Kevin began his trail digging experience in the 70’s as one of the neighborhood kids building BMX tracks, jumps, and trails within the growing community of Sturgis SD.
It seemed like there were neighborhood riding areas everywhere back then and the opportunity to create new lines was constant. By the late 70’s BMX bikes were getting too small, 10 speed roads bikes weren’t appealing, so Motocross riding and racing filled the need to ride. Participating in track prep was how you could get the tracks you wanted to race and practice on.
In the early 80’s Mountain Bikes started appearing at moto tracks. Until that point there weren’t many options to continue enjoying cycling as an adult other than road bikes. By the late 80’s the love to Mountain Bike was locked in forever. Having been bitten by the Mountain Biking bug, it became apparent that there were not enough trails and the trails that did exist needed maintenance and improvements.
In 1989 Kevin promoted his first of many local MTB races, and as part of the Race Director duties he started doing trail work with the local BLM recreation staff. This progressed to also doing volunteer trail maintenance on the Black Hills National Forest’s newly constructed Centennial Trail built to celebrate South Dakota 100th anniversary. This cycle of trail maintenance volunteerism continued until Kevin and his Wife Nicole had three young sons in the house that only wanted to do tricks and jumps. Kevin approached the City of Sturgis and with their approval was able to start the Sturgis Dirt Jump Park. This park has grown to include a paved pump track today.
With the success of the dirt jumps and a developing relationship with the City of Sturgis Kevin was ready for a more focused push on single-track trails immediately around the Sturgis area. As fate would have it, timing was perfect when the IMBA trail care team came to nearby Whitewood SD to train a group of volunteers in trail layout and construction. This training was a catalyst that developed into the non-profit trail advocacy group Black Hills Trails. As a founding Board Member of Black Hills Trails, Kevin was able to be part of many trail successes in the Black Hills Area.
The biggest trail success to date is the Sturgis Trail System, and its 50 miles of trail surrounding the community. During the construction of the Sturgis Trail System Kevin was able to gain confidence in operating mini excavators in difficult terrain. The mini excavator is the perfect tool to combine years of trail experience, an eye for sustainability, with the artistic nature of trail building to advance the flow!
In 2021 Kevin had the opportunity to make the move from volunteer builder to professional builder. The desire has been and always will be to build communities in part though fun, sustainable, and affordable trails.
K4 TRAILS CAN DO JUST THAT!
