As a national nonprofit organization, Bikepacking Roots has known since our founding that achieving our mission would rely on support from a passionate group of bikepackers around the country. To work toward this goal, we have been engaging with a group of Regional Advisors since the start of the organization. However, our very small organization has been limited in our ability to engage these folks to the extent we have been envisioning. But with renewed commitment to this work in 2023, we are excited to announce our Bikepacking Roots Regional Stewards Program!
We have structured our organizational mission around 3 key themes: Ride, Connect and Protect.
- Ride: we create and maintain high-quality routes to connect people with extraordinary places.
- Connect: we are growing the bikepacking community by welcoming, engaging, and connecting people of all identities and backgrounds while lowering the barriers to bikepacking.
- Protect: we advocate for access to and protection of public lands. We foster positive relationships with land managers, private landowners, and the communities through which we ride.
Through the Bikepacking Roots Regional Stewards Program, we are striving to expand our reach and achieve these three visions through programming that reaches folks all across the United States.
Regional Stewards will serve as trusted leaders, sources of information, and community builders in their regions.
Through the expansion of this program, we are excited to engage with volunteers around the country in three different capacities:
- Route Stewards
- Community Stewards
- Advocacy Stewards
Interested folks may end up engaging with Bikepacking Roots in one of these capacities or all three, depending on their interests and skill sets. Once our new Stewards are brought on board, we will have an updated directory of all of our Regional Stewards in the About section of our website.
Applications for Community Stewards are open now through September 8th! The link to apply is below. Please read the details below before applying.
More about Bikepacking Roots' Regional Stewards
Bikepacking Roots Community Stewards are folks who are passionate about building community around bikepacking and welcoming new folks into the activity through hosting events and organizing overnighters. Fostering a welcoming and inclusive environment for folks of all identities and backgrounds is a must for community stewards.
A flagship element of our Community Stewards program will be our Community Campouts. As we have hosted bikepacking events around the country in recent years, we have been encouraged by the huge demand for more regular opportunities for folks to tap into a local or regional bikepacking community. We are excited to have local community leaders partner with us in these efforts going forward. We are looking to bring on Community Stewards who are interested in hosting an annual overnight Community Campout on behalf of or in partnership with Bikepacking Roots. A key goal of these campouts is to lower the barriers to bikepacking while connecting cyclists to local bikepacking communities and routes. Rides will be organized and facilitated by Bikepacking Roots Community Stewards who will take the primary responsibility for logistics, communication, organization, risk management, and facilitation, with support from Bikepacking Roots staff. Bikepacking Roots will support through development and mentorship of the Campout program structure, resource manuals, facilitation training, a logistics stipend, communication resources, channels and event promotion, permitting assistance, and insurance. A goal for the Campouts is that the regional events become recurring annual events that are identified as a beacon of the local bikepacking community.
A few other potential roles for Bikepacking Roots Community Stewards include:
- Developing other events like Intro to Bikepacking Workshops, Basic Mechanics for Bikepacking Classes, etc.
- Attending local bikepacking (and bikepacking adjacent) events on behalf of Bikepacking Roots to share our mission and get others excited about the organization.
- Leading local or regional Facebook groups or other forums for bikepacking in your area.
We are happy to partner with individuals who are already leaders of or active in other groups such as local chapters of Radical Adventure Riders and All Bodies on Bikes (just as a few examples), and we are committed to working to collectively support each other’s missions.
Do you think you would be most effective as a Community Steward in partnership with a friend? We are open to folks that are interested in applying to be a Community Steward in partnership with one other person. We ask that both of you complete an application but indicate your interest in partnering in your submission.
The majority of our Route Stewards will be brought on through our recently announced Community Routes Project (CRoP). These Stewards are folks who have developed, refined, and committed to continually stewarding one or more of the exceptional routes highlighted as a part of Community Routes Project. These stewards typically live near their route(s) and are champions for bikepacking in their communities. We also rely on some committed Route Stewards to support ongoing stewardship efforts of our flagship Bikepacking Roots routes. We are looking forward to developing a showcase of CRoP routes from around the country, and we anticipate that these Route Stewards will have the opportunity to collaborate with and advise the Bikepacking Roots team on other route planning projects in their localities as opportunities arise.
Note, at this time there is no separate Route Steward application process. Please see more details about how to submit a Community Route here.
Bikepacking Roots Advocacy Stewards will be local advocates for bikepacking to policy makers, land managers, etc. They will serve as our eyes and ears on the ground and bring key local and regional advocacy issues to the attention of Bikepacking Roots. They will also participate in national advocacy efforts and engage their communities in these efforts. They will attend local bike-advocacy events on behalf of Bikepacking Roots. These Regional Advocacy Stewards will have the opportunity to participate in advocacy training and peer learning opportunities as we build out our program.
We are currently undergoing some assessment of our advocacy strategy at Bikepacking Roots. Given this, we are anticipating opening up the Advocacy Steward program for submissions toward the end of the Year or in 2024. However, if you would like to get in touch and share your expertise on advocacy issues related to bikepacking at a national or regional level, please reach out to us at [email protected].
Why is a Regional Steward Program important to Bikepacking Roots?
This program will support us in achieving our mission to support and grow the bikepacking community around the country. Specifically, we hope to:
- Build genuine community hubs around the country through these regional leaders.
- Build community among bikepacking leaders around the country.
- Expand our route network through dedicated route stewards.
- Build our organization’s member and donor base around the country to support our programming.
- Develop a local network of advocates for important bikepacking-related issues.
Why should I consider applying to be a Regional Steward?
While this is in-essence a volunteer program, we have tried to design it in a way that will provide a number of tangible and intangible benefits for our Regional Stewards. Some of the anticipated benefits are:
- National, public recognition as a regional bikepacking leader through a bio on our website and spotlight features in our monthly newsletter and/or social media.
- Route stewards will be recognized and fully credited for their route contributions, including links to your personal website, blog or any other route-related materials.
- The opportunity to be leaders in your local bikepacking community. We are interested in supporting experienced community leaders and those looking to grow into these roles.
- The opportunity to share your dreams & visions for the future of Bikepacking Roots on a regular basis.
- Training opportunities, including:
- Community Steward Campout leadership virtual trainings
- Specific Route development training topics
- Advocacy training
- The potential for contract work on future route development projects or other programming in your region or area of expertise.
- Stipends for Community Campout hosts to cover event related expenses.
- Some awesome Bikepacking Root swag and potential for sponsor discounts.
- A built-in network with facilitated opportunities to connect with other community-focused bikepacking leaders around the country. This may include a Slack or Discord channel exclusively for Regional Stewards and regular (quarterly or bi-annual?) calls to connect, share and learn from each other.
- Pending funding, we are hoping to develop a super rad annual event for Regional Stewards, or perhaps several that are more localized around the country. This would include some bikepacking (of course!) as well as educational opportunities.
Application Process
As described above, we are currently accepting applications for Community Stewards. The current application period is open through September 8th. Please complete the Application linked below to tell us a bit more about yourself, why you are interested in the program, and why you would make a great fit as a Bikepacking Roots Community Steward.
We will primarily be bringing on new Route Stewards through our Community Routes Project. More information on that project can be found here. We anticipate opening applications for Advocacy Stewards at the end of the year or in early 2024.
Through this program, we are striving to build a diverse bikepacking community all across the country. We are very much interested in including representation of people of color, all gender identities, sexual orientations and abilities. We will also be selecting Regional Stewards with an interest in achieving diverse geographic representation of folks around the country.
At this time, our Regional Stewards program is only open to applicants in the United States, including Puerto Rico.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Thanks to our 2023 Business Partners:
