TA board ready to go after mountain biking arena

From better signage to an app

The sport of mountain biking will be the emphasis of summer marketing for the Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association. At a TA board meeting held Tuesday, February 10, the board agreed to support interim executive director John Norton’s idea of “owning mountain biking” in Colorado.

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Norton gave a presentation showing that mountain biking is not only more popular than alpine skiing, road biking and fresh water fly-fishing; the money spent on the sport is significant.
“Other places in Colorado are also going after the market,” Norton said. “Steamboat is calling themselves Bike Town USA. Winter Park is tagging itself as the Mountain Bike Capital of America. Mountain bikers spend money when they are here.
“Look at the Growler. Racers bring their families and stay in lodging. They also tend to visit the area at another time other than race weekend.”
Norton said CBMR has seen exponential growth with bikers using the lifts in the summer. Last year, about 18,000 mountain bike days were recorded. Norton said this valley has at least 650 miles of dirt trails in the county and that is a lot more than the Winter Park area.
“We have high quality rides and we have the heritage of the sport,” he said. “We also have great après biking and amenities at both ends of the valley. This is a place that can own mountain biking.”
Norton said six marketing elements need to be grown to get the word out. Topping the list was better signage for the area trails. Following that were events and partners, social media and video promotion, the web, traditional advertising and potentially a mountain biking app.
“I can’t even say we have bad signage because we don’t really have any signage,” Norton said Tuesday. “I’ve met with the ranchers and a lot of the conflict between bikers and ranchers is because bikers don’t know where they are. We need signs and the county and the forest service and the ranchers are all supportive of new signage.”
Norton said it would take moving ahead in all six areas to put together a successful program promoting mountain biking.
Board member Ken Stone thought there was a good opportunity to engage new partners, both locally and nationally. “There are groups out there that would love to rub shoulders with Crested Butte and mountain biking,” he said.
Stone also suggested not ignoring the road bike demographic since there was some crossover between mountain bikers and road bikers. “Plus, when Cottonwood gets paved, we will have some incredible road riding. Think about Taylor and Cottonwood and the Black Canyon.”
Stone also mentioned the economic benefit of summer tours like Ride the Rockies that bring in road bikers and will be coming through the valley this June.
Board member Kay Peterson noted that Ride the Rockies and the Bicycle Tour of Colorado are both coming to the valley and both are using a route with dirt roads. “Coming in and using Kebler Pass Road shows how much they want to be in Crested Butte,” she said. “That’s good.”
Norton informed the board that the Enduro World Series mountain biking event would be held in the upper valley the first weekend of August. It is the only such event in North America next summer. That event is expected to bring in more than 2,000 people associated just with the event. “That’s the same time as the Crested Butte Arts Festival,” he said. “I think Gunnison will see a real impact in terms of lodging that week. It could have a big impact everywhere in the valley.”
The need for valley-wide cooperation with bike shops and local employees was emphasized. Peterson said everyone should be “a trail ambassador” for guests.
Norton asked both the out-going and the in-coming board members for “vigorous support for the idea of going after mountain biking. It’s not all that we will do but it will be our major thrust. We will be known for mountain biking. International travelers will think of us when they come over to ride. It is a market we can win in. I think we can deliver as the Mountain Biking Capital of Colorado.”
The board gave the support for the new direction so Norton and the staff will begin developing a marketing program that zeros in on mountain biking.