What does it take to create, protect and maintain the trails we love? Medicine Wheel Trail Advocates (MedWheel) talk about their history, the story behind their name, and more than three decades of trail building, maintenance, advocacy and stewardship throughout the Pikes Peak Region.

From Red Rock Canyon Open Space, Lake Moraine and Pikes Peak to Blodgett Open Space, Forest Lakes and Pikeview Quarry, we hear what it takes to turn trail ideas into reality. We also talk about working with different land users, the future of mountain biking and bicycle tourism in Colorado Springs, and MedWheel’s philosophy: “Trails heal us. We heal the trails.” Want to help? Join, volunteer and “create the world you want to live in.”

View the video of this conversation on YouTube.

Host: Torie Giffin, Owner of Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort

Guests:

Cory Sutella, Executive Director Medicine Wheel Trail Advocates

Lezlie McKenna, Medicine Wheel Trail Advocates Board Treasurer

Shayne McCormick, Medicine Wheel Trail Advocates Board

LINKS & THINGS MENTIONED

Medicine Wheel Trail Advocates / MedWheel

Hivepass App — MedWheel membership, events & volunteer opportunities

Search Hivepass in the Apple App Store or Google Play

Bicycle Colorado

Bike Clinic Too

Bike Colorado Springs

Colorado Mountain Bike Coalition (COMTB)

Colorado Parks & Wildlife

Colorado’s Ride — Bill Plock

COTREX - Colorado Trail Explorer by Colorado Parks & Wildlife

Give Pikes Peak

Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO)

International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA)

Ostroy

Pedestrian & Cycle Manitou Springs (PaCMan)

Pikes Peak Outdoors

Pikeview Quarry Bike Park

Routes Outfitter

Trailforks

Trails & projects mentioned: Lake Moraine Trail, Pikes Peak Plummet, Spring Creek, Stephanie’s Trail, Upper Codell Trail at Red Rock Canyon Open Space, Fountain Valley School race trail, Forest Lakes–715 Connector, Mt. Herman Trail Network, Blodgett Open Space, the North and South Slopes of Pikes Peak and Pikeview Quarry Bike Park.

Pedal the Springs shares the people, places, organizations and stories that make the Pikes Peak Region an incredible place to ride.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who loves cycling, community, and making the Pikes Peak Region an even better place to live and ride.

Pedal the Springs is produced by Studio809 Podcasts from The Next Us in Downtown Colorado Springs and presented by the Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort, the only bicycle-themed lodging and must-stay for cyclists coming to Colorado. Check us out at bicycleresort.com for more information.