A two-day discussion that allowed us to better investigate some very important issues for our environment. The main analysis is that MTB has acquired maturity and today we can speak of this sector as strategic in the summer tourism panorama and beyond. Let's try to frame the ideas that emerged in the two days.
LOCATIONS INVEST IN MTB
The first fact that leaps to the eye is how tourist resorts and institutions in some countries believe that employing capital in infrastructures dedicated to MTB is an important element in expanding the offer of their centers. These are investments of millions of euros, necessary to create an area that is able to offer quality services to an ever wider audience of tourists.
IT IS NO LONGER THE TIME OF IMPROVISATION
This is the main focus of the two days; to reach the numbers of some resorts it is necessary to invest, but it is even more important to do it with awareness, relying on professionals who know the sector, planning every aspect in a precise way.
From the way in which to intervene on the ground, to the radii of curves, passing from the identification of a marketing plan that takes into account the location that you want to give to the structure.
It is important to think of a 360 ° project, which also takes into account relations with institutions and is perceived by the territory in a positive way. It is certainly a complex job, which requires patience and years, but which yields important results in the medium term.
Wishing to summarize everything in a single concept, it can be said that the development of a bike resort increasingly passes from the professionalism with which one approaches it in all its elements.
WHERE TO START
I would start with the aspect that we are most passionate about, that is the trails. Designing a route for MTB today means assuming first of all a responsibility towards those who will face it later, for their pleasure and safety. Secondly, it means going to partially modify the natural environment and its equilibrium. For these reasons, designing and building a path is not child's play. If it is acceptable that the track behind the house can be a bit improvised and anarchic, it is no longer conceivable that the same thing can happen in organized resorts or that aim to become tourist destinations.
So the figure of the trail builder is central, because the success or failure of some lines depends on his ability and professionalism. Making a mistake at the corner entries, throttling them or tracing where the water acts decisively, means immediately creating the conditions to receive negative judgments and to have a trail that in a short time will become almost impractical.
Understanding the contour lines, reading the bottom and interpreting what can happen during the rains or after hundreds of wheels have passed is a fundamental value for a tourist resort. Wanting to give an example with a more mature sport, the trail builder is to a bike resort like a good cat rider to a ski area.
But the two days also highlighted the importance of other figures complementary to his. From the comparison with the experts, it emerges that one of the problems that are most encountered concerns the relationship with designers, often lacking any competence in this regard. The design of a route for MTB is closer to that of a mule track rather than a pedestrian route. This element which for us is perhaps taken for granted is not for those who are outside our environment, often posing problems of dialogue, which could be overcome by relying on professionals who know the sector.
In Paganella we had the opportunity to exchange a few words with the people of the Danger Zone staff, discovering that in addition to the already known figures, in their group there is also an agronomist, who has the task of analyzing the trails also from the point of view of impact on the ground, looking for solutions that maintain its balance. In this regard, we were struck by the recovery project of a former passage, where in order to try to restore the undergrowth to its original state, they are experimenting with foliage, to verify if in this way the vegetation will return as before.
PROJECTED IMPACT
We returned from these two days with the awareness that our sector is acquiring a new maturity, that there are places that have embarked on a path where, with entrepreneurial professionalism, they are taking the concept of MTB tourism to a higher level. There are still several aspects to improve; from the regulatory point of view it would be important to introduce certification for designers and trail builders, or a new regulation of civil liability, which relieves administrations and landowners.
Finally, it would be strategic to create an association that can be a reference for those realities that still today approach this type of tourism with some doubts.
We are at the forefront in this field and in the coming weeks we will go to deepen these aspects with some experts. Because we believe that the development of our sport and the reduction of the problems of coexistence with the other 'worlds' of the outdoors pass from our greater professionalism.
