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PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

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Impact

• 482,000+ Total Video Views
• 865,000+ Total Audience Reach
• 3,287,024 Impressions
• Awarded Vimeo "Staff Pick” 
• 44 Screening Events with 4,400+ in attendance
• $100,000 Raised for nonprofit trail advocacy organizations 
• Played in the Sedona and Wasatch Film Festivals

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Deliverables

• 45 minute film
• Variety of trailer cut-downs
• Photos

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THE MISSION

Inspired by our local mountain bike community in Bellingham, WA we set out to create a film that would inspire mountain bike communities around the country to find a path forward to form partnerships with their local land managers.

If you looked at our sport today you wouldn’t realize that there was a time when mountain bike trails didn’t exist outside of a few hand-carved trails scratched into the dirt by diehard riders. Back in the day, mountain bikers started building trails anywhere the could find enough vert out of necessity - there were no trails. These rogue trail builders often trespassed and built on land they had no permission to build on. As mountain biking grew, these illegal trails created conflict between the land managers and the mountain bikers and in some places resulted in trails being ripped out and fines being issued to trespassers. 

Over the years, mountain bikers have had to form unlikely partnerships with land managers in their fight to ride. Little did they know, that these relationships would transform their communities. This documentary is a story of success, examining multiple paradigms that span local and national levels, and the effort it takes to create a “Biketown”. These different scenarios can provide a road map to help guide communities around the globe to similar prosperity. This film and multimedia project delivers a message of hope and sheds light on the unique partnerships responsible for a new era in outdoor recreation.

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THE APPROACH

Research

From ideation to premiere this project took four years to develop. We started the process with extensive research to fully understand the history of mountain biking and its journey into mainstream acceptance over the last two decades. 

Casting

The next step was to find the communities that would support this narrative. We interviewed and considered twenty communities around the country, but eventually narrowed those down to four. The common thread between all of them was that the trail advocates and land managers are choosing to find ways to work together despite a somewhat turbulent past. 

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Bellingham, WA

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Pacific City, OR

Chisholm, MN

Snowshoe, WV

Characters

With our communities in place, we then started to interview key members of the community. Park Rangers, riders, shop owners, educators, politicians, land managers, and trail builders were among the interview process. From a list of individuals, we chose our main characters and supporting characters. 

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Scripting + Pre-Production

With an understanding of the story, we then started the process of scripting. Taking hours of recorded pre-interviews we took the transcripts from our characters and started to break the story down into beats. As we formed our script we then started to build a shot list and break that shot list down into a schedule. 

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Production

Production was captured over the course of 31 days. We conducted sit-down interviews with primary and secondary characters and then filmed a mix of “day in the life” b-roll as well as shots that we needed specifically to craft the story in the timeline.

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Post-Production

With 15 terabytes of footage, we hunkered down in the edit cave for 8 months to bring the film to life. Countless revisions, rewrites, and cups of coffee ultimately led to the final export of the film in time for the premiere.

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THE IMPACT

The film was premiered in Bellingham, WA on July 7th, 2022. Following the premiere, through a partnership with IMBA the film traveled to 44 towns around the country. Through in-person activations, beer sales, and raffles raised a total of $100,000 that went back to each local trail-building community. 

Biketown is a story of what’s possible when we decide to our differences aside and choose to work together. It's stories like these that leave a lasting impression and truly have the ability to change the trajectory of a community. 

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