Longtime MTB trail builder Joey Klein explains how designs have changed over three decades

Singletracks Mountain Bike Podcast

Singletracks.com

Sports, Wilderness

4.7 • 574 Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2025

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Joey Klein has been involved in mountain bike trail design for more than 30 years, and has worked for the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) longer than anyone else. This year he's being inducted into the mountain bike hall of fame in recognition of his contributions to the sport.

How did you first get involved in trail design?
What it like to be a part of the Subaru-IMBA Trail Care Crew program for three years in the late 90s/early 2000s? Do you think a program like that would be effective today?
What was the idea behind launching IMBA Trail Solutions?
How has trail design and planning evolved over the past two decades?
Is this the golden age of trail building?
How will the trails of the future be different from the trails we ride today?
Do modern bike designs drive trail designs, or is it the other way around?
Why do you think a lot of long-time riders don't like flow trails?
Among the many projects you've been involved with over the years, which ones are your favorites?
What is the biggest misconception riders have about trail design?
What's next for you, and for IMBA Trail Solutions?

Get more information about IMBA and IMBA Trail Solutions at imba.com.

An automatically generated transcript will be available at Singletracks.com later today.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Everybody wants to know the latest trail conditions, but not everybody wants to go on social media to get them.
0:06.0	Some riders, especially younger ones, are missing your social posts entirely.
0:11.0	Trailbot is the smarter way for trail managers to communicate updates without relying on social media.
0:18.0	Don't let the algorithm bear your posts, easily share conditions and closures
0:22.6	to your website, social media, and the app all at once. Best of all, it's free. Trailbot is used by over
0:30.1	260 trail systems in 17 states and is growing fast. Over 50,000 riders have installed the free iOS and Android apps to get
0:40.4	official updates with optional push notifications without having to see what their weird relative
0:45.5	posted on social media. So spend less time babysitting Facebook and more time building,
0:51.5	maintaining, or advocating for trails with TrailBot. Learn more at
0:56.2	trailbot.com. That's TrailBOT.com. Trailbot, no algorithms, just trail conditions.
1:05.0	Hey, everybody, welcome to the Single Tracks podcast. My name is Jeff, and today my guest is Joey Klein. Joey has been involved in
1:13.5	mountain bike trail design for more than 30 years and has worked for the International
1:18.1	Mountain Bike Association longer than anyone else. This year he's being inducted into the
1:23.5	Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in recognition of his contributions to the sport.
1:28.3	Thanks for joining me, Joey.
1:30.0	Thanks for having me.
1:31.0	It's an honor to get to talk to you about all these great things.
1:34.6	Yeah, awesome.
1:35.8	Well, first of all, congrats on being inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame.
1:40.2	Did that come as a surprise to you?
1:42.8	Is that something like you paid attention to kind of
1:46.2	working over the years?
	...

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