A letter from our director
To the many members and friends of Fellowship of the Wheel, thank you for being here and supporting our vision to create opportunities for everybody to enjoy the outdoors. Whether you are a new member, have been a member for many years, a former member, or a future member, you are here because you care about our trails. My name is Adam Morse, and I am the executive director for FOTW. For three years now, I have been a behind the scenes force, steering the organization towards meeting the goals set by you, our community. I care a lot about our trails and to do this work means so much to me. I would like to share exactly how important you are in making our trails in Chittenden County and around the state accessible and fun to so many folks.
This year felt like a tough one to be a Vermonter. Many of us felt the effects of a historically wet summer. Whether it be from personal loss, that of friends and family, or just an outlet on the trails we all know and love, we had to find new ways to pass the time and enhance our health and well being. For me, it was a constant struggle thinking of our trail crew out working in wet conditions and heavy saturated soils. It was equally tough thinking of our membership every time we had to advise staying off the trails again and again.
The dry and sunny days felt extra special this year. Every event brought high spirits and a chance to celebrate the variety of trails we have to recreate on. Being on the trails and simply being able to greet other users felt like a social recharge. I know there was less of that this year, but seeing those reciprocated smiles went so far and reinforces what these trails mean to all of us.
For me, recreating on our trails provides the time and space for leisure, challenges, adventure, solitude in nature, socializing, reflection and so much more. I am thankful to have trails that provide so many different opportunities and benefits. The variety of spaces and trail types available allows for all of us to choose what trails will fulfill purpose on any given day. This is important when thinking about what these trails mean to our entire community. My dream is to have every person who visits our trails experience the joy, community, challenge, and relaxation that I feel. There is no better gift from mountain biking and trail based recreation than seeing those emotions in one another.
In 2023, Fellowship of the Wheel had 1,870 members. Together we logged 765 volunteer trail hours, 275 board member hours, and 240 event volunteer hours at 13 different events.
We were fortunate to be able to host several events despite the narrow breaks in wet weather. We often waited until the last minute to make the call on cancellations because it was so important to us to be able to host these events.
This past year has been big for bike parks with the continued support of Burlington Bike Park Coalition getting closer and closer to breaking ground, a stronger working relationship with Maple Street Bike Park Coalition and the addition of a new bike park in Westford, an area of Chittenden County with limited bike trail experiences. These spaces are crucial to supporting our mission to create more riding opportunities which are safe and accessible closer to town centers and more densely populated areas. These goals have been years in the making, and a dream to fulfill as folks came out to take endless laps during our October grand opening.
Trail accessibility is another long journey which precedes my time as staff with FOTW. The board had a swift response to a community member’s request for some more accessible bridges at Sunny Hollow in 2018. This began a commitment to expanding those opportunities to other networks and how we plan and execute fun trails for all throughout our networks. While creating access to aMTB’s, we aim to improve the trail experience for all users. The completion of aMTB upgrades at Saxon Hill and Mud Pond in 2023 was an undeniable highlight. Quietly standing by some of the new bridges at Saxon Hill, watching kids smiling, friends hollering and hopping through the humps, and new users experiencing the trails for the first time is a memory that will forever stay with me.
Over the past year, our staff and board members have read and codified 1,540 comments from our survey and had hundreds of conversations trailside and at events, all of which have all been heard to shape our organization. FOTW’s goals for 2024:
- Host a new event that everyone can get excited about
- Add a new stop on the Grassroots Enduro calendar
- Plan TWO (2) new machine built trails, something our networks lack
- Grow our membership by 10% which means 200 new members!
- Raise $60,000 to meet the 40% of our budget not covered by membership dollars
Thank you so much for being here and we look forward to 2024! We need your continued help and support as we look towards the future.
With love for the trails,
Adam – FOTW
