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Martha Hucker interviews Inga Beck, IMBA trailbuilder

 

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Inga in Sedona.
Photo: Jason Van Horn

It’s the weekend, and most of us have been hanging out to get out on our bikes and into the forest. But imagine if your actual job was to travel around North America with your partner, riding bikes and building tracks. Sound like a dream? Well, Inga beck is living it.

 

The 30-year-old former data analyst from San Francisco and boyfriend Jason Van Horn are the IMBA Trail Care Crew for 2009. With all their stuff in storage back home in San Francisco, they’re spending a year living out of a new Subaru and helping mountain bike clubs all over North America improve their trails and their trail building techniques. We caught up with Inga Beck to find out how fun it really is.

Hi Inga! You have one of the coolest jobs in the world. What exactly do you do?

Thank you. My boyfriend Jason Van Horn and myself work for IMBA as one of two Subaru/ IMBA Trail Care Crews. We travel full time throughout North America and Canada leading trailwork sessions, meeting with land managers and working with IMBA-affiliated clubs and members to improve mountain biking opportunities. The Trail Care Crew program is fully funded by Subaru of America, they have been IMBA’s main sponsor since 1997. Buy a Subaru, and please support your trails! (and IMBA!)

 

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Inga in Duthie Hill.
Photo: Jason Van Horn

 

What about IMBA, can you tell us about the organization’s goals, and why people should support them?

IMBA’s mission has always been to protect, create, and enhance quality trail experiences for mountain bikers worldwide. In addition, we actively promote responsible mountain biking, support volunteer trailwork, assist land managers with trail management issues, and improve relations among trail user groups.

IMBA gives mountain bikers all over the world a voice that is heard and respected by federal land managers, environmental groups, the mainstream media, as well as other trail users. -As for why to support us? Well, if it’s not already clear, we’re the ones working to keep trails open for everyone- and not just XC trails either. Freeride and DH type trails as well. Regardless of your skill level, you should have a place to ride your bike that is challenging.

 

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Inga riding Gunbarrel.
Photo: Jason Van Horn

 

What are people aiming for when constructing trails these days? Any noticeable trends in what’s being built?

The biggest change in best practices in the last decade has been the move away from waterbars for drainage. The Forest Service used to recommend them as a best practice for water drainage. Instead, we incorporate grade reversals in new trail design. For existing trails, we recommend rolling grade dips in conjunction with knicks. (a knick is essentially a section of trail with additional outslope, designed to funnel water off the trail tread before it can cause erosion damage) It also ties into the overall user experience that is the current focus in modern trail design. A lot of thought goes into new trail design regarding flow. In fact, some of our favorite trails designed by our co-workers can be likened to a rollercoaster ride. I don’t think it can get much better than that. Other than jumps- although Jason was riding the rolling grade dips like it was a pump track, and doubling a lot of the rollers. Now that is my kind of XC ride! ;^)

 

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Inga riding Schleyer.
Photo: Jason Van Horn

 

You also teach local clubs trail building skills. What are some of the fundamental principals of building good gravity tracks?

The 5 most important principles of building a sustainable trail whether it’s XC, DH/FR are the 10% overall average grade, half-rule: a trail’s grade shouldn’t exceed half the grade of the sideslope, maximum sustainable grade your soil can handle, frequent grade reversals, and outslope. For highly technical trails where grade will sometimes exceed 15 percent, use natural rock, rock armoring or other rock features to add challenge and improve sustainability. Design a trail so that it runs through as much rock as possible. Rock is especially useful in building steeps and drop-offs. Rock also enables you to add trail features such as wide, off-camber corners, which normally would erode. This doesn’t mean that you should avoid building wooden technical features. A well-designed and maintained wooden technical trail feature can safely stand the test of time. Careful attention must be paid to construction and maintenance to ensure durability. It’s important that wooden features use materials and construction techniques that match the surrounding environment. Also, to ensure durability, select rot-resistant wood and appropriate fasteners. [You can find many more trail building resources on the IMBA website here]

What bike do you ride, and do you get plenty of time to ride it? What style of riding do you focus on?

We are sponsored by Fisher Bikes. The Roscoe III is the official bike of the Trail Care Crews. My personal freeride bike is a Specialized Enduro with a Marzocchi 66 fork. I ride the Roscoe III at least a couple times a week mainly on group rides with the local bike clubs. My personal bike is primarily used on my off time, and the amount of time on that bike all depends on whether or not we are in an area with DH/FR trails. My favorite part of any ride is the way down, though we end up pedaling up more than I would like.

 

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Inga Crank it up.
Photo: Jason Van Horn

 

Are there any not-so-fun things about being on the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew?

I miss my girlfriends. It can get a bit lonely in a primarily male environment. It’s also difficult at times to find certain beauty products- even ordering online is an issue, since we are mobile year-round and don’t currently have a permanent address. The not having a home gets old at times.

What do you get up to when you’re not building trails or riding bikes?

I enjoy Yoga, weight lifting, pedicures, shopping and seeking out fabulous restaurants. We haven’t had a gym membership since hitting the road, but now we’ve become acclimated to a mobile & nomadic lifestyle, we’re starting to hit up gyms again. We’re trying to get out more and enjoy the tourist thing more as well, since we’re always in a cool new place.

 

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Inga, Colonnade.
Photo: Jason Van Horn

 

Do you think you’ll be able to adjust back to ‘normal’ life after living every mountain biker’s dream lifestyle?

Not sure, I often wonder that myself…

Thanks for your time, Inga, and all the best for the year ahead.

You can follow Inga and Jason’s travels on their website, the ironically-named www.ihatebikes.net. And for more information on IMBA, how you can support them, and organising a visit from the Trail Care Crew to your local riding spot, visit www.IMBA.com.

All photos copyright Jason Van Horn.