taking the time to listen. I'll see you next [01:09:00] time.
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